Diagnosis and Treatment of Tracheal or Bronchuotracheal Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma

Background and objective Adenoid cystic carcinoma is primary bronchopulmonary carcinoma with low malignancy, and 43 patients treated in the past 50 years in our hospital were retrospectively studied. The aim of this study is to discuss the clinical symptoms, pathologic characteristic and therapeutic method of primary tracheal or bronchuotracheal adenoid cystic carcinoma. Methods This study summarized total 43 patients of primary tracheal or bronchus adenoid cystic carcinoma treated in our hospital from Jan. 1958 to Dec. 2007. Among them, 40 patients were treated by surgical resection, and 3 patients were treated by fiberoptic bronchoscope’s interventional treatment. Results The 1-yr, 3-yr, 5-yr survival rates of the 43 patients above were 100% (41/41), 89.5% (34/38), 87.1% (27/31), respectively. Conclusion Primary tracheal or bronchus adenoid cystic carcinoma are rare and low malignancy carcinoma. The clinical symptoms of them are not typical. The best treatment is early detection and taking measures of operation plus radiotherapy. The other palliative treatment is fiberoptic bronchoscope’s interventional treatment

Oral microbiota–host interaction: the chief culprit of alveolar bone resorption

There exists a bidirectional relationship between oral health and general well-being, with an imbalance in oral symbiotic flora posing a threat to overall human health. Disruptions in the commensal flora can lead to oral diseases, while systemic illnesses can also impact the oral cavity, resulting in the development of oral diseases and disorders. Porphyromonas gingivalis and Fusobacterium nucleatum, known as pathogenic bacteria associated with periodontitis, play a crucial role in linking periodontitis to accompanying systemic diseases. In periodontal tissues, these bacteria, along with their virulence factors, can excessively activate the host immune system through local diffusion, lymphatic circulation, and blood transmission. This immune response disruption contributes to an imbalance in osteoimmune mechanisms, alveolar bone resorption, and potential systemic inflammation. To restore local homeostasis, a deeper understanding of microbiota–host interactions and the immune network phenotype in local tissues is imperative. Defining the immune network phenotype in periodontal tissues offers a promising avenue for investigating the complex characteristics of oral plaque biofilms and exploring the potential relationship between periodontitis and associated systemic diseases. This review aims to provide an overview of the mechanisms underlying Porphyromonas gingivalis- and Fusobacterium nucleatum-induced alveolar bone resorption, as well as the immunophenotypes observed in host periodontal tissues during pathological conditions

Constraining Ultralight Dark Matter through an Accelerated Resonant Search

Experiments aimed at detecting ultralight dark matter typically rely on resonant effects, which are sensitive to the dark matter mass that matches the resonance frequency. In this study, we investigate the nucleon couplings of ultralight axion dark matter using a magnetometer operating in a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) mode. Our approach involves the use of a $^{21}$Ne spin-based sensor, which features the lowest nuclear magnetic moment among noble-gas spins. This configuration allows us to achieve an ultrahigh sensitivity of 0.73 fT/Hz$^{1/2}$ at around 5 Hz, corresponding to energy resolution of approximately 1.5$\times 10^{-23}\,\rm{eV/Hz^{1/2}}$. Our analysis reveals that under certain conditions it is beneficial to scan the frequency with steps significantly larger than the resonance width. The analytical results are in agreement with experimental data and the scan strategy is potentially applicable to other resonant searches. Further, our study establishes stringent constraints on axion-like particles (ALP) in the 4.5--15.5 Hz Compton-frequency range coupling to neutrons and protons, improving on prior work by several-fold. Within a band around 4.6--6.6 Hz and around 7.5 Hz, our laboratory findings surpass astrophysical limits derived from neutron-star cooling. Hence, we demonstrate an accelerated resonance search for ultralight dark matter, achieving an approximately 30-fold increase in scanning step while maintaining competitive sensitivity.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figure

(Re)constructing school readiness from Chinese young children's perspectives

This interim report presents the ongoing progress of a collaborative project between the Centre for Teacher and Early Years Education (CTEY), UCL Institute of Education and the Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University (BNU), which aims to (re)construct school readiness from Chinese children's perspectives. In this report, we first set out the context and rationale for carrying out this project (see Section 1). Then, we introduce the overarching research questions of this project, followed by a detailed account of the research design and the instruments for conducting research with young children (see Section 2). Subsequently, we report the pilot study we have conducted and present the preliminary findings (see Section 3). Finally, we outline the first round of fieldwork that has been carried out in seven early years settings of different backgrounds in Beijing (see Section 4), together with a timetable illustrating the next steps and upcoming milestones of this research project (see Section 5)

T-cell infiltration in the central nervous system and their association with brain calcification in Slc20a2-deficient mice

Primary familial brain calcification (PFBC) is a rare neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by bilateral symmetric intracranial calcification along the microvessels or inside neuronal cells in the basal ganglia, thalamus, and cerebellum. Slc20a2 homozygous (HO) knockout mice are the most commonly used model to simulate the brain calcification phenotype observed in human patients. However, the cellular and molecular mechanisms related to brain calcification, particularly at the early stage much prior to the emergence of brain calcification, remain largely unknown. In this study, we quantified the central nervous system (CNS)-infiltrating T-cells of different age groups of Slc20a2-HO and matched wild type mice and found CD45+CD3+ T-cells to be significantly increased in the brain parenchyma, even in the pre-calcification stage of 1-month-old -HO mice. The accumulation of the CD3+ T-cells appeared to be associated with the severity of brain calcification. Further immunophenotyping revealed that the two main subtypes that had increased in the brain were CD3+ CD4− CD8– and CD3+ CD4+ T-cells. The expression of endothelial cell (EC) adhesion molecules increased, while that of tight and adherents junction proteins decreased, providing the molecular precondition for T-cell recruitment to ECs and paracellular migration into the brain. The fusion of lymphocytes and EC membranes and transcellular migration of CD3-related gold particles were captured, suggesting enhancement of transcytosis in the brain ECs. Exogenous fluorescent tracers and endogenous IgG and albumin leakage also revealed an impairment of transcellular pathway in the ECs. FTY720 significantly alleviated brain calcification, probably by reducing T-cell infiltration, modulating neuroinflammation and ossification process, and enhancing the autophagy and phagocytosis of CNS-resident immune cells. This study clearly demonstrated CNS-infiltrating T-cells to be associated with the progression of brain calcification. Impairment of blood–brain barrier (BBB) permeability, which was closely related to T-cell invasion into the CNS, could be explained by the BBB alterations of an increase in the paracellular and transcellular pathways of brain ECs. FTY720 was found to be a potential drug to protect patients from PFBC-related lesions in the future

PyPose v0.6: The Imperative Programming Interface for Robotics

PyPose is an open-source library for robot learning. It combines a learning-based approach with physics-based optimization, which enables seamless end-to-end robot learning. It has been used in many tasks due to its meticulously designed application programming interface (API) and efficient implementation. From its initial launch in early 2022, PyPose has experienced significant enhancements, incorporating a wide variety of new features into its platform. To satisfy the growing demand for understanding and utilizing the library and reduce the learning curve of new users, we present the fundamental design principle of the imperative programming interface, and showcase the flexible usage of diverse functionalities and modules using an extremely simple Dubins car example. We also demonstrate that the PyPose can be easily used to navigate a real quadruped robot with a few lines of code

Contralateral delay activity as a marker of visual working memory capacity: a multi-site registered replication

Visual working memory (VWM) is a temporary storage system capable of retaining information that can be accessed and manipulated by higher cognitive processes, thereby facilitating a wide range of cognitive functions. Electroencephalography (EEG) is used to understand the neural correlates of VWM with high temporal precision, and one commonly used EEG measure is an event-related potential called the contralateral delay activity (CDA). In a landmark study by Vogel and Machizawa (2004), the authors found that the CDA amplitude increases with the number of items stored in VWM and plateaus around three to four items, which is thought to represent the typical adult working memory capacity. Critically, this study also showed that the increase in CDA amplitude between two-item and four-item arrays correlated with individual subjects’ VWM performance. Although these results have been supported by subsequent studies, a recent study suggested that the number of subjects used in experiments investigating the CDA may not be sufficient to detect differences in set size and to provide a reliable account of the relationship between behaviorally measured VWM capacity and the CDA amplitude. To address this, the current study, as part of the #EEGManyLabs project, aims to conduct a multi-site replication of Vogel and Machizawa's (2004) seminal study on a large sample of participants, with a pre-registered analysis plan. Through this, our goal is to contribute to deepening our understanding of the neural correlates of visual working memory

Assessing the Effect of Tree Stand Composition on Urban Cooling Effect on the UBC Vancouver Campus : Using the 2021 Western North America Heat Wave

Rapid urbanization leads to the reduction of urban greenspaces, affecting the urban thermal environment and exacerbating the urban heat island effect. As urban forests are effective contributors to mitigating the urban heat island effect, understanding the composition of urban forests is important for assessing cooling effects. In response to growing concerns about the urban heat island effect, recent studies have used satellite imagery to investigate the cooling effects of urban forests’ characteristics, as remotely sensed data are flexible in spatial and temporal resolutions. This study determined the spatial patterns of land surface temperatures and tree stand compositions, as well as examined the cooling effects of different tree stand compositions at the UBC Vancouver campus during the 2021 Western North America Heat Wave. This study was done by retrieving land surface temperatures from Landsat 8 images and using grid-based analysis to classify tree stand composition in the following classification schemes: coniferous, deciduous, and mixed wood. A linear mixed effects model was also conducted to quantify the relationship between land surface temperature differences and tree stand compositions throughout the Heat Wave. The results showed that coniferous stand composition was positively correlated, but deciduous stand composition was negatively correlated with land surface temperature differences. The findings indicated that expanding forested areas could lower land surface temperatures, and deciduous stand composition has the greatest cooling effectiveness. Overall, this study would provide valuable insights for UBC campus planners seeking to implement new strategies to enhance the resilience of the campus climate. Disclaimer: “UBC SEEDS provides students with the opportunity to share the findings of their studies, as well as their opinions, conclusions and recommendations with the UBC community. The reader should bear in mind that this is a student project/report and is not an official document of UBC. Furthermore readers should bear in mind that these reports may not reflect the current status of activities at UBC. We urge you to contact the research persons mentioned in a report or the SEEDS Coordinator about the current status of the subject matter of a project/report.”Forestry, Faculty ofForest and Conservation Sciences, Department ofUnreviewedGraduat

M-MIMO Kartbaserad Positionering i Trådlösa Nätverk

The next generation 5G systems has attracted more and more attention to the rapid development of information and communication technology (ICT). Positioning is an important research area in 5G mobile networks, especially in M-MIMO wireless networks. Because the base station needs to have a knowledge of the position of the user equipment, which can direct the signal to the user equipment while reducing interference and hence improve the user throughput. But the problem is that it is difficult to determine position when users are in NLOS scenarios. In the master thesis, we conclude the existing positioning method by the literature review, as well as get the inspiration to design our research environment. Through the MATLAB simulation, we restore the Madrid city three-dimensional environment, design and confirm a new method for the positioning by the AoA and the path power in NLOS scenarios. Our results indicate that the new positioning method demonstrates a nice performance of the accurate level even in the NLOS scenarios, in which the error of the position of the user equipment is within o.5 meters. Although the method is very sensitive to the strange signal paths, we can use the path with the strongest path power to overcome this problem. Meanwhile, the performance of our new positioning method is not impacted by the existence of the scattering loss.Nästa generations 5G-system har fått mer och mer uppmärksamhet åt den snabba utvecklingen av informations- och kommunikationsteknik (IKT). Positionering är ett viktigt forskningsområde i 5G-mobilnät, särskilt i trådlösa M-MIMO-nätverk. Eftersom basstationen behöver ha kunskap om användarutrustningens position, vilket kan rikta signalen till användarutrustningen samtidigt som störningen minskas och därmed förbättra användarens genomströmning. Men problemet är att det är svårt att bestämma positionen när användare är i NLOS-scenarier. I magisteruppsatsen avslutar vi den befintliga positioneringsmetoden genom litteraturöversikten och får inspiration att designa vår forskningsmiljö. Genom MATLAB-simuleringen återställer vi stadens tredimensionella miljö, designar och bekräftar en ny metod för positionering av AoA och bankraften i NLOS-scenarier. Våra resultat indikerar att den nya positioneringsmetoden visar en bra prestanda för den exakta nivån även i NLOS-scenarierna, där felet i användarutrustningens position ligger inom o.5 meter. Även om metoden är mycket känslig för de konstiga signalvägarna kan vi använda banan med den starkaste vägkraften för att övervinna detta problem. Samtidigt påverkas inte vår nya positioneringsmetod av spridningsförlusten