Optical Companding

We introduce a new nonlinear analog optical computing concept that compresses the signal's dynamic range and realizes non-uniform quantization that reshapes and improves the signal-to-noise ratio in the digital domain

Clinical effect of combined anterior and posterior approach surgery for cervical spondylotic myelopathy

Objective: To evaluate the clinical efficacy of combined anterior and posterior approach surgery for patients with spinal type. Methods: Randomly selected from January 2013 to December 2015 in our hospital 96 cases of cervical spondylosis patients treated in our hospital from January 2013 to December 2015 , the technical way of the operation of these 96 cases of loyalty if they were randomly divided into A, B, C three groups. A group of 32 cases were treated by combined anterior and posterior approach in treatment of cervical myelopathy. B group of 32 cases patients with anterior cervical corpectomy decompression and bone graft fusion internal fixation surgery to treat cervical vertebra disease, C treatment group of 32 patients used conventional posterior decompression and fusion surgery for lateral mass screw fixation. Postoperative follow-up, the three groups of X-ray intervertebral stability and fusion, neurological function JOA score and clinical efficacy of the effective date were compared. Results: three group of patients after half a year, the JOA scores were improved, the patients of the A group after a year of score(16.3±1.83)，the scores of B and C two groups were respectively (15.7±1.15）、（15.59±1.21）, there was statistically differences between the three groups （ P ＜ 0.05). After one year’s follow-up, the bone graft and internal fixation material had no loosening, displacement and subsidence, the fusion rate of A group reached 90.6%, the fusion rate of B group was 53.1%, the fusion rate of C group was 56.25%, and the difference was statistically significant (P＜0.05）. For clinical effectiveness is divided into apparent, effective, fair, invalid. the effective rate of group A was 87.5%, and the effective rate was 50% in group B, the difference was statistically significant（P＜0.05）. Conclusion: the treatment effect of A group was better than that of B and C two groups before and after operation, and the effect was significant

Development of a combined model incorporating clinical characteristics and magnetic resonance imaging features to enhance the predictive value of a prognostic model for locally advanced cervical cancer

ObjectiveThis study aimed to develop non-invasive predictive tools based on clinical characteristics and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features to predict survival in patients with locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC), thereby facilitating clinical decision-making.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective analysis of clinical and MRI data from LACC patients who underwent radical radiotherapy at our center between September 2012 and May 2020. Prognostic predictors were identified using single-factor and multifactor Cox analyses. Clinical and MRI models were established based on relevant features, and combined models were created by incorporating MRI factors into the clinical model. The predictive performance of the models was evaluated using the area under the curve (AUC), consistency index (C-index), and decision curve analysis (DCA).ResultsThe study included 175 LACC patients. Multivariate Cox analysis revealed that patients with FIGO IIA-IIB stage, ECOG score 0-1, CYFRA 21-1<7.7 ng/ml, ADC ≥ 0.79 mm^2/s, and Kep ≥ 4.23 minutes had a more favorable survival prognosis. The clinical models, incorporating ECOG, FIGO staging, and CYFRA21-1, outperformed individual prognostic factors in predicting 5-year overall survival (AUC: 0.803) and 5-year progression-free survival (AUC: 0.807). The addition of MRI factors to the clinical model (AUC: 0.803 for 5-year overall survival) increased the AUC of the combined model to 0.858 (P=0.011). Similarly, the combined model demonstrated a superior predictive ability for 5-year progression-free survival, with an AUC of 0.849, compared to the clinical model (AUC: 0.807) and the MRI model (AUC: 0.673). Furthermore, the C-index of the clinical models for overall survival and progression-free survival were 0.763 and 0.800, respectively. Upon incorporating MRI factors, the C-index of the combined model increased to 0.826 for overall survival and 0.843 for progression-free survival. The DCA further supported the superior prognostic performance of the combined model.ConclusionOur findings indicate that ECOG, FIGO staging, and CYFRA21-1 in clinical characteristics, as well as ADC and Kep values in MRI features, are independent prognostic factors for LACC patients undergoing radical radiotherapy. The combined models provide enhanced predictive ability in assessing the risk of patient mortality and disease progression

Local and systemic therapy may be safely de-escalated in elderly breast cancer patients in China: A retrospective cohort study

BackgroundFor elderly patients with breast cancer, the treatment strategy is still controversial. In China, preoperative axillary lymph node needle biopsy is not widely used, resulting in many patients receiving axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) directly. Our study aims to determine whether local and systemic therapy can be safely de-escalated in elderly breast cancer.MethodsPatients aged ≥70 years were retrospectively enrolled from our institution’s medical records between May 2013 and July 2021. Groups were assigned according to local and systemic treatment regimens, and stratified analysis was performed by molecular subtypes. Univariate and multivariate survival analyses were used to compare the effects of different regimens on relapse-free survival (RFS).ResultsA total of 653 patients were enrolled for preliminary data analysis, and 563 patients were screened for survival analysis. The mean follow-up was 19 months (range, 1–82 months). Axillary lymph node metastases were pathologically confirmed in only 2.1% of cN0 cases and up to 97.1% of cN+ cases. In the aspect of breast surgery, RFS showed no significant difference between mastectomy and BCS group (p = 0.3078). As for axillary surgery, patients in the ALND group showed significantly better RFS than those in the sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) group among pN0 patients (p = 0.0128). Among these cases, the proportion of cN+ in ALND was significantly higher than that in SLNB (6.4% vs. 0.4%, p = 0.002), which meant axillary lymph nodes (ALNs) of ALND patients were larger in imaging and more likely to be misdiagnosed as metastatic. With regard to adjuvant therapy, univariate and multivariate analyses showed that RFS in different comprehensive adjuvant regimens were similar especially among hormone receptor (HR)+/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)− subgroup where patients who did not receive any adjuvant therapy accounted for 15.7% (p > 0.05).ConclusionsIt is feasible to reduce some unnecessary local or systemic treatments for elderly breast cancer patients, especially in HR+/HER2− subtype. Multiple patient-related factors should be considered when making treatment plans

Mimotopes selected with a neutralizing antibody against urease B from Helicobacter pylori induce enzyme inhibitory antibodies in mice upon vaccination

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Urease B is an important virulence factor that is required for <it>Helicobacter pylori </it>to colonise the gastric mucosa. Mouse monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) that inhibit urease B enzymatic activity will be useful as vaccines for the prevention and treatment of <it>H. pylori </it>infection. Here, we produced murine mAbs against urease B that neutralize the enzyme's activity. We mapped their epitopes by phage display libraries and investigated the immunogenicity of the selected mimotopes <it>in vivo</it>.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The urease B gene was obtained (GenBank accession No. <ext-link ext-link-id="DQ141576" ext-link-type="gen">DQ141576</ext-link>) and the recombinant pGEX-4T-1/UreaseB protein was expressed in <it>Escherichia coli </it>as a 92-kDa recombinant fusion protein with glutathione-S-transferase (GST). Five mAbs U001-U005 were produced by a hybridoma-based technique with urease B-GST as an immunogen. Only U001 could inhibit urease B enzymatic activity. Immunoscreening via phage display libraries revealed two different mimotopes of urease B protein; EXXXHDM from ph.D.12-library and EXXXHSM from ph.D.C7C that matched the urease B proteins at 347-353 aa. The antiserum induced by selected phage clones clearly recognised the urease B protein and inhibited its enzymatic activity, which indicated that the phagotope-induced immune responses were antigen specific.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The present work demonstrated that phage-displayed mimotopes were accessible to the mouse immune system and triggered a humoral response. The urease B mimotope could provide a novel and promising approach for the development of a vaccine for the diagnosis and treatment of <it>H. pylori </it>infection.</p

Roadmap on energy harvesting materials

Ambient energy harvesting has great potential to contribute to sustainable development and address growing environmental challenges. Converting waste energy from energy-intensive processes and systems (e.g. combustion engines and furnaces) is crucial to reducing their environmental impact and achieving net-zero emissions. Compact energy harvesters will also be key to powering the exponentially growing smart devices ecosystem that is part of the Internet of Things, thus enabling futuristic applications that can improve our quality of life (e.g. smart homes, smart cities, smart manufacturing, and smart healthcare). To achieve these goals, innovative materials are needed to efficiently convert ambient energy into electricity through various physical mechanisms, such as the photovoltaic effect, thermoelectricity, piezoelectricity, triboelectricity, and radiofrequency wireless power transfer. By bringing together the perspectives of experts in various types of energy harvesting materials, this Roadmap provides extensive insights into recent advances and present challenges in the field. Additionally, the Roadmap analyses the key performance metrics of these technologies in relation to their ultimate energy conversion limits. Building on these insights, the Roadmap outlines promising directions for future research to fully harness the potential of energy harvesting materials for green energy anytime, anywhere

Spectral Temporal LiDAR and Optical Dynamic Range Compression; New Concepts in Photonics

Photonic time-stretch, invented at UCLA, has established world’s fastest real-time spectrometers and cameras with applications in biological cell screening, tomography, microfluidics, velocimetry and vibrometry. Time stretch instruments have led to several scientific breakthroughs including the discoveries of optical rogue waves, relativistic electron bunching in synchrotrons, and first ever observations of the birth of laser mode-locking and internal motion of soliton molecules. In time-stretch imaging, the target’s spatial information is encoded in the spectrum of the ultrafast laser pulses, which is stretched in time and then detected by a single-pixel detector and digitized by a real-time ADC, and processed by a CPU or a dedicated FPGA or GPU. Various methods have been proposed to realize time stretch, including single mode fibers, dispersion compensating fibers, chirped Bragg grating, and chromo-modal dispersion. However, none of those methods provide chirp with a large time-bandwidth product, which limits the time/depth range the pulse can measure.In this study, we demonstrate a discrete time-stretch method that can generate the giant time-bandwidth product with arbitrary nonlinear chirp for operating wavelength from the visible to the infrared. We show its application in warped-stretch (foveated) imaging and a time-of-flight LIDAR with ∼MHz refresh rate.Most optical sensing and measurement techniques suffer from the limited dynamic range. Ina second and related project, we have proposed the concept of optical dynamic range compression. This powerful technique provides a mean to match the dynamic range of the signal to that of the detector and data converter, leading to improved signal to noise ratio and a wider dynamic range. We outline various methods to implement optical dynamic range compression using nonlinear optics, silicon photonics and saturated amplifications

Spectral Temporal LiDAR and Optical Dynamic Range Compression; New Concepts in Photonics

Photonic time-stretch, invented at UCLA, has established world’s fastest real-time spectrometers and cameras with applications in biological cell screening, tomography, microfluidics, velocimetry and vibrometry. Time stretch instruments have led to several scientific breakthroughs including the discoveries of optical rogue waves, relativistic electron bunching in synchrotrons, and first ever observations of the birth of laser mode-locking and internal motion of soliton molecules. In time-stretch imaging, the target’s spatial information is encoded in the spectrum of the ultrafast laser pulses, which is stretched in time and then detected by a single-pixel detector and digitized by a real-time ADC, and processed by a CPU or a dedicated FPGA or GPU. Various methods have been proposed to realize time stretch, including single mode fibers, dispersion compensating fibers, chirped Bragg grating, and chromo-modal dispersion. However, none of those methods provide chirp with a large time-bandwidth product, which limits the time/depth range the pulse can measure.In this study, we demonstrate a discrete time-stretch method that can generate the giant time-bandwidth product with arbitrary nonlinear chirp for operating wavelength from the visible to the infrared. We show its application in warped-stretch (foveated) imaging and a time-of-flight LIDAR with ∼MHz refresh rate.Most optical sensing and measurement techniques suffer from the limited dynamic range. Ina second and related project, we have proposed the concept of optical dynamic range compression. This powerful technique provides a mean to match the dynamic range of the signal to that of the detector and data converter, leading to improved signal to noise ratio and a wider dynamic range. We outline various methods to implement optical dynamic range compression using nonlinear optics, silicon photonics and saturated amplifications