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Scientific Reports Jun 2024To investigate the characteristics of destabilization damage in coal-rock complexes. Mechanical property tests were conducted on coal, rock, and their complexes. An...
To investigate the characteristics of destabilization damage in coal-rock complexes. Mechanical property tests were conducted on coal, rock, and their complexes. An infrared thermal camera was employed to real-time monitor the infrared (IR) radiation response signals during the destabilization damage process. A numerical model of coal-rock destabilization damage was developed, and its validity was verified. Deformed stress fields and displacement contours were obtained during the destabilization damage process. Upon destabilization, numerous cracks form at the base of the "coal" section, extending towards the interface, resulting in the formation of a wave-like deformation region. The differentiation in infrared thermal images is more pronounced in the "coal" section compared to the "rock" section. A high-stress region is evident at the interface, resulting in an area of high stress differentials. However, the bottom of the "coal" section also exhibits a region with high stress differentials and a more pronounced tendency towards destabilization damage. Displacement contours revealed that numerous units at the bottom of the "coal" section had slipped and misaligned, leading to the accumulation of damage and an elevation in the local damage level. It is a crucial factor contributing to the notable phenomenon of IR thermal image differentiation.
PubMed: 38890445
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-65029-w -
Nature Communications Jun 2024Untethered miniature soft robots have significant application potentials in biomedical and industrial fields due to their space accessibility and safe human interaction....
Untethered miniature soft robots have significant application potentials in biomedical and industrial fields due to their space accessibility and safe human interaction. However, the lack of selective and forceful actuation is still challenging in revolutionizing and unleashing their versatility. Here, we propose a focused ultrasound-controlled phase transition strategy for achieving millimeter-level spatially selective actuation and Newton-level force of soft robots, which harnesses ultrasound-induced heating to trigger the phase transition inside the robot, enabling powerful actuation through inflation. The millimeter-level spatial resolution empowers single robot to perform multiple tasks according to specific requirements. As a concept-of-demonstration, we designed soft robot for liquid cargo delivery and biopsy robot for tissue acquisition and patching. Additionally, an autonomous control system is integrated with ultrasound imaging to enable automatic acoustic field alignment and control. The proposed method advances the spatiotemporal response capability of untethered miniature soft robots, holding promise for broadening their versatility and adaptability.
Topics: Robotics; Equipment Design; Humans; Ultrasonic Waves; Phase Transition; Ultrasonography
PubMed: 38890294
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-49148-6 -
Applied Radiation and Isotopes :... Jun 2024Accurate description of radiation fields containing neutrons continues to be a difficult task to complete. This difficulty arises because of the inherent sensitivity of...
Accurate description of radiation fields containing neutrons continues to be a difficult task to complete. This difficulty arises because of the inherent sensitivity of neutron detectors to other types of radiation, and the ability of neutrons to generate secondary particles producing mixed field environments. This research looks at the development and performance of various machine learning architectures when applied to the task of pulse shape discrimination with liquid scintillators. This work was carried out with a neutron sensitive liquid scintillator, EJ-301, with signals digitized at 3.2 GHz with 12 bits of resolution utilizing a CAEN DT-5743 digitizer. Measurements were artificially reduced in sampling depth and frequency to investigate the importance of these parameters for performance of the machine learning algorithms. Two isotopic neutron source, PuBe and AmBe, and three photon sources: Na, Co, and Cs were used for generation of the training and validation sets as well as for energy calibration. The greatest performance was achieved with a lightly altered implementation of GoogLeNet and with the full sampling rate and bit depth afforded by the digitizer. A true positive rate of 69.17 % was achieved while correctly rejecting 99.9999 % of photon events. This performance ranges from 1.30 % at events greater than 3 MeVee to 89.96 % between 340-1000 keVee. For neutron events with energy below 200 keVee 21.48 % of the validation neutrons are still identified as neutrons.
PubMed: 38889528
DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2024.111384 -
Journal of Korean Medical Science Jun 2024This study compared hearing outcomes with use of personal sound amplification products (PSAPs) and hearing aids (HAs) in patients with moderate to moderately severe... (Randomized Controlled Trial)
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
BACKGROUND
This study compared hearing outcomes with use of personal sound amplification products (PSAPs) and hearing aids (HAs) in patients with moderate to moderately severe unilateral hearing loss.
METHODS
Thirty-nine participants were prospectively enrolled, and randomly assigned to use either one HA (basic or premium type) or one PSAP (basic or high-end type) for the first 8 weeks and then the other device for the following 8 weeks. Participants underwent a battery of examinations at three visits, including sound-field audiometry, word recognition score (WRS), speech perception in quiet and in noise, real-ear measurement, and self-report questionnaires.
RESULTS
Functional gain was significantly higher with HAs across all frequencies ( < 0.001). While both PSAPs and HAs improved WRS from the unaided condition, HAs were superior to PSAPs. The speech recognition threshold in quiet conditions and signal-to-noise ratio in noisy conditions were significantly lower in the HA-aided condition than in the PSAP-aided condition, and in the PSAP-aided condition than in the unaided condition. Subjective satisfaction also favored HAs than PSAPs in questionnaires, Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit, International Outcome Inventory for Hearing Aids, and Host Institutional Questionnaire.
CONCLUSION
While PSAPs provide some benefit for moderate to moderately severe unilateral hearing loss, HAs are more effective. This underscores the potential role of PSAPs as an accessible, affordable first-line intervention in hearing rehabilitation, particularly for individuals facing challenges in accessing conventional HAs.
Topics: Humans; Hearing Aids; Male; Female; Middle Aged; Prospective Studies; Cross-Over Studies; Speech Perception; Surveys and Questionnaires; Hearing Loss, Unilateral; Aged; Adult; Patient Satisfaction; Noise; Signal-To-Noise Ratio
PubMed: 38887200
DOI: 10.3346/jkms.2024.39.e179 -
Journal of Vascular and Interventional... Jun 2024To provide guidance, via multidisciplinary consensus statements, on the safety interactions between systemic anticancer agents (such as radiosensitizing chemotherapy,... (Review)
Review
Consensus statement on safety of combining transarterial radioembolization with yttrium microspheres with systemic anticancer agents for the treatment of liver malignancy.
PURPOSE
To provide guidance, via multidisciplinary consensus statements, on the safety interactions between systemic anticancer agents (such as radiosensitizing chemotherapy, immunotherapy, targeted therapy and peptide receptor radionuclide therapy) and transarterial radioembolization (TARE) with yttrium-90 (Y) labeled microspheres in the treatment of primary and metastatic liver malignancies.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
A literature search identified 59 references that informed 26 statements on the safety of Y TARE combined with systemic therapies. Modified Delphi method was used to develop consensus on statements through online anonymous surveys of the 12 panel members representing the fields of interventional radiology, medical oncology, surgical oncology, hepatology, and pharmacy, focusing on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC), neuroendocrine tumors, metastatic breast cancer and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma.
RESULTS
High level evidence was limited. Level 1 data in patients with mCRC suggest that some radiosensitizing chemotherapies (e.g., oxaliplatin) require temporary dose reduction when used concomitantly with Y TARE and some targeted therapies (e.g., vascular endothelial growth factor inhibitors and anti-angiogenic tyrosine kinase inhibitors) should be avoided for at least 4 weeks before Y TARE. In patients with HCC, the feasibility of Y TARE and immunotherapy has been demonstrated with Level 4 evidence. Data are more limited for other primary and secondary liver malignancies, and consensus statements were driven by expert opinion (Level 5).
CONCLUSION
Given the absence of evidence-based guidelines on the safety of Y TARE in combination with systemic anticancer therapy, these consensus statements provide expert guidance on the potential risks when considering specific combinations.
PubMed: 38885899
DOI: 10.1016/j.jvir.2024.06.006 -
Frontiers in Oncology 2024To explore the Therapeutic effect of synchronous Integrated intensity modulated radiotherapy combined with chemotherapy in stage IIIc of Cervical Cancer.
OBJECTIVE
To explore the Therapeutic effect of synchronous Integrated intensity modulated radiotherapy combined with chemotherapy in stage IIIc of Cervical Cancer.
METHODS
A total of 58 patients with stage IIIC cervical cancer (KPS ≥ 80) were analyzed in this study. They were admitted to our hospital between August 2017 and August 2022. Synchronous integrated boost intensity-modulated radiotherapy (SIB-IMRT) and sequential boost intensity-modulated radiotherapy (LCB-IMRT) were used to treat pelvic and/or para-aortic metastatic lymph nodes, with 30 cases in the SIB group and 28 cases in the LCB group. Comparison of short-term and long-term efficacy. Comparison of recurrence and metastasis rates, radiation dose to organs at risk and incidence of adverse drug reactions.
RESULT
30 patients were treated with simultaneous integrated boost intensity-modulated radiotherapy (SIB-IMRT), and 28 patients were treated with sequential boost intensity-modulated radiotherapy (LCB-IMRT). At the completion of radiotherapy and 3 months after radiotherapy, there was no significant difference in clinical efficacy observed between the two treatment groups. The median overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), and disease-free survival (DMR) in the SIB-IMRT group were significantly higher compared to the LCB-IMRT group. The SIB-IMRT group demonstrated significantly lower rates compared to the LCB-IMRT group. Furthermore, within 3 years and 5 years, the rates of lymph node recurrence, cervical and vaginal local recurrence, and distant metastasis within the radiotherapy field were significantly lower in the SIB-IMRT group compared to the LCB-IMRT group. There were no significant differences observed between the two groups in terms of the maximum dose to the small intestine (Dmax), dose received by 2cc of the small intestine (D2cc), maximum dose to the rectum (Dmax), and dose received by 1cc of the bladder (D1cc). The incidence of bone marrow toxicity in the SIB-IMRT group was significantly lower compared to the LCB-IMRT group. Moreover, the occurrence of grade III and IV bone marrow toxicity was also significantly lower in the SIB-IMRT group compared to the LCB-IMRT group.
CONCLUSION
The study has concluded that there is no significant differences in in terms of bladder associated adverse events and gastrointestinal toxicity in both Simultaneous Integrated Boost Intensity-Modulated Radiotherapy and Layered Conical Beam Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy.
PubMed: 38884092
DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2024.1283991 -
Frontiers in Oncology 2024Young cervical cancer patients who require ovarian transposition usually have their ovaries moved away from the pelvic radiotherapy (RT) field before radiotherapy. The...
INTRODUCTION
Young cervical cancer patients who require ovarian transposition usually have their ovaries moved away from the pelvic radiotherapy (RT) field before radiotherapy. The dose of ovaries during radiotherapy is closely related to the location of the ovaries. To protect ovarian function and avoid ovarian dose exceeding the limits, a safe location of transposed ovary must be determined prior to surgery.
METHODS
For this purpose, we input the patient's preoperative CT into a neural network model to predict the dose distribution. Surgeons were able to quickly locate low-dose regions based on the dose distribution before surgery, thus determining the safe location of the transposed ovary. In this work, we proposed a new progressive refinement transformer model PRT-Net that can generate dose prediction at multiple scale resolutions in one forward propagation, and refine the dose prediction using prediction details from low to high resolution based on a deep supervision strategy. A multi-loss function fusion algorithm was also built to fit the prediction results under different loss dimensions. The clinical feasibility of the method was verified through an actual cases.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Therefore, using PRT-Net to predict the dose distribution by preoperative CT in cervical cancer patients can assist clinicians to perform ovarian transposition surgery and prevent patients' ovaries from exceeding the prescribed dose limit in postoperative radiotherapy.
PubMed: 38884079
DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2024.1372424 -
GeoHealth Jun 2024Tourist volcanic caves are in high demand for ecotourism and geotourism lovers, as well as by sun and beach tourists as a complementary activity during their holidays....
Tourist volcanic caves are in high demand for ecotourism and geotourism lovers, as well as by sun and beach tourists as a complementary activity during their holidays. There are six tourist volcanic caves in the Canary Islands, all of them managed by the local administration of the island. The managers of these caves must ensure the safety of visitors and workers, who are exposed to natural hazards, such as radon, inherent to the environment in which the activity takes place. The methodology for analyzing natural radon radiation is based on the latest studies published by experts in this field and on previous experiences in tourist caves. This article proposes a protocol for the correct management of radon in tourist caves in the Canary Islands, adapted to current regulations, to mitigate effects on the health of visitors and workers.
PubMed: 38884068
DOI: 10.1029/2024GH001067 -
American Journal of Translational... 2024Liquid biopsy is an innovative approach that provides a more complete understanding of treatment response and prognosis in monitoring metastatic prostate cancer. It... (Review)
Review
Liquid biopsy is an innovative approach that provides a more complete understanding of treatment response and prognosis in monitoring metastatic prostate cancer. It complements invasive tissue biopsy and involves the assessment of various biomarkers in body fluids such as blood, semen, and urine. Liquid biopsy analyzes circulating tumor cells, extracellular vesicles, circulating tumor DNA, and the secretome. This is particularly important given the heterogeneity of prostate cancer and the need for better prognostic biomarkers. Liquid biopsy can personalize the treatment of homonosensitive and castration-resistant metastatic prostate cancer by acting as a predictive and prognostic tool. This review discusses various biomarkers, assay techniques, and potential applications in daily clinical practice, highlighting the exciting possibilities that this emerging field holds for improving patient outcomes.
PubMed: 38883349
DOI: 10.62347/DICU9510 -
Data in Brief Jun 2024To advance high-energy atmospheric physics, studying atmospheric electric fields (AEF) and cosmic ray fluxes as an interconnected system is crucial. At Mt. Argats,...
To advance high-energy atmospheric physics, studying atmospheric electric fields (AEF) and cosmic ray fluxes as an interconnected system is crucial. At Mt. Argats, simultaneous measurements of particle fluxes, electric fields, weather conditions, and lightning locations have significantly enhanced the validation of models that describe the charge structures of thunderclouds and the mechanics of internal electron accelerators. In 2023, observations of the five largest thunderstorm ground enhancements (TGEs) revealed electric fields exceeding 2.0 kV/cm at elevations just tens of meters above ground-potentially hazardous to rockets and aircraft during launch and charging operations. Utilizing simple yet effective monitoring equipment developed at Aragats, we can mitigate the risks posed by these high-intensity fields. The Mendeley dataset, comprising various measured parameters during thunderstorm activities, enables researchers to perform advanced correlation analysis and uncover complex relationships between these atmospheric phenomena. This study underscores the critical importance of integrated atmospheric studies for ensuring the safety of high-altitude operations and advancing atmospheric science.
PubMed: 38882191
DOI: 10.1016/j.dib.2024.110554