High-resolution three-dimensional imaging of topological textures in nanoscale single-diamond networks

Topological defects-extended lattice deformations that are robust against local defects and annealing-have been exploited to engineer novel properties in both hard and soft materials. Yet, their formation kinetics and nanoscale three-dimensional structure are poorly understood, impeding their benefits for nanofabrication. We describe the fabrication of a pair of topological defects in the volume of a single-diamond network (space group Fd3 ¯ m) templated into gold from a triblock terpolymer crystal. Using X-ray nanotomography, we resolve the three-dimensional structure of nearly 70,000 individual single-diamond unit cells with a spatial resolution of 11.2 nm, allowing analysis of the long-range order of the network. The defects observed morphologically resemble the comet and trefoil patterns of equal and opposite half-integer topological charges observed in liquid crystals. Yet our analysis of strain in the network suggests typical hard matter behaviour. Our analysis approach does not require a priori knowledge of the expected positions of the nodes in three-dimensional nanostructured systems, allowing the identification of distorted morphologies and defects in large samples.

Prognostic significance of absolute lymphocyte count in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma receiving first-line combination immunotherapies: results from the International Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma Database Consortium

BACKGROUND

Lymphocytes are closely linked to mechanisms of action of immuno-oncology (IO) agents. We aimed to assess the prognostic significance of absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC).

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Using the International mRCC Database Consortium (IMDC), patients receiving first-line IO-based combination therapy were analysed. Baseline patient characteristics, objective response rates (ORRs), time to next treatment (TTNT), and overall survival (OS) were compared.

RESULTS

Of 966 patients included, 195 (20%) had lymphopenia at baseline, and they had a lower ORR (37% versus 45%; P < 0.001), shorter TTNT (10.1 months versus 24.3 months; P < 0.001), and shorter OS (30.4 months versus 48.2 months; P < 0.001). Among 125 patients with lymphopenia at baseline, 52 (42%) experienced ALC recovery at 3 months, and they had longer OS (not reached versus 30.4 months; P = 0.012). On multivariable analysis for OS, lymphopenia was an independent adverse prognostic factor (hazard ratio 1.68; P < 0.001). Incorporation of lymphopenia into the IMDC criteria improved OS prediction accuracy (C-index from 0.688 to 0.707).

CONCLUSIONS

Lymphopenia was observed in one-fifth of treatment-naive patients with mRCC and may serve as an indicator of unfavourable oncologic outcomes in the contemporary IO era.

Correlation of callosal angle at the splenium with gait and cognition in normal pressure hydrocephalus

OBJECTIVE

Idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH) is characterized by ventricular enlargement that deforms the corpus callosum, making the callosal angle (CA) small. The authors aimed to evaluate the clinical usefulness of the CA in different planes in iNPH.

METHODS

Forty patients with iNPH were included in the study. As a control group, 241 patients with other neurological diseases and 50 healthy controls were included. The subjects had been seen at the authors' institutions from 2010 to 2020. The Timed Up and Go (TUG) test total time and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) total score were evaluated. CAs were measured in the axial plane at the splenium and genu and in the coronal plane at the anterior commissure and posterior commissure by using 3-dimensional T1-weighted MR images. As other hydrocephalus parameters, the Evans index, frontal-occipital horn ratio, and third ventricular width were also measured in patients with iNPH. Associations between each CA or hydrocephalus parameter and clinical parameters were evaluated. The classification efficacy of each CA in differentiating between iNPH and other neurological diseases and healthy controls was evaluated.

RESULTS

The CA at the splenium, but no other hydrocephalus parameters, was correlated with TUG total time or MMSE total score in patients with iNPH. Receiver operating characteristic analysis showed that a CA of 71.1° at the splenium has 90.0% sensitivity and 89.0% specificity in discriminating iNPH from other neurological diseases and healthy controls. Probabilistic tractography analysis showed that neuronal fibers via the splenium connect the superior parietal lobules, temporal lobes, and occipital lobes.

CONCLUSIONS

The study results suggest that interhemispheric disconnections at the splenium are, at least in part, responsible for gait and cognitive disturbance in iNPH. The CA at the splenium is a unique morphological feature that correlates with gait and cognition in iNPH, and it is useful for discriminating iNPH from other neurological diseases and healthy controls.

Genome-wide association study identifies a new susceptibility locus in PLA2G4C for Multiple System Atrophy

To elucidate the molecular basis of multiple system atrophy (MSA), a neurodegenerative disease, we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) in a Japanese MSA case/control series followed by replication studies in Japanese, Korean, Chinese, European and North American samples. In the GWAS stage rs2303744 on chromosome 19 showed a suggestive association ( P = 6.5 × 10 ^-7 ) that was replicated in additional Japanese samples ( P = 2.9 × 10 ^-6 . OR = 1.58; 95% confidence interval, 1.30 to 1.91), and then confirmed as highly significant in a meta-analysis of East Asian population data ( P = 5.0 × 10 ^-15 . Odds ratio= 1.49; 95% CI 1.35 to 1.72). The association of rs2303744 with MSA remained significant in combined European/North American samples ( P =0.023. Odds ratio=1.14; 95% CI 1.02 to 1.28) despite allele frequencies being quite different between these populations. rs2303744 leads to an amino acid substitution in PLA2G4C that encodes the cPLA2γ lysophospholipase/transacylase. The cPLA2γ-Ile143 isoform encoded by the MSA risk allele has significantly decreased transacylase activity compared with the alternate cPLA2γ-Val143 isoform that may perturb membrane phospholipids and α-synuclein biology.

Derivation and validation of a pretest probability score for deep vein thrombosis before surgery

Background

Venous thromboembolism represents a crucial perioperative complication and causes morbidity and mortality. It is important to predict deep vein thrombosis (DVT) before surgery under general anesthesia.

Purpose

We developed a pretest probability score for predicting DVT with perioperative clinical and laboratory variables.

Methods

Total 7435 patients were planed surgery under general anesthesia between 2017 and 2018. 1313 patients were performed whole leg ultrasonography suspected DVT using cutoff point of D-dimer ≥1μg/ml. We excluded age &lt;18 years, ongoing anticoagulant therapy, other thrombosis, protein C deficiency, disseminated intravascular coagulation, central venous catheter, pregnancy and aneurysm. We enrolled 971 patients, we divided into the derivation cohort or the validation cohort. The association of DVT with multiple variables was characterized in a derivation cohort of 651 patients. The score validated in an independent cohort of 322 patients from the same study. We also performed a validation of this model in an independent cohort of patients derived from the same observational study.

Results

We found 6 clinical and 1 laboratory parameters that predicted DVT in patients before surgery. The prediction rule for DVT assigned 2 points for D-dimer more than 1.44 μg/ml and 1 point for age ≥60 years, female, ongoing steroid, active cancer with high risk of DVT, prolong immobility and antipsychotic drug. In derivation and validation cohorts, area under the curve was 0.73 and 0.70, respectively. New preoperative risk model with these parameters stratified patients into 3 individual categories corresponding to the risk of DVT. Rates of DVT in the derivation and validation cohorts, respectively, were 6% and 7% in low-risk (score 0–2), 22% and 21% in intermediate-risk (score 3–4), and 49% and 47% in high-risk (score ≥5) category. Rates of fresh DVT were 1% and 3% in low-risk, 10% and 9% in intermediate-risk, and 33% and 19% in high-risk category.

Conclusion

This score stratifies perioperative DVT risk and may detect effectively DVT. The findings should be considered with the further prospective research.

Funding Acknowledgement

Type of funding sources: None. Rate of DVT

Multiple System Atrophy Showing Portomesenteric Venous Gas with Pneumatosis Intestinalis on Abdominal Computed Tomography Associated with a Cause of Death

This manuscript describes the first known case of a patient with multiple system atrophy whose parasympathetic dominant disturbance might have been associated with the relative constriction of the superior mesenteric artery, leading to nonocclusive mesenteric ischemia and subsequent portomesenteric venous gas with pneumatosis intestinalis on abdominal computed tomography approaching death.

Downward Terrestrial Gamma-Ray Flash Observed in a Winter Thunderstorm

During a winter thunderstorm on 24 November 2017, a strong burst of gamma rays with energies up to ∼10  MeV was detected coincident with a lightning discharge, by scintillation detectors installed at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Station at sea level in Japan. The burst had a subsecond duration, which is suggestive of photoneutron production. The leading part of the burst was resolved into four intense gamma-ray bunches, each coincident with a low-frequency radio pulse. These bunches were separated by 0.7-1.5 ms, with a duration of ≪1  ms each. Thus, the present burst may be considered as a "downward" terrestrial gamma-ray flash (TGF), which is analogous to upgoing TGFs observed from space. Although the scintillation detectors were heavily saturated by these bunches, the total dose associated with them was successfully measured by ionization chambers, employed by nine monitoring posts surrounding the power plant. From this information and Monte Carlo simulations, the present downward TGF is suggested to have taken place at an altitude of 2500±500  m, involving 8_{-4}^{+8}×10^{18} avalanche electrons with energies above 1 MeV. This number is comparable to those in upgoing TGFs.

Real-world outcomes of nivolumab and cabozantinib in metastatic renal cell carcinoma: results from the International Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma Database Consortium

Objectives

In the present study, we explored the real-world efficacy of the immuno-oncology checkpoint inhibitor nivolumab and the tyrosine kinase inhibitor cabozantinib in the second-line setting.

Methods

Using the International Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma Database Consortium (imdc) dataset, a retrospective analysis of patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mrcc) treated with nivolumab or cabozantinib in the second line after prior therapy targeted to the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (vegfr) was performed. Baseline characteristics and imdc risk factors were collected. Overall survival (os) and time to treatment failure (ttf) were calculated using Kaplan-Meier curves. Overall response rates (orrs) were determined for each therapy. Multivariable Cox regression analysis was performed to determine survival differences between cabozantinib and nivolumab treatment.

Results

The analysis included 225 patients treated with nivolumab and 53 treated with cabozantinib. No significant difference in median os was observed: 22.10 months [95% confidence interval (ci): 17.18 months to not reached] with nivolumab and 23.70 months (95% ci: 15.52 months to not reached) with cabozantinib (p = 0.61). The ttf was also similar at 6.90 months (95% ci: 4.60 months to 9.20 months) with nivolumab and 7.39 months (95% ci: 5.52 months to 12.85 months) with cabozantinib (p = 0.20). The adjusted hazard ratio (hr) for nivolumab compared with cabozantinib was 1.30 (95% ci: 0.73 to 2.3), p = 0.38. When adjusted by imdc criteria and age, the hr was 1.32 (95% ci: 0.74 to 2.38), p = 0.35.

Conclusions

Real-world imdc data indicate comparable os and ttf for nivolumab and cabozantinib. Both agents are reasonable therapeutic options for patients progressing after initial first-line vegfr-targeted therapy.

Midterm outcome of total hip arthroplasty for rapidly destructive coxarthrosis

PURPOSE

To compare the midterm outcome in 12 women who underwent total hip arthroplasty (THA) for rapidly destructive coxarthrosis (RDC) and in 12 controls who underwent THA for osteoarthritis.

METHODS

Records of 12 women aged 50 to 80 (mean, 72.3) years who underwent THA for RDC after a mean of 9 (range, 4-11) months since symptom onset were reviewed. They were compared with 12 age-and sex-matched controls who underwent THA for primary or secondary osteoarthritis. Acetabular bone deficiency of the 12 RDC patients was classified as type I (n=7), type II (n=4), or type III (n=1). Type I was treated with cementless THA, and types II and III were treated with THA with a cemented acetabular component. The femoral component was cementless. Pre- and post-operative Harris Hip Score was assessed. Radiographs of the hip were evaluated for implant migration, osteolysis, and periprosthetic radiolucency in the acetabulum and proximal femur.

RESULTS

The 12 women who underwent THA for RDC and the 12 controls who underwent THA for osteoarthritis were comparable in terms of pre-, intra-, and post-operative parameters. After a mean follow-up of 9.3 years, the mean Harris Hip Score improved from 38.3 to 81.1 in RDC patients and from 43.6 to 84.2 in controls (p=0.13). One RDC patient had dislocation but did not require revision surgery. One RDC patient developed a radiolucent line <2 mm in zones 1 and 7 of the femoral component, but no migration occurred. No patient had progression of bony destruction, loosening, osteolysis, migration, or radiolucency of the acetabular component.

CONCLUSION

Despite the rapid destruction of the acetabulum and femoral head in RDC patients, cemented or cementless THA achieved a good midterm outcome comparable to that for patients with primary or secondary osteoarthritis.