Prediction of Postoperative Survival Level of Esophageal Cancer Patients Based on Kaplan-Meier(K-M) Survival Analysis and Gray Wolf Optimization (GWO)-BP Model

Background: Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is a global safety problem, especially the low 5-year survival rate of patients after surgery, and their healthy life after surgery is directly threatened.Methods: Kaplan-Meier(K-M) survival analysis is used to screen the blood indexes of patients with ESCC. The gray wolf algorithm (GWO) is introduced to optimize the weight threshold of back-propagation (BP) neural network, and a prediction model based on K-M-GWO-BP is established.Results: According to the influencing factors of postoperative survival, the postoperative survival level of patients is predicted. K-M survival analysis is used to analyze the relevant risk factors, the redundant variables are eliminated, and the whole structure of the neural network is simplified. The initial weight of BP neural network is optimized by GWO.Conclusions: BP neural network model, PSO-BP, GA-BP, SSA-BP, GWO-BP, K-M-BP, K-M-PSO-BP, K-MGA-BP, K-M-SSA-BP and K-M-GWO-BP are compared, the prediction accuracy of K-M-GWO-BP neural network model is the best.

Radiological outcomes following manual and robotic-assisted unicompartmental knee arthroplasty

Aims The purpose of this study was to compare the radiological outcomes of manual versus robotic-assisted medial unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA). Methods Postoperative radiological outcomes from 86 consecutive robotic-assisted UKAs (RAUKA group) from a single academic centre were retrospectively reviewed and compared to 253 manual UKAs (MUKA group) drawn from a prior study at our institution. Femoral coronal and sagittal angles (FCA, FSA), tibial coronal and sagittal angles (TCA, TSA), and implant overhang were radiologically measured to identify outliers. Results When assessing the accuracy of RAUKAs, 91.6% of all alignment measurements and 99.2% of all overhang measurements were within the target range. All alignment and overhang targets were simultaneously met in 68.6% of RAUKAs. When comparing radiological outcomes between the RAUKA and MUKA groups, statistically significant differences were identified for combined outliers in FCA (2.3% vs 12.6%; p = 0.006), FSA (17.4% vs 50.2%; p < 0.001), TCA (5.8% vs 41.5%; p < 0.001), and TSA (8.1% vs 18.6%; p = 0.023), as well as anterior (0.0% vs 4.7%; p = 0.042), posterior (1.2% vs 13.4%; p = 0.001), and medial (1.2% vs 14.2%; p < 0.001) overhang outliers. Conclusion Robotic system navigation decreases alignment and overhang outliers compared to manual UKA. Given the association between component placement errors and revision in UKA, this strong significant improvement in accuracy may improve implant survival. Level of Evidence: III Cite this article: Bone Jt Open 2021;2-3:191–197.

The North Korean Economy: Sustainable or Muddling-Through?

Confronting the continuing economic sanctions, the flood disaster, and the COVID 19, North Korea is now in a critical phase whether the North Korean economy will shift to a sustainable economy or, as it has done in the past three decades, barely manage to maintain at a survival level. To explore the question, this study investigates North Korea’s economic policy changes by extracting the keywords from the North Korean economic journal Economic Research, which is a representative state published document. We use a text mining approach to overcome limitations, such as the lack of objectivity and accuracy of the classification of topics in manual text analysis for North Korean studies. Contrary to the conventional assumption that the North Korean economic policies are driven by dogmatic Juche (self-reliance) ideology, we find that the strategy of economic policies differs depending on the leader and political and economic circumstances at the time. In particular, since Kim Jong-un assumed office in 2011, the topics have diversified, and now cover a wide range of subjects on capitalism. Nevertheless, without North Korea’s decisive reform measures and international cooperation, it will be hard to observe that the North Korean economy can go beyond ‘muddling-through’ for sustainable development.

Impact of Public, Private and Non-Governmental Organisations’ Financial Interventions on Youth Livelihood Outcomes in Kenya

This study investigated the impact of public, private and Non-Governmental Organisations’ financial interventions on youth livelihood outcomes (YLO) in Kenya. A survey of 201 respondents randomly sampled from registered Youth Self-Help Groups in Nairobi County was conducted. Results showed that males constituted 74% and females made up 26% of the sample. The ages of the respondents ranged from 18 to 35 years. The results for livelihood outcomes indicated that 52% of the youth were at a survival level, 18% were at the security level and 30% were at the growth level of youth livelihood outcomes. Hypothesis test results further revealed that there was a relationship between the financial interventions and youth livelihood outcomes (χ2= 18.70; d.f. =7; p<0.05). Further regression results revealed three significant predictors of YLO in rank order as the public devolved funds comprised of Youth Enterprise Development Fund and Uwezo Fund (β= 0.761; p=0.009), followed by private micro-finance institutions (β=1.003; p=0.010) and finally, informal loans provided to members of Youth Self-Help Groups (β=1.037; p=0.018. The variables that were not significant predictors of YLO were Non-Profit Organisations, Faith-Based Organisations and Community-Based Organisations’ financial interventions. These findings implied that government-sponsored devolved funds had the greatest impact on youth livelihood outcomes, followed by funding by private micro-finance institutions and finally informal loans provided by the youth self-help groups to their members. This study has established that the public, private and the youth self-help groups’ financial interventions had the most significant positive impacts on youth livelihood outcomes. It was recommended that there was a need to provide more youth-targeted financial interventions by both the public and the private sectors in order to enhance youth livelihood outcomes. Furthermore, active participation by the youth in their development process is paramount for sustainable livelihoods to be achieved.

Radiosensitizing Effect of Gadolinium Oxide Nanocrystals in NSCLC Cells Under Carbon Ion Irradiation

Gadolinium-based nanomaterials can not only serve as contrast agents but also contribute to sensitization in the radiotherapy of cancers. Among radiotherapies, carbon ion irradiation is considered one of the superior approaches with unique physical and biological advantages. However, only a few metallic nanoparticles have been used to improve carbon ion irradiation. In this study, gadolinium oxide nanocrystals (GONs) were synthesized using a polyol method to decipher the radiosensitizing mechanisms in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell lines irradiated by carbon ions. The sensitizer enhancement ratio at the 10% survival level was correlated with the concentration of Gd in NSCLC cells. GONs elicited an increase in hydroxyl radical production in a concentration-dependent manner, and the yield of reactive oxygen species increased obviously in irradiated cells, which led to DNA damage and cell cycle arrest. Apoptosis and cytostatic autophagy were also significantly induced by GONs under carbon ion irradiation. The GONs may serve as an effective theranostic material in carbon ion radiotherapy for NSCLC. Graphical Abstract

Introduction into in vitro culture and cytogenetic analysis of Iris attica Boiss. & Heldr. and Iris pseudopumila Tineo plants

Aim. The work was aimed at the development of conditions for introduction into in vitro culture of two species of irises, Iris attica and I. pseudopumila to obtain aseptic seedlings with subsequent reintroduction into natural environment, as well as at cytogenetic analysis of the obtained plants. Methods. In vitro seed germination and seedling cultivation. Cytogenetic analysis of cells of root meristem, determination of chromosome number and morphology in mitotic metaphase plates, anaphase analysis. Results. The plants of I. attica and I. pseudopumila were introduced in vitro. Aseptic seedlings were obtained, which were actively growing on MS/2 medium without phytohormones. The experiments on the adaptation of the plants to greenhouse conditions revealed the high survival rate for both species. The chromosome number 2n = 16 was established for the obtained plants of both I. attica and I. pseudopumila. Mixoploidy was detected in root meristem of some of the plants, the incidence of which was 10.9 % for I. pseudopumila and 30.4 % for I. attica. The frequency of cells with chromosomal rearrangements revealed by anaphase analysis in root meristem of I. pseudopumila seedlings was 2.6 %; in I. attica plants, chromosome aberrations were not detected. Conclusions. The plants of I. attica and I. pseudopumila were introduced into in vitro culture, aseptic seedlings were obtained, which showed a high survival level when adapted to greenhouse conditions. Chromosome number 2n = 16 was established for the obtained plants of both species. The root apical meristems of the seedlings were found to be mixoploid, with the incidence of mixoploidy in I. attica identified as three times higher than in I. pseudopumila plants.Keywords: I. attica Boiss. & Heldr., I. pseudopumila Tineo, aseptic seedlings, mixoploidy, anaphase aberration.

Cell-Based ESD Diodes with a Zigzag-Shaped Layout to Enhance the ESD Survival Level

In this study, we propose cell-based diodes which are laid out with a zigzag shape as electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection elements to enhance the ESD survival level of the diodes. Generally, diodes are regarded as simple ESD protection devices in integrated circuits. During ESD events, the P–N junction of the ESD diode acts as a thermal source. In this study, we investigate a distributed layout method which relies on a cell-based ESD diode to prevent an excessive increase in the temperature at the P–N junction. However, although the distributed layout enhances the ESD survival levels of the ESD diode, the required area increases compared that of a typical layout. Thus, we propose a zigzag layout technique for the cell-based diode to reduce the area and obtain a high ESD survival level. To verify the feasibility of the zigzag layout techniques for cell-based diodes, we designed ESD diodes using 110[Formula: see text]nm RF CMOS technology. The experimental results successfully demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed method.

Analysis of flowering ability of regenerated Carlina acaulis subsp. simplex plants

Regenerated plants of <i>Carlina acaulis</i> subsp. <i>simplex</i> induced on shoot tips and fragments of hypocotyls, cotyledons and roots were used as an experimental material. Explants were isolated from 10-day-old, sterile seedlings and were put on growth media supplemented with BA (3 mg×dm^-3), and NAA (0,1 mg×dm^-3). Plantlets were acclimatized to <i>ex vitro</i> conditions and planted to the field. Analysis of flowering ability, inflorescence stem morphology, and survival level was the objective of the study. The plants regenerated from shoot tips and cotyledons were able to flower in the first year after acclimatization, however no vital seeds were found, while in the case of hypocotyl- and root- regenerated plants flowering appeared in the second year after acclimatization. Number of flowering-able plants grew in time, reaching 100% level. Few percent of inflorescence stems displayed branches ending with additional capitula. The number of this type of plants decreased in successive years, while the average length of inflorescence stem increased. In the case of intensively flowering plants, the survival rate decreased in 3 consecutive years.