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ACS Omega 2021 Apr 25;6(13):9204-9212. Epub 2021 Mar 25.

School of Science and Technology, Georgia Gwinnett College, 1000 University Center Lane, Lawrenceville, Georgia 30043, United States.

As part of local sustainability efforts, biodiesel was synthesized via transesterification using a deep eutectic solvent (DES) without further washing from on-campus, dining facility waste cooking oil and grease. Before moving forward with repurposing used DES as a solvent in chemistry teaching labs, we determined the suitability of the biodiesel as an alternative fuel blended with diesel to power campus utility vehicles. Biodiesel components were characterized by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (H NMR), viscometer, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and evolved gas analysis during pyrolysis with a thermogravimetric analyzer coupled with FTIR (TGA-FTIR). Read More

Radiol Imaging Cancer 2021 Mar 26;3(2):e200104. Epub 2021 Mar 26.

Department of Radiology (I.G., X.F., H.K., R.F., M.B., A.K., G.K., C.M.K., C.T.C.), National Institutes of Health Center for Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Imaging in Vivo Physiology (I.G., B.E., E.B., D.B., S.S., H.H.), Department of Radiation and Cellular Oncology (I.G., B.E., E.B., D.B., H.H.), Integrated Small Animal Imaging Research Resource (L.L., E.M., H.M.T., X.F., D.B., M.Z., C.M.K., C.T.C.), and Department of Public Health Sciences (M.G.), University of Chicago, 5841 S Maryland Ave, MC-2026, Chicago, IL 60637.

Purpose: To enhance the spatial accuracy of fluorine 18 (F) misonidazole (MISO) PET imaging of hypoxia by using dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) MR images as a basis for modifying PET images and by using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) partial oxygen pressure (pO) as the reference standard.

Materials And Methods: Mice ( = 10) with leg-borne MCa4 mammary carcinomas underwent EPR imaging, T2-weighted and DCE MRI, and F-MISO PET/CT. Images were registered to the same space for analysis. Read More

Molecules 2021 Mar 23;26(6). Epub 2021 Mar 23.

iBET, Instituto de Biologia Experimental e Tecnológica, Apartado 12, 2781-901 Oeiras, Portugal.

The characterization of terpene-based eutectic solvent systems is performed to describe their solid-liquid phase transitions. Physical properties are measured experimentally and compared to computed correlations for deep eutectic solvents (DES) and the percentage relative error for the density, surface tension, and refractive index is obtained. The thermodynamic parameters, including the degradation, glass transition and crystallization temperatures, are measured using DSC and TGA. Read More

Molecules 2021 Mar 13;26(6). Epub 2021 Mar 13.

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Center for Nanofibers and Nanotechnology, Faculty of Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117581, Singapore.

The incorporation of nanofillers such as graphene into polymers has shown significant improvements in mechanical characteristics, thermal stability, and conductivity of resulting polymeric nanocomposites. To this aim, the influence of incorporation of graphene nanosheets into ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) on the thermal behavior and degradation kinetics of UHMWPE/graphene nanocomposites was investigated. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis revealed that graphene nanosheets were uniformly spread throughout the UHMWPE's molecular chains. Read More

Polymers (Basel) 2021 Mar 10;13(6). Epub 2021 Mar 10.

Centre for Transformative Biomimetics in Bioengineering, Queensland University of Technology, 60 Musk Avenue, Kelvin Grove, QLD 4059, Australia.

The interaction of water within synthetic and natural hydrogel systems is of fundamental importance in biomaterial science. A systematic study is presented on the swelling behavior and states of water for a polyethylene glycol-diacrylate (PEGDA)-based model neutral hydrogel system that goes beyond previous studies reported in the literature. Hydrogels with different network structures are crosslinked and swollen in different combinations of water and phosphate-buffered saline (PBS). Read More

Food Chem 2021 Mar 13;355:129577. Epub 2021 Mar 13.

College of Biosystems Engineering and Food Science, Key Laboratory of Agro-Products Postharvest Handling of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Agri-Food Processing, National-Local Joint Engineering Laboratory of Intelligent Food Technology and Equipment, Zhejiang, University, Hangzhou, People's Republic of China; Ningbo Research Institute, Zhejiang University, Ningbo, People's Republic of China; Fuli Institute of Food Science, Hangzhou, People's Republic of China. Electronic address:

An excellent high-efficiency natural deep eutectic solvent (NADES, ChCl-MA) was screened out and integrated with pulse-ultrasonication technique for extracting phenolic compounds from Carya cathayensis Sarg. peels (CCSPs). Single factor experiment combined with response surface methodology (RSM) using Box-Behnken design (BBD) were employed to investigate significant factors and optimize their influence on extraction of phenolic compounds. Read More

Clin Transl Radiat Oncol 2021 May 11;28:39-47. Epub 2021 Mar 11.

Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology, Utrecht, the Netherlands.

Background And Purpose: Recently, the SIOP-RTSG developed a highly-conformal flank target volume definition for children with renal tumors. The aims of this study were to evaluate the inter-clinician delineation variation of this new target volume definition in an international multicenter setting and to explore the necessity of quality assurance.

Materials And Methods: Six pediatric renal cancer cases were transferred to ten radiation oncologists from seven European countries ('participants'). Read More

Abdom Radiol (NY) 2021 Mar 27. Epub 2021 Mar 27.

Department of Radiology, Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.

Purpose: Radiation therapy (RT) is an effective treatment for unresectable cholangiocarcinoma (CC). Accurate tumor volume delineation is critical in achieving high rates of local control while minimizing treatment-related toxicity. This study compares F-FDG PET/MR to MR and CT for target volume delineation for RT planning. Read More

Int J Pharm 2021 Mar 22;601:120514. Epub 2021 Mar 22.

Synthesis and Solid State Pharmaceutical Centre (SSPC), Bernal Institute, University of Limerick, Limerick V94 T9PX, Ireland; Department of Chemical Sciences, Bernal Institute, University of Limerick, Limerick V94 T9PX, Ireland.

Discovery of novel cocrystal systems and improvement of their physicochemical properties dominates the current literature on cocrystals yet the required end-product formulation is rarely addressed. Drug product manufacturing includes complex API solid state processing steps such as milling, granulation, and tableting. These all require high mechanical stress which can lead to solid-state phase transformations into polymorphs and solvates, or lead to dissociation of cocrystals into their individual components. Read More

Chemosphere 2021 May 9;271:129890. Epub 2021 Feb 9.

Department of Chemical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 10617, Taiwan. Electronic address:

Synthesis of Polyimides (PIs) between pyromellitic dianhydride (PMDAH) and oxydianiline (ODA) or p-phenylenediamine (PPDA) in the presence and absence of VO and Ag nanoparticles (NPs) were carried out under N atmosphere at 160 °C for 5 h with vigorous stirring in N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) solvent. The prepared PI and its nanocomposites were analyzed by FT-IR spectroscopy, H NMR spectroscopy, FE-SEM, SEM, DSC and TGA like analytical instruments. The FE-SEM showed various surface morphologies for different PI nanocomposites. Read More

Pract Radiat Oncol 2021 Mar 12. Epub 2021 Mar 12.

Department of Radiation Oncology, University of California Davis Medical Center, Sacramento, CA, United States; Department of Radiation Oncology, Mayo Clinic Arizona, Phoenix, AZ, United States. Electronic address:

Purpose: This study aims to evaluate the accuracy of deformable image registration (DIR) algorithms using datasets with different levels of ground-truth deformation vector fields (DVFs) and to investigate the relationship between DVF errors and contour-based metrics.

Methods: Nine pairs of digital datasets were generated through contour-controlled deformations based on three anonymized patients' CTs (head-and-neck, thorax/abdomen, and pelvis) with low, medium, and high deformation intensity for each site using ImSimQA software. Image pairs and their associated contours were imported to MIM-Maestro, Raystation, and Velocity systems, followed by DIR and contour propagation. Read More

Acta Oncol 2021 Mar 10:1-9. Epub 2021 Mar 10.

Department of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, Odense C, Denmark.

Background And Purpose: Deformable image registration (DIR) and contour propagation are used in daily online adaptation for hybrid MRI linac (MRL) treatments. The accuracy of the propagated contours may vary depending on the chosen workflow (WF), affecting the amount of required manual corrections. This study investigated the impact of three different WFs of contour propagations produced by a clinical treatment planning system for a high-field MRL on head and neck cancer patients. Read More

J Appl Lab Med 2021 Mar;6(2):387-396

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY.

Background: For many laboratories, autoimmune encephalopathy (AE) panels are send-out tests. These tests are expensive, and ordering patterns vary greatly. There is also a lack of consensus on which panel to order and poor understanding of the clinical utility of these panels. Read More

Front Oncol 2020 16;10:581347. Epub 2021 Feb 16.

Department of Radiation Oncology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital (CAMS), Beijing, China.

Background: This study aims to construct and validate a model based on convolutional neural networks (CNNs), which can fulfil the automatic segmentation of clinical target volumes (CTVs) of breast cancer for radiotherapy.

Methods: In this work, computed tomography (CT) scans of 110 patients who underwent modified radical mastectomies were collected. The CTV contours were confirmed by two experienced oncologists. Read More

Food Res Int 2021 Feb 3;140:109867. Epub 2020 Nov 3.

Department of Food Science, University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 26, DK-1958 Frederiksberg C, Denmark. Electronic address:

Calcium citrate tetrahydrate (CCT) and hexahydrate (CCH) precipitates from aqueous solutions of CaCl and sodium citrate above and below the transition temperature of 52 °C, respectively. The CCT, the dihydrate (CCD) and anhydrate (CCA) as obtained by a stepwise dehydration of solid CCH have enthalpy of dehydration of ΔH = 43.6, ΔH = 43. Read More

EJNMMI Phys 2021 Feb 27;8(1):21. Epub 2021 Feb 27.

Nuclear Medicine Unit, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Turin, Corso Dogliotti 14, 10126, Turin, Italy.

Objective: To identify the impact of segmentation methods and intensity discretization on radiomic features (RFs) extraction from Ga-DOTA-TOC PET images in patients with neuroendocrine tumors.

Methods: Forty-nine patients were retrospectively analyzed. Tumor contouring was performed manually by four different operators and with a semi-automatic edge-based segmentation (SAEB) algorithm. Read More

Radiother Oncol 2021 Feb 24;158:112-117. Epub 2021 Feb 24.

Christie Medical Physics and Engineering, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK; Division of Cancer Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Heath, University of Manchester, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK. Electronic address:

Introduction: Auto contouring models help consistently define volumes and reduce clinical workload. This study aimed to evaluate the cross acquisition of a Magnetic Resonance (MR) deep learning auto contouring model for organ at risk (OAR) delineation in head and neck radiotherapy.

Methods: Two auto contouring models were evaluated using deep learning contouring expert (DLCExpert) for OAR delineation: a CT model (model) and an MR model (model). Read More

AJNR Am J Neuroradiol 2021 Feb 25. Epub 2021 Feb 25.

Pathology (S.-H.P.), Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Korea.

Background And Purpose: () promoter methylation status in primary and recurrent glioblastoma may change during treatment. The purpose of this study was to correlate promoter methylation status changes with DWI and DSC PWI features in patients with recurrent glioblastoma after standard treatment.

Materials And Methods: Between January 2008 and November 2016, forty patients with histologically confirmed recurrent glioblastoma were enrolled. Read More

Pharm Nanotechnol 2021 Feb 22. Epub 2021 Feb 22.

Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Tabuk, Tabuk 71491. Saudi Arabia.

Background: Metformin (MF) is an antidiabetic drug that belongs to class III of the biopharmaceutical classification system (BCS) which is characterized by high solubility and low permeability.

Objective: The study aimed to prepare metformin as nanostructured lipid carriers (MF-NLCs) to control the drug release and enhance its permeability through the biological membrane.

Method: 22 full factorial design was used to make the design of MF-NLCs formulations. Read More

Med Phys 2021 Feb 23;48(2):715-723. Epub 2020 Dec 23.

Department of Imaging Physics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.

Purpose: Most existing computed tomography (CT)-ventilation imaging techniques are based on deformable image registration (DIR) of different respiratory phases of a four-dimensonal CT (4DCT) scan of the lung, followed by the quantification of local breathing-induced changes in Hounsfield Units (HU) or volume. To date, only moderate correlations have been reported between these CT-ventilation metrics and standard ventilation imaging modalities for adaptive lung radiation therapy. This study evaluates the use of stress maps derived from biomechanical model-based DIR as an alternative CT-ventilation metric. Read More

J Med Radiat Sci 2020 Dec;67(4):284-293

Faculty of Health, School of Clinical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

Introduction: A challenge in implementing deformable image registration (DIR) in radiation therapy planning is effectively communicating registration accuracy to the radiation oncologist. This study aimed to evaluate the MIM® quality assurance (QA) tool for rating DIR accuracy.

Methods: Retrospective DIR was performed on CT images for 35 head and neck cancer patients. Read More

IEEE Access 2020 17;8:151817-151828. Epub 2020 Aug 17.

Department of Radiological Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

Automatic segmentation of prostatic zones on multiparametric MRI (mpMRI) can improve the diagnostic workflow of prostate cancer. We designed a spatial attentive Bayesian deep learning network for the automatic segmentation of the peripheral zone (PZ) and transition zone (TZ) of the prostate with uncertainty estimation. The proposed method was evaluated by using internal and external independent testing datasets, and overall uncertainties of the proposed model were calculated at different prostate locations (apex, middle, and base). Read More

Biomolecules 2021 Feb 4;11(2). Epub 2021 Feb 4.

Departamento de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular "A", Facultad de Veterinaria, Regional Campus of International Excellence "Campus Mare Nostrum", Universidad de Murcia, Apartado de Correos 4021, E-30080 Murcia, Spain.

The synthetic estrogen diethylstilbestrol (DES) is used to treat metastatic carcinomas and prostate cancer. We studied its interaction with membranes and its localization to understand its mechanism of action and side-effects. We used differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) showing that DES fluidized the membrane and has poor solubility in DMPC (1,2-dimyristoyl--glycero-3-phosphocholine) in the fluid state. Read More

Materials (Basel) 2021 Feb 4;14(4). Epub 2021 Feb 4.

Lukasiewicz Research Network-Institute of Non-Ferrous Metals, 5 Sowinskiegostr., 44-100 Gliwice, Poland.

The effect of substitution of Fe by Cu on the crystal structure and magnetic properties of FeNiNbCuSiB alloys ( = 0.6, 1.1, 1. Read More

Int J Biol Macromol 2021 Mar 1;174:502-511. Epub 2021 Feb 1.

Polymer Biomaterial Design and Synthesis Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Yogi Vemana University, Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh 516005, India. Electronic address:

This study investigated natural polymer-based stimuli-responsive hydrogels (TGIAVE) and their silver nanocomposites (TGIAVE-Ag). The hydrogels were composed of tragacanth gum, N-isopropyl acrylamide, and 2-(vinlyoxy) ethanol and were prepared via simple redox polymerization using N,N'-methylene-bis-acrylamide as a crosslinker and potassium persulfate as an initiator. The TGIAVE-Ag were synthesized via a green method involving an aqueous extract of Terminalia bellirica seeds. Read More

Dalton Trans 2021 Mar;50(8):2864-2871

Nikolaev Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 3 Acad. Lavrentiev Avenue, Novosibirsk 630090, Russian Federation.

Two new complexes trans-(H3O)[RuNO(NH3)4F](NO3)1.5F1.5·0. Read More

Clin Transl Radiat Oncol 2021 Mar 14;27:50-56. Epub 2021 Jan 14.

Department of Radiation Oncology, University Medical Center Utrecht, The Netherlands.

Background And Purpose: Magnetic resonance (MR)-guided linear accelerator (MR-Linac) systems have changed radiotherapy workflows. The addition of daily online contour adaptation allows for higher precision treatment, but also increases the workload of those involved. We train radiation therapists (RTTs) to perform daily online contour adaptation for MR-Linac treatment of prostate cancer (PCa) patients. Read More

Quant Imaging Med Surg 2021 Feb;11(2):579-585

Department of Radiology, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, China.

Background: Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) is the second most common primary liver tumor, and local radiotherapy has a positive effect on patients with an unresectable tumor. Accurate delineation of gross tumor volume (GTV) is crucial to improve the efficacy of radiotherapy. The purpose of this article was to evaluate the consistency of CT, diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) and Gadoxetic acid disodium (Gd-EOB-DTPA)-enhanced MRI on GTV delineation of ICC. Read More

Polymers (Basel) 2021 Jan 27;13(3). Epub 2021 Jan 27.

Department of Machine Design, Mechatronics and Robotics, "Gheorghe Asachi" Technical University of Iasi, 700050 Iasi, Romania.

Multifunctionalization of cotton using a single product has not been made until now. Such a product was synthesized using compounds with multiple functions (glyoxal, ethylenediamine (ED) and monochlorotriazinyl-β-cyclodextrin (MCT-β-CD)), under different mass ratios. Obtaining this multifunctional derivative has been confirmed by spectroscopic analyses (H-NMR and FTIR) and a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Read More

Med Phys 2021 Jan 27. Epub 2021 Jan 27.

Machine Intelligence Laboratory, College of Computer Science, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, P R China.

Purpose: Precise segmentation of clinical target volume (CTV) is the key to stomach cancer radiotherapy. We proposed a novel stochastic width-deep neural network (SW-DNN) for better automatically contouring stomach CTV.

Methods: Stochastic width-deep neural network was an end-to-end approach, of which the core component was a novel SW mechanism that employed shortcut connections between the encoder and decoder in a random manner, and thus the width of the SW-DNN was stochastically adjustable to obtain improved segmentation results. Read More