Objectives/Hypothesis: To develop a deep-learning-based computer-aided diagnosis system for distinguishing laryngeal neoplasms (benign, precancerous lesions, and cancer) and improve the clinician-based accuracy of diagnostic assessments of laryngoscopy findings. Study Design: Retrospective study. Methods: A total of 24,667 laryngoscopy images (normal, vocal nodule, polyps, leukoplakia and malignancy) were collected to develop and test a convolutional neural network (CNN)-based classifier. A comparison between the proposed CNNbased classifier and the clinical visual assessments (CVAs) by 12 otolaryngologists was conducted. Results: In the independent testing dataset, an overall accuracy of 96.24% was achieved; for leukoplakia, benign, malignancy, normal, and vocal nodule, the sensitivity and specificity were 92.8% vs. 98.9%, 97% vs. 99.7%, 89% vs. 99.3%, 99.0% vs. 99.4%, and 97.2% vs. 99.1%, respectively. Furthermore, when compared with CVAs on the randomly selected test dataset, the CNN-based classifier outperformed physicians for most laryngeal conditions, with striking improvements in the ability to distinguish nodules (98% vs. 45%, P < .001), polyps (91% vs. 86%, P < .001), leukoplakia (91% vs. 65%, P < .001), and malignancy (90% vs. 54%, P < .001). Conclusions: The CNN-based classifier can provide a valuable reference for the diagnosis of laryngeal neoplasms during laryngoscopy, especially for distinguishing benign, precancerous, and cancer lesions.

No abstract

The process of leaching copper from malachite using methane-sulfonic acid (MSA) as an organic leaching reagent was investigated in this study. The effects of acid concentration, reaction temperature, particle size, and stirring speed on the copper leaching fraction were determined. Results indicated that leaching reagent concentration and reaction temperature exerted significant effects on copper extraction, whereas particle size and stirring speed exerted a relatively minor effect on the leaching rate. The kinetics of the dissolution process followed the shrinking core model, and a new kinetic model was found suitable to represent the rate-controlling step. The apparent activation energy of this process was determined to be 24.48 kJ/mol, and a semi-empirical rate equation was obtained to describe the process.

Forkhead-box gene 1 (FOXG1) has been reported to serve an important role in various malignancies, but its effects on nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) remain unknown. Thus, the present study aimed to investigate the specific regulatory relationship between FOXG1 and NPC progression. Tumor tissues and matching para-carcinoma tissues were obtained from patients with NPC. Small interfering (si)RNA-FOXG1 and pcDNA3.1-FOXG1 were transfected into SUNE-1 and C666-1 cells to knockdown and overexpress FOXG1 expression, respectively. FOXG1 expression was detected using reverse transcription-quantitative PCR and immunohistochemistry. Cell proliferation was detected using MTT and 5-ethynyl-20-deoxyuridine assays. Transwell invasion assay, wound healing assay and flow cytometry were used to detect cell invasion, migration and apoptosis, respectively. Western blotting was conducted to detect the expression levels of mitochondrial markers (succinate dehydrogenase complex flavoprotein subunit A, heat shock protein 60 and pyruvate dehydrogenase), epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) related proteins (N-cadherin, Snail and E-cadherin) and apoptosis-related proteins [Bax, Bcl-2, poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP), cleaved PARP, cleaved caspase-3, cleaved caspase-8, cleaved caspase-9, caspase-3, caspase-8 and caspase-9]. The mitochondrial membrane potential was detected via flow cytometry, while the ATP/ADP ratio was determined using the ADP/ATP ratio assay kit. The present results demonstrated that FOXG1 expression was upregulated in NPC tissues and cells, and was associated with distant metastasis and TNM stage. Moreover, knockdown of FOXG1 inhibited the proliferation, migration, invasion, EMT and mitochondrial function of SUNE-1 cells, as well as promoted cell apoptosis, while the opposite results were observed in C666-1 cells. In conclusion, FOXG1 enhanced proliferation, migration and invasion, induced EMT and improved mitochondrial function in NPC cells. The current findings provide an adequate theoretical basis for the treatment of NPC.

No abstract