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BackgroundNeoadjuvant chemotherapy before radical gastrectomy is preferred for locally advanced gastric cancer. To avoid the problematic use of pTNM for patients after neoadjuvant chemotherapy, the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) and the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) gastric cancer TNM staging system (8th edition) added ypTNM for the first time. But patients achieving pathological complete response were not covered by the new ypTNM staging system. To investigate whether pathological complete response is associated with better outcome in gastric cancer, as was reported in rectal, breast and bladder cancer.MethodsWe systematically searched the databases of PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science and Cochrane Collaboration’s Central register of controlled trials from January 1988 to April 2015 for publications which reported outcomes of patients with and without pathological complete response (pCR) (pT0N0M0) to investigate whether pCR after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) treated with radical surgery is associated with better survival. The primary outcome was overall survival (OS). The secondary outcome was disease-free survival (DFS). Both were measured with a relative risk (RR). A meta-analysis was performed using the fixed effects model. Forest plots and the Q test was used to evaluate overall heterogeneity for OS and DFS.ResultsA total of seven trials, 1143 patients were included and analyzed after neoadjuvant chemotherapy and radical surgery with no other preoperative treatment. The average rate of pCR was 6.74% (range: 3%-15%). The RR of patients who achieved pCR in the primary tumor and lymph nodes is 0.5 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.25–0.98; p = 0.04), 0.34 (95% CI, 0.21–0.55; p<0.0001) and 0.44 (95% CI, 0.30–0.63; p<0.0001) for one-year-OS, three-year-OS and five-year-OS, respectively. The summary RR for three-year-DFS was 0.43 (95% CI, 0.25–0.72; p = 0.002).ConclusionPatients with resectable gastric or GEJ cancer who achieved pCR after neoadjuvant chemotherapy can gain a better outcome than patients without pCR.

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The mycelial morphology of Aspergillus niger, a major filamentous fungus used for citric acid production, is important for citric acid synthesis during submerged fermentation. To investigate the involvement of the chitin synthase gene, chsC, in morphogenesis and citric acid production in A. niger, an RNAi system was constructed to silence chsC and the morphological mutants were screened after transformation. The compactness of the mycelial pellets was obviously reduced in the morphological mutants, with lower proportion of dispersed mycelia. These morphological changes have caused a decrease in viscosity and subsequent improvement in oxygen and mass transfer efficiency, which may be conducive for citric acid accumulation. All the transformants exhibited improvements in citric acid production; in particular, chsC-3 showed 42.6% higher production than the original strain in the shake flask. Moreover, the high-yield strain chsC-3 exhibited excellent citric acid production potential in the scale-up process.The citric acid yield and the conversion rate of glucose of chsC-3 were both improved by 3.6%, when compared with that of the original strain in the stirred tank bioreactor.

The effects of background speech or noise on visually based cognitive tasks has been widely investigated; however, little is known about how the brain works during such cognitive tasks when music, having a powerful function of evoking emotions, is used as the background sound. The present study used event-related potentials to examine the effects of background music on neural responses during reading comprehension and their modulation by musical arousal. Thirty-nine postgraduates judged the correctness of sentences about world knowledge without or with background music (high-arousal music and low-arousal music). The participants’ arousal levels were reported during the experiment. The results showed that the N400 effect, elicited by world knowledge violations versus correct controls, was significantly smaller for silence than those for high- and low-arousal music backgrounds, with no significant difference between the two musical backgrounds. This outcome might have occurred because the arousal levels of the participants were not affected by the high- and low-arousal music throughout the experiment. These findings suggest that background music affects neural responses during reading comprehension by increasing the difficulty of semantic integration, and thus extend the irrelevant sound effect to suggest that the neural processing of visually based cognitive tasks can also be affected by music.

A solution of NH 3 detection based on catalytic conversion of NH 3 into NO x was proposed by using MOS gas detectors and Pt-supported catalysts. The catalysts convert NH 3 into NO x , which is a very sensitive analyte for MOS detectors. Catalysts based on Pt-loaded HZSM-5 and Al 2 O 3 were prepared by wet impregnation. MOS detectors were fabricated from nanosized In 2 O 3 and WO 3 using screen-printing techniques. As expected, MOS sensors based on In 2 O 3 and WO 3 have an extremely high sensitivity to NO 2 ; nevertheless, they have a relatively low response to NH 3 and a large cross-sensitivity to typical interfering gases such as CO and ethanol. By the present solution, MOS sensors could very sensitively respond to NH 3 , even down to 0.25 ppm. In addition, it was also found that the catalysis also combusts the reducing gases into CO 2 and water and consequently significantly improves the selectivity of NH 3 . Lastly, we would to like to stress that the proposed concept of the catalytic conversion method suggests the potential utility for broader measurements by using different catalysts and gas detectors and that only a part of the usage for NH 3 was presented here.

Gas sensors based on reduced graphene oxide (rGO) films and rGO/MoS hybrid films were fabricated on polyethylene naphthalate substrates by a simple self-assembly method, which yielded flexible devices for detection of formaldehyde (HCHO) at room temperature. The sensing test results indicated that the rGO and rGO/MoS sensors were highly sensitive and fully recoverable to a ppm-level of HCHO. The bending and fatigue test results revealed that the sensors were also mechanically robust, durable and effective for long-term use. The rGO/MoS sensors showed higher sensitivities than rGO sensors, which was attributed to the enhanced HCHO adsorption and electron transfer mediated by MoS. Furthermore, two kinds of MoS nanosheets were prepared by either hydrothermal synthesis or chemical exfoliation and were compared for their detection of HCHO, which revealed that the hydrothermally produced MoS nanosheets with rich defects led to enhanced sensitivity of the rGO/MoS sensors. Moreover, these fabricated flexible sensors can be applied for the HCHO detection in food packaging.

Background. Preoperative diagnosis of peritoneal metastasis with gastric cancer remains challenging. This study explored the abnormal computed tomography (CT) signs of occult peritoneal metastasis (OPM) and evaluated it by region-to-region comparison using staging laparoscopy, from which a 4-point CT score system was developed. Methods. Patients with advanced gastric cancer (stage cT C 2M0) diagnosed by CT were enrolled in the study. Occult peritoneal metastasis detected during staging laparoscopy was compared with preoperative CT to investigate the presence of abnormal signs by a region-toregion comparison. A 4-point CT score system was developed to define the radiologic characteristics. Subsequently, the diagnostic efficacy of the CT score system was prospectively verified. Results. In this study, 57 OPM regions were detected by staging laparoscopy in 33 of the 385 enrolled patients. The greater omentum was the most frequent site of OPM