No abstract

Studies have revealed that non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations has a high incidence of brain metastases (BMs). However, the association between EGFR mutations and BMs remains unknown. This review summarizes detailed information about the incidence of BMs, clinical and imaging characteristics of BMs, brain surveillance strategies, influence of treatments on BMs, prognosis after BMs, and differences in EGFR mutations between paired primary tumors and BMs in EGFR-mutated NSCLC. The prognostic results demonstrate that patients with mutated EGFR have a higher incidence of BMs, EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs) (afatinib and osimertinib) delay the development of BMs, and patients with mutated EGFR with synchronous or early BMs have better overall survival after BMs than those with wild-type EGFR. The EGFR mutation status of BM sites is not always in accordance with the primary tumors, which indicates that there is heterogeneity in EGFR gene status between paired primary tumors and BMs. However, the EGFR gene status of the primary site can largely represent that of BM sites. Among patients developing synchronous BMs, patients with mutated EGFR are less likely to have central nervous system (CNS) symptoms than patients with wild-type EGFR. However, the possibility of neuro-symptoms is high in patients with metachronous BMs. Patients with mutated EGFR tend to have multiple BMs as compared to patients with wild-type EGFR. Regarding very early-stage NSCLC patients without neuro-symptoms, regular neuroimaging follow-up is not recommended. Among advanced NSCLC patients with EGFR mutation, liberal brain imaging follow-up in the first several years showed more advantages in terms of cost.

Aerobic granular sludge was successfully cultivated with the effluent of internal circulation (IC) reactor in a pilot-scale sequencing batch reactor (SBR) using activated sludge as seeding sludge. N removal was investigated in the start-up of aerobic granulation process. Initially, the phenomenon of partial nitrification was observed and nitrite accumulation rates (NO(2) (-)-N/NO (x) (-) -N) were between 84.6 and 99.1 %. It was potentially caused by ammonium oxidizing bacteria (AOB) in the seeding activated sludge, high external environmental temperature (~32 °C) and free ammonia (FA) concentration. After 50 days' running, the aerobic granules-based bioreactor demonstrated perfect performance in simultaneous removal of organic matter and ammonia nitrogen, and average removal efficiencies were maintained above 93 and 96 %, respectively. The maximum nitrogen removal efficiency of 83.1 % was achieved after the formation of aerobic granules. The average diameter of mature aerobic granular sludge mostly ranged from 0.5 to 1.0 mm. Furthermore, one typical cyclic test indicated that pH and DO profiles could be used as effective parameters for biological reactions occurring in the aerobic/anoxic process. The obtained results could provide further information on the cultivation of aerobic granular sludge with practical wastewater, especially with regard to nitrogen-rich industrial wastewater.

The extended NGM (1,1,K) grey forecasting model had the defined type and white type mismatching problem. It proposed the extended NGM (1,1,K) model to eliminate the inherent bias caused by mismatch, the model also had given the prediction formula. Compared to the GM (1,1) model, the extended NGM (1,1,K) model had higher fitting and forecasting accuracy. The model was applied to spectrum prediction of Fe concentration of the oil in a certain type of military launch vehicle hydraulic system, it could determine the working status of the hydraulic system effectively combined with Fe concentration thresholds, the result show that the model is effective.