Density Grade Research Articles

Transrectal versus transperineal prostate biopsy in detection of prostate cancer: a retrospective study based on 452 patients

BackgroundTransrectal (TR) ultrasound guided prostate biopsy and transperineal (TP) ultrasound guided prostate biopsy are the two most commonly used methods to detect prostate cancer, the detection rate of the two biopsy approaches may differ in patients with different clinical characteristics. Here we aimed to compare the prostate cancer detection rate and positive rate of biopsy cores between TR and TP prostate biopsy in patients with different clinical characteristics.MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed and compared the clinical data of 452 patients underwent TR or TP prostate biopsy in our hospital from June 2017 to September 2021. And patients were stratified according to several clinical characteristic (serum PSA level, prostate volume, PSA density, T stage and ISUP grade), cancer detection rate and positive rate of biopsy cores were compared in different stratified groups.ResultsThere was no significant difference in age, PSA level, prostate volume, and PSA density between the TR and TP groups. TR group had a higher overall cancer detection rate and positive rate of biopsy cores than TP group. Further subgroup analysis showed that TR group had a higher cancer detection rate in patients with prostate volumes 30–80 mL, and that the TR group had a higher positive rate of biopsy cores among the patients with T3–T4 stages, while TP group had a higher positive rates of biopsy cores among the patients with T1–T2 stages. There were no significant differences between the TR and TP groups for each subgroup when stratified by PSA level, PSA density and ISUP grade.ConclusionsTR approach may have advantage in patients with prostate volumes 30–80 mL and T3–T4 stages, while TP approach may have advantage in patients with T1–T2 stages.

Association of body composition fat parameters and breast density in mammography by menopausal status

We investigated the relationship between body fat-driven obesity and breast fat density in mammography according to menopausal status. We retrospectively analyzed 8537 women (premenopausal, n = 4351; postmenopausal, n = 4186). Body fat parameters included BMI (body mass index), waist circumference (WC), waist-hip ratio (WHR), fat mass index (FMI), Percentage of body fat (PBF), and visceral fat area (VFA). Body fat-driven obesity was defined as follows: overall obesity, BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2; central obesity, WC > 85 cm; abdominal obesity, WHR > 0.85; excessive FMI, the highest quartile (Q4) of FMI; excessive PBF, the highest quartile (Q4) of VFA; visceral obesity, and the highest quartile (Q4) of VFA). Breast density was classified according to BI-RADS (grade a, b, c, and d), which defined as an ordinal scale (grade a = 1, grade b = 2, grade c = 3, and grade d = 4). All body fat-driven obesity parameters were negatively associated with the grade of breast density in both groups of women (p < 0.001): The more fatty parameters are, the less dense breast is. In multivariable binary logistic regression, all body fat-driven obesity parameters also showed a negative association with grade d density (vs. grade a, b, or c). In premenopausal women, BMI was a more associated parameter with grade d density than those of the other fat-driven parameters (OR 0.265, CI 0.204–0.344). In postmenopausal women, WC was more associated with grade d density than the others (OR 0.315, CI 0.239–0.416). We found that BMI, WC, WHR, FMI, PBF and VFA were negatively correlated with dense breast, and the association degree pattern between body fat-driven obesity and dense breast differs according to menopausal status.

Effect of Copper Foam Baffles on Thermal Hydraulic Performance for Staggered Arrangement in a Duct

Metal foam is a novel material recently utilized in baffles as an alternative to solid baffles for reducing flow resistance. However, copper foam baffles have been suggested in this research to overcome this issue. So, the experimental tests were carried out in a manufactured square channel (250 mm x 250 mm) and heated uniformly at the bottom wall of the test section.Its walls are mounted copper foam baffles at a fixed porosity of 95%.Baffles were fixed alternatively on the top and bottom of the walls in staggered mode between two successive baffles (center to center) and were kept constant at 250 mm. The experimental work was done for different grades of the pore density of copper foam (10, 15, and 20 pores per inch (PPI)) with a window cut ratio of 25% and a constant heat flux of 4.4 kW/m2.Reynolds number was varied from 3.8x104 to 5.4x104. The data for conventional copper solid baffles were used to compare the effect of foam metal baffles.The obtained results manifested that relative to the solid-copper baffles, the copper foam baffles have a greatly lower friction factor, whereas the friction factor for the solid baffles and copper foam baffles (10, 15, and 20) PPI is about (460), and (20, 29, and 38) times, respectively above the smooth surface. Moreover, the results of previous work predicted the present experimental work very well.

Correlation of mammographic density and breast cancer characteristics

Background and objective: Mammographic density is regarded as one of the most prevalent risk factors for developing breast cancer. However, there is limited data on its relationship with tumor characteristics. Therefore, this study has been conducted to evaluate the association between mammographic density and breast cancer subtypes as well as tumor characteristics. Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study was performed on 105 women with pathologically proved breast cancer. Mammographic breast density was scored according to Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System classification before receiving treatment, followed by correlation with some risk factors and tumor characteristics. Results: From the 105 enrolled cases, about 70% had low mammographic density, and 30% had high mammographic density. Mammographic breast density was significantly associated with age and menopausal status, where high density was more prevalent among age group &lt;45 years (58%) and among premenopausal women (71%). No significant association was found between density and Body Mass Index. Overall, estrogen positive, progesterone positive and luminal B were more prevalent in both low and high breast density cases; however, these findings were not significant. No significant relationship between mammography density and tumor grade, stage, size or lymph node involvement was observed. Conclusion: Mammographic breast density is positively associated with age and menopausal status but not associated with Body Mass Index or tumor characteristics.

Association between CD8+ Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes and the Clinical Outcome of Patients with Operable Breast Cancer Treated with Adjuvant Dose-Dense Chemotherapy-A 10 Year Follow-Up Report of a Hellenic Cooperative Oncology Group Observational Study.

Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) contribute to breast cancer (BC) prognosis. We investigated the prognostic impact of CD8+ TILs in patients with early breast cancer treated with adjuvant chemotherapy in a large observational clinical trial. Along with a 10 year follow-up, considering the efficacy and safety, we report the results of the translational part of our study. We examined the patients' tumors for total (t), stromal (s), and intratumoral (i) CD8 lymphocyte density (counts/mm2) on tissue-microarray cores. The impact of CD8+ TILs counts on DFS and OS, and its correlation with breast cancer subtypes and standard clinicopathological parameters, were investigated, along with efficacy and safety data. Among the 928 eligible patients, 627 had available CD8+ data. Of which, 24.9% had a high expression of sCD8, iCD8, and total CD8, which were correlated with higher Ki67, TILs density, ER/PgR negativity, and higher histological grade. The 5year DFS and OS rates were 86.1% and 91.4%, respectively. Patients with high iCD8 and tCD8 had longer DFS and OS compared to those with low counts/mm2 (DFS: HR = 0.58, p = 0.011 and HR = 0.65, p = 0.034 and OS: HR = 0.63, p = 0.043 and HR = 0.58, p = 0.020, respectively). Upon adjustment for clinicopathological parameters, iCD8 and tCD8 retained their favorable prognostic significance for DFS and OS, whereas high sCD8 was only prognostic for DFS. Menopausal status, tumor size, and nodal status retained their prognostic significance in all examined multivariate models. CD8+ TILs, and especially their intratumoral subset, represent a potential favorable prognostic factor in early BC.

Effects of stocking density and grading on behaviour, cannibalism and performance of African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) fry

African catfish hatcheries in Europe require economical fry availability throughout the year. Purpose of this study was to identify the best suitable stocking density and appropriate grading regime for African catfish fry of around 0.1 g in 3 experiments (E1, E2 and E3). In E1, 3 stocking densities (10, 20 and 30 fry L−1) without grading were compared for behaviour, mortality, cannibals and growth. In E2, additional daily manual grading removed shooters or potential cannibals. In E3, 3 different handling procedures (manual grading on days 2, 4, 6 and 8: 2dH, manual grading on day 5: 5dH, self-grading on day 5: 5dS) under highest stocking density (30 fish L−1) were applied. Each experiment lasted 10 days and the fish had a mean initial weight of 0.08, 0.06 and 0.06 g fish−1, respectively. In E1 and E2 stock activity increased with increasing stocking density but aggressive behaviour was lowest at the higher stocking densities. The stocking density had no significant effect on mortality rates or growth performance from 10 to 30 fish L−1 between groups. However, regular removal of cannibals reduced the total mean mortality rate from 25 % in E1 to less than 5 % in E2 and E3. The mean feed conversion ratio (FCR) improved from 0.68 in E1 to ≤ 0.55 in E2 and E3. The tested handling procedures revealed no significant differences in fry behaviour and performance, while final stocking densities increased with decreasing handling stress. This suggests that African catfish fry of about 0.1 g are kept optimally at high stocking densities of 30 fish L−1 or 30,000 fry m−3 inside regular breeding containments, with effective self-grading every 5 days in order to reduce total mortality, maximize production and minimize the amount of labor.

Lightweight ceramsite made of recycled waste coal gangue & municipal sludge: Particular heavy metals, physical performance and human health

Large amounts of coal gangue and municipal sludge are generated from coal mining and municipal sewage. Some scholars have studied their use in ceramics, concrete, land reclamation and so on. However, in current study, heavy metals in coal gangue and municipal sludge in utilization have not been safely controlled, and there are potential risks to the ecological environment and human health. Therefore, this study systematically investigated the basic physical and chemical properties of coal gangue and municipal sludge samples, the ecological environment safety risk of heavy metals and other harmful substances (soluble phosphorus and fluorine). The results showed that the main compositions of coal gangue and municipal sludge samples were cristobalite, hematite and anorthite, which can be used as raw material for ceramsite preparation. The characteristic heavy metals in coal gangue and municipal sludge were As, Cd, Cu, Ni and Zn, which had certain environmental risks. When the optimum proportion of coal gangue: sludge = 70: 30, adding clay and blowing agent as auxiliary materials to make ceramsite, its properties, including bulk density, cylinder pressure strength and other physical properties, meet the Chinese standard “light aggregate and its test method” (GB/T 17431). The heavy metal environment and human health assessment model of the product was constructed, in which the risk assessment results are, that the content of characteristic heavy metals in ceramsite was significantly reduced, and this content conformed to the requirements of heavy metals in the Chinese standard “technical specification of cement kiln cooperative disposal of solid waste” (GB/T 30760), riskless to the human body and external environment. The compressive strength of the two kinds of ceramsite concrete can reach LC35, and the density grade was 1400–1650 N/m3, which meets the requirements of Chinese standard “technical specification for lightweight aggregate concrete” (JGJ 51). All the properties of this product meet the corresponding standards and there was no risk to the external environment, to provide theoretical guidance for the harmless and resource utilization of urban sludge and coal gangue.

Opinions on the Assessment of Breast Density Among Members of the Society of Breast Imaging.

Dense breast decreases the sensitivity and specificity of mammography and is associated with an increased risk of breast cancer. We conducted a survey to assess the opinions of Society of Breast Imaging (SBI) members regarding density assessment. An online survey was sent to SBI members twice in September 2020. The survey included active members who were practicing radiologists, residents, and fellows. Mammograms from three patients were presented for density assessment based on routine clinical practice and BI-RADS fourth and fifth editions. Dense breasts were defined as heterogeneously or extremely dense. Frequencies were calculated for each survey response. Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to evaluate the correlation of density assessments by different definitions. The survey response rate was 12.4% (357/2875). For density assessments, the Pearson correlation coefficients between routine clinical practice and BI-RADS fourth edition were 0.05, 0.43, and 0.12 for patients 1, 2, and 3, respectively; these increased to 0.65, 0.65, and 0.66 between routine clinical practice and BI-RADS fifth edition for patients 1, 2, and 3, respectively. For future density grading, 79.0% (282/357) of respondents thought it should reflect both potential for masking and overall dense tissue for risk assessment. Additionally, 47.1% (168/357) of respondents thought quantitative methods were of use. Density assessment varied based on routine clinical practice and BI-RADS fourth and fifth editions. Most breast radiologists agreed that density assessment should capture both masking and overall density. Moreover, almost half of respondents believed computer or artificial intelligence-assisted quantitative methods may help refine density assessment.

Upgrading of low-grade lignite using the multi-layer reverse cross-flow drying bed

ABSTRACT Lignite is the most potential alternative energy source in the future. Due to its porous structure and spray dust reduction during the mining process, the lignite has a high moisture content, which leads to an increase in the energy consumption of dry distillation. Drying can effectively dewater it and improve the grade. In this paper, the dehydration and upgrading of wet low-grade lignite using a multi-layer reverse cross-flow drying bed were researched. The focus was on the change trend of the dehydration rate of the lignite in different beds. The distribution law of moisture content in the drying bed and the different drying function periods were determined and systematically analyzed. The influence of parameters such as drying temperature and smoke-coal ratio on drying characteristics was explored, at the same time, the significant influence of drying parameters on drying effect was analyzed and the optimal operating parameters were obtained (R sc = 7.6, T = 200℃, t = 20 min). The test results show that: when the drying time t = 0-5 min, it is the fast drying period, and when t = 5-10 min, it is the constant-velocity drying period, and when t = 15-20 min, it is the slow drying period. When t = 10-15 min, it is accelerated drying period. With the increase of smoke-coal ratio (R so ), the dehydration rate of lignite increases first and then decreases. When the smoke-coal ratio R sc = 7.6, the dehydration rate of lignite reaches the maximum value of η coal = 88.99%, and the dehydration effect is better at this time. After drying, the wet lignite has a moisture content of 2.95% and an ash content of 12.78%. The dehydration range of lignite of various density grades is obvious, realizing the efficient dehydration and upgrading of low-grade lignite.

The effect of plastic tape seal to reduce face seal leak in respirator N-95 type 1860

The risk of face seal leak while using N-95 respirators is experienced by health workers and thus failing fit test are quite common. Finding solutions to overcome face seal leaks is crucial; one of which is by sealing the N-95 respirator. The seal used in this research was Tegaderm® a transparent film dressing or a plastic tape which is known to have the advantages of strong adhesion, high level of pore density and standardized medical grade. This study tries to determine the effectiveness of plastic tape adhesive on the N-95 type 1860 respirator in overcoming face seal leak qualitative fit test using Bitrex immediately after being worn and after 4 h of using it. The study used a quantitative approach with an incidence study design conducted pre and post experimental without comparison to see the effectiveness of plastic tape sealing. The subjects for the research were 81 health workers in the CMH environment who were at risk of being exposed to COVID-19. The study found a significant difference in the Bitrex fit test immediately after sealing the N-95 type 1860 respirator with plastic tape; 100% passed the fit test immediately after sealing, and 64.2% passed the fit test after 4 h of working. The effectiveness of sealing using plastic tape is considered to be quite good to overcome face seal leak on the N-95 type 1860 respirator. Health care workers need to be more vigilance to ensure better face seal.

Generalizable Crowd Counting via Diverse Context Style Learning

Existing crowd counting approaches predominantly perform well on the training-testing protocol. However, due to large style discrepancies not only among images but also within a single image, they suffer from obvious performance degradation when applied to unseen domains. In this paper, we aim to design a generalizable crowd counting framework which is trained on a source domain but can generalize well on the other domains. To reach this, we propose a gated ensemble learning framework. Specifically, we first propose a diverse fine-grained style attention model to help learn discriminative content feature representations, allowing for exploiting diverse features to improve generalization. We then introduce a channel-level binary gating ensemble model, where diverse feature prior, input-dependent guidance and density grade classification constraint are implemented, to optimally select diverse content features to participate in the ensemble, taking advantage of their complementary while avoiding redundancy. Extensive experiments show that our gating ensemble approach achieves superior generalization performance among four public datasets. Codes are publicly available at <uri xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">https://github.com/wdzhao123/DCSL</uri> .

К ВОПРОСУ ВЫБОРА ОПТИМАЛЬНОГО ВОДОЦЕМЕНТНОГО ОТНОШЕНИЯ ПРИ ПРОИЗВОДСТВЕ ТЕПЛОИЗОЛЯЦИОННОГО ПЕНОБЕТОНА

The article considers the influence of the water-cement ratio on the formation of the structure of thermally insulating foam concrete, having the D300 average density grade. The basis for the analysis is the contradiction between the experimentally obtained direct dependence of the strength of foam concrete on the water-cement ratio and the practice of improving the structure of the material due to water reduction. The computation of the optimal amount of water in the foam concrete mixture based on the method of absolute volumes is presented. The calculation includes a formula for determining the volume of the interpore space depending on the thickness of the interpore partition, the cell diameter and the type of packing. The actual indicators collected during the experiment confirm the results of the calculations. The influence of the amount of water in the foam concrete mixture on the quality of the foam concrete is evaluated by the compressive strength and the macrostructure character of the material. The strength is determined by the destructive method. The structure is studied using an optical microscope in combination with image processing software. The greatest strength is possessed by a material with a partition thickness exceeding the maximum size of the cement grain, provided that the volume of the interpore space and the sum of the absolute volumes of the components of the foam concrete mixture are equal. A structure with closed pores and dense interpore partitions is observed in foam concrete on a protein foam former with a water-cement ratio, taking into account water in the foam, equal to 0.7.

Correlation of Breast Density Grade on Mammogram With Diagnosed Breast Cancer: A Retrospective Cross-Sectional Study

ObjectiveThe objective of this study is to determine any association between mammographic density (MD) and breast cancer in Pakistani population. The study will also investigate relationship between mammographic breast density, clinical characteristics, and molecular tumor markers of the disease.MethodsA retrospective review of data was carried out from January 2020 to December 2020 with stage 0-3 patients with histologically proven breast cancer included in the study. Mammograms were reviewed and density grade was recorded in accordance with "Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BIRADS)" guidelines. Patient age, tumor, and receptor characteristics were studied and their association with mammographic density was investigated by using chi-square test. P-value ≤0.05 was considered statistically significant.ResultsA total of 361 patients were included with a mean age of 46 years. The frequencies of BIRAD categories were as follows: category A: 8.9%, category B: 43.2%, category C: 33.5%, and category D: 14.4%. Cumulative frequency of categories B and C was 76.7%. There is a statistically significant p-value ≤0.05 association observed between age, estrogen receptors (ER) status, and T-stage versus MD. Also, majority of our patients were in T-stage category 2 or 3, which can easily be picked on mammogram.ConclusionMost of the breast cancer patients in our population had a mammographic density of B or C, indicating that breast cancer is more common in dense breasts. Strong significant association of mammographic density with age, ER status, and tumor stage was found in our population. Future studies need to address and confirm MD and its association with subtypes and aggressiveness of breast cancer.

Effects of Relative Density and Grading on the Particle Breakage and Fractal Dimension of Granular Materials

Particle breakage was reported to have great influence on the mechanical property of granular materials. However, limited studies were conducted to quantify the detailed effects of relative density and initial grading on the particle breakage behaviour of granular materials under different confining pressures. In this study, a series of monotonic drained triaxial tests were performed on isotropically consolidated granular materials with four different initial gradings and relative densities. It is observed that particle breakage increases as the confining pressure or relative density increases, whereas it decreases with the increasing coefficient of uniformity. Due to particle breakage, the grading curves of granular materials after triaxial tests can be simulated by a power-law function with fractal dimension. As the confining pressure increases, the fractal dimension approaches the limit of granular materials, i.e., 2.6. A unique normalized relation between the particle breakage extent and confining pressure by considering relative density and grading index was found.

Volumetric breast density evaluation using fully automated Volpara software, its comparison with BIRADS density types and correlation with the risk of malignancy

BackgroundMammography is currently the modality of choice for mass screening of breast cancer, although its sensitivity is low in dense breasts. Besides, higher breast density has been identified as independent risk factor so it has been conceptualized that women with dense breasts should be encouraged for supplemental screening. In this study, we aimed to estimate the distribution of volumetric breast density using fully automated Volpara software and to analyze the level of agreement between volumetric density grades and Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) density grades. We also aim to estimate the distribution of breast cancer in different VDG and to find a correlation between VDG and risk of malignancy.ResultsVDG-c was most common followed by VDG-b and BIRADS grade B was commonest followed by grade C. The density distribution was found inversely related to the age. Level of agreement between VDG and BIRADS grades was moderate (κ = 0.5890). Statistically significant correlation was noted between VDG-c and d for risk of malignancy (p < 0.001).ConclusionDifficulties associated with the use of BI-RADS density categories may be avoided if assessed using a fully automated volumetric method. High VDG can be considered as independent risk factor for malignancy. Thus, awareness of a woman’s breast density might be useful in determining the frequency and imaging modality for screening.

Thermal Properties of Lightweight Steel Concrete Wall Panels under Different Humidity Conditions.

The paper presents the thermal properties of lightweight steel concrete wall panels under different humidity conditions: under normal operation conditions and high moisture of the structure. The total thermal resistance (considering thermal inhomogeneity) of the enclosing lightweight steel concrete structure with a thickness of 310 mm using monolithic low-density foam concrete (density grade of D200), at an equilibrium humidity of 5% and 8%, was experimentally established. It was equal to 4.602 m2.0C/W and 4.1 m2.0C/W, respectively. In the dry state, the total thermal resistance of this structure was 5.59 m2.0 C/W, which corresponds to a thermal conductivity coefficient of 0.057 m °C/W. The influence of both horizontal and vertical joints of lightweight steel concrete wall panels and the absence of thermoprofiles on thermal properties was insignificant when using heat-insulating gaskets. The actual total thermal resistance of the structure was 2.5–2.8 times higher than that obtained by calculation under high-humidity conditions (29–32%). At the same time, the decrease in the value compared to the same value at an equilibrium humidity of 5% was only 4–6%. This indicates the good workability even of a structure with high-humidity foam concrete if the reduced total thermal resistance is complied with by the standardized one.

Structural Differences of PM2.5 Spatial Correlation Networks in Ten Metropolitan Areas of China

The cross-impact of environmental pollution among cities has been reported in more research works recently. To implement the coordinated control of environmental pollution, it is necessary to explore the structural characteristics and influencing factors of the PM2.5 spatial correlation network from the perspective of the metropolitan area. This paper utilized the gravity model to construct the PM2.5 spatial correlation network of ten metropolitan areas in China from 2019 to 2020. After analyzing the overall characteristics and node characteristics of each spatial correlation network based on the social network analysis (SNA) method, the quadratic assignment procedure (QAP) regression analysis method was used to explore the influence mechanism of each driving factor. Patent granted differences, as a new indicator, were also considered during the above. The results showed that: (1) In the overall network characteristics, the network density of Chengdu and the other three metropolitan areas displayed a downward trend in two years, and the network density of Wuhan and Chengdu was the lowest. The network density and network grade of Hangzhou and the other four metropolitan areas were high and stable, and the network structure of each metropolitan area was unstable. (2) From the perspective of the node characteristics, the PM2.5 spatial correlation network all performed trends of centralization and marginalization. Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and South Central Liaoning were “multi-core” metropolitan areas, and the other eight were “single-core” metropolitan areas. (3) The analysis results of QAP regression illustrated that the top three influencing factors of the six metropolitan areas were geographical locational relationship, the secondary industrial proportion differences, respectively, and patent granted differences, and the other metropolitan areas had no dominant influencing factors.

Design and Performance of Polystyrene Modular Composite Dismantling-Free Formwork

A new type of no-demolition insulation formwork was designed with EPS foam concrete as the frost and fire resistant protection layer and polystyrene board as the insulation layer. Tests were conducted on foam concrete to analyze the flexural performance and safety of the formwork. The results show that EPS foam concrete has excellent performance, and when EPS foam concrete with density grade A08 is used as the protective layer, the mechanical properties of the formwork meet the requirements of "Thermalinsulation free from demolition template for buildings" JC/T 2493-2018, which provides a reference basis for its application in the construction field.

Evaluation of volumetric breast density as a risk factor for breast carcinoma in pre- and postmenopausal women, its association with hormone receptor status and breast carcinoma subtypes defined by histology and tumor markers

BackgroundMammographic breast density is acknowledged as an independent risk factor for breast cancer. Its association with different pathological types and tumors markers is still under evaluation. This study aims to assess the associations of volumetric density grades (VDG) with breast cancer risk in premenopausal and postmenopausal age groups separately. We also aim to assess the association of VDG with hormone receptor status and breast cancer subtypes defined by histology and tumor markers (ER, PR, Her 2-neu and Ki 67).ResultsThis retrospective study was done with inclusion of two comparable groups of 185 breast cancer cases and 244 healthy controls. These groups were further divided into pre‑ and postmenopausal subgroups. Mammograms of the cases and controls were evaluated by fully automated volumetric breast density software-VOLPARA and classified into four VDG. The hormone receptor status and breast cancer subtypes defined by histological features and tumor markers in the various VDG were also evaluated. The risk of developing carcinoma was significantly higher in women with high-density breasts (VDG-c + VDG-d) as compared with low-density breasts (VDG-a + VDG-b) in both premenopausal and postmenopausal subgroups. No significant difference was seen in the histopathological characteristics of breast cancer among various VDG.ConclusionsOur study suggests positive association between high VDG and risk of cancer in both premenopausal and postmenopausal group of Indian women. The hormone receptor status and breast cancer subtypes defined by histology and tumor markers did not reveal any relation to the grades of breast density.

An Investigation of the Effects of Additives and Burning Temperature on the Properties of Products Based on Loam

This study aimed to identify the composition of ceramic mass for the manufacture of bricks with improved properties based on local loam using diatomite and bentonite clay. For the experiments, loam from the Almaty deposit (Kazakhstan) was applied as the primary product, and used for the production of ceramic bricks with grades of 75 and 100. Diatomite from the Zhalpak and Utesai deposits and highly plastic bentonite clay from the Darbazin deposit (Kazakhstan) were used as additives. An analysis of the properties of the burned products demonstrated that supplementation with diatomite and bentonite in the loam lowers the average density and increases the compressive strength of samples burned at 1000 and 1100 °C. Herewith, the optimal amount of diatomite and bentonite clay to add is 15%, with a fractional composition of 0.315–0.16 mm and less than 1 mm, respectively. It was established that the optimal additions of diatomite and bentonite clay to loam make it possible to obtain after burning at 1170 °C samples of ceramic products corresponding to the 2nd class in terms of the average density and compressive strength grades M 400 and M 500.