In crystals and molecules with strong coupling between the charge carriers and atomic vibrations, high order harmonics of the vibrational excitations can be observed with intensity following the Franck-Condon envelope. Here, we uncover a new regime of electron-phonon coupling in La2-xSrxCuO4 using resonant inelastic X-ray scattering. In the undoped compound, we find sharp peaks at approximately 85±5 meV, 180±7 meV, and 330±5 meV with no observable dispersion, and an absence of appreciable intensity from other modes observed in Raman spectroscopy in this energy range. The 180 meV and 330 meV excitations have energies approximately consistent with two-phonon and four-phonon in-plane Cu-O bond stretching mode, suggesting that the resonantly excited valence electrons strongly couple to this mode. These excitations exhibit significant doping dependence, eventually becoming unresolvable at 10

This study evaluates the effects of different high-intensity focused ultrasound irradiation (HIFU) methods on local tumor suppression and systemic antitumor effects, including the abscopal effect, in a mouse model of pancreatic cancer. To ascertain the efficacy of the treatment, pancreatic cancer cells were injected into the thighs of mice and HIFU was applied on one side using continuous waves or trigger pulse waves. Then, tumor volume, tissue changes, and immune marker levels were analyzed. Both the irradiation methods suppressed tumor growth, with the trigger pulse wave showing stronger effects and the difference being significant. Tumor suppression was also observed on the non-irradiated side, suggesting an abscopal effect. These effects vary depending on the irradiation method used. We conclude that HIFU induces both local tumor suppression and a systemic immune response, suggesting its potential for combination with immunotherapy for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.

X-ray circular dichroism, arising from the contrast in X-ray absorption between opposite photon helicities, serves as a spectroscopic tool to measure the magnetization of ferromagnetic materials and identify the handedness of chiral crystals. Antiferromagnets with crystallographic chirality typically lack X-ray magnetic circular dichroism because of time-reversal symmetry, yet exhibit weak X-ray natural circular dichroism. Here, we report the observation of giant natural circular dichroism in the Ni L_3-edge X-ray absorption of Ni_3TeO_6, a polar and chiral antiferromagnet with effective time-reversal symmetry. To unravel this intriguing phenomenon, we propose a phenomenological model that classifies the movement of photons in a chiral crystal within the same symmetry class as that of a magnetic field. The coupling of X-ray polarization with the induced magnetization yields giant X-ray natural circular dichroism, revealing the altermagnetism of Ni_3TeO_6. Our findings provide evidence for the interplay between magnetism and crystal chirality in natural optical activity. Additionally, we establish the first example of a new class of magnetic materials exhibiting circular dichroism with time-reversal symmetry.

BACKGROUND: In breast cancer diagnosis and treatment, non-invasive prediction of axillary lymph node (ALN) metastasis can help avoid complications related to sentinel lymph node biopsy. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to develop and evaluate machine learning models using radiomics features extracted from diffusion-weighted whole-body imaging with background signal suppression (DWIBS) examination for predicting the ALN status. METHODS: A total of 100 patients with histologically proven, invasive, clinically N0 breast cancer who underwent DWIBS examination consisting of short tau inversion recovery (STIR) and DWIBS sequences before surgery were enrolled. Radiomic features were calculated using segmented primary lesions in DWIBS and STIR sequences and were divided into training (n = 75) and test (n = 25) datasets based on the examination date. Using the training dataset, optimal feature selection was performed using the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator algorithm, and the logistic regression model and support vector machine (SVM) classifier model were constructed with DWIBS, STIR, or a combination of DWIBS and STIR sequences to predict ALN status. Receiver operating characteristic curves were used to assess the prediction performance of radiomics models. RESULTS: For the test dataset, the logistic regression model using DWIBS, STIR, and a combination of both sequences yielded an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.765 (95% confidence interval: 0.548-0.982), 0.801 (0.597-1.000), and 0.779 (0.567-0.992), respectively, whereas the SVM classifier model using DWIBS, STIR, and a combination of both sequences yielded an AUC of 0.765 (0.548-0.982), 0.757 (0.538-0.977), and 0.779 (0.567-0.992), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Use of machine learning models incorporating with the quantitative radiomic features derived from the DWIBS and STIR sequences can potentially predict ALN status.

PURPOSE:Surgical devices or systems typically operate in a stand-alone manner, making it difficult to perform integration analysis of both intraoperative anatomical and functional information. To address this issue, the intraoperative information integration system OPeLiNK® was developed. The objective of this study is to generate information for decision making using surgical navigation and intraoperative monitoring information accumulated in the OPeLiNK® database and to analyze its utility.METHODS:We accumulated intraoperative information from 27 brain tumor patients who underwent resection surgery. First, the risk rank for postoperative paralysis was set according to the attenuation rate and amplitude width of the motor evoked potential (MEP). Then, the MEP and navigation log data were combined and plotted on an intraoperative magnetic resonance image of the individual brain. Finally, statistical parametric mapping (SPM) transformation was performed to generate a standard brain risk map of postoperative paralysis. Additionally, we determined the anatomical high-risk areas using atlases and analyzed the relationship with each set risk rank.RESULTS:The average distance between the navigation log corresponding to each MEP risk rank and the anatomical high-risk area differed significantly between the with postoperatively paralyzed and without postoperatively paralyzed groups, except for "safe." Furthermore, no excessive deformation was observed resulting from SPM conversion to create the standard brain risk map. There were cases in which no postoperative paralysis occurred even when MEP decreased intraoperatively, and vice versa.CONCLUSION:The time synchronization reliability of the study data is very high. Therefore, our created risk map can be reported as being functional at indicating the risk areas. Our results suggest that the statistical risks of postoperative complications can be presented for each area where brain surgery is to be performed. In the future, it will be possible to provide surgical navigation with intraoperative support that reflects the risk maps created.

Electron quasiparticles play a crucial role in simplifying the description of many-body physics in solids with surprising success. Conventional Landau's Fermi-liquid and quasiparticle theories for high-temperature superconducting cuprates have, however, received skepticism from various angles. A path-breaking framework of electron fractionalization has been established to replace the Fermi-liquid theory for systems that show the fractional quantum Hall effect and the Mott insulating phenomena; whether it captures the essential physics of the pseudogap and superconducting phases of cuprates is still an open issue. Here, we show that excitonic excitation of optimally doped Bi$_2$Sr$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_{8+δ}$ with energy far above the superconducting-gap energy scale, about 1 eV or even higher, is unusually enhanced by the onset of superconductivity. Our finding proves the involvement of such high-energy excitons in superconductivity. Therefore, the observed enhancement in the spectral weight of excitons imposes a crucial constraint on theories for the pseudogap and superconducting mechanisms. A simple two-component fermion model which embodies electron fractionalization in the pseudogap state well explains the change, pointing toward a novel route for understanding the electronic structure of superconducting cuprates.

The superconductivity of cuprates, which has been a mystery ever since its discovery decades ago, is created through doping electrons or holes into a Mott insulator. There, however, exists an inherent electron-hole asymmetry in cuprates. The layered crystal structures of cuprates enable collective charge excitations fundamentally different from those of three-dimensional metals, i.e., acoustic plasmons. Acoustic plasmons have been recently observed in electron-doped cuprates by resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS); in contrast, there is no evidence for acoustic plasmons in hole-doped cuprates, despite extensive measurements. This contrast led us to investigate whether the doped holes in cuprates La_2-xSr_xCuO_4 are conducting carriers or are too incoherent to induce collective charge excitation. Here we present momentum-resolved RIXS measurements and calculations of collective charge response via the loss function to reconcile the aforementioned issues. Our results provide unprecedented spectroscopic evidence for the acoustic plasmons and long sought conducting p holes in hole-doped cuprates.

The state with effective total moment J eff = 1/2 stabilized by the spin-orbit coupling is known to suppress Jahn-Teller distortions and may induce a strong exchange anisotropy. This in turn may lead to the formation of an elusive spin-liquid state in real materials. While recent studies have demonstrated that such a situation can be realized in 3 d transition-metal compounds such as those based on Co 2+ and Cu 2+ , diagnosis of J eff = 1/2 state remains challenging. We show that resonant inelastic X-ray scattering is an effective tool to probe this state and apply it to CuAl 2 O 4 , material where Cu 2+ ions were previously proposed to be in the J eff = 1/2 state. Our results unambiguously demonstrate that, contrary to previous expectations, a competitive (to J eff = 1/2) Jahn-Teller state realizes in this compound.

Electron quasiparticles play a crucial role in simplifying the description of many-body physics in solids with surprising success. Conventional Landau’s Fermi-liquid and quasiparticle theories for high-temperature superconducting cuprates have, however, received skepticism from various angles. A path-breaking framework of electron fractionalization has been established to replace the Fermi-liquid theory for systems that show the fractional quantum Hall effect and the Mott insulating phenomena; whether it captures the essential physics of the pseudogap and superconducting phases of cuprates is still an open issue. Here, we show that excitonic excitation of optimally doped Bi 2 Sr 2 CaCu 2 O 8+ δ with energy far above the superconducting-gap energy scale, about 1 eV or even higher, is unusually enhanced by the onset of superconductivity. Our finding proves the involvement of such high-energy excitons in superconductivity. Therefore, the observed enhancement in the spectral weight of excitons imposes a crucial constraint on theories for the pseudogap and superconducting mechanisms. A simple two-component fermion model which embodies electron fractionalization in the pseudogap state provides a possible mechanism of this enhancement, pointing toward a novel route for understanding the electronic structure of superconducting cuprates.

The magnetic properties and the electronic excitations of the new diluted magnetic semiconductor Ba1-xKx(Zn1-yMny)2As2 have been studied by x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) and resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) at the Mn L2,3 edge. The sum rule analysis of the XMCD spectra yields the net spin moment of 0.45 mu B/Mn and the small orbital moment of 0.05 mu B/Mn. This indicates that the Mn atoms are in the high-spin configurations of d5, whereas the presence of competing ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic interactions between the Mn ions reduces the net spin moment. RIXS spectra show broad peaks from 1 to 6 eV energy loss, which originate from the d-d crystal field excitations of the Mn ions. Based on a comparison of the RIXS line shapes with those of Ga1-xMnxAs, we conclude that the ground state of Mn in Ba1-xKx(Zn1-yMny)2As2 consists not only of the charge-transferred 3d5L electron configuration (L: ligand hole) with weakly bound holes as in Ga1-xMnxAs, but also of the pure 3d5 configuration with free holes.

Resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) studies across the Ce M-5 edge have been carried out to investigate the electronic structure of the ferromagnetic CeAgSb2 Kondo system. The RIXS spectra exhibit energy loss features corresponding to final states usually observed by combining photoemission and inverse photoemission spectroscopy. At low energy loss, a clear signature of the spectral features corresponding to the spin-orbit interaction is also observed. Polarization dependence provides evidence for the S-1(0) symmetry singlet ground state by a total suppression of the f(0) final state. A simplified single-impurity Anderson model combined with full multiplet theory allows an accurate description of the spin-charge excitations. The RIXS data also reveal a strong temperature T dependence of the fluorescencelike structure. We conjecture that this behavior reflects the T dependence of the Kondo resonance.

We present the cobalt 2p3d resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) spectra of Co3O4. Guided by multiplet simulation, the excited states at 0.5 and 1.3 eV can be identified as the 4T2 excited state of the tetrahedral Co2+ and the 3T2g excited state of the octahedral Co3+, respectively. The ground states of Co2+ and Co3+ sites are determined to be high-spin 4A2(Td ) and low-spin 1A1g (Oh ), respectively. It indicates that the high-spin Co2+ is the magnetically active site in Co3O4. Additionally, the ligand-to-metal charge transfer analysis shows strong orbital hybridization between the cobalt and oxygen ions at the Co3+ site, while the hybridization is weak at the Co2+ site.

We present X-ray spectroscopic evidence for the evolution of valence-specific spin states and tetragonal distortions in single-layer cobaltates. Measurements of Co $L_3$-edge resonant inelastic X-ray scattering reveal the $t_{2g}$ electronic structure of Co for hole-doped La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$CoO$_4$ ($x$ = 0.5, 0.7 and 0.8). As the Sr-doping $x$ increases, the tetragonal splitting of the $t_{2g}$ states of high-spin Co$^{2+}$ decreases, whereas that of low-spin Co$^{3+}$ increases and the fraction of high-spin Co$^{3+}$ increases. The results enable us to clarify the origin of the change of magnetic anisotropy and in-plane resistivity in a mixed-valence cobaltate caused by the interplay of spin-orbit coupling and tetragonal distortion.

Recent advancements have tangibly changed the cancer treatment landscape. However, curative therapy for this dreadful disease remains an unmet need. Sonodynamic therapy (SDT) is a minimally invasive anti-cancer therapy involving a chemical sonosensitizer and focused ultrasound. A high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) beam is used to destroy or denature targeted cancer tissues. Some SDTs are based on unfocused ultrasound (US). In some SDTs, HIFU is combined with a drug, known as a chemical sonosensitizer, to amplify the drug's ability to damage cancer cells preferentially. The mechanism by which US interferes with cancer cell function is further amplified by applying acoustic sensitizers. Combining multiple chemical sonosensitizers with US creates a substantial synergistic effect that could effectively disrupt tumorigenic growth, induce cell death, and elicit an immune response. Therefore, the minimally invasive SDT treatment is currently attracting attention. It can be combined with targeted therapy (double-targeting cancer therapy) and immunotherapy in the future and is expected to be a boon for treating previously incurable cancers. In this paper, we will consider the current state of this therapy and discuss parts of our research.

We report on the development of a high-resolution and highly efficient beamline for soft X-ray resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) located at the Taiwan Photon Source. This beamline adopts an optical design that uses an active grating monochromator (AGM) and an active grating spectrometer (AGS) to implement the energy compensation principle of grating dispersion. Active gratings are utilized to diminish defocus, coma and higher-order aberrations, as well as to decrease the slope errors caused by thermal deformation and optical polishing. The AGS is mounted on a rotatable granite platform to enable momentum-resolved RIXS measurements with scattering angles over a wide range. Several high-precision instruments developed in-house for this beamline are described briefly. The best energy resolution obtained from this AGM–AGS beamline was 12.4 meV at 530 eV, achieving a resolving power of 4.2 × 10 4 , while the bandwidth of the incident soft X-rays was kept at 0.5 eV. To demonstrate the scientific impact of high-resolution RIXS, we present an example of momentum-resolved RIXS measurements on a high-temperature superconducting cuprate, i.e. La 2– x Sr x CuO 4 . The measurements reveal the A 1 g buckling phonons in superconducting cuprates, opening a new opportunity to investigate the coupling between these phonons and charge-density waves.

Background Procedures should be performed when an infant is most receptive to disruptions in order to reduce the stress on the infant. However, frequent direct observations place a heavy burden on medical staff. There is therefore a need for a method for quantitatively and automatically evaluating the neonatal state. Methods Ten infants in our hospital were enrolled in this study. The states of the infants were assessed by medical staff using the Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale and were recorded on video at the same time. The recorded states were reclassified as activity levels, a new state classification method that includes middle activity, which is the appropriate time for a procedure. Using image analysis, motions of the infant were quantified as two indices: activity and pause time. Activity and pause time were compared for each activity level. The cutoff values of the indices were calculated, and the sensitivity and specificity of the middle activity were calculated. Results There was a significant difference between all groups of activity level (P < 0.01). The maximum sensitivity and specificity of middle activity were 71.7% and 51.2%, respectively. Conclusions The neonatal state of infants can be quantitatively and automatically evaluated using video cameras, and the activity level can be used to determine an appropriate time for procedures in infants. This will reduce the burden on medical staff and lead to less stressful procedures for infants.

We report a Cu K- and L$_3$-edge resonant inelastic x-ray scattering study of charge and spin excitations of bulk Nd$_{2-x}$Ce$_x$CuO$_4$, with focus on post-growth annealing effects. For the parent compound Nd$_2$CuO$_4$ ($x = 0$), a clear charge-transfer gap is observed in the as-grown state, whereas the charge excitation spectra indicate that electrons are doped in the annealed state. This is consistent with the observation that annealed thin-film and polycrystalline samples of RE$_2$CuO$_4$ (RE = rare earth) can become metallic and superconducting at sufficiently high electron concentrations without Ce doping. For $x = 0.16$, a Ce concentration for which it is known that oxygen reduction destroys long-range antiferromagnetic order and induces superconductivity, we find that the high-energy spin excitations of non-superconducting as-grown and superconducting annealed crystals are nearly identical. This finding is in stark contrast to the significant changes in the low-energy spin excitations previously observed via neutron scattering.