There was no statistically significant difference in complete response rate between the TEA group (84/88 or 95.5%) and the RFA group (188/195 or 96.4%) (p = 0.7). Time to progression in the TEA group [median 11.9 months, interquartile range (IQR) 5.6-18 months] was not statistically different from that in the RFA group (median 9.5 months, IQR 3.5-18.7 months) (p = 0.773). CONCLUSION TEA could be an effective alternative of RFA for the local treatment of small HCC; it is especially valuable for tumors of unfavorable location.RNA-cleaving DNAzyme is a very useful biomaterial for metal ions determination. However, parts of DNAzymes can be cleaved by several metal ions, which makes it difficult to distinguish the concentrations of different metal ions. A method was applied to determine the Cu(II) concentration by using electrochemical biosensors combined with a mathematical model. An electrochemical biosensor was fabricated using single carbon nanotubes/field-effect transistor (SWNTs/FET) functionalized with a DNAzyme named PSCu10 and its complementary DNA embedded phosphorothioate RNA (CS-DNA). The CS-DNA with amino groups at the 5' end was immobilized on the SWNTs' surface via the peptide bond and then combined with PSCu10 by identifying bases complementary pairing (Cuzyme/SWNTs/FET). The CS-DNA can be cleaved when Cu(II) bonded with the PSCu10 so that the structural change of Cuzyme improves the electrical conductivity of Cuzyme/SWNTs/FET. But CS-DNA also can be cut-off by the Hg(II) directly, which might interfere with the detection of the Cu(II) concentration using Cuzyme/SWNTs/FET. To solve this problem, Hgzyme/SWNTs/FET was employed to monitor the Hg(II) concentration at the same time, thus serving to determine the Cu(II) content through the Gaussian process regression. The biosensor array can determine the Cu(II) concentration varying from 0.01 to 10,000 nM when the Hg(II) concentration was ranging from 5 to 10,000 nM, and the limits of detection for Cu(II) and Hg(II) were 6.7 pM and 3.43 nM, respectively. Graphical abstract A biosensor array (Cuzyme/SWNTs/FET and Hgzyme/SWNTs/FET) was developed, and the detecting data were processed using Gaussian process regression. It allows determination of Cu(II) and Hg(II) concentrations with high accuracy.PURPOSE To classify the types of diabetic macular edema (DME) and evaluate its morphological features on spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) and determine correlations between visual acuity and OCT findings. METHODS We assessed 406 eyes of 309 patients with a diagnosis of DME retrospectively. Three types based on SD-OCT were identified diffuse macular edema, cystoid macular edema, and cystoid degeneration. Morphological features such as serous macular detachment (SMD), vitreomacular interface abnormalities (VMAI), hard exudates, photoreceptor status, and correlations between visual acuity and those morphological features were also evaluated by SD-OCT. RESULTS The most common type of DME was cystoid edema (68.5%). No statistically significant difference was found between groups in sex (P = 0.40), type of diabetes (P = 0.50), or diabetic retinopathy (P = 0.78). However, the duration of symptoms and BCVA was significantly lower in the group with cystoid degeneration compared with the group with cystoid edema (P  less then  0.001) and the group with diffuse macular edema (P  less then  0.001). In the group with cystoid degeneration compared with the groups with cystoid and diffuse edema, the central fovea and central subfield were significantly thicker (both (P  less then  0.001), the subfoveal choroid was significantly thinner (P = 0.049), rate of serous macular detachment was significantly lower (P  less then  0.001), and the rate of outer retinal damage was significantly higher (P  less then  0.001). CONCLUSIONS Cystoid macular degeneration, which is consistent with poor functional and morphological outcomes, should be differentiated from cystoid macular edema. Serous macular detachment, which is mostly seen in eyes with early stages of DME, should be evaluated as an accompanying morphological finding rather than a type of DME.Common buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench; 2n = 2x = 16) is an annual crop that is cultivated widely around the world and contains an abundance of nutrients and bioactive compounds. However, the yield of buckwheat is low compared to that of other major crops, and it contains proteins that cause allergic reactions in some people. Much research has aimed to improve or eliminate these undesirable traits, and some major advances have recently been made. Here, we review recent advances in buckwheat breeding materials, tools, and methods, including the development of self-compatible lines, genetic maps, a buckwheat genome database, and an efficient breeding strategy. We also describe emerging breeding methods for high-value lines.Leishmaniasis is a disease complex caused by 20 species of protozoan parasites belonging to the genus Leishmania. In humans, it has two main clinical forms, visceral leishmaniasis (VL) and cutaneous or tegumentary leishmaniasis (CL), as well as several other cutaneous manifestations in a minority of cases. In the mammalian host Leishmania parasites infect different populations of macrophages where they multiply and survive in the phagolysosomal compartment. The progression of both VL and CL depends on the maintenance of a parasite-specific immunosuppressive state based around this host macrophage infection. The complexity and variation of immune responses and immunopathology in humans and the different host interactions of the different Leishmania species has an impact upon the effectiveness of vaccines, diagnostics and drugs.Planarians represent an insufficiently explored group of aquatic invertebrates that might serve as hosts of histophagous ciliates belonging to the hymenostome genus Tetrahymena. During our extensive research on freshwater planarians, parasitic tetrahymenas were detected in two of the eight planarian species investigated, namely, in Dugesia gonocephala and Girardia tigrina. Using the 16S and 18S rRNA genes as well as the barcoding cytochrome oxidase subunit I, one ciliate species was identified as T. Dihexa c-Met chemical scolopax and three species were recognized as new forms T. acanthophora, T. dugesiae, and T. nigricans. Thus, 25% of the examined planarian taxa are positive for Tetrahymena species and three of them represent new taxa, indicating a large undescribed ciliate diversity in freshwater planarians. According to phylogenetic analyses, histophagous tetrahymenas show a low phylogenetic host specificity. Although T. acanthophora, T. dugesiae, and T. scolopax clustered together within the "borealis" clade, the former species has been detected exclusively in G.