RESUMEN
Liver segmentation technologies play vital roles in clinical diagnosis, disease monitoring, and surgical planning due to the complex anatomical structure and physiological functions of the liver. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the developments, challenges, and future directions in liver segmentation technology. We systematically analyzed high-quality research published between 2014 and 2024, focusing on liver segmentation methods, public datasets, and evaluation metrics. This review highlights the transition from manual to semi-automatic and fully automatic segmentation methods, describes the capabilities and limitations of available technologies, and provides future outlooks.
RESUMEN
The accurate and timely assessment of lymph node involvement is paramount in the management of patients with malignant tumors, owing to its direct correlation with cancer staging, therapeutic strategy formulation, and prognostication. Dual-energy computed tomography (DECT), as a burgeoning imaging modality, has shown promising results in the diagnosis and prediction of preoperative metastatic lymph nodes in recent years. This article aims to explore the application of DECT in identifying metastatic lymph nodes (LNs) across various cancer types, including but not limited to thyroid carcinoma (focusing on papillary thyroid carcinoma), lung cancer, and colorectal cancer. Through this narrative review, we aim to elucidate the clinical relevance and utility of DECT in the detection and predictive assessment of lymph node metastasis in malignant tumors, thereby contributing to the broader academic discourse in oncologic radiology and diagnostic precision.
RESUMEN
Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) have attracted huge attention due to not only the similar electrochemical properties to Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) but also the abundant natural reserves of sodium. However, the high diffusion barrier has hindered its application. In this work, we have theoretically studied the relationship between the strain and the diffusion barrier/path of sodium ions in layered CrN2 by first-principles calculation. Our results show that the strain can not only effectively decrease the diffusion barrier but also change the sodium diffusion path, which can be realized by alkali metal intercalation. Moreover, the diffusion barrier is as low as 0.04 eV with the Cs atoms embedding in layered CrN2 (Cs1/16CrN2), suggesting an excellent candidate cathode for SIBs. In addition, the decrease of the barrier mainly originated from the fact that interlayer electronic coupling weakened with the increase of interlayer spacing. Our findings provide an effective way to enhance sodium diffusion performance, which is beneficial for the design of SIB electrode materials.
RESUMEN
The cathode materials of sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) have received considerable attention not only because of their abundant natural reserves and chemical properties similar to those of lithium-ion batteries but also their great potential in energy storage and conversion technologies. However, their low capacity and high diffusion barrier remain unsolved problems. In this work, we systematically studied the theoretical capacity and sodium ion diffusion barrier in a new family of layered transition metal compounds, named MX2 (M = Ti, V, Cr, Mn, and Fe; X = C, N, and O), as the cathode materials of SIBs. The results indicate that all 2H-phase MX2 materials possess a high theoretical capacity of over 300 mA h g-1. Moreover, it is found that the 2H-phase CrN2 exhibits a desirable sodium ion diffusion barrier, indicating high mobility of sodium ions. In addition, the layered CrN2 has a remarkable voltage window (3.1-3.8 V) and outstanding electrochemical performance arising from the charge transfer between Na and N atoms, which is induced by the large electronegativity of nitrogen. Our research provides a promising candidate for application in SIB cathode materials in the future.