This report presents the first documented case of an extraosseous Ewing’s sarcoma (ES) arising primarily in the retropharyngeal space of an adult. A 59-year-old female presented with progressive dysphagia and acute stridor, initially mimicking a retropharyngeal abscess. However, intraoperative findings showed no pus, and further immunohistochemistry and genetic testing confirmed ES with CD99 positivity and EWSR1 rearrangement. Despite multimodal considerations, the disease was extensive at diagnosis, and the patient deteriorated rapidly, passing away within two months.

A recent case report from Mayo Clinic in Eye & ENT Research documents the first-ever case of vocal fold paralysis (VFP) following Z-POEM. A 68-year-old male developed hoarseness one day after the procedure, and laryngoscopy later confirmed left VFP. This finding breaks the prior safety record of Z-POEM and highlights the vulnerability of the recurrent laryngeal nerve, which lies close to the diverticulum base and is at risk during septal division. This article presents the case from anatomical, diagnostic, and management perspectives, offering a critical safety reference for clinicians performing Z-POEM.

 

Prof. Shiyuan Liu’s team from Huazhong University of Science and Technology has reported a full-chip EUV curvilinear mask optimization framework that integrates deep learning with gradient-based inverse optimization. This framework achieves an estimated speedup of four orders of magnitude over conventional FDTD methods while preserving accuracy, thereby enabling full-chip EUV mask optimization within a practical runtime. Doctoral student Pinxuan He is the first author of this paper, and Prof. Shiyuan Liu and Dr. Jiamin Liu are the co-corresponding authors. Prof. Honggang Gu, Dr. Song Zhang, Prof. Qi Xia, and Prof. Hao Jiang also contributed to this research.

 Researchers have uncovered the initial adaptive mechanisms of Bacillus velezensis C5 when exposed to polyethylene microplastics. Using comparative transcriptomics, the study revealed a robust, polymer‑specific transcriptional program distinct from general starvation or surface‑contact responses. Exposure to polyethylene triggered massive upregulation of genes involved in biofilm formation and sporulation, while genes associated with canonical degradation were not induced. The bacterium remained viable without growth, formed dense biofilms, and increased surface hydrophilicity but caused only subtle physicochemical changes to the plastic. This survival‑first strategy represents a critical initial phase that must be overcome to enable efficient biodegradation.

 Researchers have developed a multi‑objective optimization framework (MO‑DIDC) that handles infeasible solutions in complex distillation process optimization through data‑driven identification and adaptive directed correction. By identifying promising infeasible solutions near Pareto‑optimal designs and correcting their most influential variables, the framework reduces unnecessary exploration of infeasible regions. Demonstrated on a side‑stream double‑column extractive distillation system and a four‑column extractive distillation system, MO‑DIDC achieves optimization time reductions of 35.3 % and 20.8 %, respectively, compared to a widely used genetic algorithm, while delivering superior or comparable process designs.

Researchers have developed a controllable hydrothermal synthesis strategy for spherical cerium oxide (CeO₂) abrasives with tunable particle sizes from 32 to 531 nm while maintaining excellent sphericity and dispersity. Mechanistic studies reveal that CeO₂ formation occurs via nitrateinduced oxidation of Ce³⁺, with subsequent precipitation coupled to acetate decomposition thermodynamically driving the reaction forward. Chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) tests show that 343 nm CeO₂ achieves the highest material removal rate (73.7 nm·min⁻¹) with low surface roughness (Ra = 0.31 nm). The hydrothermally synthesized CeO₂ outperforms commercial abrasives in both short and longterm polishing owing to its uniform morphology.

Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) remains a leading cause of death worldwide. Elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) is a major modifiable driver of ASCVD, and PCSK9 has become an important therapeutic target because it regulates hepatic LDL receptor recycling and circulating LDL-C levels. Although PCSK9-targeting monoclonal antibodies and siRNA therapies can substantially lower LDL-C, their cost and need for repeated administration have motivated efforts to develop longer-lasting and more accessible approaches.

Ependymoma is a central nervous system tumor that occurs primarily in children and can arise in the supratentorial region, posterior fossa, or spinal cord. Although molecular classification has substantially improved disease stratification and prognostic assessment, the metabolic phenotypes associated with the major pediatric subtypes have remained poorly defined. Because pediatric ependymoma is rare, assembling a cohort that spans multiple molecularly defined subtypes for systematic metabolic comparison is itself challenging.

Researchers have developed a multiscale simulation framework combining ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) and reactive molecular dynamics (RMD) to investigate how molecular vacancies and nanoscale voids jointly influence hotspot formation in RDX. The study reveals a shock-velocity-dependent mechanism in which vacancies dominate hotspot initiation at lower shock strengths, while void collapse governs thermal localization under stronger shock loading.

A case report in Chinese Neurosurgical Journal describes a novel salvage surgical approach for refractory multiple sclerosis-related trigeminal neuralgia. In a single patient who had failed medical, percutaneous, and radiosurgical treatments, the procedure combined internal neurolysis (nerve combing) with targeted glycerol delivery to the proximal trigeminal root. The patient experienced immediate pain relief and remained recurrence-free on the treated side for 43 months, with preserved sensation and reduced medication use.