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Relapsed/refractory (R/R) primary and secondary central nervous system lymphomas (PCNSL, SCNSL) are associated with short survival and represent an unmet need, requiring novel effective strategies. We retrospectively compared the safety and efficacy of CD19/22 CAR-T-cell therapy following ASCT (ASCT + CAR-T group), CD19/22 CAR-T-cell cocktail therapy (CAR-T group) and chemoimmunotherapy (CIT group) in treating R/R CNSL patients. Analysis of the differences in clinical characteristics among the three groups revealed that the median age in the CIT group was older than that in the ASCT + CAR-T group and CAR-T group, and the median number of prior lines of therapy in the CIT group was less than that in the other groups. Patients in the two CAR-T-therapy groups exhibited comparable incidences and severities of CRS and ICANS. Grade 4–5 CRS and ICANS were not observed in either CAR-T-cell therapy group. The incidence of Grade 3/4 hematological toxicity in the ASCT + CAR-T and CAR-T groups was greater than that in the CIT group. The ORR was 82.75% in the ASCT + CAR-T group, 60.00% in the CAR-T group and 58.83% in the CIT group. As of December 31, 2022, the median follow-up after therapy was 16.73 months (range, 0.67-42.00 months). The median durations of PFS and OS were not reached in the ASCT + CAR-T group. The median PFS in the CAR-T group was 4.72 months, and OS was not reached. In the CIT group, the median PFS and OS were 6.63 months and 16.77 months, respectively. The 2-year PFS rate of patients in the ASCT + CAR-T group (65.52%) was significantly greater than that of patients in the CAR-T group (30.00%, P = 0.0321) and CIT group (23.53%, P = 0.0043). Our results support the development of CAR-T-cell therapy for R/R CNSL. With the durability of remission and low toxicity, ASCT combined with CAR-T-cell therapy appears to be a more effective and safer treatment option for primary and secondary R/R CNS lymphoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Second‐order topological insulators can be characterized by their bulk polarization, which is believed to be intrinsically connected to the center of the Wannier function. In this study, the existence of second‐order topological insulators is demonstrated that feature a pair of partially degenerate photonic bands. These arise from the nonsymmorphic glide symmetry in an all‐dielectric photonic crystal. The center of the maximally localized Wannier function (MLWF) is consistently located at the origin but is not equivalent with respect to the sum of constituent polarizations. As a result, topological corner modes can be identified by the distinctly hybridized MLWFs that truncate at the sample boundary. Through full‐wave numerical simulations paired with microwave experiments, the second‐order topology is clearly confirmed and characterized. These topological corner states exhibit notably unique modal symmetries, which are made possible by the inversion of the Wannier bands. These results provide an alternative approach to explore higher‐order topological physics with significant potential for applications in integrated and quantum photonics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An ideal synthesis of alkyl amines would involve the direct use of abundant and easily accessible molecules such as dinitrogen (N2) and feedstock alkenes1–4. However, this ambition remains a great challenge as it is usually difficult to simultaneously activate both N2 and a simple alkene and combine them together through carbon–nitrogen (C–N) bond formation. Currently, the synthesis of alkyl amines relies on the use of ammonia produced through the Haber–Bosch process and prefunctionalized electrophilic carbon sources. Here we report the hydroamination of simple alkenes with N2 in a trititanium hydride framework, which activates both alkenes and N2, leading to selective C–N bond formation and providing the corresponding alkyl amines on further hydrogenation and protonation. Computational studies reveal key mechanistic details of N2 activation and selective C–N bond formation. This work demonstrates a strategy for the transformation of N2 and simple hydrocarbons into nitrogen-containing organic compounds mediated by a multinuclear hydride framework.A trititanium hydride framework is used to achieve direct hydroamination of simple feedstock hydrocarbons with inert nitrogen gas to obtain the corresponding alkyl amines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epstein–Barr virus (EBV)-associated lymphoproliferative diseases (EBV-LPDs) are common complications that occur after solid organ transplantation or allogeneic hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT). However, their occurrence and treatment post-chimeric antigen receptor-modified T (CAR-T) cell therapy has not been reported. Two patients had been diagnosed with EBV-positive aggressive B-cell lymphoma and experienced relapses after multiple lines of treatment. After receiving CAR-T cell therapy in tandem with autologous HSCT, the patients achieved complete remission. However, with a median time of 38.5 months after CAR-T cell therapy, B-cell-derived EBV-LPDs were diagnosed, and they were relieved through the administration of immune checkpoint inhibitor or B-cell-depleting agents. Collectively, our report suggests that EBV-LPDs may represent a long-term adverse event after CAR-T cell therapy, especially in patients who previously had EBV-positive disorders, and they can be resolved by immune normalization strategy or B-cell depleting therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patients with hematological malignancies who also have a hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection need to be aware of the potential risk of HBV reactivation when undergoing anti-cancer treatments. Among these treatments, CAR T-cell therapy has gained significant attention as a promising option, but it also raises concerns regarding HBV reactivation. This review aims to provide an overview of published reports on HBV reactivation during CAR T-cell therapy, along with an assessment of the effectiveness of prophylactic antiviral therapy. Additionally, we propose a systematic approach for monitoring and managing HBV reactivation during CAR T-cell therapy to enhance the safety of this treatment for patients with HBV infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: MCD (MYD88L265P/CD79Bmut) diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma has a poor prognosis. There is no published clinical research conclusion regarding zanubrutinib or orelabrutinib for the initial treatment of MCD DLBCL. Aims: This study aimed to analyse the efficacy and safety of Bruton's tyrosine kinase inhibitor (BTKi) (zanubrutinib or orelabrutinib) therapy for newly diagnosed DLBCL patients with MYD88mut and/or CD79Bmut. Materials and Methods: Twenty‐three newly diagnosed DLBCL patients with MYD88mut and/or CD79Bmut from June 2020 to June 2022 received BTKi combined with rituximab plus cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine and prednisone (R‐CHOP) or rituximab + lenalidomide (R2). A control group of 17 patients with MYD88mut and/or CD79Bmut DLBCL who received the standard R‐CHOP therapy was also assessed. We retrospectively analysed clinical characteristics, safety, overall response rate (ORR), complete response (CR) rate and progression‐free survival (PFS) of the two groups. Results: The main clinical features were a high International Prognostic Index (IPI) score (≥3, 22/40, 55%) and a high rate of extranodal involvement (27/40,67.5%). Among the 23 DLBCL patients, 18 received BTKi + R‐CHOP, and five elderly DLBCL patients were treated with BTKi + R2. Compared with those in the control group (ORR 70.6%, CRR 52.9%, 1‐year PFS rate 41.2%), improved ORR, CRR and PFS results were observed in the BTKi + R‐CHOP group (100%, 94.4% and 88.9%, p = 0.019, 0.007, and 0.0001). In subgroup analyses based on genetic subtypes, cell origin, dual expression or IPI score, patients in the BTKi + R‐CHOP group had better PFS than patients in the control group. In the BTKi + R‐CHOP group, no significant difference was found in ORR, CRR and PFS based on subtype analysis, while BTKi‐type subgroups exhibited statistically significant differences in 1‐year PFS (p = 0.028). There were no significant differences in grade 3–4 haematological toxicity (p = 1) and grade 3–4 non‐haematological toxicity (p = 0.49) between the BTKi + R‐CHOP and R‐CHOP treatment groups. In the BTKi + R2 group, the ORR was 100%, the CRR was 80%, and the 1‐year PFS rate was 80%. The incidences of grade 3–4 haematologic toxicity and non‐haematological toxicity were both 40%. No bleeding or cardiovascular events of grade 3 or higher occurred in any patients. Discussion: The efficacy of BTKi combined with R‐CHOP was similar to previous reports, which was significantly better than R‐CHOP alone. It is necessary to fully consider that 14 patients in the BTKi + R‐CHOP group received a BTKi as maintenance therapy when evaluating efficacy. Meanwhile, the addition of a BTKi may improve the prognosis of non‐GCB, DEL or high‐IPI‐score DLBCL patients with MYD88mut and/or CD79Bmut. In our study, five elderly DLBCL patients with MYD88mut and/or CD79Bmut were achieved better ORR, CRR, PFS than the historical data of R‐miniCHOP treatment and Ibrutinib + R2 treatment. However, the efficacy and benefit of BTKis for this type of DLBCL need to be further analysed using a larger sample size. Conclusion: This study suggests that newly diagnosed DLBCL patients with MYD88mut and/or CD79Bmut may benefit from BTKis according to real‐world clinical data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In condensed systems, Weyl quasiparticles have a massless nature and exhibit various relativistic chiral phenomena such as Klein tunneling, chiral anomaly, and Fermi arc surface states. However, in photonic systems, Weyl points (WPs) are protected by the D2d symmetry, often leading to multiple chiral WPs at the same energy level, which makes generating chirality-related effects challenging. To overcome this hinderance, a perturbation that breaks mirror symmetry in the metallic saddle structure was introduced. This perturbation effectively separates the energies of distinct chiral WPs, enabling the experimental measurement of the spectral intensity for each Weyl band and the assessment of chirality imbalance among the WPs. By maintaining time-reversal symmetry, the present study offers an approach for investigating the imbalance in the chirality of pseudo-fermionic fields in photonic materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In conventional plasmonic media and plasmonic metamaterials, such as metallic wire meshes, a longitudinal mode of an electromagnetic wave manifests itself in frequency overlapping transverse modes, which impedes clear observation of longitudinal-mode-specific physical effects. Through interlacing two sets of wire meshes, an ideal band for the longitudinal mode is achieved ranging from zero frequency to plasma frequency, where transverse modes are completely forbidden. The unique spectral separation of modes facilitates the observation of pure longitudinal modes and related plasmonic effects in a bulk medium. We report the microwave experiment of anomalous optical transmission, induced solely by electromagnetic longitudinal mode resonance, below the plasma frequency in such a wire mesh medium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Identifying the temporal pattern of recurrence and prognostic biomarkers would further help improve the efficacy of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) -T therapy. Methods: We examined the prognoses of 119 patients after sequential infusion of anti-CD19 and anti-CD22, a cocktail of 2 single-target CAR (CAR19/22) T cells in an open-label, single-center clinical trial (ChiCTR-OPN-16008526). And we, from a 70-biomarker panel, identified candidate cytokines that might predict the treatment failure, including primary non-response (NR) and early relapse (ER). Results: In our study, 3 (11.5%) patients with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) and 9 (12.2%) cases of B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) failed to respond to sequential CAR19/22 T-cell infusion (NR). A total of 11 (42.3%) B-ALL patients and 30 (52.7%) B-NHL patients had relapses during follow-up. Most recurrence events (67.5%) occurred within six months of sequential CAR T-cell infusion (ER). We found that macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP)-3α was a highly sensitive and specific prognostic predictor for patients with NR/ER and those attaining over-6-month remission. Patients who had higher MIP3α levels after sequential CAR19/22 T-cell infusion had significantly favorable progression-free survival (PFS) than their counterparts with relatively lower MIP3α expression. Our experiments demonstrated that MIP3α could enhance the therapeutic effect of CAR-T cells by promoting T-cell infiltration into and enriching memory-phenotype T cells in the tumor environment. Conclusion: This study showed that relapse occurred mainly within six months after sequential CAR19/22 T-cell infusion. Moreover, MIP3α could act as a valuable post-infusion biomarker for identifying patients with NR/ER. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To prevent the crosstalk between adjacent waveguides in photonic integrated circuits, the minimum thickness of the cladding layers is around half a wavelength, which imposes a fundamental limitation to further integration and miniaturization of photonic circuits. Here, we reveal that epsilon-near-zero claddings, either isotropic or anisotropic, can break the above bottleneck by prohibiting the crosstalk for the modes with magnetic field polarized in the z direction at a deep-subwavelength thickness (e.g., λ0/30, λ0 is the free-space wavelength), therefore bestowing ultra-compact waveguide systems. The physical origin of this remarkable effect attributes to the divergent impedance of epsilon-near-zero materials far beyond those of dielectric or epsilon-negative claddings. Through full-wave simulations and microwave experiments, we have verified the effectiveness of the ultrathin epsilon-near-zero cladding in crosstalk prohibition. Our finding reveals the significant impact of impedance difference in waveguide designs and opens a promising route toward ultra-compact photonic chips. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dinitrogen (N2) activation and functionalization is of fundamental interest and practical importance. This review focuses on N2 activation and addition to unsaturated substrates, including carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, heteroallenes, aldehydes, ketones, acid halides, nitriles, alkynes, and allenes, mediated by transition metal complexes, which afforded a variety of N−C bond formation products. Emphases are placed on the reaction modes and mechanisms. We hope that this work would stimulate further explorations in this challenging field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dinitrogen (N2) activation and functionalization is of fundamental interest and practical importance. This review focuses on N2 activation and addition to unsaturated substrates, including carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, heteroallenes, aldehydes, ketones, acid halides, nitriles, alkynes, and allenes, mediated by transition metal complexes, which afforded a variety of N−C bond formation products. Emphases are placed on the reaction modes and mechanisms. We hope that this work would stimulate further explorations in this challenging field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Owing to their high-specific binding toward targets as well as fast and convenient separation operations, immunomagnetic beads (IMBs) are widely used in the capture and detection of circulating tumor cells (CTCs). To construct the IMBs, surface modifications are generally performed to functionalize the magnetic cores (e.g. Fe3O4 nanoparticles), and the employed surface modification strategies normally influence the structure and functions of the prepared IMBs in return. Different from the existing work, we proposed the use of supramolecular layer-by-layer (LBL) self-assembly strategy to construct the IMBs. In general, owing to the π–π stacking interactions, the polydopamine, graphene oxide and 'molecular glue' γ-oxo-1-pyrenebutyric acid were self-assembled on Fe3O4 nanoparticles sequentially, thereby accomplishing the integration of different functional components onto magnetic cores to prepare the self-assembled supramolecular immunomagnetic beads (ASIMBs). The ASIMBs showed high sensitivity, specificity and good biocompatibility to the model CTCs and low nonspecific adsorption to the negative cells (∼93% for MCF-7 cells and 17% for Jurkat cells). Meanwhile, ASIMBs possessed a remarkable potential to screen the rare MCF-7 cells out of large amounts of interfering Jurkat cells with the capture efficiency of 75–100% or out of mouse whole blood with the capture efficiency of 20–90%. The captured cells can be further recultured directly without any more treatment, which showed huge applicability of the ASIMBs for in vitro detection in clinical practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Glioma stem cells (GSCs) play an important role in glioma recurrence and chemo‐radiotherapy (CRT) resistance. Currently, there is a lack of efficient treatment approaches targeting GSCs. This study aimed to explore the potential personalized treatment of patients with GSC‐enriched gliomas. Methods: Single‐cell RNA sequencing (scRNA‐seq) was used to identify the GSC‐related genes. Then, machine learning methods were applied for clustering and validation. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) and COX regression were used to construct the risk scores. Survival analysis was performed. Additionally, the incidence of chemo‐radiotherapy resistance, immunotherapy status, and tumor treating field (TTF) therapy response were evaluated in high‐ and low‐risk scores groups. Results: Two GSC clusters exhibited significantly different stemness indices, immune microenvironments, and genomic alterations. Based on GSC clusters, 11‐gene GSC risk scores were constructed, which exhibited a high predictive value for prognosis. In terms of therapy, patients with high GSC risk scores had a higher risk of resistance to chemotherapy. TTF therapy can comprehensively inhibit the malignant biological characteristics of the high GSC‐risk‐score gliomas. Conclusion: Our study constructed a GSC signature consisting of 11 GSC‐specific genes and identified its prognostic value in gliomas. TTF is a promising therapeutic approach for patients with GSC‐enriched glioma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patients with Burkitt lymphoma who are refractory to initial therapy or who relapse after undergoing intensive chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) usually have a poor prognosis. While there has been considerable progress in the use of chimeric antigen receptor-modified (CAR) T cell immunotherapy for the treatment of relapsed and refractory (r/r) malignancies, explicit data on adult patients with r/r Burkitt lymphoma are limited. We conducted two single-arm clinical trials to evaluate the clinical efficacy and toxicity of CD19/CD22 CAR T cell immunotherapy both alone (trial A) and in combination with ASCT (trial B) in adult patients with r/r Burkitt lymphoma. In total, 28 adult patients with r/r Burkitt lymphoma were enrolled [trial A (n = 15) and trial B (n = 13)]. The median doses of CD22 and CD19 CAR T cell infusions were 4.1 × 106/kg and 4.0 × 106/kg, respectively. Subsequently, after CAR T cell infusion, overall and complete responses were observed in 19 (67.9%) and 16 (57.1%) patients, respectively. The cumulative incidence rates of grade 2–4 cytokine release syndrome and immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome were 39.3% (11/28) and 10.7% (3/28), respectively. After a median follow-up duration of 12.5 months, 16 patients (5 in trial A and 11 in trial B) survived. Both the estimated 1-year progression-free and overall survival rates were 55.6%. Our preliminary results indicated that salvage therapy with CD19/CD22 CAR T cell infusion alone and that in combination with ASCT are effective in treating some adult patients with r/r Burkitt lymphoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to identify the relationship between users' perception image, clothing design features and users' preference and propose a clothing design scheme based on users perception image and users' preference. Design/methodology/approach: In this paper, men's suit is composed into multiple design features under the design elements. Using the orthogonal experiment method, 16 schemes of the representative suit are designed. Through perception evaluation experiment, users' perception images and preference degree of the samples are obtained. By partial least squares (PLS) analysis method, the models between users' perception image, suit design features and users' preference are built. Findings: The interrelationship between the three is identified by establishing PLS models between users' perception image, suit design features and users' preference. According to the coefficients of the models, the optimization schemes of men's suits considering users' perception image and preference are proposed. Verification results show that the optimization schemes are significantly better than other schemes. Originality/value: The results of this paper can be used for consumer demand-oriented clothing design and provide references and methods for converting consumer's perceived needs into clothing design features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Alloimmunization can be a significant barrier to red blood cell (RBC) transfusion. While alloantigen matching protocols hold promise in reducing alloantibody formation, transfusion‐dependent patients can still experience RBC alloimmunization and associated complications even when matching protocols are employed. As a result, complementary strategies capable of actively preventing alloantibody formation following alloantigen exposure are warranted. Study Design and Methods: We examined whether pharmacological removal of macrophages using clodronate may provide an additional strategy to actively inhibit RBC alloimmunization using two preclinical models of RBC alloimmunization. To accomplish this, mice were treated with clodronate, followed by transfusion of RBCs expressing the HOD (HEL, OVA, and Duffy) or KEL antigens. On days 5 and 14 post transfusion, anti‐HOD or anti‐KEL IgM and IgG antibodies were evaluated. Results: Low dose clodronate effectively eliminated key marginal zone macrophage populations from the marginal sinus. Prior treatment with clodronate, but not empty liposomes, also significantly inhibited IgM and IgG anti‐HOD alloantibody formation following transfusion of HOD RBCs. Similar exposure to clodronate inhibited IgM and IgG antibody formation following KEL RBC transfusion. Conclusions: Clodronate can inhibit anti‐HOD and anti‐KEL antibody formation following RBC transfusion in preclinical models. These results suggest that clodronate may provide an alternative approach to actively inhibit or prevent the development of alloantibodies following RBC transfusion, although future studies will certainly be needed to fully explore this possibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Automated, effective and efficient sleep‐stage monitoring and structure analysis is an essential enabling procedure for healthcare automation. Sleep diagnosis by polysomnography is a golden standard but expensive procedure involving huge effort from patients. There remain challenges for smart devices to precisely identify sleep stage and minimize intrusive effect on sleep progression. Herein, a novel noncontact sleep structure prediction system (NSSPS) using a single radar sensor is presented to analyze sleep structure without any tethered unit. The NSSPS is realized through training a convolutional recurrent neural network and neural conditional random fields using reflected radio frequency (RF) waves acquired by radar antennas. By capturing implicit temporal information in RF signals and transitions of sleep progression, high accuracy of sleep‐stage prediction is achieved and characteristics of sleep structure are extracted. The performance of the NSSPS is validated by transfer learning between radar signals with different frequency bands and crossvalidation among different subjects. Moreover, the NSSPS is demonstrated to estimate overnight parameters that are critical for sleep diagnosis. Benefiting from its low cost, convenient setup, and accurate prediction capability of sleep‐stage identification, the NSSPS can be widely deployed in "smart" homes and exploited to conduct daily sleep structure analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Precise and specific circulating tumor cell (CTC) isolation is heavily interfered with by blood cells and proteins. Although satisfactory results have been achieved by some cell membrane-derived platforms, the following limitations have seriously limited the commercialization potential: complex membrane composition, difficult batch difference control, inconvenient source cell expansion, etc. To overcome these limitations, artificial cell membrane camouflage made from commercialized lipids and proteins was proposed in this work. Specifically, a biotinylated phospholipid which can serve as a lipid component and provide active sites (biotin) for antibody modification, and human serum albumin (HSA), which can effectively reduce certain blood protein adsorption, were applied simultaneously to endow our immunomagnetic platform with a new biological identity. Besides, making full use of the robust lipid and protein absorption ability of graphene nanosheets (GNs), the biomimetic cell membrane can be easily integrated into the magnetic core through simple lipid and protein solution incubation. Surprisingly, the resulting artificial cell membrane camouflaged immunomagnetic nanoparticles (AIMNPs) achieved high specificity (average capture efficiency 87.0%), good sensitivity (7 model CTCs per 0.5 mL) and an enhanced anti-nonspecific absorption ability (15–105 white blood cells per 1.5 mL) in both mimic and clinical blood samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we propose and demonstrate a scheme to realize broadband coherent perfect absorption of spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) using an ultrathin conductive film vertically placed on a plasmonic metasurface that supports spoof SPPs. When the conductive film possesses an appropriate sheet resistance, two incident coherent beams of spoof SPP waves can be simultaneously absorbed over a broad spectrum. By tuning the phase difference between the two incident beams from 0 to π , the absorption can be gradually changed from near-100% to near-zero, as verified in full-wave simulations and microwave experiments. Our work extends the theory of coherent perfect absorption from propagating waves to spoof SPPs with a significant advantage of broad working bandwidth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Aberrant endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) plays an important role in multiple cardiovascular diseases. However, their implication in intracranial aneurysms (IAs) remains unclear. We designed this study to explore the general expression pattern and potential functions of ERS in IAs. Methods: Five Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) microarray datasets were used as the training cohorts, and 3 GEO RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) datasets were used as the validating cohorts. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs), functional enrichment, Lasso regression, logistic regression, ROC analysis, immune cell profiling, vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) phenotyping, weighted gene coexpression network analysis (WGCNA), and protein-protein interaction (PPI) analysis were applied to investigate the role of ERS in IA. Finally, we predicted the upstream transcription factor (TF)/miRNA and potential drugs targeting ERS. Results: Significant DEGs were majorly associated with ERS, autophagy, and metabolism. Eight-gene ERS signature and IRE1 pathway were identified during the IA formation. WGCNA showed that ERS was highly associated with a VSMC synthesis phenotype. Next, ERS-VSMC-metabolism-autophagy PPI and ERS-TF-miRNA networks were constructed. Finally, we predicted 9 potential drugs targeting ERS in IAs. Conclusion: ERS is involved in IA formation. Upstream and downstream regulatory networks for ERS were identified in IAs. Novel potential drugs targeting ERS were also proposed, which may delay IA formation and progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pyroptosis is a recently identified type of lytic programmed cell death, in which pores form in the plasma membrane, and cells swell, rupture, and then release their contents, including inflammatory cytokines. Molecular studies indicated that pyroptosis may occur via a gasdermin D (GSDMD) and caspase-1 (Casp1) -dependent classical pathway, a GSDMD and Casp11/4/5-dependent non-classical pathway, or a gasdermin E (GSDME) and Casp3-dependent pathway. Studies of animal models and humans indicated that pyroptosis can exacerbate several complications of diabetes, including diabetic nephropathy (DN), a serious microvascular complication of diabetes. Many studies investigated the mechanism mediating the renoprotective effect of GSDMD regulation in the kidneys of patients and animal models with diabetes. As a newly discovered regulatory mechanism, GSDME and Casp3-dependent pyroptotic pathway in the progression of DN has also attracted people's attention. Z-DEVD-FMK, an inhibitor of Casp3, ameliorates albuminuria, improves renal function, and reduces tubulointerstitial fibrosis in diabetic mice, and these effects are associated with the inhibition of GSDME. Studies of HK-2 cells indicated that the molecular and histological features of secondary necrosis were present following glucose stimulation due to GSDME cleavage, such as cell swelling, and release of cellular contents. Therefore, therapies targeting Casp3/GSDME-dependent pyroptosis have potential for treatment of DN. A novel nephroprotective strategy that employs GSDME-derived peptides which are directed against Casp3-induced cell death may be a key breakthrough. This mini-review describes the discovery and history of research in this pyroptosis pathway and reviews the function of proteins in the gasdermin family, with a focus on the role of GSDME-mediated pyroptosis in DN. Many studies have investigated the impact of GSDME-mediated pyroptosis in kidney diseases, and these studies used multiple interventions, in vitro models, and in vivo models. We expect that further research on the function of GDSME in DN may provide valuable insights that may help to improve treatments for this disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate whether enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) can promote rehabilitation of patients after neurosurgical craniotomy. Methods: The clinical data of 100 patients with brain tumor undergoing craniotomy in the Department of Neurosurgery, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, from January 2018 to August 2020 were collected, including 50 patients in the ERAS group and 50 patients in the control group. t-Test, Wilcoxon's rank sum test, and chi-square analysis were used to compare the clinical characteristics, prognosis, and hospitalization time between the two groups. Results: There was no significant difference in gender, age, and other general clinical data between the two groups (p > 0.05). The days of antiemetic drugs applied in the ERAS group were less than those in the control group (1.00 vs. 2.00 days, p = 0.003), and the proportion of patients requiring analgesics was lower than that of the control group (30% vs. 52%, OR = 0.41, 95% CI 0.18–0.93, p = 0.031). The time of urinary catheter removal and that of patients starting ambulation in the ERAS group were shorter than those in the control group (16.00 vs. 24.00 h, and 1.00 vs. 2.00 days, p < 0.001, respectively); and the hospital length of stay (LOS) in the ERAS group was shorter than that in the control group (Total LOS, 13.00 vs. 15.50 days; Postoperative LOS, 7.00 vs. 10.00 days, p < 0.001). By analyzing the prognosis of patients in the ERAS group and control group, we found that there was no significant difference in postoperative complications and Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) score 1 month after operation between the two groups. Conclusion: The application of ERAS in craniotomy can accelerate the postoperative recovery of patients without increasing the perioperative risk, which is worthy of wide application. However, whether the ERAS measures can reduce the postoperative complications and improve the prognosis of patients still needs more large-scale case validation and multicenter collaborative study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aim of this study was to quantitatively analysis the diagnostic performance of adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) gene promoter methylation in serum or sputum/bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BLAF) as a biomarker for lung cancer identification through pooling of open published data. Methods: The relevant electronic MEDLINE, EMBASE, Ovid, web of science and CNKI databases were systematically searched to identify the studies related to APC gene promoter methylation for lung cancer diagnosis. Data of true positive (tp), false positive (fp), false negative (fn) and true negative (tn) were extracted from the publications included in the study. The pooled diagnostic sensitivity, specificity and area under summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curve (AUC‐SROC) of APC gene promoter methylation were calculated. Publication bias was evaluated by Begg's funnel plot and Egger's line regression test. Results: Fourteen studies associated with APC gene promoter methylation and lung cancer were identified in the databases and finally included in the meta‐analysis. The data was pooled using a random effect model due to significant statistical heterogeneity across the 14 studies (p < 0.05). Using the APC gene promoter methylation as a reference for lung cancer identification, the pooled diagnostic sensitivity and specificity were 0.43 (95% CI: 0.40–0.45), and 0.92 (95% CI: 0.90–0.95), respectively with combined diagnostic positive likelihood ratio (+LR) and negative likelihood ratio (−LR) of 7.15 (95% CI: 3.62–14.12) and 0.63 (95% CI: 0.57–0.71). The pooled diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) and AUC‐SROC of APC gene promoter methylation for lung cancer diagnosis were 9.84 (95% CI: 5.77–16.79) and 0.7, respectively. The Begg's funnel plot and Egger's line regression test both indicated statistical publication bias (t = 5.40, p < 0.05). Conclusions: APC gene promoter methylation in serum or sputum/BLAF is a potential biomarker for lung cancer diagnosis with high specificity. However, due to its low sensitivity, it may not be suitable for lung cancer screening in the general population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soluble tumor necrosis factor-α (sTNF-α) plays an important role in colitis-associated cancer (CAC); however, little is known about transmembrane TNF-α (tmTNF-α). Here, we observed an increase in sTNF-α mainly in colitis tissues from an azoxymethane/dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced CAC mouse model whereas tmTNF-α levels were chiefly increased on epithelial cells at the tumor stage. The ratio of intracolonic tmTNF-α/sTNF-α was negatively correlated with the levels of pro-inflammatory mediators (IL-1β, IL-6, and NO) and M1 macrophages but positively correlated with the infiltration of myeloid-derived suppressor cells, regulatory T cells, and the level of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10, suggesting an anti-inflammatory effect of tmTNF-α. This effect of tmTNF-α was confirmed again by the induction of resistance to LPS in colonic epithelial cell lines NCM460 and HCoEpiC through the addition of exogenous tmTNF-α or transfection of the tmTNF-α leading sequence that lacks the extracellular segment but retains the intracellular domain of tmTNF-α. A tmTNF-α antibody was used to block tmTNF-α shedding after the first or second round of inflammation induction by DSS drinking to shift the time window of tmTNF-α expression ahead to the inflammation stage. Antibody treatment significantly alleviated inflammation and suppressed subsequent adenoma formation, accompanied by increased apoptosis. An antitumor effect was also observed when the antibody was administered at the malignant phase of CAC. Our results reveal tmTNF-α as a novel molecular marker for malignant transformation in CAC and provide a new insight into blocking the pathological process by targeting tmTNF-α processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advanced liver fibrosis can lead to cirrhosis, resulting in an accelerated risk of hepatocellular carcinoma and liver failure. Fuzheng Huayu formula (FZHY) is a traditional Chinese medicine formula treated liver fibrosis in China approved by a Chinese State Food and Drug Administration (NO: Z20050546), composed of Salvia Miltiorrhiza bge., Prunus davidiana (Carr.) Franch., cultured Cordyceps sinensis (BerK.) Sacc. Mycelia, Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baill., Pinus massoniana Lamb., and Gynostemma pentaphyllum (Thunb.) Makino. However, the main active substances and mechanism of FZHY are unclear. The aim of this study is to identify a novel anti-fibrotic compound, which consists of the main active ingredients of FZHY, and investigate its mechanism of pharmacological action. The main active ingredients of FZHY were investigated by quantitative analysis of FZHY extracts and FZHY-treated plasma and liver in rats. The anti-fibrotic composition of the main active ingredients was studied through uniform design in vivo , and its mechanism was evaluated in carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)- and bile duct ligation (BDL)-induced liver fibrosis models in rats and mice, and transforming growth factor beta 1-induced LX-2 cell activation model in vitro. A novel Chinese medicine, namely JY5 formula, consisting of salvianolic acid B, schisantherin A, and amygdalin, the main active ingredients of FZHY, significantly alleviated hepatic hydroxyproline content and collagen deposition in CCl4-and BDL-induced fibrotic liver in rats and mice. In addition, JY5 inhibited the activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) by inactivating Notch signaling in vitro and in vivo. In this study, we found a novel JY5 formula, which exerted anti-hepatic fibrotic effects by inhibiting the Notch signaling pathway, consequently suppressing HSCs activation. These results provide an adequate scientific basis for clinical research and application of the JY5 formula, which may be a potential novel therapeutic candidate for liver fibrosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The treatment of refractory Burkitt's lymphoma (BL) is still a challenge. Although CAR-T cell therapy has achieved good responses in diffuse large B cell lymphoma, there is no case series report about the efficacy of CAR-T cell therapy in adult Burkitt's lymphoma. In this study, we evaluate the efficacy and safety of CAR19/22 T cell therapy in six refractory Burkitt's lymphoma cases with poor genetic prognostic factors. After CAR-T cell therapy, five cases had grade 1 and one had grade 3 cytokine release syndrome. Three patients achieved an objective response (3/6 50%), including two partial remission and one complete remission. One CR patient received allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) and one PR patient received CAR22/19-T cells following auto-HSCT, and they were still in remission at 37 and 22 months of follow-up, respectively. Interestingly, patients with bulky disease (case 2, 4 and 5) had higher levels of serum IL-2R, which was secreted by regulatory T cells, lower CAR lentiviral amplification and poorer prognosis with shorter survival time than cases with non-bulky disease. It is suggested that high tumor burden, more immune suppressive cells and limited CAR-T cell expansion might affect the efficacy of CAR-T cell therapy. CAR-T cell therapy in adult BL patients whose best response cannot achieve CR may need to bridge to other treatments (such as HSCT) early. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nodal chain (NC) semi-metals have the degeneracy of interlacing rings in their band structure in momentum space. With the projection of degenerate rings towards crystal boundaries, there is a special type of surface dispersion appearing at surface Brillouin zone and termed drumhead surface state (DSS). Previously, experimental investigations on photonic NC and DSS have been done on metallic photonic crystals at microwave frequencies. However, far-field detection of DSS and its coupling to radiative modes in free space have not been studied. In the work, we analyze the photonic DSS in a metallic lattice by angle-resolved far-field reflection measurement and numerical simulation at terahertz (THz) frequencies, and reveal its flatness and boundness in band structure, even in the radiation continuum. Particularly, the DSS band can be tuned being from negatively dispersive via flat to positively dispersive by a single surface parameter, and the DSS at Γ point in surface Brillouin zone is in fact a symmetry-protected bound state in the continuum. Our results might have some potential applications towards THz photonics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid development of exosome research provides new insights into the physiological role of exosomes and their significant correlation with human health. Although the exosomes derived from tumor sources have been proven to be promising biomarkers for cancer detection and disease progression due to their inherited biological contents from the parent cancer cells and unique roles in tumor metastasis and invasion, it is still a challenging task to perform rapid and effective isolation from complex biological samples and conduct high-precision real-time analysis. Herein, we propose a magnetic surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) platform to integrate successive breast cancer exosome isolation and Raman signal enhancement into one system to achieve the goal. In addition, principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted to investigate major patterns of the samples. According to the results, the magnetic SERS platform can be applied to distinguish exosomes derived from MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells with 100% sensitivity and 100% specificity for the 95% confidence interval. More importantly, this platform can fully identify breast cancer patients and healthy people with 91.67% sensitivity and 100% specificity. These studies revealed that our magnetic SERS platform would serve as a great potential system for highly efficient real-time liquid biopsy by using the exosomes as cancerous markers, while exempting from pre-treatment of clinical samples or the extra introduction of elements for SERS signal enhancement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Relapsed/refractory (R/R) multiple myeloma (MM) patients and primary plasma cell leukemia (PCL) have an unfavorable prognosis and no effective treatment. This study was designed to assess the safety and preliminary efficacy of a novel anti‐B‐cell maturation antigen (BCMA) chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell in R/R MM and PCL. Methods: Between February 22, 2017, and June 25, 2018, 28 R/R and two R/R primary PCL patients received a median dose of 11.2 × 106 CAR+ cells/kg. The subjects were refractory to a proteasome inhibitor and/or an immunomodulatory agent. Fludarabine and cyclophosphamide were given as lymphodepletion chemotherapy. Results: Results for these 30 consecutive patients who received an anti‐BCMA CAR T cell infusion are reported. The patients had received a median of four prior lines of therapy. A total of 44 different types of adverse events were recorded, and hematologic toxic effects were the most common events of any grade during treatment. Hematologic toxic effects were also the most common events of grade 3 or higher. A total of 29 patients (96.7%) had cytokine release syndrome, which was of grade 1 or 2 in 24 patients (80%) and grade 3 in five patients (16.7%). Neurologic toxic effects only occurred in one patient (3.3%) and were of grade 1. The objective response rate was 90%, and the complete response rate was 43.3%. With a median follow‐up of 12.6 months, the median progression‐free survival (PFS) and overall survival were 5.2 months and 14.0 months. One of the two primary PCL achieved a complete response with a PFS of 307 days. The other patients achieved a very good partial response with a PFS of 117 days. Conclusions: Anti‐BCMA CAR T cell treatment is safe and highly active in R/R multiple myeloma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper examines the problem of lack of historical data and inadequate consideration of factors influencing demand in the forecasting of demand for fast fashion clothing and proposes an improved Bass model for the forecasting of such a demand and the demand for new clothing products. Design/methodology/approach: From the perspective of how to solve the lack of data and improve the precision of the clothing demand forecast, this paper studies the measurement of clothing similarity and the addition of demand impact factors. Using the fuzzy clustering–rough set method, the degree of resemblance of clothing is determined, which provides a basis for the scientific utilisation of historical data of similar clothing to forecast the demand for new clothing. Besides, combining the influence of consumer preferences and seasonality on demand forecasting, an improved Bass model for a fast fashion clothing demand forecast is proposed. Finally, with a forecasting example of demand for clothing, this study also tests the validity of the method. Findings: The objective measurement method of clothing similarity in this paper solves the problem of the difficult forecasting of demand for fast fashion clothing due to a lack of sales data at the preliminary stage of the clothing launch. The improved Bass model combines, comprehensively, consumer preferences and seasonality and enhances the forecast precision of demand for fast fashion clothing. Originality/value: The paper puts forward a scientific, quantitative method for the forecasting of new clothing products using historical sales data of similar clothing, thus solving the problem of lack of sales data of the fashion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infectious diseases induced by pathogenic bacteria are the major causes for the failure of medical implants. Meanwhile, the drug-resistance is steadily developed because of the large and even inappropriate use of antibiotics. Therefore, the development of antibacterial coating with non-antibiotic-based agents on the surfaces of medical implants and devices has been an urgent need. Herein, we propose a bottlebrush-like antibacterial coating on a poly(styrene-b-(ethylene-co-butylene)-b-styrene) (SEBS) triblock copolymer surface by UV-induced graft polymerization of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) acrylate terminated poly(lysine dendrimer). This PEG-conjugated antibacterial polymer possessed a substructure of α-helical backbone and cation dendrimer side chains stretching in the radial directions of the helix. The introduction of lysine peptide dendrimers endowed the prepared antibacterial polymer with precisely controlled characteristics of its local cation density, amphipathic composition as well as three-dimensional (3D) conformation to improve interactions with bacterial membranes. The antimicrobial assay and biocompatibility assay results showed that 96.83% of S. aureus and 99.99% of E. coli were killed after being in contact with the antibacterial coating, while no toxicity to mammalian cells or no hemolysis was detected. This antimicrobial activity was further confirmed by the molecular dynamics simulation results, which demonstrated that the employment of lysine peptide dendrimers enhanced the electrostatic interaction and hydrogen bonding between the brush and bacterial membranes remarkably. Such bottlebrush-like antibacterial coating constructed using α-helical peptide dendritic polymers may become an effective strategy for manufacturing antibacterial products for biomedical uses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) represented the most serious issue to public health globally. Hematological patients as immunocompromised hosts are vulnerable to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) infection. There is little information available regarding the clinical features of hematological patients concomitant with COVID‐19. In this study, 9 concomitant patients were analyzed for their clinical manifestations, laboratory data, radiological findings, and immunologic features. The median age was 50 years (range, 17‐68 years) and 6 patients were male. Seven patients were infected through hospital‐associated transmission and other 2 through community‐associated transmission. Onset of COVID‐19 in all patients occurred during routine treatments for their hematological diseases. Eight patients were classified as moderate and 1 patient as critically ill COVID‐19. Four patients died, 1 from leukemia progression, 2 from life‐threatening secondary infection, and the other from respiratory failure caused by COVID‐19. Abruptly elevated levels of cytokines were often correlated with progressive hematological disease or concurrent bacterial infections. Two patients had atypical computed tomography (CT) imaging findings of COVID‐19. The median interval from the first CT scan imaging to improvement in survivors was 40 days (range, 14‐51 days). Four of 5 survivors had negative serological tests 1 month after symptom onset. Positive viral load in 4 survivors lasted longer than 45 days. Our results indicated concomitant patients formed a distinct subgroup characterized by atypical clinical features, defective viral clearance, and lower level of SARS‐CoV‐2‐specific Abs. Targeted therapies that impair host humoral immunity should be avoided. These findings will be helpful to tailor appropriate management for the concomitant patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advanced central nervous system (CNS) lymphoma is an exclusion criterion for most chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell studies due to the associated levels of neurotoxicity. In this study, we described five patients with chemorefractory B-cell CNS lymphoma who received CAR19 and CAR22 T-cell "Cocktail" therapy and follow-up for 6–16 months. All patients experienced cytokine release syndrome (CRS). Two patients experienced CAR T-cell-related encephalopathy syndrome (CRES), which was controllable. The best response was observed in two patients, who successfully achieved complete remissions (CR), and the other three patients achieved partial remissions (PR). Four patients had progressive disease (PD) after remission. In addition, one CR patient and one PD patient accepted CAR T-cell infusion following hematopoietic stem cell transplantation therapy in the 3rd month and were in ongoing remission for 14 and 6 months of follow-up, respectively. The targeted antigens in two patients were still positive, and CAR T-cells were reboosted in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) after PD, but a small number of CD3-positive T-cells were observed to infiltrate into the tumor. Our study indicates the efficacy of CAR T-cell therapy for CNS lymphoma with an acceptable safety profile; however, the remission did not last long, perhaps due to the tumor immunosuppressive microenvironment (TME) of the CNS. CAR T-cell therapy should be combined with other treatments to help improve the TME of cerebral lymphoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Topological manipulation of waves is at the heart of cutting‐edge metamaterial research. Quadrupole topological insulators were recently discovered in 2D flux‐threading lattices that exhibit higher‐order topological wave trapping at both the edges and corners. Photonic crystals (PhCs), lying at the boundary between continuous media and discrete lattices, however, are incompatible with the present quadrupole topological theory. Here, quadrupole topological PhCs triggered by a twisting degree‐of‐freedom are unveiled. Using a topologically trivial PhC as the motherboard, it is shown that twisting induces quadrupole topological PhCs without flux‐threading. The twisting‐induced crystalline symmetry enriches the Wannier polarizations and leads to the anomalous quadrupole topology. Versatile edge and corner phenomena are observed by controlling the twisting angles in a lateral heterostructure of 2D PhCs. This study paves the way toward topological twist photonics as well as the quadrupole topology in the quasi‐continuum regime for phonons and polaritons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The rapid spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was declared as an emerging public health threat by the World Health Organization. As various measures have been taken successfully to combat the epidemic caused by SARS-CoV-2, a growing number of fully recovered patients have been discharged from hospitals. However, some of them have relapsed. Little is known about the causes that triggered the relapse.Case Presentation: We report a case of a 40 years old man who suffered from recurrent pulmonary infection with progression of lesions on chest computed tomography (CT), elevated levels of ferritin and IL2R, reduced lymphocyte count and positive oropharyngeal swab test for SARS-CoV-2 again after 5 days discharge from hospital. The anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody level of this patient was very low at the time of relapse, suggesting a weak humoral immune response to the virus. Total exon sequencing revealed mutations in TRNT1 gene, which may be responsible for B cell immunodeficiency. Therefore, uncleared SARS-CoV-2 at his first discharge was likely to lead to his recurrence. However, viral superinfection and non-infectious organizing pneumonia could not be completely excluded.Conclusion: COVID-19 relapse may occur in a part of discharged patients with low titers of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. These patients should be maintained in isolation for longer time even after discharge. A more sensitive method to detect SARS-CoV-2 needs to be established and serological testing for specific antibodies may be used as a reference to determine the duration of isolation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Only one ctDNA mutation and one BM aspirate mutation were undetectable in tissue biopsies. GLO:1XW/15apr20:bjh16440-fig-0001.jpg PHOTO (COLOR): Time-matched extramedullary plasmacytoma biopsies, plasma ctDNA samples, and BM aspirates from eight EMM patients were analyzed. (A) Comparison of mutant allele frequencies in time-matched tissue biopsies, bone marrow (BM) aspirates, and plasma circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA). In conclusion, we conducted molecular profiling of time-matched extramedullary plasmacytoma biopsies, plasma ctDNA samples, and BM aspirates from eight EMM patients using targeted deep sequencing and ddPCR assays. [Extracted from the article]

Type-II Dirac point degeneracy can be realized at two-dimensional metasurfaces, where a pair of tilted cones is formed in the dispersion relation whose equal-frequency contour at the degeneracy frequency presents an X-shaped cross in k-space. Consequently, two group velocities are obtained at the Dirac point, due to the peculiar shape of the spatial dispersion, and point to the different directions with the intersection angle dependent on the cone's geometry. Therefore, a conical-diffraction phenomenon takes place. We observe the conical diffraction through launching into the metasurface a Gaussian-like beam at the Dirac frequency and mapping the propagation of the wave field. Both experimental and simulating results demonstrate the conical diffraction at the type-II Dirac point. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In the process of designing new clothes, designers should identify specific user groups' preferences and attitudes toward certain types of design, ascertain the design elements that make clothes popular in the market, and combine these elements to devise the best clothing design scheme. The purpose of this paper is to discover which design elements influence dress purchases and how age affects consumers' choices in regard to these elements. Design/methodology/approach: This study uses conjoint analysis in dress design to provide an effective method for designers to identify consumers' preferences. First, the important attributes and attribute levels of dress design were determined. Next, the experimental samples for the attitude measurement chart were generated by orthogonal design. Finally, the data of 318 samples were analyzed by conjoint analysis to determine consumers' preferences. Findings: The results revealed that the "silhouette" attribute is the most important decision criterion for dress purchase, followed by the "dress length" attribute. In contrast, the "waistline height" attribute is perceived as least important. The study also identified the dress design features' preferences of consumers of different ages. According to the results of the analysis, user groups' preferences and acceptability regarding different design features were revealed, and the favorite dress design portfolio for age-specific consumers was obtained. Originality/value: Currently, there is little information in the literature about consumers' preferences regarding dress design. In this study, the use of conjoint analysis reveals and visualizes complex statistical results. This research approach is also applicable to the design and decision-making processes used for other apparel, and it can help designers better incorporate different users' needs into clothing design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Except the physiological comfort, the design aesthetic of plaid shirts is the decisive factor affecting the purchase decision making of consumers. However, as there is subjectivity and indeterminacy in evaluation of the aesthetic, current research in the literature has little information about the appearance design of checks. The purpose of this paper is to extract the check design features, which influence consumer evaluation, and determine the preferences of men of different ages for the check designs, and the preference differences between them. Design/methodology/approach: Through cluster and preference experiments, the perception and evaluation of the subjects were gained. By cluster analysis, typical classifications of check designs were fixed. With Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) algorithm, users' perceptual space was revealed as to the plaid samples. In the PREFMAP analysis, results of the ideal vectors of men of different ages were drawn. Findings: The study results revealed four typical classifications of check designs, identified three design dimensions that had effects on users' evaluation, and built the relationship between design features of checks and consumer evaluation. Besides, in the study, the differences in preference for check designs between men of different ages were also explored. It was found that young men liked modern check designs, but disliked "small and complex" check patterns. Middle aged men preferred dark and cool colors, with dislike for "youthful vigor style." While they cared more about check colors, young men attached more importance to the design style. Originality/value: Currently, there is little information in the literature about the evaluation of pattern design. In this study, the use of MDS and PREFMAP analysis reveals visualized complex statistical results. The visualization approach is also applicable to design and positioning of other apparel, and can help designers better understand and position design styles and effects, given their consumer groups and design samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The study was conducted to test the hypothesis that oxidative stress leads to the release of proinflammatory cytokines by activating the Nod-like receptor protein (NLRP)3 inflammasome in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA). Methods: The study recruited 247 participants who were divided into cases and healthy control groups. OSA patients were subdivided into four subgroups according to sex, blood pressure, body mass index (BMI), and severity of disease. No significant differences were found between cases and controls with respect to age or sex. Peripheral blood samples were collected for analysis after examination, and the serum concentrations of oxidative stress (8-isoprostane), inflammation (interleukin (IL)-18, IL-1β, IL-6, tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α), and NLRP3 inflammasome components (NLRP3, caspase-1, and ASC) were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results: The serum concentrations of both oxidative stress and proinflammatory factors were higher in OSA patients than healthy controls. Subgroup analysis also revealed significant differences according to the apnoea–hypopnea index and BMI. Additionally, correlations were identified between 8-isoprostane and proinflammatory factors (IL-1β, IL-18, and TNF-α). Multiple regression analysis suggested that sleep parameters and BMI affected inflammation. However, no differences were observed in the serum level of NLRP3 inflammasome components between patients and controls. Furthermore, stratified analysis revealed no additional differences. Conclusions: The current study suggests that oxidative stress leads to inflammation by mechanisms other than activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome in OSA patients. Furthermore, both sleep apnoea and BMI influenced the serum concentration of inflammatory mediators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highly efficient isolation and recovery of viable circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from the blood of patients is an important precondition to address the current dilemma of insufficient CTC studies, and can promote the development of individualized antitumor therapies. Herein, a cell-friendly CTC isolation and recovery nanoplatform with luminescent labelling was established using a layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly technique and a stimulated cellular-release strategy. In particular, the anti-epithelial cell adhesion molecule (anti-EpCAM) antibody was introduced with a disulfide bond-containing linker for further bio-friendly recovery of the CTCs. Quantum dots (QDs) were deposited onto fast magnet-responsive Fe3O4 nanoparticles through a facile LbL assembly method to monitor the capture and recovery process in real time. The obtained PEGlyated immuno-magnetic nanospheres (PIMNs) can all be magnetically collected within 2 min. Capture efficiencies above 90% can be achieved from blood samples with 5–200 CTCs per mL after only 1–2 min incubation. Nearly all PIMNs on the surface of the CTCs were detached after 15 min of glutathione (GSH) treatment with the disappearance of QD signals. Recovered CTCs could be directly used for culture (cell viability, ∼98%), and their invasiveness and migration characteristics remained unchanged. Furthermore, the PIMNs were successfully applied to isolate CTCs in cancer patients’ peripheral blood samples, and an average of 8.6 ± 5.8 CTCs per mL was detected. The results above suggested that PIMNs may serve as a powerful nanoplatform for CTC screening, isolation and recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the current study was to assess the underlying mechanism of endoplasmic reticulum protein 29 (ERp29) in lung adenocarcinoma chemosensitivity to gemcitabine. Western blot analysis was performed to detect ERp29 expression following lung adenocarcinoma cell treatment with gemcitabine. The effects of gemcitabine in combination with ERp29 siRNA on cell apoptosis, cell cycle and heat shock protein 27 (HSP27) expression were assessed. The results demonstrated that ERp29 expression was increased on exposure to gemcitabine. The apoptotic rate of lung adenocarcinoma cells were also increased following gemcitabine treatment and the combined application of gemcitabine and ERp29 siRNA synergistically increased apoptotic rates further. It was also revealed that gemcitabine and ERp29 siRNA synergistically increased the ratio of phosphorylated to total HSP27 protein. In addition, downregulation of HSP27 significantly reduced lung adenocarcinoma chemosensitivity to gemcitabine. These data indicate that ERp29 affects lung adenocarcinoma cell chemosensitivity to gemcitabine by regulating phosphorylated HSP27. ERp29 is a novel target, which may be used to enhance the therapeutic effect of lung adenocarcinoma treatment with gemcitabine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding of cellular evolution and molecular programs of chimeric antigen receptor-engineered (CAR)-T cells post-infusion is pivotal for developing better treatment strategies. Here, we construct a longitudinal high-precision single-cell transcriptomic landscape of 7,578 CAR-T cells from 26 patients with B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) post-infusion. We molecularly identify eight CAR-T cell subtypes, including three cytotoxic subtypes with distinct kinetics and three dual-identity subtypes with non-T cell characteristics. Remarkably, long-term remission is coincident with the dominance of cytotoxic subtypes, while leukemia progression is correlated with the emergence of subtypes with B cell transcriptional profiles, which have dysfunctional features and might predict relapse. We further validate in vitro that the generation of B-featured CAR-T cells is induced by excessive tumor antigen stimulation or suppressed TCR signaling, while it is relieved by exogenous IL-12. Moreover, we define transcriptional hallmarks of CAR-T cell subtypes and reveal their molecular changes along computationally inferred cellular evolution in vivo. Collectively, these results decipher functional diversification and dynamics of peripheral CAR-T cells post-infusion. [Display omitted] • Longitudinal scRNA-seq of CAR-T cells from patients with different responses • Heterogeneities, dynamic features, and cellular evolution of CAR-T cells in vivo • Uncovering transcriptional hallmarks and clinical relevance of CAR-T subtypes • B-featured CAR-T subtypes suggest impaired cytotoxicity and predict relapse Li et al. provide an scRNA-seq analysis of CAR-T cells collected longitudinally post-infusion in a prospective B-ALL cohort of 26 patients with different responses. This resource allows researchers to explore CAR-T cell-intrinsic properties that contribute to durable response or resistance, thus revealing molecular cues for next-generation adoptive immunotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The strategy of using Fe3O4 amphiphilic Janus nanoparticles (Fe3O4@AJNPs) bearing β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) and aminopyridine (APD) functionalized polymethyl methacrylate (PGMA) to construct pH-stimuli responsive co-assemblies through host-guest interactions between b-CD and APD was proposed. The spherical co-assemblies with an average diameter about 210nm were excellent magnetic responsive and quite stable even up to 2 months in deionized water. The pH-liable capability of these co-assemblies was revealed by disassembly of the formed superstructures with destruction of the built inclusion complexes. The disassembly process was monitored by SEM, TEM, DLS and fluorescent molecules probe. After disassembly of the co-assemblies caused by protonation of nitrogens in APD, hydrophobic PGMA-APD lacking of interactions with the Fe3O4@AJNPs chains was precipitated, and the remained Fe3O4@AJNPs turned to re-assemble to selfassemblies. Besides, the recyclable Fe3O4@APJNs could reassembly with additional PGMA-APD to build co-assemblies with a uniform morphology for several times. These pH-sensitive co-assemblies with high stability, good magnetic responsiveness and cytocompatibility could be used as pH-responsive vehicles within which to encapsulate drugs for subsequent controlled release. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]