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The contamination of foodborne pathogenic bacteria poses great threats to human health. Conventional foodborne pathogen detection methods suffer from the shortcomings of time-consuming, cumbersome, and non-real time. Hence, it is of great significance to explore a sensitive, safe, simple and economical method for foodborne pathogen detection. Compared with the traditional methods, nano-biosensor-based detection assays possess merits such as exceptional sensitivity, high selectivity, real-time detection, low consumption and low limit of detection. In this article, these nano-biosensor-based methods are summarized, and the principles and advantages of single-, dual- and multi-mode detection are comprehensively discussed. Meanwhile, an outlook on the application of nano-biosensors for the detection of foodborne pathogens is given with the goal of providing a reference for the optimization of the existing detection methods for foodborne pathogenic bacteria.

The human health damage and social stability caused by public health emergencies have attracted worldwide attention. But there is a lack of research on capacity evaluation of China's community emergency preparedness and response for public health emergencies. We summarized the latest advances in theoretical frameworks and capacity evaluation of community emergency preparedness and response for public health emergencies based on a systematic review and textual analysis of relevant studies, and proposed that future research should pay attention to the building of the capacity of community emergency preparedness and response for public health emergencies and the development of corresponding assessment tools applicable to communities in China. This study will contribute to the assessment, normalization and improvement of the capacity of community emergency preparedness and response for public health emergencies.

Objective To retrospectively analyze the clinical data of 47 young NSCLC patients mutation style of EGFR and PD-L1 expression in tumor cells, to understand their clinicopathological and molecular characteristics. Methods We enrolled 47 young (≤40 years old) patients confirmed as NSCLC who underwent surgical resection, and 94 old patients (≥60 years old) were matched as 1:2 by R language. EGFR mutation status was detected by ARMS-PCR, and the expression of PD-L1 was detected by immunohistochemistry. Results The median age of 47 young patients with NSCLC was 37 years old. The disease was more common in women and the majority type was adenocarcinoma. In youth group, the 19del and 20ins were more frequent, but the exon 21 L858R point mutation proportion was higher in elder group. The expression of PD-L1 was significantly increased in the solid predominant histological subtype. The PD-L1 expression in 19del patients was higher than that in the patients with L858R mutation in youth group. Conclusion The majority of young NSCLC patients are female, nonsmokers and suffered from adenocarcinoma cancer. The proportion of EGFR alteration in 19del and 20ins in youth group is higher than that in elder group. The positive rate of PD-L1 expression in solid predominant histological subtype is higher than that with other subtypes. The expression of PD-L1 in young patients with EGFR 19del is higher than that with L858R.

Artificial Intelligence (AI), also known as machine intelligence, is a technology that implements human-like intelligent behavior through computer programs. AI has powerful data processing functions and is currently used in many fields, including face recognition, language recognition, image processing and data mining. Based on a large number of written medical records of patients with malignant tumors and various examination materials, AI has unique advantages in assisting the diagnosis and treatment of malignant tumors. AI can quantify tumor image information that cannot be recognized by the naked eye and operationally link them. It can integrate different types of data streams into a comprehensive tumor diagnosis system, including images, pathological images, genetic analysis data and even electronic health records. This article will review the basic principles of AI and its application progress in assisting the diagnosis of malignant tumors.

In order to research water-filling problem in goaf of closed mine, taking Daihe Coal Mine as research object， mining space method was used to calculate water-filling volume in goaf of the closed mine according to geological and hydrogeological conditions of the coal mine as well as exploration and drainage data of previous working face goaf, and water-filling process in goaf of the closed mine was analyzed. The analysis results are as follows: ① Total water-filling volume in goaf after Daihe Coal Mine being closed is 6 208 267.20 m3, which includes 4 808 923.58 m3 in working face goaf and 1 399 343.62 m3 in abandoned roadways. If water bursting speed is 80 m3/h, then the closed coal mine will fully filled with water after 3 233.47 days. ② Relationship expressionbetween water-filling height (H) and time (td) is H=2×10-8t3d-7×10-5t2d+0.131 7td-415.29.

Objective To evaluate current status and influencing factors of diabetes distress in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). Methods A total of 199 diabetes with T1DM treated in Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing University Medical School from August, 2019 to January, 2020 were enrolled and investigated via general information questionnaire, T1DM Distress Scale (T1-DDS), Medical Coping Modes Questionnaire and Perceived Social Support Scale. The independent sample t test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used in the intergroup comparison. Pearson correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlation between psychological distress score and coping style, social support in T1DM patients. The multiple linear regression analysis was used to analyze the influencing factors of diabetes distress in T1DM patients. Results Among the 199 T1DM patients, 173 patients had diabetes distress, and the detection rate was 88.44%, the average score of T1-DDS was (2.15±0.61) points. The distress score of T1DM patients was negatively correlated with coping styles, avoidance coping styles, family support and friend support dimensions (r=-0.867-0.407, P<0.01); meanwhile, the distress score of T1DM patients positively correlated with yield coping style (r=0.407-0.749, P<0.01), and not correlated with other supportive dimensions (P>0.05). The multiple linear regression analysis showed that the total pain score of T1DM was correlated with the number of people living together (β =-0.116), complications (β=0.091), severe hypoglycemia events (β=0.061), coping, avoidance, and yield coping methods (β =-0.118, -0.177, 0.116), family support (β =-0.363), and friend support scores (β = -0.171, all P<0.05). Conclusions The distress of T1DM patients is at a moderate level. The influencing factors include residence status, diabetic complications, recent severe hypoglycemia events, disease coping styles and social support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To observe the influence of ghrelin on the oxygen-glucose deprivation-induced injury of hippocarnpal neural stem cells (NSCs) and to explore the potential role of the nuclear receptor corepressor 1 (N-CoRl)/phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway in mediating the actions of ghrelin. Methods Isolated hippocampal NSCs from neonatal C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into 7 groups: the normal control group, injury model group, ghrelin group, GHRP-6 group, LY294002 group, blank siRNA group, and N-CoR siRNA group. The cells in the normal control group were cultured under normal glucose and normal oxygen for 24 h. After 3-hour oxygen-glucose deprivation, the cells in the other groups were also cultured under normal glucose and normal oxygen for 24 h. In addition, for N-CoR siRNA group and blank siRNA group, transfection with N-CoR siRNA or blank siRNA began at 1 h before oxygen-glucose deprivation continued until 24 h after deprivation. In the ghrelin group, we changed the nutrient solution into the ghrelin-containing medium after oxygen-glucose deprivation, followed by incubation for 24 h. After oxygen-glucose deprivation, the cells in the GHRP-6 group and LY294002 group were pre-treated with D-Lys3 -GHRP-6 or LY294002 for l h and then received ghrelin treatment for 24 h. After drug treatment, the cells from each group were collected and used for the measurement of NSC proliferative viability by CCK-8 assay, and the protein expression of N-CoRl, PBK, proliferating cell nuclear antigen ( PCNA), Bax, and Bcl-2 by Western blotting. In some experiments for CCK-8 assay, the NSCs in the ghrelin group were treated with different doses of ghrelin (4, 20, and 100 nmoVL) to evaluate the concentration-dependent effects; and in other experiments, the concentration of ghrelin was 100 nmol/L. Results Compared with the control group, the injury model group showed decreased proliferative viability of NSCs, reduced PCNA expression, increased Bax/Bcl-2, enhanced N-CoR expression, and decreased PBK expression (all P < 0. 01) . In contrast, ghrelin concentration-dependently increased the proliferative viability of NSCs (P < 0. 01), up-regulated PCNA expression, reduced Bax/Bcl-2, down-regulated N-CoR expression, and enhanced PI3 K expression (all P < 0. 01) . Compared with the ghrelin group, GHRP group and LY29400 group exhibited decreased proliferative viability of NSCs, reduced PCNA expression, elevated Bax/Bcl-2, increased N-CoR expression, and decreased PB K expression (all P < 0. 01) . Compared with the blank siRN A group, N-CoR siRN A group exhibited increased proliferative viability of NSCs, elevated PCNA expression, down-regulated Bax/Bcl-2, decreased NCoR expression, and increased PI3K expression (all P <0. 01). Conclusion Ghrelin can protect hippocampal NSCs against oxygen-glucose deprivation-induced injury in vitro by regulating the N-CoR/PI3K signaling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To compare the efficacy between 3M Cavilon No Sting Barrier Film and zinc oxide ointment for the prevention of incontinence-associated dermatitis (IAD) among critically ill patients. Methods Totally 152 critically ill patients with fecal incontinence were assigned to the group A (n =51), group B(w =52) and group C (n =50). All patients received routine care for the prevention of IAD, and those in the group B and group C were given local application of 3M Cavilon No Sting Barrier Film and zinc oxide ointment, respectively. The incidence of IAD and financial costs of IAD prevention were compared between two groups. Results The incidence of IAD in the group A was higher than that in group B and group C (P <0.05); the incidence of IAD in group B was lower than that in group C (P <0.05). The cost of zinc oxide ointment was less than that of 3M Cavilon No Sting Barrier Film (P<0.05). Conclusion The skin care intervention with 3M Cavilon No Sting Barrier Film showed a better efficacy in prevention of IAD, while the skin care intervention with zinc oxide ointment has the advantage of low-cost. More consideration on patients' physical and financial conditions should be taken before choosing skin care interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on postprocessor GPS PPK technology, we carried out the research on long-distance tide observation and extraction, the determination of vertical datum and the construction of vertical-datum transformation model. A model for calculating a height series for instantaneous water surface was researched, meanwhile, the best cut-off periods for tidal extraction for anchored and on-the-fly status are proposed. Finally, based on long-term anchor PPK and tide-gauge tidal levels for different situations, a determination of MSL and chart datum as well as the models for calculating their geodetic heights were investigated and proposed. A method to establish a seamless chart datum geodetic height model is presented. An test project showed that the accuracy of GPS tide level reference to chart datum measurement method as presented in paper can be better than 10 cm when the GPS baseline is less than 100 km. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To analyze the imaging characteristics of hepatic epithelioid hemangioendothelioma (EHE) and their correlation with histopathological findings. Methods CT and MR] imaging and histopathological characteristics of five patients with hepatic EHE were retrospectively reviewed and the correlation of their imaging characteristics with pathological findings was analyzed. Results A total of 92 lesions were found in the 5 patients, all presenting with multiple nodules. All the 92 lesions were located within a 2-cm zone beneath the hepatic capsule, i.e., the shortest distance from the border of lesions to the hepatic capsule. 28 of the 92 lesions showed the "capsular retraction" sign. 36 lesions were found in three patients receiving MRI. 77.8% of the 36 lesions demonstrated the "halo" sign on a fat-suppression T2-weighted image, while 91.7% after contrast enhancement. A peripheral dark rim was found in 91.7% of the lesions on a fat-suppression T2-weighted image. In addition, 36.1 % of the lesions showed slight internal or edge enhancement at the hepatobiliary phase. In the two patients receiving CT examination, 7 of 56 lesions demonstrated the "halo" sign. Conclusions Hepatic EHE may manifest as nodular lesions with predilection of peripheral subcapsular growth and nodular confluence, together with "halo" sign and "capsular retraction". The peripheral dark rim on a fat-suppression T2-weighted image and slight enhancement at the hepatobiliary phase can help to improve the accuracy of diagnosis and differential diagnosis of this hepatic tumor. MRI is superior to CT imaging to depict their intra-lesional characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For mitigating the impact of outliers in measurements and background map, a new method for underwater terrain matching navigation, base on robust statistics theory is proposed in this paper. By applying the M estimation theory, the robustness of the algorithm is improved. Experiments proved the good performance of the method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is of vital importance for the central and western regions to distinguish the undertaken industrial types as well as land space layout on the basis of transferring industry, ecological environment and land development strategy. In this paper, Chizhou City, the typical representative of undertaking industrial types, from the perspectives of location quotient and comparative labor productivity, constructs industrial transfer identification model and identifies regional undertaken industrial type. From four criterion layers of natural environment, infrastructure, development degree and development benefit, construct the identification model and the evaluation index system and its city domain and the classical domain; using analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and fuzzy matter element analysis method and mathematical software such as Matlab7.0, Arcgis and Excel, identify the regional industrial types undertaken and evaluate the industrial land development suitability. Research shows that Chizhou City industry location quotient varies from the maximum value of 10.5421 to the minimum value of 0.0315, which demonstrates that the degree of industrial agglomeration is relatively high while the comparative labor productivity is low overall, only 5 types of industry more than 1. Industry location quotient and comparative labor productivity are low, which shows that industrial development difference is small and without obvious hierarchical gradient. According to industry transfer identification model, the Chizhou industry is classified into 4 types, of which the numbers of competitive advantage industry and weak industry respectively reach 12 and 15, and stay out industry and undertaken industry account for only 5 and 2. Based on the advantages of the three core resources, i.e. mineral resource, ecological resource and tourism resource, five categories of industry including mineral mining industry, textile and garment industry, equipment manufacturing industry, wood furniture industry and food processing industry will be identified to be undertaken and fostered in the future. Land development suitability in the city is generally low, and the regional difference is obvious. The areas with higher land development suitability is concentrated around the city areas and around the towns along the river belt like Juanqiao, Wusha, Dongliu, Xiangyu, and is also gathered around Rongcheng Town, Lingyang Town and Xinhe Town surrounding Qingyang County. On the contrary, other types of industrial land have rather low development suitability degree. As a result, the undertaken industry and the space corridor of industrial development is only limited to the city areas and town zones along the river; to other regions, it is a good choice to develop green environmental tourism industry and ecological agriculture relying on the natural ecological environment, which is not suitable for large-scale land and space development. It has completed the evaluation of the five categories industrial land, overcame the subjective sideness in the multi-angle and multi-factor assessment, and followed a certain ambiguity and extension of the result itself. Scientific evaluation of industrial land suitability, clear developing direction of future industrial development type and expansion of land space in Chizhou, with rational industrial layout mode to drive the optimal allocation of regional land resources, are the effective ways to realize industrial projects guarantee. This idea and method in this paper can provide a reference for similar regions to evaluate the undertaken industr's land spatial suitability. In addition, the research results will also scientifically guide the industrial land space layout and further promote the regional land resource development and industrial coordination development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pervious studies take the concept of country image in the field of international trade and marketing and the concept of destination image in the field of tourism as independent of each other. Studies also indicate that country image is an important factor that influences consumers' evaluation and attitude of the product and purchase intention, while destination image has the same effect on tourists' quality awareness, satisfaction and destination choice. However, this article integrates the two concepts and reconstructs the concept of country image in the context of tourism (i.e. country scale destination image). In order to test the country image conventionally used in the field of international trade and marketing in the context of tourism, the article begins with analyzing the similarities and differences between the two concepts and then divides the country image in two key aspects. The first aspect is the macro country image which is measured by the tourists' awareness of the tourism environment, such as the politics of the destination country, the economy, technology, and environment and so on. The second aspect is the micro country image which is measured by the core tourism product image such as tourist attractions, tourism facilities, tourism activities. This study selected China, UK and USA university students as the interview subjects for three reasons: 1) China, UK, and USA belong to different culture groups, and have different culture characteristics, but they are closely linked as trade partners; 2) university students are an important part in the tourism market; 3) university students' similar demographic characteristics provide advantages for comparative study. This article tested with a sample of 905 university students (308 from China, 304 from UK, and 293 from USA). The students (52.9%male, and 46.9% female, with the average age of 20) were asked about their perception of China as a destination country by answering a set of questions pertained to different measurements on the macro and micro country images and another set of questions comparing the differences and similarities of their perceptions. Data were analyzed by factor analysis in SPSS 17.0. The factor loading indicates five factors (national system, national capacity, national characteristics, environmental conditions, national relationship) important to macro country image and four factors (tourism environment, attractions, services facilities, and price and value) as being important to the micro country image. This article concludes: 1) due to similar cultural backgrounds, both UK and USA students gave relative high scores in most items on many aspects; 2) due to being unfamiliar with the political system in China, the item on the China's political system received the lowest scores from both UK and USA students; 3) all students from these three countries expressed the highest concern for the environmental issue in China. This indicates that China needs to set improvements of its environmental issues as a priority; 4) the perception of China as a destination country differs greatly between students from China and other students from UK and USA. This may be explained by their different cultural upbringing. The findings imply that marketing China as a tourist destination should focus on the macro and micro images found significant in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To investigate the association between plasma homocysteine (Hcy) levels and cystathionine p synthase (CBS) T833C gene polymorphism with essential hypertension in Xinjiang Kazakh and Han populations. Methods A total of 239 Kazak patients with hypertension (Kazak EH group), 206 Kazak people with normal blood pressure (Kazak control group), 256 Han patients with hypertension (Han EH group) and 206 Han people with normal blood pressure (Han control group) were selected for the study. Amplification refractory mutation system(ARMS) was used to analyze the polymorphism of CBS gene T833C, TT, TC and CC genotypes and the various sites of T, C allele frequencies in four groups. In the meantime, the Hcy level and related biochemical indices were detected using automatic biochemical analyzer. Results The plasma Hcy levels were significantly higher in Kazak EH group and Han EH group than those of Kazak control group and Han control group (P < 0.05). The C allele frequencies were significantly higher in Kazak EH group than that of Kazak control group (P < 0.05). The plasma level of Hcy was significantly lower in Kazakh and Han people with TT genotypes than that of TC genotypes (P < 0.05). There were no significant differences in the frequency of genotypes and alleles between Han EH group and Han control group (P > 0.05). Conclusion The Cystathionine p synthase gene of T833C polymorphism may be associated with essential hypertension in Kazak people in Xinjiang, but no such association in Han population in Xinjiang. The mechanism may be related to the altered metabolism of Hcy induced by CBS mutation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An increasing attention has been directed at the study of tourist perceived value, as more and more destinations recognize its importance of being a new battleground for gaining competitive advantage. This is particularly true for wetland parks, the popularity of which is fast growing as novel tourist attractions. The marketplace is expected to experience heightened competition. The purpose of this research is to better understand the tourist perceived value of wetland parks and provide a tool for wetland destinations to manage it as their competitive advantage. Xixi and Qinhu Lake are both AAAAA-Level Scenic Areas and are listed as the top two of the first 12 National Wetland Parks in China. Using the two National Wetland Parks of Xixi and Qinhu Lake as cases, this research develops a measurement scale and explores the structural characteristics of the wetland park tourist perceived value. The analyses of the empirical data have resulted in a six-dimension scale that comprises of 23 items. The six value dimensions, each of which are comprised of three to five items, are 1) environment, 2) characteristics, 3) service, 4) management, 5) education, and 6) cost. The theoretical contribution of the study lies in the discovery of the six- dimension scale of the wetland park tourist perceived value and the structural similarity and difference of tourist perceived values between wetland parks and other types of tourist attractions. Five of the six dimensions mirror five of the seven experiences found in the previous work of Wei Xia and Pan Yiting. The dimension of management value found in the current research was not present in Wei and Pan's work; whereas the dimensions of trust and concern experiences in Wei and Pan's study are not found in the current study. To compare with extant studies on tourist perceived values in the contexts of other attraction types, the dimensions of environment, characteristics and management values are unique to, and reflect the ecological attributes, of wetland parks. These three dimensions, together with the dimension of service value, constitute the functional value of wetland parks. However, the social value, which tends to be an important component in other studies, is absent as an independent dimension in this research at all. The findings from the research bear significant managerial implications for the two wetland parks. Although tourists have positive perceptions of both parks, the ratings are not as high as expected. There is much room for both parks to improve in order to compete more effectively with other types of attractions and to provide higher values for the tourists. The measurement scale is consistent between the two parks with no significant difference between four of the six dimensions. The exceptions are characteristics and education values, which are perceived higher of Qinhu Lake than of Xixi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tourism credit crisis in recent years has intensified increasingly, and has seriously inhibited the healthy development of the tourism industry. The tourism industry credibility problem has attracted the concern of academia. Scholars have engaged in extensive discussion on integrity, performance, causes of problems, and management measures within tourism. However, most of these studies use qualitative methods. Quantitative studies are relatively few, and most of the investigation is based on the perspective of tourists. Travel agents, as the core of the construction of integrity in the tourism market, combined with their valuable perception and evaluation of the integrity of behavior within tourism, do not attract the attention they deserve. Travel agency employees in the cities of Hefei, Wuhu, and Huangshan are selected as research objects. This study uses the importance-performance analysis model (IPA) to analyze the acts of bad faith quantitatively as reported by tourism practitioners. Based on interviews with the person in charge, the management staff, and tour guides of more than 60 travel agencies in Hefei, Wuhu, and Huangshan, the study identifies 30 acts of bad faith in the tourism market. According to the IPA analysis model, this article selects the performance of the 30 acts of bad faith as a horizontal axis, and the influence severity of the 30 acts of bad faith as the vertical axis. The research uses a questionnaire to survey the travel agencies' perception and evaluation of the tourism practitioners' reported 30 acts of bad faith, and adopts SPSS17. 0 to analyze the 226 valid questionnaires finaly obtained. After the mean value analysis, the performance of acts of bad faith has an overall average of 1. 570 and an influence severity of the total average value of 3. 3557 for the origin of coordinates, and builds a four-quadrant matrix of 30 acts of bad faith in the tourism market. Finally, the study obtains four types of dishonest behavior within the tourism market; the first kind of bad faith contains a total of 4 acts of bad faith that have a great effect, and there are many of them; the second contains 10 acts of bad faith, where the impact on the tourism market is larger, but there are few; the third type contains 5 acts of bad faith of smaflefl*ect, and there are even fewer; the fourth class contains 11 acts of bad faith, in which the impact on the tourism market is smafl, but there are more. In addition, this study uses ANOVA to analyze the different employment seniorities of the travel agency employees. It is shown that the diferences in seniority among the employees correspond to diferences in perception and evaluation of the dishonest behavior; the longer the working life, the more significant the perception of the bad faith behavior, and the higher the evaluation of the seriousness of the acts of bad faith. The research result is helpful to analyze the root cause of the dishonesty in the tourism market from the view of a travel agency. Perception and evaluation of the four categories of bad faith behavior, and diferences in perception and evaluation between difering seniorities of respondents, can provide theoretical guidance for the construction of tourism market integrity and the integrity of tourism enterprise management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the longitudinal association between alcohol abstinence and accelerated biological aging among middle-aged and older adults and to explore the potential effect modifiers influencing the association., Methods: Utilizing the clinico-biochemical and anthropometric data from the baseline and first repeat survey of the UK Biobank (UKB), we employed the Klemera and Doubal method (KDM) to construct the biological age (BA) and calculate BA acceleration. Change analysis based on multivariate linear regression models was employed to explore the association between changes in alcohol abstinence and changes in BA acceleration. Age, sex, smoking status, tea and coffee consumption, and body mass index were considered as the stratification factors for conducting stratified analysis., Results: A total of 5 412 participants were included. Short-term alcohol abstinence ( β =1.00, 95% confidence interval [ CI ]: 0.15-1.86) was found to accelerate biological aging when compared to consistent never drinking, while long-term abstinence ( β =-0.20, 95% CI : -1.12-0.71) did not result in a significant acceleration of biological aging. Body mass index may be a potential effect modifier., Conclusion: Short-term alcohol abstinence was associated with accelerated biological aging, but the effect gradually diminishes over extended periods of abstinence., Competing Interests: 利益冲突　所有作者均声明不存在利益冲突, (© 2024《四川大学学报（医学版）》编辑部 版权所有Copyright ©2024 Editorial Board of Journal of Sichuan University (Medical Sciences).)

Background: Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is a highly aggressive malignancy characterized by rapid growth, early metastasis and acquired therapeutic resistance, and the prognosis is extremely poor. Studies have proved that the stem cell marker CD44 is correlated with tumor recurrence and treatment resistance, however, there are limited reports yet concerning on the CD44 expression and its clinical prognostic significance in SCLC patients. The purpose of this study is to investigate the expression of CD44 in tumor tissues as well as serum of SCLC patients and explore its correlation with the clinical characteristics, therapeutic effect and prognosis., Methods: The tumor tissues and serum samples of 47 newly diagnosed SCLC patients were collected. Immunohistochemistry and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay were applied to detect CD44. The relationship between CD44 level and the clinical characteristics as well as prognosis of the patients was analyzed., Results: The stem cell marker CD44 was detectable both in serum sample and tumor tissue of SCLC patients. The positive rate of CD44 in tumor tissue was significantly higher in patients with performance status (PS) 2 than that of patients with PS 0-1 (85.71% vs 30%, P=0.017). Patients were divided in to different groups according to the treatment efficacy. The CD44 immunohistochemical score and serum level in the disease progression group were significantly higher than those in the disease control group, and the differences were statistically significant (P=0.006, P=0.034), Univariate analysis depicted that the progression-free survival (PFS) of CD44 positive patients was significantly shorter than that of CD44 negative patients (5.23 mon vs 9.03 mon, P=0.036)., Conclusions: The positive expression of CD44 in tumor tissues of pre-treatment SCLC patients is correlated with poor PFS. The clinical significance of CD44 is worthy to be further studied.

Stearoyl-ACP Δ⁹ desaturase (SAD) catalyzes the synthesis of monounsaturated oleic acid or palmitoleic acid in plastids. SAD is the key enzyme to control the ratio of saturated fatty acids to unsaturated fatty acids in plant cells. In order to analyze the regulation mechanism of soybean oleic acid synthesis, soybean (Glycine max) GmSAD family members were genome-wide identified, and their conserved functional domains and physicochemical properties were also analyzed by bioinformatics tools. The spatiotemporal expression profile of each member of GmSADs was detected by qRT-PCR. The expression vectors of GmSAD5 were constructed. The enzyme activity and biological function of GmSAD5 were examined by Agrobacterium-mediated transient expression in Nicotiana tabacum leaves and genetic transformation of oleic acid-deficient yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) mutant BY4389. Results show that the soybean genome contains five GmSAD family members, all encoding an enzyme protein with diiron center and two conservative histidine enrichment motifs (EENRHG and DEKRHE) specific to SAD enzymes. The active enzyme protein was predicted as a homodimer. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that five GmSADs were divided into two subgroups, which were closely related to AtSSI2 and AtSAD6, respectively. The expression profiles of GmSAD members were significantly different in soybean roots, stems, leaves, flowers, and seeds at different developmental stages. Among them, GmSAD5 expressed highly in the middle and late stages of developmental seeds, which coincided with the oil accumulation period. Transient expression of GmSAD5 in tobacco leaves increased the oleic acid and total oil content in leaf tissue by 5.56% and 2.73%, respectively, while stearic acid content was reduced by 2.46%. Functional complementation assay in defective yeast strain BY4389 demonstrated that overexpression of GmSAD5 was able to restore the synthesis of monounsaturated oleic acid, resulting in high oil accumulation. Taken together, soybean GmSAD5 has strong selectivity to stearic acid substrates and can efficiently catalyze the biosynthesis of monounsaturated oleic acid. It lays the foundation for the study of soybean seed oleic acid and total oil accumulation mechanism, providing an excellent target for genetic improvement of oil quality in soybean.

Background: In recent years, a number of clinical trials have shown that immunocheckpoint inhibitors (ICI) have brought survival benefits to patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), however, such clinical trials comprise cohorts selected based on strict and complex entry and exclusion criteria, and the results cannot fully reflect the real world situation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical efficacy and safety of immunotherapy in the real world, as well as possible prognostic factors., Methods: Patients with advanced NSCLC receiving immunotherapy in Beijing Chest Hospital from January 2017 to July 2019 were retrospectively collected, and the following information were collected: curative effect, progression-free surival (PFS) and adverse reactions. The occurrence of adverse reactions and clinical curative effect and prognosis factors that may be relevant were explored., Results: 34 patients were enrolled in this study, median PFS was 5.66 months (95%CI: 4.48-6.84), grade 1-2 and 3-4 incidence of adverse events was 61.71% (22/34) and 14.71% (5/34), there were 3 patients (8.82%) experienced fatal immune related adverse events (irAE), 2 cases were immune associated pneumonia, 1 case was immune related myocarditis. Univariate analysis showed that tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage and metastatic site were correlated with median PFS (P<0.05), and multivariate analysis showed that patients with extrapulmonary metastasis (OR=6.42, P=0.029) and pleural metastasis (OR=14.14, P=0.006) had shorter median PFS., Conclusions: In the real world, immunotherapy has good efficacy in patients with advanced NSCLC, but the incidence of severe irAE is also higher. Distant metastasis and pleural metastasis are poor prognostic factors for advanced NSCLC patients receiving immunotherapy.

Pterostilbene (3,5-dimethoxy-4'-hydroxystilbene) is a polyphenolic compound primarily found in blueberries, grapes, and a tree wood, pterocarpus marsupium. Studies demonstrate that pterostilbene inhibits a variety of cancers, such as lung, breast, stomach, colon, etc. The anti-cancer activities are related to the regulation of several hallmarks of cancer. Moreover, pterostilbene exhibits much greater bioavailability and bioactivity than resveratrol which warrants further investigation in the anti-cancer functions and mechanisms.
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Enhancing soybean (Glycine max) oil production is crucial to meet the market demand of vegetable oil. Diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT) catalyzes the final acylation reaction of triacylglycerol (TAG) synthesis, acting as one of the rate-limiting enzymes for oil biosynthesis in plant seeds. Here, a cDNA clone VgDGAT1A encoding the DGAT1 protein was isolated from the high oil plant Vernonia galamensis. VgDGAT1A was specifically overexpressed in soybean seeds, and several high-generation transgenic lines (T7) were obtained by continuous selection. qPCR analysis showed that VgDGAT1A was highly expressed in the mid-development stage (30-45 DAF) of the transgenic seeds. Accordingly, the DGAT enzyme activity in the transgenic seeds was increased by 7.8 folds in comparison with the wild-type controls. Seed oil and starch contents were, respectively, increased by 5.1% (Dry weight) and reduced by 2%-3% in the transgenic soybeans. Importantly, protein content was not significantly different between transgenic and control seeds. Seed weight and germination rate of the transgenic lines exhibited no negative effect. Fatty acid profiling demonstrated that antioxidant oleic acid (C18:1Δ9) content in the transgenic seed oil was elevated by 8.2% compared to the control, and correspondingly, easily-oxidized linoleic acid (C18:2Δ9,12) and linolenic acid (C18:3Δ9,12,15) were decreased by 6% and 2% respectively. Taken together, seed-specific overexpression of an exogenous VgDGAT1A gene can break the negative linkage of oil and protein contents in soybean seeds, indicating that engineering of this highly-active DGAT enzyme is an effective strategy to improve oil yield and nutritional value in oilseeds.

Background: Epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs) are the standard first-line treatment regimen for EGFR mutated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. However, the efficacy of EGFR-TKIs widely varies. The aim of this study is to determine whether the pretreatment serum cytokeratin-19 fragments (CYFRA21-1) and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) are associated with the efficacy of EGFR-TKIs in EGFR-mutated NSCLC patients., Methods: We retrospectively enrolled 194 NSCLC patients harboring EGFR mutations who received EGFR-TKIs. Clinical characteristics were collected, and the relation between the efficacy of EGFR-TKIs and pretreatment serum CYFRA21-1 and CEA was analyzed., Results: In all cases, progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with high CYFRA21-1 level was significantly shorter than PFS in patients with normal CYFRA21-1 (7.0 vs 11.9 months, P<0.001). Overall survival (OS) in patients with high CYFRA21-1 was significantly shorter than in the normal-CYFRA21-1 group (12.6 vs 28.0 months, P<0.001). In adenocarcinoma patients, PFS in the high-CYFRA21-1 level group was significantly shorter than in patients with normal CYFRA21-1 (7.0 vs 12.0 months, P<0.001). OS in patients with high CYFRA21-1 was significantly shorter than that in the normal-CYFRA21-1 group (13.1 vs 28.1 months, P<0.001). Among squamous carcinoma patients, CYFRA21-1 level did not affect survival. No significant difference in PFS and OS was observed between patients with high CEA and patients with normal CEA., Conclusions: EGFR-mutated patients with high CYFRA21-1 had significantly shorter PFS and OS than patients with normal CYFRA21-1 after receiving EGFR-TKIs. Pretreatment serum CYFR21-1 level was a predictive marker of EGFR-TKI treatment in EGFR-mutated NSCLC patients.
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Objective: To investigate the expressions of Notch3, Notch4, Frizzled2 and Tead1 at protein levels in the cortex of frontal and parietal lobes after focal cerebral ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) in rats., Methods: The focal cerebral I/R model was established by intraluminal thread occlusion of the middle cerebral artery (MCAO). The animals were divided into sham operation group (sham group) and I/R group. The infarct area of the brain was measured by 2, 3, 5-triphenyl tetrazolium chloride (TTC) staining technique after 1 week. Protein expression levels of Notch3 and Frizzled2 in the cortex of frontal and parietal lobes were detected by immunohistochemical staining, and protein expression levels of Notch4 and Tead1 were detected by Western blot analysis., Results: The infarct area of rats in I/R group was very obvious. The protein expressions of Notch3 and Frizzled2 in I/R group were higher than those in sham group (P<0.05, P<0.01). The protein expression of Notch4 in I/R group was significantly higher than that in sham group (P<0.01), but the protein expression level of Tead1 in I/R group was significantly lower than that in sham group(P<0.01)., Conclusion: Notch signal transduction pathway was activated after focal cerebral ischemia/reperfusion in MCAO rats.

Objective: In order to detect the effect of lactic acid bacteria isolated from Tibetan Plateau on silage fermentation quality of Elms nutans., Methods: We used 3 isolated lactic acid bacteria with better growth at low temperatures of 10 and 15 degrees C at ensiling of Elymus nutans. Subsequently, effects of the selected lactic acid bacteria on fermentation profiles of Elymus nutans silages stored at 15 and 25 degrees C were evaluated by using the same species of commercial inoculants as the control., Results: PP-6 isolated from Tibetan Plateau could ferment raffinose, lactose, sorbitol, melibiose and sucrose, and LS-5 could ferment cottonseed sugar, laetrile, rhamnose, lactose, sorbitol, xylose, arabinose, melibiose and sucrose, but the same species of commercial strains could not use these sugars. Inoculation of these three strains into Elymus nutans at 15 and 25 degrees C ensiled for 50 d, we found that LS-5 significantly reduced silage pH, propionic acid concentration and ratio of ammonia nitrogen/total nitrogen at 15 degrees C (P < 0.05), salvaged more water-soluble carbohydrate and crude protein; Application of LP-2 and PP-6 as a combined inoculant to Elymus nutans significantly improved lactic acid concentration (P < 0.05), resulting in a lower ratio of ammonia nitrogen/total nitrogen, saved more crude protein and significantly reduced neutral detergent fiber content (P < 0.05) as compared with the commercial strains., Conclusion: The three isolated strains can improve silage quality of Elymus nutans growing on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau at low temperature, but these strains have no obvious advantages at 25 degrees C in comparison with the commercial inoculants.

Objective: To observe the association between high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) level and rate of ischemic stroke recurrence., Methods: A total of 1 059 patients with ischemic stroke were enrolled from 5 community health centers and underwent baseline surveys during the period of January 2003 to December 2006. After baseline surveys, patients were followed up every 6 months until December 31, 2008. The new stroke events were recorded as the primary study endpoint. The association between HDL-C, HDL-C/TC and ischemic stroke recurrence was analyzed by Cox regression analysis., Results: The proportions of stroke patients with high ( ≥ 1.55 mmol/L), moderate (1.04-1.54 mmol/L) and low (<1.04 mmol/L) HDL-C levels were 15.58% (165/1 059) , 54.58% (578/1 059) and 29.84% (316/1 059) respectively. During a mean of (3.21 ± 1.04) years follow-up, recurrent ischemic stroke was recorded in 137 patients. Compared with HDL-C ≥ 1.40 mmol/L group, multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that stroke recurrence rates of patients with HDL-C ≤ 1.00 mmol/L and ranged from 1.01 to 1.19 mmol/L increased by 0.944 (HR = 1.944, 95%CI:1.033-3.659, P = 0.039) and 1.027 (HR = 2.027, 95%CI:1.116-3.682, P = 0.020)fold , respectively. Recurrence rates increased 1.237 (HR = 2.237, 95%CI:1.208-4.144, P = 0.010) fold in patients with HDL-C/TC ≤ 0.19 mmol/L compared to patients with HDL-C/TC ≥ 0.28 mmol/L., Conclusion: The risk of ischemic stroke recurrence increases with decreasing HDL-C level or HDL-C/TC ratio.