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We investigated the influence of DNA fragmentation index (DFI) on in vitro fertilization (IVF), embryo transfer (ET), and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). We analyzed the semen parameters of 61 cycles in infertile couples undergoing IVF-ET and ICSI and determined DFI by sperm chromatin dispersion testing. Based on DFI, the patients were differentiated into a control group (DFI < 25%, n = 35) and a test group (DFI ≥ 25%, n = 26). Flow cytometry and immunofluorescence were used to investigate the extent of sperm reactive oxygen species (ROS) and apoptosis. We also investigated the effect of DFI on pregnancy outcomes of IVF-ET/ICSI. DFI was negatively related to sperm motility and positively correlated with ROS and apoptosis (P < 0.05). Abnormally elevated DFI reduced the rate of transplantable, high-quality embryos, implantation, clinical pregnancy, delivery, and live birth after IVF-ET, and increased the chance of early abortion per transfer cycle (P < 0.05). However, there was no significant correlation between DFI and fertilization rate, cleavage rate, transplantable rate, high-quality embryo rate, implantation rate, clinical pregnancy rate, early abortion rate, delivery rate and live birth rate when assisted by ICSI (P > 0.05). Sperm DNA integrity is crucial for fertilization and the development of healthy offspring. ROS may increase the level of DFI by inducing apoptosis in sperm.

Introduction: This study was designed to investigate whether renal α‐klotho levels are associated with renal pathology. This is the first report on patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Methods: We conducted a retrospective observational study. A total of 65 CKD patients were enrolled. Serum and renal biopsy samples were collected. Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was examined by biochemical test. And α‐klotho expressions were assessed by RT‐PCR and immunohistochemistry. In addition, detailed microscopic findings were reviewed. Results: Renal α‐klotho levels are associated positively with eGFR, and negatively with renal pathology, including interstitial fibrosis, inflammatory cell infiltration, and tubular atrophy. Conclusions: The renal α‐klotho is related to renal pathology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluates the impact of the use of antibiotics on the effectiveness of nivolumab in the treatment of advanced/metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). A literature search was conducted in various electronic databases to identify studies, which evaluated the impact of antibiotic use on the survival of patients with advanced/metastatic NSCLC who have been treated with nivolumab. Six studies, comprising a total of 787 patients with 37.2% females and of age range 30–90 years, were included in the study. A lack of smoking history was reported in 14.4% of the patients. A meta-analysis was conducted in 678 and 713 patients for PFS and OS, respectively. The pooled HR was 1.95 (95% CI: 1.13–3.37, P = 0.016) for PFS and 2.70 (95% CI: 1.81–4.02, P < 0.001) for OS. Among patients exposed to antibiotics, the median PFS and OS were reduced by 1.6 months (95% CI: 1.5–1.7) and 8.8 months (95% CI: 8.5–9.1), respectively. Our study indicates that, among patients with advanced/metastatic NSCLC, the use of antibiotics with nivolumab led to a decrease in the median OS by more than 8 months. Studying the mechanism of the effect of antibiotics on the efficacy of nivolumab in patients with NSCLC should also be prioritized.

T-cell receptor (TCR) recognition of antigens is fundamental to the adaptive immune response. With the expansion of experimental techniques, a substantial database of matched TCR–antigen pairs has emerged, presenting opportunities for computational prediction models. However, accurately forecasting the binding affinities of unseen antigen–TCR pairs remains a major challenge. Here, we present convolutional-self-attention TCR (CATCR), a novel framework tailored to enhance the prediction of epitope and TCR interactions. Our approach utilizes convolutional neural networks to extract peptide features from residue contact matrices, as generated by OpenFold, and a transformer to encode segment-based coded sequences. We introduce CATCR-D, a discriminator that can assess binding by analyzing the structural and sequence features of epitopes and CDR3-β regions. Additionally, the framework comprises CATCR-G, a generative module designed for CDR3-β sequences, which applies the pretrained encoder to deduce epitope characteristics and a transformer decoder for predicting matching CDR3-β sequences. CATCR-D achieved an AUROC of 0.89 on previously unseen epitope–TCR pairs and outperformed four benchmark models by a margin of 17.4%. CATCR-G has demonstrated high precision, recall and F1 scores, surpassing 95% in bidirectional encoder representations from transformers score assessments. Our results indicate that CATCR is an effective tool for predicting unseen epitope–TCR interactions. Incorporating structural insights enhances our understanding of the general rules governing TCR–epitope recognition significantly. The ability to predict TCRs for novel epitopes using structural and sequence information is promising, and broadening the repository of experimental TCR–epitope data could further improve the precision of epitope–TCR binding predictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of digital transformation of manufacturing enterprises, the research method of double case comparison analysis is used to explore the implementation path of C2B digital intelligence customization of "new infrastructure". The research found that: C2B personalized digital intelligence customization implements digital intelligence supply chain construction strategy, through supply chain digital intelligence transformation, realizes front-end and back-end collaboration, can reduce production costs, improve demand collection and production efficiency, and the implementation path is "digital intelligence supply chain construction → digital intelligence capability improvement → digital intelligence value realization". The research results can not only provide reference for decision making of new infrastructure, but also provide guidance for the path selection of digital transformation of enterprises.

Aim: Novel long‐acting drugs for type 2 diabetes mellitus may optimize patient compliance and glycaemic control. Exendin‐4‐IgG4‐Fc (E4F4) is a long‐acting glucagon‐like peptide‐1 receptor agonist. This first‐in‐human study investigated the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic and immunogenicity profiles of a single subcutaneous injection of E4F4 in healthy subjects. Methods: This single‐centre, randomized, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled phase 1 clinical trial included 96 subjects in 10 sequential cohorts that were provided successively higher doses of E4F4 (0.45, 0.9, 1.8, 3.15, 4.5, 6.3, 8.1, 10.35, 12.6 and 14.85 mg) or placebo (ChinaDrugTrials.org.cn: ChiCTR2100049732). The primary endpoint was safety and tolerability of E4F4. Secondary endpoints were pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic and immunogenicity profiles of E4F4. Safety data to day 15 after the final subject in a cohort had been dosed were reviewed before commencing the next dose level. Results: E4F4 was safe and well tolerated among healthy Chinese participants in this study. There was no obvious dose‐dependent relationship between frequency, severity or causality of treatment‐emergent adverse events. Cmax and area under the curve of E4F4 were dose proportional over the 0.45‐14.85 mg dose range. Median Tmax and t1/2 ranged from 146 to 210 h and 199 to 252 h, respectively, across E4F4 doses, with no dose‐dependent trends. For the intravenous glucose tolerance test, area under the curve of glucose in plasma from time 0 to 180 min showed a dose‐response relationship in the 1.8‐10.35 mg dose range, with an increased response at the higher doses. Conclusion: E4F4 exhibited an acceptable safety profile and linear pharmacokinetics in healthy subjects. The recommended phase 2 dose is 4.5‐10.35 mg once every 2 weeks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Extrachromosomal circular DNAs (eccDNAs) exist in human blood and somatic cells, and are essential for oncogene plasticity and drug resistance. However, the presence and impact of eccDNAs in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) remains inadequately understood. Methods: We purified and sequenced the serum eccDNAs obtained from newly diagnosed T2DM patients and normal control (NC) subjects using Circle-sequencing. We validated the level of a novel circulating eccDNA named sorbin and SH3‐domain‐ containing‐1circle97206791–97208025 (SORBS1circle) in 106 newly diagnosed T2DM patients. The relationship between eccDNA SORBS1circle and clinical data was analyzed. Furthermore, we explored the source and expression level of eccDNA SORBS1circle in the high glucose and palmitate (HG/PA)-induced hepatocyte (HepG2 cell) insulin resistance model. Results: A total of 22,543 and 19,195 eccDNAs were found in serum samples obtained from newly diagnosed T2DM patients and NC subjects, respectively. The T2DM patients had a greater distribution of eccDNA on chromosomes 1, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 and X. Additionally, 598 serum eccDNAs were found to be upregulated, while 856 eccDNAs were downregulated in T2DM patients compared with NC subjects. KEGG analysis demonstrated that the genes carried by eccDNAs were mainly associated with insulin resistance. Moreover, it was validated that the eccDNA SORBS1circle was significantly increased in serum of newly diagnosed T2DM patients (106 T2DM patients vs. 40 NC subjects). The serum eccDNA SORBS1circle content was positively correlated with the levels of glycosylated hemoglobin A1C (HbA1C) and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) in T2DM patients. Intracellular eccDNA SORBS1circle expression was significantly enhanced in the high glucose and palmitate (HG/PA)-induced hepatocyte (HepG2 cell) insulin resistance model. Moreover, the upregulation of eccDNA SORBS1circle in the HG/PA-treated HepG2 cells was dependent on generation of apoptotic DNA fragmentation. Conclusions: These results provide a preliminary understanding of the circulating eccDNA patterns at the early stage of T2DM and suggest that eccDNA SORBS1circle may be involved in the development of insulin resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]