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Abstract The aim of this study was to establish and validate the precision of a novel radiomics approach that integrates 18Fluorine-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)-computed tomography (CT) scan data with clinical information to improve the prognostication of survival rates in patients diagnosed with stage III Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) who are not candidates for surgery. We evaluated pretreatment 18F-FDG PET-CT scans from 156 individuals diagnosed with stage III inoperable NSCLC at Shandong Cancer Hospital. These individuals were divided into two groups: a training set comprising 110 patients and an internal validation set consisting of 46 patients. By employing random forest classifier and cox proportional hazards model , we identified and utilized relevant features to create predictive models and a nomogram. The effectiveness of these models was assessed through the use of the receiver operating characteristics(ROC) curves, Kaplan–Meier (KM) curves, and the application of the nomogram. Our findings showed that the combined model, which integrates both clinical and radiomic data, outperformed those based solely on clinical or radiomic features in predicting 3-year overall survival(OS). Furthermore, calibration plots revealed a high level of agreement between predicted and actual survival times. The research successfully established a predictive radiomics model that integrates 18F-FDG PET/CT imaging with clinical indicators to enhance survival predictions for patients with stage III inoperable NSCLC.

Abstract An acidic gas is an important basic chemical raw material used for synthesizing fertilizers, insecticides, explosives, dyes, and salts. Alternatively, inorganic acidic gases that leak into the air have harmful effects on the human health, infrastructure, and cultural relics. Therefore, the demand for inorganic acidic gas sensors for air quality monitoring and management has continuously increased, enabling the development of various sensing technologies. Among them, fiber-optic sensors are promising for acidic gas detection because of their excellent in-situ measurement, resistance to corrosion, anti-electromagnetic interference, long service life, and smart structure. In particular, fiber-optic sensors have proven to be very useful for the in-situ detection and distributed monitoring of multiple gas parameters. However, the sensitivity, selectivity, repeatability, and limits of detection of these sensors can be improved to achieve acceptable performance levels for practical applications. In this review, we introduce fiber-optic sensors based on structured optical fibers and fiber gratings for detecting H2S, SO2, NO2, CO2, and N2O. The structures of the sensing regions, gas-sensitive materials, and measurement principles of these sensors are presented. The sensitivity, selectivity, limit of detection, and response time of the sensors are summarized. Finally, the future of fiber-optic sensors for the detection of inorganic acidic gases is discussed.

PurposeThis study was designed to determine the diagnostic performance of fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) radiomics-based machine learning (ML) in the classification of cervical adenocarcinoma (AC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC).MethodsPretreatment 18F-FDG PET/CT data were retrospectively collected from patients who were diagnosed with locally advanced cervical cancer at two centers. Radiomics features were extracted and selected by the Pearson correlation coefficient and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression analysis. Six ML algorithms were then applied to establish models, and the best-performing classifier was selected based on accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and area under the curve (AUC). The performance of different model was assessed and compared using the DeLong test.ResultsA total of 227 patients with locally advanced cervical cancer were enrolled in this study (N=136 for the training cohort, N=59 for the internal validation cohort, and N=32 for the external validation cohort). The PET radiomics model constructed based on the lightGBM algorithm had an accuracy of 0.915 and an AUC of 0.851 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.715-0.986) in the internal validation cohort, which were higher than those of the CT radiomics model (accuracy: 0.661; AUC: 0.513 [95% CI, 0.339-0.688]). The DeLong test revealed no significant difference in AUC between the combined radiomics model and the PET radiomics model in either the training cohort (z=0.940, P=0.347) or the internal validation cohort (z=0.285, P=0.776). In the external validation cohort, the lightGBM-based PET radiomics model achieved good discrimination between SCC and AC (AUC = 0.730).ConclusionsThe lightGBM-based PET radiomics model had great potential to predict the fine histological subtypes of locally advanced cervical cancer and might serve as a promising noninvasive approach for the diagnosis and management of locally advanced cervical cancer.

Abstract Policymakers and managers have increasingly adopted green bonds as a direct financing tool to address environmental degradation and climate change in emerging economies; however, the increasing green washing sentiments in the green bond market raise questions on whether green bonds can nudge polluting businesses to achieve green transformation. Therefore, this study joins the controversial debate by investigating the impact of green bond issuance on corporate environmental responsibilities and the potential impact mechanisms and economic consequences. Using the data of Chinese listed enterprises from 2011 to 2020 and the staggered issuance of green bonds as plausibly exogenous shocks, we determine that the enterprises in the experimental group that issued green bonds increased their environmental performance compared to their counterparts. Furthermore, this positive link is maintains after a series of robustness tests. Moreover, we identify that green bond issuance plausibly enhances environmental responsibility engagements through two governance channels, namely, internal management and external supervision. This beneficial effect appears more pronounced for subsamples of firms in low-polluting industries, without environmental subsidies and with higher managerial abilities. Furthermore, economic consequences indicate that the issuance of green bonds primarily motivates speculative shareholder benefits, as evidenced by short-term increases in stock yields but with limited impact on the short-run financial performance. Overall, these findings offer new evidence supporting that green financing tools could play a helpful hand toward environmental sustainability.

Arecoline, the principal active alkaloid in the areca nut, is known for its ability to induce euphoric sensations. Since ancient times, arecoline has garnered attention for its therapeutic potential in addressing psychiatric disorders and alleviating gastrointestinal ailments. However, in 2020, the International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified arecoline as 'probably carcinogenic to humans' (Group 2B carcinogen), supported by compelling mechanistic evidence. The mechanism of action of arecoline has been extensively studied, but the results of these studies are scattered and lack systematic integration and generalization. In this paper, we have systematically summarized the mechanism of arecoline within the oral cavity, central nervous system, cardiovascular system, and digestion system, in terms of both health functions and toxic effects. In addition, we found some concentration-effect relationship between arecoline in the central nervous system and digestive system, i.e., low doses are beneficial and high doses are harmful. By summarizing the mechanisms of arecoline, this review is poised to provide in-depth and valuable insights into the clinical practice and targeted therapy of arecoline in the future.

Abstract Background The existing staging system cannot meet the needs of accurate survival prediction. Accurate survival prediction for locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC) patients who have undergone concurrent radiochemotherapy (CCRT) can improve their treatment management. Thus, this present study aimed to develop and validate radiomics models based on pretreatment 18Fluorine-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)-computed tomography (CT) images to accurately predict the prognosis in patients. Methods The data from 190 consecutive patients with LACC who underwent pretreatment 18F-FDG PET-CT and CCRT at two cancer hospitals were retrospectively analyzed; 176 patients from the same hospital were randomly divided into training (n = 117) and internal validation (n = 50) cohorts. Clinical features were selected from the training cohort using univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards models; radiomic features were extracted from PET and CT images and filtered using least absolute shrinkage and selection operator and Cox proportional hazard regression. Three prediction models and a nomogram were then constructed using the previously selected clinical, CT and PET radiomics features. The external validation cohort that was used to validate the models included 23 patients with LACC from another cancer hospital. The predictive performance of the constructed models was evaluated using receiver operator characteristic curves, Kaplan Meier curves, and a nomogram. Results In total, one clinical, one PET radiomics, and three CT radiomics features were significantly associated with progression-free survival in the training cohort. Across all three cohorts, the combined model displayed better efficacy and clinical utility than any of these parameters alone in predicting 3-year progression-free survival (area under curve: 0.661, 0.718, and 0.775; C-index: 0.698, 0.724, and 0.705, respectively) and 5-year progression-free survival (area under curve: 0.661, 0.711, and 0.767; C-index, 0.698, 0.722, and 0.676, respectively). On subsequent construction of a nomogram, the calibration curve demonstrated good agreement between actually observed and nomogram-predicted values. Conclusions In this study, a clinico-radiomics prediction model was developed and successfully validated using an independent external validation cohort. The nomogram incorporating radiomics and clinical features could be a useful clinical tool for the early and accurate assessment of long-term prognosis in patients with LACC patients who undergo concurrent chemoradiotherapy.

Abstract Liver fibrosis is a reparative response to injury that arises from various etiologies, characterized by activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs). Periostin, a secreted matricellular protein, has been reported to participate in tissue development and regeneration. However, its involvement in liver fibrosis remains unknown. This study investigated the roles and mechanisms of Periostin in phenotypic transition of HSCs and relevant abnormal cellular crosstalk during liver fibrosis. The fate of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) during liver fibrogenesis was investigated using single-cell and bulk RNA sequencing profiles, which revealed a significant proliferation of activated HSCs (aHSCs) in fibrotic livers of both humans and mice. αSMA-TK mice were used to demonstrate that depletion of proliferative aHSCs attenuates liver fibrosis induced by carbon tetrachloride and 3,5-diethoxycarbonyl-1,4-dihydrocollidine. Through integrating data from single-cell and bulk sequencing, Periostin was identified as a distinctive hallmark of proliferative aHSC subpopulation. Elevated levels of Periostin were detected in fibrotic livers of both humans and mice, primarily within aHSCs. However, hepatic Periostin levels were decreased along with depletion of proliferative aHSCs. Deficiency of Periostin led to reduced liver fibrosis and suppressed hepatocyte epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Periostin-overexpressing HSCs, exhibiting a proliferative aHSC phenotype, release bone morphogenetic protein-1 (Bmp-1), which activates EGFR signaling, inducing hepatocyte EMT and contributing to liver fibrosis. In conclusion, Periostin in aHSCs drives their acquisition of a proliferative phenotype and the release of Bmp-1. Proliferative aHSC subpopulation-derived Bmp-1 induces hepatocyte EMT via EGFR signaling, promoting liver fibrogenesis. Bmp-1 and Periostin should be potential therapeutic targets for liver fibrosis.

Due to the complex natures of dietary food components, it is difficult to elucidate how the compounds affect host health. Dietary food often selectively presents its mechanism of action on different cell types, and participates in the modulation of targeted cells and their microenvironments within organs. However, the limitations of traditional in vitro assays or in vivo animal experiments cannot comprehensively examine cellular heterogeneity and the tissue-biased influences. Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) has emerged as an indispensable methodology to decompose tissues into different cell types for the demonstration of transcriptional profiles of individual cells. ScRNA-seq applications has been summarized on three typical organs (brain, liver, kidney), and two representative immune- and tumor related health problems. The ever-increasing role of scRNA-seq in dietary food research with further improvement can provide sub-cellular information and the coupling between other cellular modalities. In this review, we propose utilizing scRNA-seq to more effectively capture the subtle and complex effects of food chemicals, and how they may lead to health problems at single-cell resolution. This novel technique will be valuable to elucidate the underlying mechanism of both the health benefits of food nutrients and the detrimental consequences food toxicants at the cellular level.

Abstract Background Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) affects the metabolism of both the mother and fetus during and after pregnancy. Genetic factors are important in the pathogenesis of GDM, and associations vary by ethnicity. However, related studies about the relationship between the susceptibility genes and glucose traits remain limited in China. This study aimed to identify genes associated with GDM susceptibility in Chinese Han women and validate those findings using clinical data during pregnancy and postpartum period. Methods A genome-wide association study (GWAS) of 398 Chinese Han women (199 each with and without GDM) was conducted and associations between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and glucose metabolism were identified by searching public databases. Relationships between filtered differential SNPs and glucose metabolism were verified using clinical data during pregnancy. The GDM group were followed up postpartum to evaluate the progression of glucose metabolism. Results We identified five novel SNPs with genome-wide significant associations with GDM: rs62069863 in TRPV3 gene and rs2232016 in PRMT6 gene were positive correlated with 1 h plasma glucose (1hPG) and 2 h plasma glucose (2hPG), rs1112718 in HHEX/EXOC6 gene and rs10460009 in LPIN2 gene were positive associated with fasting plasma glucose, 1hPG and 2hPG, rs927316 in GLIS3 gene was negative correlated with 2hPG. Of the 166 GDM women followed up postpartum, rs62069863 in TRPV3 gene was positively associated with fasting insulin, homoeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance. Conclusions The variants of rs62069863 in TRPV3 gene, rs2232016 in PRMT6 gene, rs1112718 in HHEX/EXOC6 gene, rs927316 in GLIS3 gene, and rs10460009 in LPIN2 gene were newly-identified susceptibility loci for GDM in the Chinese Han population. TRPV3 was associated with worse insulin resistance postpartum. Trial registration This study was registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry. Trial registration number: ChiCTR2100043762. Date of first registration: 28/02/2021.

Abstract MOFs have considerable adsorption capacity due to their huge specific surface area. They have the characteristics of photocatalysts for their organic ligands can absorb photons and produce electrons. In this paper, the photodegradation properties of TiO2 composites loaded with UiO-66 were investigated for the first time for MO. A series of TiO2@UiO-66 composites with different contents of TiO2 were prepared by a solvothermal method. The photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange (MO) was performed using a high-pressure mercury lamp as the UV light source. The effects of TiO2 loading, catalyst dosage, pH value, and MO concentration were investigated. The results showed that the degradation of MO by TiO2@UiO-66 could reach 97.59% with the addition of only a small amount of TiO2 (5 wt%). TiO2@UiO-66 exhibited significantly enhanced photoelectron transfer capability and inhibited efficient electron–hole recombination compared to pure TiO2 in MO degradation. The composite catalyst indicated good stability and reusability when they were recycled three times, and the photocatalytic reaction efficiencies were 92.54%, 88.76%, and 86.90%. The results provide a new option to design stable, high-efficiency MOF-based photocatalysts.

This Letter presents, for the first time, direct constraints on the black hole–halo mass relation using weak gravitational-lensing measurements. We construct type I and type II active galactic nucleus (AGN) samples from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, with a mean redshift of 0.4 (0.1) for type I (type II) AGNs. This sample is cross correlated with weak-lensing shear from the Ultraviolet Near Infrared Optical Northern Survey. We compute the excess surface mass density of the halos associated with 36,181 AGNs from 94,308,561 lensed galaxies and fit the halo mass in bins of black hole mass. We find that more massive AGNs reside in more massive halos. The relation between halo mass and black hole mass is well described by a power law of slope 0.6 for both type I and type II samples, in agreement with models that link black hole growth to baryon feedback. We see no dependence on AGN type or redshift in the black hole–halo mass relation below a black hole mass of 10 ^8.5 M _⊙ . Above that mass, we find more massive halos for the low- z type II sample compared to the high- z type I sample, but this difference may be interpreted as systematic error in the black hole mass measurements. Our results are consistent with previous measurements for non-AGN galaxies. At a fixed black hole mass, our weak-lensing halo masses are consistent with galaxy rotation curves but significantly lower than galaxy-clustering measurements. Finally, our results are broadly consistent with state-of-the-art hydrodynamical cosmological simulations, providing a new constraint for black hole masses in simulations.

Noninvasive differentiation between the squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and adenocarcinoma (ADC) subtypes of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) could benefit patients who are unsuitable for invasive diagnostic procedures. Therefore, this study evaluates the predictive performance of a PET/CT-based radiomics model. It aims to distinguish between the histological subtypes of lung adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, employing four different machine learning techniques. A total of 255 Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) patients were retrospectively analyzed and randomly divided into the training (n = 177) and validation (n = 78) sets, respectively. Radiomics features were extracted, and the Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) method was employed for feature selection. Subsequently, models were constructed using four distinct machine learning techniques, with the top-performing algorithm determined by evaluating metrics such as accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and the area under the curve (AUC). The efficacy of the various models was appraised and compared using the DeLong test. A nomogram was developed based on the model with the best predictive efficiency and clinical utility, and it was validated using calibration curves. Results indicated that the logistic regression classifier had better predictive power in the validation cohort of the radiomic model. The combined model (AUC 0.870) exhibited superior predictive power compared to the clinical model (AUC 0.848) and the radiomics model (AUC 0.774). In this study, we discovered that the combined model, refined by the logistic regression classifier, exhibited the most effective performance in classifying the histological subtypes of NSCLC.

Sulforaphane (SFN) is an antioxidant. Unsaturated fatty acids are rich in fish oil, and they are indispensable fatty acids for aquatic animals to grow and reproduce. However, fish oil is easily oxidized, which could have adverse effects on aquatic animals. In this study, Litopenaeus vannamei was divided into four groups: fresh fish oil group (control group), oxidized fish oil group (OFO group), OFO plus low-concentration SFN group (OFO + SL group), and OFO plus high-concentration SFN group (OFO + SH group). A 28-day experiment was conducted, and the antioxidant capacity, inflammation, autophagy, and pathological characteristics were investigated to explore whether SFN could protect L. vannamei from oxidative stress induced by OFO. Results showed that OFO significantly increased the contents of MDA in hepatopancreas, muscle and serum, while high concentrations of SFN significantly decreased the MDA compared with the OFO group (P

The present study investigates the chemical composition variances among Pinelliae Rhizoma, a widely used Chinese herbal medicine, and its common adulterants including Typhonium flagelliforme, Arisaema erubescens, and Pinellia pedatisecta. Utilizing the non-targeted metabolomics technique of employing UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap HRMS, this research aims to comprehensively delineate the metabolic profiles of Pinelliae Rhizoma and its adulterants. Multivariate statistical methods including PCA and OPLS-DA are employed for the identification of differential metabolites. Volcano plot analysis is utilized to discern upregulated and downregulated compounds. KEGG pathway analysis is conducted to elucidate the differences in metabolic pathways associated with these compounds, and significant pathway enrichment analysis is performed. A total of 769 compounds are identified through metabolomics analysis, with alkaloids being predominant, followed by lipids and lipid molecules. Significant differential metabolites were screened out based on VIP > 1 and p-value < 0.05 criteria, followed by KEGG enrichment analysis of these differential metabolites. Differential metabolites between Pinelliae Rhizoma and Typhonium flagelliforme, as well as between Pinelliae Rhizoma and Pinellia pedatisecta, are significantly enriched in the biosynthesis of amino acids and protein digestion and absorption pathways. Differential metabolites between Pinelliae Rhizoma and Arisaema erubescens are mainly enriched in tyrosine metabolism and phenylalanine metabolism pathways. These findings aim to provide valuable data support and theoretical references for further research on the pharmacological substances, resource development and utilization, and quality control of Pinelliae Rhizoma.

AimThis study aimed to investigate the effects of intensive psychological intervention care on adverse emotions and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in female teenage patients after induced abortion.MethodsThis prospective cohort study included 100 teenage female patients seeking induced abortion who were randomly divided into two groups: the intervention group (n = 50) and the control group (n = 50). The intervention group received intensive psychological intervention care, while the control group received standard routine nursing. The scores of the PTSD checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5), self-rating depression (SDS), and self-rating anxiety scale (SAS) were compared between the two groups at 1 month and 3 months after the operation.ResultsThe intervention group had lower risk of developing PTSD (24% vs. 44%), depression (10% vs. 32%), and anxiety (0% vs. 12%) symptoms at 1 month after the surgery. However, there were no significant differences observed between the two groups at 3 months after the surgery. Furthermore, the intervention group had significantly lower scores in PCL-5 (27.4 ± 5.4 vs. 31.8 ± 5.7; 20.5 ± 7.1 vs. 25.0 ± 7.5; p

Abstract Background Aerobic glycolysis has been recognized as one of the growth-promoting metabolic alterations of cancer cells. Emerging evidence indicates that nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) plays significant roles in metabolic adaptation in normal cells and cancer cells. However, whether and how NF-κB regulates metabolic reprogramming in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), specifically hepatitis B virus X protein (HBx)-initiated HCC, has not been determined. Methods A dataset of the HCC cohort from the TCGA database was used to analyse the expression of NF-κB family members. Expression of NF-κBp65 and phosphorylation of NF-κBp65 (p-p65) were detected in liver tissues from HBV-related HCC patients and normal controls. A newly established HBx +/+/NF-κBp65 f/f and HBx +/+ /NF-κBp65 Δhepa spontaneous HCC mouse model was used to investigate the effects of NF-κBp65 on HBx-initiated hepatocarcinogenesis. Whether and how NF-κBp65 is involved in aerobic glycolysis induced by HBx in hepatocellular carcinogenesis were analysed in vitro and in vivo. Results NF-κBp65 was upregulated in HBV-related HCC, and HBx induced NF-κBp65 upregulation and phosphorylation in vivo and in vitro. Hepatocyte-specific NF-κBp65 deficiency remarkably decreased HBx-initiated spontaneous HCC incidence in HBx-TG mice. Mechanistically, HBx induced aerobic glycolysis by activating NF-κBp65/hexokinase 2 (HK2) signalling in spontaneous hepatocarcinogenesis, and overproduced lactate significantly promoted HCC cell pernicious proliferation via the PI3K (phosphatidylinositide 3-kinase)/Akt pathway in hepatocarcinogenesis. Conclusion The data elucidate that NF-κBp65 plays a pivotal role in HBx-initiated spontaneous HCC, which depends on hyperactive NF-κBp65/HK2-mediated aerobic glycolysis to activate PI3K/Akt signalling. Thus, phosphorylation of NF-κBp65 will be a potential therapeutic target for HBV-related HCC.

Chemical-exfoliated borophene and its application in multi-imaging guided photothermal therapy.

Chlorinated paraffins (CPs) are a notoriously known class of compounds that stand amongst the most wide-spread persistent organic pollutants. Therefore, their reliable, repeatable, and reproducible quantitative analysis using well-defined reference standards is of utmost importance. In view of the increasing demand for constitutionally and stereochemically defined CP standards, we have synthesized a stereoisomeric mixture of 3,4,7,8-tetrachlorodecane. One stereoisomer – (3R,4R,7S,8S)-3,4,7,8-tetrachlorodecane was separated from the mixture, and enriched fractions of residual stereoisomers were achieved through crystallisation of the residual mother liquors. The molecular structure of the single isolated stereoisomer was confirmed through single-crystal X-ray crystallographic data. One fraction of 3,4,7,8-tetrachlorodecane stereoisomers was successfully separated on a chiral stationary phase using supercritical fluid chromatography hyphenated to mass spectrometry (column: Chiral ART Amylose-C; mobile phase: CO2/MeOH (96/4 v/v) with 0.1% diethylamine). The reported separation of stereoisomers is unprecedented in CP analysis so far.

Acoustically actuated magnetoelectric (ME) antennas utilize acoustic wave resonance to complete the process of receiving and transmitting signals, which promotes the development of antenna miniaturization technology. This paper presents a bilayer magnetostrictive/AlN ME laminated antenna. The proposed laminated antenna uses the FeGa/FeGaB bilayer materials as magnetostrictive materials, which combine the advantages of soft magnetic properties of FeGa and the low loss of FeGaB. First, multiphysics modeling and analysis are performed for the proposed ME laminated antenna by finite element method (FEM). The positive/inverse ME effects and the influences of the volume ratio of the FeGa/FeGaB bilayer on the antenna performance are studied. The results show that the output voltage and ME coefficient of the FeGa/FeGaB bilayer magnetostrictive material with a volume ratio of 1:1 are 3.97 times and 195.8% higher than that of the single FeGaB layer, respectively. The eddy current loss is 52.08% lower than that of single-layer FeGa. According to the surface equivalence principle, the far-field radiation process is simulated. The results show that the gain of the ME antenna is 15 dB larger than that of the same-size micro-loop antenna, and the gain of the ME antenna is about −44.9 dB. The improved performance and magnetic tunability of the proposed bilayer magnetostrictive materials make ME antennas excellent candidates for portable devices and implantable medical devices.

The measurement of hemoglobin is a vital index for diagnosing and monitoring diseases in clinical practice. At present, solutions need to be found for the soreness, high risk of infection, and inconvenient operation associated with invasive detection methods. This paper proposes a method for non-invasively detecting hemoglobin levels based on multi-wavelength photoplethysmography (PPG) signals. AFE4490 and TMUX1109 were used to implement the low-cost collection of an eight-LED transmissive PPG signal. We used seven regular LEDs and one broadband LED (Osram SFH4737) as light sources. Additionally, a finger clip integrating multiple sensors was designed and manufactured via 3D printing to simultaneously monitor the LED–sensor distance and the pressure from the tester’s finger during PPG signal acquisition. We used a method to extract features from PPG signals using a sliding-window’s variance and an evaluation metric for PPG signals based on the AdaCost classification. Data were gathered from 56 participants from the Nephrology department, including 16 anemic patients. Pearson correlation analysis was conducted on the collected data to remove any data with a weak correlation. The advantage of using a broadband LED as a light source was also demonstrated. Several non-invasive hemoglobin regression models were created by applying AdaBoost, BPNN, and Random Forest models. The study’s results indicate that the AdaBoost model produced the best performance, with a mean absolute error (MAE) of 2.67 g/L and a correlation coefficient (R2) of 0.91 The study results show that the device we designed and manufactured can achieve effective non-invasive hemoglobin detection and represents a new methodological approach to obtaining measurements that can be applied in a clinical setting.

ObjectiveTo assess the diagnostic value of the Copenhagen index for ovarian malignancy.MethodsPubMed, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, Embase, CBM, CNKI, and WanFang databases were searched throughout June 2021. Statistical analyses were performed using Stata 12, Meta-DiSc, and RevMan 5.3. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic odds ratio were calculated, the summary receiver operating characteristic curve was drawn, and the area under the curve was calculated.ResultsTen articles, including 11 studies with a total of 5266 patients, were included. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic odds ratio were 0.82 [95% CI (0.80-0.83)], 0.88 [95% CI (0.87-0.89)], and 57.31 [95% CI (32.84-100.02)], respectively. The area under the summary receiver operating characteristics curve and the Q index were 0.9545 and 0.8966, respectively.ConclusionOur systematic review shows that the sensitivity and specificity of the Copenhagen index are high enough for it to be used in a clinical setting to provide accurate ovarian cancer diagnosis without considering menopausal status.

Traditional non-resorbable bone wax has been used in clinical surgery for more than 100 years. However, residual bone wax has been proven to cause numerous complications. In this study, a novel resorbable bone wax was designed to overcome the disadvantages of traditional non-resorbable bone wax. Alkylene oxide copolymers were used as the main component of resorbable bone wax; additionally, β-tricalcium phosphate and starch microspheres were added to enhance bone regeneration and hemostatic ability. This novel resorbable bone wax has a high potential for clinical translation and is expected to be developed as a substitute for traditional bone wax.

Abstract The future sixth generation (6G) is going to face the significant challenges of massive connections and green communication. Recently, reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) and non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) have been proposed as two key technologies to solve the above problems. Motivated by this fact, we consider a downlink RIS-aided NOMA system, where the source aims to communicate with the two NOMA users via RIS. Considering future network supporting real-time service, we investigate the system performance with the view of effective capacity (EC), which is an important evaluation metric of delay sensitive systems. Specifically, we derive the analytical expressions of the EC of the near and far users. To obtain more useful insights, we deduce the analytical approximation expressions of the EC in the low signal-to-noise-ratio approximation by utilizing Taylor expansion. Moreover, we provide the results of orthogonal multiple access (OMA) for the purpose of comparison. It is found that (1) The number of RIS components and the transmission power of the source have important effects on the performance of the considered system; (2) Compared with OMA, NOMA system has higher EC due to the short transmission time.

Abstract Berberine (BBR) has been explored as a potential anti-liver fibrosis agent, but the underlying mechanisms are unknown. In the current study, we aimed to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying the effect of BBR against liver fibrogenesis in thioacetamide (TAA) and carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) induced mouse liver fibrosis. In addition to i.p. injection with TAA or CCl4, mice in the treatment group received BBR intragastrically. Concurrently, combined with TAA and BBR treatment, mice in the inhibitor group were injected i.p. with ferrostatin-1 (Fer-1). Hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) were also used in the study. Our results showed that BBR obviously alleviated mouse liver fibrosis and restored mouse liver function; however, the pharmacological effects of BBR against liver fibrosis were significantly diminished by Fer-1 treatment. Mechanically, BBR impaired the autophagy–lysosome pathway (ALP) and increased cell reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in HSCs. ROS accelerated the breakdown of the iron-storage protein ferritin and sped up iron release from ferritin, which resulted in redox-active iron accumulation in HSCs. Lipid peroxidation and glutathione (GSH) depletion triggered by the Fenton reaction promoted ferroptosis and attenuated liver fibrosis. Furthermore, impaired autophagy enhanced BBR-mediated ferritin proteolysis to increase cellular ferrous overload via the ubiquitin–proteasome pathway (UPS) in HSCs and triggered HSC ferroptosis. Collectively, BBR alleviated liver fibrosis by inducing ferrous redox to activate ROS-mediated HSC ferroptosis. Our findings may be exploited clinically to provide a potential novel therapeutic strategy for liver fibrosis.

To explore the influence of different densities of Sinonovacula constricta on the composition of easily degradable organic matter and related functional bacteria, four experimental ecosystems were established: three polyculture systems (PMB1, PMB2, and PMB3) of Portunus trituberculatus and Marsupenaeus japonicus with different stocking densities of S. constricta (11.6, 23.1, and 34.7×104 ind./hm2, respectively) and a polyculture system with only P. trituberculatus and M. japonicus (PM). Among the easily degradable organic components in all aquaculture systems, protein content was the highest (0.74%~0.86%), followed by carbohydrates (0.16%~0.21%) and lipids (0.06%~0.13%). In the high-density (34.7×104 ind./hm2) S. constricta mixed culture system, the contents of carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins in the sediment were significantly lower than those of the other polyculture systems. The number of cellulose-decomposing bacteria in PMB3 was 3.79×106 cfu/g, which was significantly higher than that in the other systems. The number of starch-degrading bacteria and glutin-degrading bacteria was the lowest in PMB3, 1.26×104 cfu/g, and 160.00 cfu/g, respectively. The number of lipid-degrading bacteria in PMB3 was 0.77×104 cfu/g, which was significantly lower than that in the other systems. The easily degradable organics content in sediment was significantly positively correlated with the corresponding functional bacteria. The results showed that mixed culture of S. constricta could reduce the content of easily degradable organics in the sediment of mariculture ponds and change the number of functional bacteria in the sediment and the availability of degradable organic sediments may determine the abundance of corresponding degradable bacteria.

Abstract Nanomaterials' unique structures at the nanometer level determine their incredible functions, and based on this, they can be widely used in the field of nanomedicine. However, nanomaterials do possess disadvantages that cannot be ignored, such as burst release, rapid elimination, and poor bioadhesion. Hydrogels are scaffolds with three‐dimensional structures, and they exhibit good biocompatibility and drug release capacity. Hydrogels are also associated with disadvantages for biomedical applications such as poor anti‐tumor capability, weak bioimaging capability, limited responsiveness, and so on. Incorporating nanomaterials into the 3D hydrogel network through physical or chemical covalent action may be an effective method to avoid their disadvantages. In nanocomposite hydrogel systems, multifunctional nanomaterials often work as the function core, giving the hydrogels a variety of properties (such as photo‐thermal conversion, magnetothermal conversion, conductivity, targeting tumor, etc.). While, hydrogels can effectively improve the retention effect of nanomaterials and make the nanoparticles have good plasticity to adapt to various biomedical applications (such as various biosensors). Nanocomposite hydrogel systems have broad application prospects in biomedicine. In this review, we comprehensively summarize and discuss the most recent advances of nanomaterials composite hydrogels in biomedicine, including drug and cell delivery, cancer treatment, tissue regeneration, biosensing, and bioimaging, and we also briefly discussed the current situation of their commoditization in biomedicine.

Abstract Background Nuclear factor­κB (NF-κB) plays a vital role in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). β-arrestin1 (ARRB1) has been proved to enhance the activity of NF-κBp65, and our previous study indicated that ARRB1 promotes hepatocellular carcinogenesis and development of HCC. However, it remains unknown whether p65 is involved in hepatocellular carcinogenesis through the ARRB1-mediated pathway. Methods The levels of NF-κBp65 and NF-κBp65 phosphorylation (p-p65) were assessed in including normal liver, primary HCC and paired paracancerous tissues. Liver-specific p65 knockout mice were used to examine the role of p65 and p-p65 in hepatocarcinogenesis. The mechanism of NF-κBp65 and p-p65 in hepatocarcinogenesis via ARRB1 was also studied both in vitro and in vivo. Results Phosphorylation of NF-κBp65 was markedly upregulated in inflammation-related HCC patients and was significantly increased in mouse hepatic inflammation models, which were induced by tetrachloromethane (CCl4), diethylnitrosamine (DEN), TNF-α, as well as DEN-induced HCC. Hepatocyte-specific p65-deficient mice markedly decreased in the HCC incidence and size of tumours by the repressing of the proliferation of malignant cells in a DEN-induced HCC model. Furthermore, ARRB1 directly bounds p65 to promote the phosphorylation of NF-κBp65 at ser536, resulted in cell malignant proliferation through GSK3β/mTOR signalling. Conclusion The data demonstrated that phosphorylation of NF-κBp65 drives hepatocellular carcinogenesis in response to inflammation-mediated ARRB1, and that inhibition of the phosphorylation of NF-κBp65 restrains the hepatocellular carcinogenesis. The results indicate that phosphorylation of NF-κBp65 is a novel therapeutic target for HCC.

Abstract Acute liver injury (ALI) caused by multiple inflammatory responses is a monocyte-/macrophage-mediated liver injury that is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Liver macrophage activation is a vital event that triggers ALI. However, the mechanism of liver macrophage activation has not been fully elucidated. This study examined the role of β-arrestin1 (ARRB1) in wild-type (WT) and ARRB1-knockout (ARRB1-KO) mouse models of ALI induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS), and ARRB1-KO mice exhibited more severe inflammatory injury and liver macrophage activation compared to WT mice. We found that LPS treatment reduced the expression level of ARRB1 in Raw264.7 and THP-1 cell lines, and mouse primary hepatic macrophages. Overexpression of ARRB1 in Raw264.7 and THP-1 cell lines significantly attenuated LPS-induced liver macrophage activation, such as transformation in cell morphology and enhanced expression of proinflammatory cytokines (tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-1β, and interleukin-6), while downregulation of ARRB1 by small interfering RNA and ARRB1 deficiency in primary hepatic macrophages both aggravated macrophage activation. Moreover, overexpression of ARRB1 suppressed LPS-induced endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in liver macrophages, and inhibition of ER stress impeded excessive hepatic macrophage activation induced by downregulation of ARRB1. Our data demonstrate that ARRB1 relieves LPS-induced ALI through the ER stress pathway to regulate hepatic macrophage activation and that ARRB1 may be a potential therapeutic target for ALI.

Abstract Fas/Fas ligand (FasL)-mediated cell apoptosis involves a variety of physiological and pathological processes including chronic hepatic diseases, and hepatocytes apoptosis contributes to the development of liver fibrosis following various causes. However, the mechanism of the Fas/FasL signaling and hepatocytes apoptosis in liver fibrogenesis remains unclear. The Fas/FasL signaling and hepatocytes apoptosis in liver samples from both human sections and mouse models were investigated. NF-κBp65 wild-type mice (p65 f/f ), hepatocytes specific NF-κBp65 deletion mice (p65Δhepa), p53-upregulated modulator of apoptosis (PUMA) wild-type (PUMA-WT) and PUMA knockout (PUMA-KO) littermate models, and primary hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) were also used. The mechanism underlying Fas/FasL-regulated hepatocytes apoptosis to drive HSCs activation in fibrosis was further analyzed. We found Fas/FasL promoted PUMA-mediated hepatocytes apoptosis via regulating autophagy signaling and NF-κBp65 phosphorylation, while inhibition of autophagy or PUMA deficiency attenuated Fas/FasL-modulated hepatocytes apoptosis and liver fibrosis. Furthermore, NF-κBp65 in hepatocytes repressed PUMA-mediated hepatocytes apoptosis via regulating the Bcl-2 family, while NF-κBp65 deficiency in hepatocytes promoted PUMA-mediated hepatocytes apoptosis and enhanced apoptosis-linked inflammatory response, which contributed to the activation of HSCs and liver fibrogenesis. These results suggest that Fas/FasL contributes to NF-κBp65/PUMA-modulated hepatocytes apoptosis via autophagy to enhance liver fibrogenesis, and this network could be a potential therapeutic target for liver fibrosis.

Prestressed rebars are usually used to apply vertical prestress to concrete to prevent web cracking. The reduction of working stress will affect the durability of the structure. However, the existing working stress detection methods for prestressed rebars still need to be improved. To monitor the working stress of rebars, a magnetic resonance sensor was introduced to carry out experimental research. The correlation between rebar stress and the sensor’s induced voltage was theoretically analyzed using the magnetoelastic effect and magnetic resonance theory. A working stress monitoring method for prestressed rebars based on magnetic resonance was proposed. Working stress monitoring experiments were carried out for 16 mm, 18 mm, and 20 mm diameter rebars. The results showed that the induced voltage peak-to-peak value and the rebar prestress were nonlinearly correlated under different working conditions. Correlations between the characteristic indicators and the rebar working stress were obtained using nonlinear and linear fit. The cubic polynomial segmented fit outperformed the gradient overall linear fit, with the goodness of fit R2 greater than 0.96. The average relative error values of working stress monitoring were less than 5% under different working conditions. This provides a new method for working stress measurement of vertical prestressed rebars.

A higher dietary diversity score (DDS) and a lower energy-adjusted dietary inflammatory index (E-DII) may be associated with lower risks of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and mortality. This cohort study aimed to investigate the associations of DDS and E-DII with all-cause mortality, incidence of T2D, and mortality of T2D, as well as the joint effects of these two dietary factors. A total of 181,360 participants without all types of diabetes at baseline from the UK Biobank and 42,139 participants from the US NHANES were included. Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess the associations of DDS and E-DII with outcomes. In the UK Biobank data, 8338 deaths, 3416 incident T2D cases, and 353 T2D deaths occurred during a median follow-up of 12.5 years. In the US NHANES data, 6803 all-cause deaths and 248 T2D-specific deaths were recorded during a median follow-up of 9.6 years. We observed that higher DDS and lower E-DII were significantly associated with lower risks of total mortality and incident T2D. Compared with low DDS, the hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of high DDS were 0.69 (0.64, 0.74) for all-cause mortality, 0.79 (0.70, 0.88) for incident T2D in the UK Biobank, and 0.69 (0.61, 0.78) for all-cause mortality in the US NHANES. Compared with participants in tertile 3 of E-DII, those in tertile 1 had a lower risk of overall death [HR 0.86 (95% CI: 0.81, 0.91) in UK Biobank; 0.83 (0.77, 0.88) in US NHANES] and incident T2D [0.86 (0.79, 0.94)] in UK Biobank. No evidence was observed of the interactive effects of DDS and E-DII on either all-cause mortality or the incidence and mortality of T2D. There was no significant association found between any exposure and T2D mortality in this study. In conclusion, our results revealed that higher DDS and lower E-DII were associated with both total mortality and incident T2D in UK and US adults.

Radar emitter identification (REI) aims to extract the fingerprint of an emitter and determine the individual to which it belongs. Although many methods have used deep neural networks (DNNs) for an end-to-end REI, most of them only focus on a single view of signals, such as spectrogram, bi-spectrum, signal waveforms, and so on. When the electromagnetic environment varies, the performance of DNN will be significantly degraded. In this paper, a multi-view adaptive fusion network (MAFN) is proposed by simultaneously exploring the signal waveform and ambiguity function (AF). First, the original waveform and ambiguity function of the radar signals are used separately for feature extraction. Then, a multi-scale feature-level fusion module is constructed for the fusion of multi-view features from waveforms and AF, via the Atrous Spatial Pyramid Pooling (ASPP) structure. Next, the class probability is modeled as Dirichlet distribution to perform adaptive decision-level fusion via evidence theory. Extensive experiments are conducted on two datasets, and the results show that the proposed MAFN can achieve accurate classification of radar emitters and is more robust than its counterparts.

In this paper, a new Separable Attention Capsule Network (SACN) is proposed for signal classification. SACN is a light-weight network composed of multi-channel separable convolution layer, attention module and classification layer. First, depth-wise convolution is employed to extract features of signals in a low-complexity manner, and the multi-channel network structure is designed to increase the network width to improve the diversity of features of signals. Then a channel attention module is followed by a capsule network whose element contains a group of neurons. This attention module can explore the interdependence among channels to use global information to selectively strengthen some important channels, thus achieving the improvement of generalization ability of SACN. Some experiments are taken on several datasets with communication and radar signals, and the comparison results prove the efficiency of SACN and the superiority to its counterparts.

Background/objective: Both polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) and traditional calcium phosphate–based cements have some deficiencies as augmentation materials for pedicle screw fixation. Here, a novel calcium phosphate–based nanocomposite (CPN) for the augmentation of pedicle screw fixation was developed based on previous study, and the handling properties, biomechanical performance, and biodegradation behaviour of CPN were evaluated and compared with clinical PMMA by means of a cadaver study and animal tests. Methods: Bone mineral density of the lumbar vertebrae was tested. Pedicle screws were placed into the lumbar vertebrae under the guidance of three dimensionally printed templates; each of which was designed based on computed tomography (CT) reconstruction of each vertebrae ​and augmented with either PMMA or CPN. X-ray and CT scan were used to evaluate the accuracy of screw placement and dispersion as well as interdigitation of bone cement. The axial pull-out strength and maximum torque were tested using a mechanical testing machine. Degradation behaviour of CPN was evaluated by in vitro immersion tests for 8 weeks and in vivo rabbit femur defect model for up to 6 months, respectively. Results: Standard mechanical tests revealed that PMMA was much stronger than CPN after setting (compressive strength 95 vs. 49 ​MPa, respectively, p ​

Social recommendation systems can improve recommendation quality in cases of sparse user–item interaction data, which has attracted the industry’s attention. In reality, social recommendation systems mostly mine real user preferences from social networks. However, trust relationships in social networks are complex and it is difficult to extract valuable user preference information, which worsens recommendation performance. To address this problem, this paper proposes a social recommendation algorithm based on multi-graph contrastive learning. To ensure the reliability of user preferences, the algorithm builds multiple enhanced user relationship views of the user’s social network and encodes multi-view high-order relationship learning node representations using graph and hypergraph convolutional networks. Considering the effect of the long-tail phenomenon, graph-augmentation-free self-supervised learning is used as an auxiliary task to contrastively enhance node representations by adding uniform noise to each layer of encoder embeddings. Three open datasets were used to evaluate the algorithm, and it was compared to well-known recommendation systems. The experimental studies demonstrated the superiority of the algorithm.

As a clinical setting in which novel treatment options are urgently needed, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) exhibits intriguing opportunities for oncolytic virotherapy. Here we report the rational generation of a novel herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1)-based oncolytic vector for targeting HCC, named Ld0-GFP, which was derived from oncolytic ICP0-null virus (d0-GFP), had a fusogenic phenotype, and was a novel killer against HCC as well as other types of cancer cells. Compared with d0-GFP, Ld0-GFP exhibited superior cancer cell-killing ability in vitro and in vivo. Ld0-GFP targets a broad spectrum of HCC cells and can result in significantly enhanced immunogenic tumor cell death. Intratumoral and intravenous injections of Ld0-GFP showed effective antitumor capabilities in multiple tumor models, leading to increased survival. We speculated that more active cell-killing capability of oncolytic virus and enhanced immunogenic cell death may lead to better tumor regression. Additionally, Ld0-GFP had an improved safety profile, showing reduced neurovirulence and systemic toxicity. Ld0-GFP virotherapy could offer a potentially less toxic, more effective option for both local and systemic treatment of HCC. This approach also provides novel insights toward ongoing efforts to develop an optimal oncolytic vector for cancer therapy. Keywords: oncolytic virus, HCC, virotherapy, HSV-1, fusogenic

Abstract Objective: To investigate the expression level and significance of T cell immunoglobulin and mucin-domain containing molecules-3 (Tim-3) and interleukin-7 (IL-7) in CD4+ T lymphocytes in peripheral blood of patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). Methods: 75 patients with CHD treated at our hospital were selected and classified as mild group (25 cases), moderate group (25 cases) and severe group (25 cases), according to the severity of illness. Twenty-five healthy volunteers who underwent a physical examination at our hospital during the same period were selected as the control group. The expression level of Tim-3 in CD4+ T lymphocytes in peripheral blood of patients in four groups was detected by flow cytometry and quantitative real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The expression level of IL-7 in peripheral blood serum was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Correlation analyses of Tim-3 and IL-7, Tim-3 and disease severity and IL-7 and disease severity were performed, respectively. Results: Flow cytometry and qRT-PCR demonstrated that the expression of Tim-3 in CD4+ T lymphocytes in peripheral blood of patients with CHD increased with the aggravation of the disease. ELISA showed that the tendency of IL-7 expression in peripheral blood serum was consistent with the expression of Tim-3, and the expression of Tim-3 had a positive correlation with IL-7. The expression levels of both Tim-3 and IL-7 were positively correlated with the Gensini score. Conclusion: The expression of Tim-3 and IL-7 in peripheral blood of patients with CHD was upregulated and increased with the aggravation of CHD.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a common neurodegenerative disorder with progressive cognitive impairment in the elderly. Beta-amyloid (Aβ) formation and its accumulation in the brain constitute one of the pathological hallmarks of AD. Until now, how to modulate Aβ formation in hippocampal neurons remains a big challenge. Herein, we investigated whether the exosomal transfer of microRNA (miR) relates to amyloid pathology in the recipient neuron cells. We isolated circulating small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) from AD patients and healthy controls, determined the miR-342-5p level in the sEVs by RT-PCR, and evaluated its diagnostic performance in AD. Then, we took advantage of biomolecular assays to estimate the role of miR-342-5p in modulating the amyloid pathway, including amyloid precursor protein (APP), beta-site APP cleaving enzyme 1 (BACE1), and Aβ42. Furthermore, we subjected HT22 cells to the sEVs from the hippocampal tissues of transgenic APP mice (Exo-APP) or C57BL/6 littermates (Exo-CTL), and the Exo-APP enriched with miR-342-5p mimics or the control to assess the effect of the sEVs’ delivery of miR-342-5p on Aβ formation. We observed a lower level of miR-342-5p in the circulating sEVs from AD patients compared with healthy controls. MiR-342-5p participated in Aβ formation by modulating BACE1 expression, specifically binding its 3′-untranslated region (UTR) sequence. Exo-APP distinctly promoted Aβ42 formation in the recipient cells compared to Exo-CTL. Intriguingly, miR-342-5p enrichment in Exo-APP ameliorated amyloid pathology in the recipient cells. Our study indicated that miR-342-5p was dysregulated in human circulating sEVs from AD patients; sEV transfer of miR-342-5p ameliorates Aβ formation by modulating BACE1 expression. These findings highlight the promising potential of exosomal miRNAs in AD clinical therapy.

Abstract Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a malignant disease caused by a variety of factors. However, the genomic and molecular aberrations in HCC are largely unknown. Herein, pituitary tumor transforming gene 1 (PTTG1) was discovered as a potential inflammation‐related oncogene in HCC, and its functions and molecular mechanisms were investigated. mRNA expression microarray, real‐time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), immunohistochemistry, and western blotting analyses revealed that PTTG1 is upregulated in HCC. Further in vitro and in vivo studies indicated that the proinflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α) induces PTTG1 expression, and PTTG1 was found to upregulate c‐myc, a well‐known oncogene. Downregulation of PTTG1 reduced c‐myc and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) expression and inhibited cell proliferation. Interestingly, inhibition of c‐myc by 10058‐F4 did not affect PTTG1, which suggests that PTTG1 regulates c‐myc expression. Furthermore, PTTG1 expression levels are inversely correlated with HCC patient survival, indicating an independent prognostic biomarker for patients with HCC. Our data demonstrate that PTTG1 is involved in TNF‐α‐related HCC via c‐myc induction and that PTTG1 may be a potential therapeutic target for HCC.

BackgroundIn recent years, many studies have explored the potential prognostic utility of C-reactive protein/albumin ratio (CAR) in patients with gastric cancer (GC), however, the results remain conflicting. We thus performed a meta-analysis to determine the association of CAR and prognosis of GC.MethodsThis meta-analysis was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) Statement. PubMed, Web of science, Embase, and Cochrane Library were searched. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) of included studies were pooled to estimate the prognostic value of CAR.ResultsEight studies with a total of 3,216 patients were included in this meta-analysis. High CAR was significantly associated with poor OS (HR = 1.59, 95%CI = 1.36-1.85, pConclusionElevated pretreatment CAR is a prognostic marker of poor OS and CSS in patients with GC. Furthermore, high CAR levels are associated with clinicopathological features reflecting tumor progression.

Objectives We aimed to evaluate the diagnostic value of the combination of the monocyte-to-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio (MHR) with the monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio (MLR) in ischemic stroke patients. Methods There were 253 patients who were diagnosed with ischemic stroke and 211 healthy subjects enrolled into this retrospective study. Result MHR and MLR were significantly higher in ischemic stroke patients compared with controls. MHR and MLR remained as independent variables for the presence of ischemic stroke. In receiver operating characteristic analyses, the optimal cut-off values for MHR and MLR were 0.28 and 0.19, respectively. The area under the curve for MHR was 0.777 (sensitivity, 66.01%; specificity, 77.25%), and that for MLR was 0.742 (sensitivity, 70.36%; specificity, 67.77%) in ischemic stroke patients. Moreover, the combination MHR and MLR increased the sensitivity compared with MHR or MLR alone. Conclusion The present study shows that a high MHR and MLR are each predictive for the risk of ischemic stroke, and together, they exhibit a better diagnostic value compared with each ratio alone.

Palladium-catalyzed asymmetric allylic substitution, due to its valuable reactive profile, has become a quite useful tool in organic synthesis fields. In the present study, density functional theory (DFT) calculations were applied to investigate the important factors for palladium-catalyzed 3-butene-2-ol and methylaniline amination reaction, with tetrahydrofuran (THF) as solvent. We find that this catalytic protocol results in high regio- and stereoselectivity, which is in line with the experimental result. According to our calculations, the high regio- and stereoselectivity is caused by the steric hindrance between the substrate and the catalyst ligand. To verify this point, we further explore the reactive process with different axial chirality on the catalyst ligand (altering the steric hindrance), and the results suggest that the preponderant R chiral configuration product has reversed. These results could lead to a better understanding of the mechanism for 3-butene-2-ol amination reaction and are helpful for the design of the corresponding catalyst ligand in the industry.

Oncolytic viruses represent a promising therapeutic modality, but they have yet to live up to their therapeutic potential. Safety and efficacy concerns impel us to identify least toxic oncolytic agents that would generate durable and multifaceted anti-tumor immune responses to disrupt the tumors. Here we describe a rational engineered oncolytic herpes virus (OVH) that is a selective killer for targeting tumors, has strong safety records, induces complete regression of tumors in multiple tumor models, and elicits potent antitumor immunity. By far, the potential of OVs in promoting the tumor antigen-specific humoral immune responses remains obscure. In this study, we found that effective treatment by OVH induced immunogenic cell death, which facilitates to elicit humoral immune responses. Depletion experiments revealed that B cells were required for maximal antitumor efficacy of oncolytic immunotherapy. Both serum transfer and antibody treatment experiments revealed that endogenous oncolysis-induced antigen-targeting therapeutic antibodies can lead to systemic tumor regression. Our data demonstrate that tumor-targeting immune modulatory properties confer oncolytic OVH virotherapy as potent immunotherapeutic cancer vaccines that can generate specific and efficacious antitumor humoral responses by eliciting endogenous tumor antigen-targeting therapeutic antibodies in situ, resulting in an efficacious and tumor-specific therapeutic effect.

Rotating backward extrusion (RBE) is one of severe plastic deformation (SPD) methods used to produce cylindrical components with a very large strain by a single pass. In this study, the microstructure and texture evolution in the different regions of Mg-12Gd-4Y-2Zn-0.5Zr (wt.%) alloys via RBE process were investigated by using optical microscopy (OM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electron back-scatter diffraction (EBSD). The results showed that the cup-shaped sample formed by RBE process exhibited typical gradient microstructure expanding from its inner wall to outer wall along the radial direction (RD). The average grain size of the RBEed sample decreased when the radius decreased from the edge region to the center region along the RD, which was attributed to the different strains and strain rates in the different regions. It also could be observed that the center region showed highest deformation and the edge region exhibited the lowest deformation in the RBEed sample along the RD. In addition, the grain refinement mechanisms of the experimental alloy containing long-period stacking ordered (LPSO) phases after RBE with 100 N were continuous dynamic recrystallization (CDRX), discontinuous dynamic recrystallization (DDRX) and particle stimulated nucleation (PSN).

Background: Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) show great potential as diagnostic tools in many diseases. We aimed to develop sensitive and noninvasive biomarkers in saliva for detecting early hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods: Candidate lncRNA biomarkers identified by Agilent microarray were subjected to validation using qPCR for the quantification of their expression levels in independent tissue, plasma and saliva sample sets, including healthy controls, HBsAg carriers, patients with chronic Hepatitis B, liver cirrhosis, early HCC, and advanced HCC. Levels of candidate biomarkers were also measured in totally 108 saliva samples from patients with any one of other nine leading causes of cancer death in men and women. Findings: Lnc-PCDH9-13:1 was significantly elevated in HCC tissues, plasma and saliva of HCC patients compared with healthy controls and groups of several benign liver diseases and other leading cancers. Its level was significantly reduced after curative hepatectomy but significantly elevated again if HCC recurrence occurred. Salivary lnc-PCDH9-13:1 showed reasonable specificities and sensitivities for detecting HCC compared with several control groups. Furthermore, the overexpression of lnc-PCDH9-13:1 promotes cell proliferation and migration in vitro. Interpretation: Salivary lnc-PCDH9-13:1 is a desirable biomarker for early HCC. It may help warrant prospective validation with larger sample sizes in multi-centers. Keywords: Long non-coding RNA, Saliva, Biomarker, Early diagnosis, Hepatocellular carcinoma

In this work, TiO2/CdS nanocomposites with co-exposed {101}/[111]-facets (NH4F-TiO2/CdS), {101}/{010} facets (FMA-TiO2/CdS), and {101}/{010}/[111]-facets (HF-TiO2/CdS and Urea-TiO2/CdS) were successfully synthesized through a one-pot solvothermal method by using [Ti4O9]2− colloidal solution containing CdS crystals as the precursor. The crystal structure, morphology, specific surface area, pore size distribution, separation, and recombination of photogenerated electrons/holes of the TiO2/CdS nanocomposites were characterized. The photocatalytic activity and cycling performance of the TiO2/CdS nanocomposites were also investigated. The results showed that as-prepared FMA-TiO2/CdS with co-exposed {101}/{010} facets exhibited the highest photocatalytic activity in the process of photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange (MO), and its degradation efficiency was 88.4%. The rate constants of FMA-TiO2/CdS was 0.0167 min−1, which was 55.7, 4.0, 3.7, 3.5, 3.3, and 1.9 times of No catalyst, CdS, HF-TiO2/CdS, NH4F-TiO2/CdS, CM-TiO2, Urea-TiO2/CdS, respectively. The highest photocatalytic activity of FMA-TiO2/CdS could be attributed to the synergistic effects of the largest surface energy, co-exposed {101}/{010} facets, the lowest photoluminescence intensity, lower charge-transfer resistance, and a higher charge-transfer efficiency.

In this work, we systematically studied the deposition, characterization, and crystal structure modeling of ScAlN thin film. Measurements of the piezoelectric device’s relevant material properties, such as crystal structure, crystallographic orientation, and piezoelectric response, were performed to characterize the Sc0.29Al0.71N thin film grown using pulsed DC magnetron sputtering. Crystal structure modeling of the ScAlN thin film is proposed and validated, and the structure–property relations are discussed. The investigation results indicated that the sputtered thin film using seed layer technique had a good crystalline quality and a clear grain boundary. In addition, the effective piezoelectric coefficient d33 was up to 12.6 pC/N, and there was no wurtzite-to-rocksalt phase transition under high pressure. These good features demonstrated that the sputtered ScAlN is promising for application in high-coupling piezoelectric devices with high-pressure stability.