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Xue Yang,1,* Man Wu,2,* Tangzhiming Li,3,* Jie Yu,4 Tian Fu,5 Guoping Li,6 Huanwen Xiong,7 Gang Liao,8 Sensen Zhang,9 Shaofeng Li,10 Zhonghua Zeng,11 Chun Chen,12 Benhui Liang,13,14 Zhiguo Zhou,15 Ming Lu16 1Shenzhen Institute of Respiratory Diseases, Shenzhen People’s Hospital (The Second Clinical Medical College, Jinan University; The First Affiliated Hospital, Southern University of Science and Technology), Shenzhen, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center Affiliated to Fudan University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Cardiology, Shenzhen Cardiovascular Minimally Invasive Medical Engineering Technology Research and Development Center, Shenzhen People’s Hospital (The Second Clinical Medical College, The First Affiliated Hospital, Southern University of Science and Technology, Jinan University), Shenzhen, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Jiangxi Provincial People’s Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang Medical College, Nanchang, Jiangxi, People’s Republic of China; 5Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Jining No 1. People’s Hospital, Jining, Shandong, People’s Republic of China; 6Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Tongde Hospital of Zhejiang Hangzhou, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China; 7Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Gaoxin Branch of The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, People’s Republic of China; 8Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Shenzhen Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Shenzhen, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China; 9Department of Respiratory Medicine, The Third Central Hospital of Tianjin, Tianjin, People’s Republic of China; 10Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, The Affiliated Hospital of Jiangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanchang, Jiangxi, People’s Republic of China; 11Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, The First People’s Hospital of Fuzhou, Jiangxi, People’s Republic of China; 12Cancer Center, Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Zhejiang Provincial People’s Hospital (Affiliated People’s Hospital, Hangzhou Medical College), Hangzhou, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China; 13Department of Cardiology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, People’s Republic of China; 14Department of Structural Heart Disease, National Center for Cardiovascular Disease, China & State Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular Disease, Fuwai Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, National Health Commission Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular Regeneration Medicine, National Clinical Research Center for Cardiovascular Diseases, Beijing, People’s Republic of China; 15Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, The Affiliated Changsha Hospital of Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, People’s Republic of China; 16Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, the First Affiliated Hospital of Jiangxi Medical College, Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Zhiguo Zhou, Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, The Affiliated Changsha Hospital of Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, People’s Republic of China, Email zhouzhiguo1217@163.com Ming Lu, Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Jiangxi Medical College, Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, People’s Republic of China, Email 602032934@qq.comIntroduction: C. psittaci pneumonia has atypical clinical manifestations and is often ignored by clinicians. This study analyzed the clinical characteristics, explored the risk factors for composite outcome and established a prediction model for early prediction of composite outcome among C. psittaci pneumonia patients.Methods: A multicenter, retrospective, observational cohort study was conducted in ten Chinese tertiary hospitals. Patients diagnosed with C. psittaci pneumonia were included, and their clinical data were collected and analyzed. The composite outcome of C. psittaci pneumonia included death during hospitalization, ICU admission, and mechanical ventilation. Univariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine the significant variables. A ten-fold cross-validation was performed to internally validate the model. The model performance was evaluated using various methods, including receiver operating characteristics (ROC), C-index, sensitivity, specificity, positive/negative predictive value (PPV/NPV), decision curve analysis (DCA), and clinical impact curve analysis (CICA).Results: In total, 83 patients comprised training cohorts and 36 patients comprised validation cohorts. CURB-65 was used to establish predictive Model 1. Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified three independent prognostic factors, including serum albumin, CURB-65, and white blood cells. These factors were employed to construct model 2. Model 2 had acceptable discrimination (AUC of 0.898 and 0.825 for the training and validation sets, respectively) and robust internal validity. The specificity, sensitivity, NPV, and PPV for predicting composite outcome in the nomogram model were 91.7%, 84.5%, 50.0%, and 98.4% in the training sets, and 100.0%, 64.7%, 14.2%, and 100.0% in the validation sets. DCA and CICA showed that the nomogram model was clinically practical.Conclusion: This study constructs a refined nomogram model for predicting the composite outcome in C. psittaci pneumonia patients. This nomogram model enables early and accurate C. psittaci pneumonia patients’ evaluation, which may improve clinical outcomes.Keywords: Chlamydia psittaci pneumonia, nomogram, prediction model, composite outcome

Wei Hong,1,2 Zizhuo Wang,1,2 Wei Yao,1,2 Xin Zhang,1,2 Lijie Zhang,1,2 Bin Liang1,2 1Department of Radiology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, People’s Republic of China; 2Hubei Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging, Wuhan, Hubei, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Bin Liang, Department of Radiology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 1277 Jiefang Road, Wuhan, 430022, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86 27 85726432, Fax +86 27 85727002, Email bliang@hust.edu.cnAim: Partial splenic embolization (PSE) combined with transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) has been reported in treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with cirrhotic hypersplenism and thrombocytopenia. However, efficacy and safety of repeated PSE when required are unclear. This study aims to investigate post-procedural changes in peripheral blood cell and hepatic function, progression-free survival (PFS), and safety of HCC patients with hypersplenism received TACE and repeated PSE compared to those received TACE alone.Methods: This retrospective study included 102 HCC patients with hypersplenism who received TACE (n = 73) or TACE+PSE (n = 29) from January 2014 to December 2021. Changes in peripheral blood cell and hepatic function were investigated at 1 week, 2, 6, 12, 18, and 24 months. TACE procedure sessions and adverse events were recorded. PFS and prognostic factors were analyzed.Results: Despite response to initial PSE being limited, repeated PSE increased platelet (PLT) again, which peaked at 18 months. It also continued to improve red blood cell (RBC) and hemoglobin, which showed significant differences in changes from baseline between two groups until 24 months, as well as Child-Pugh scores at 12 and 18 months. Mean TACE procedure sessions were significantly higher in TACE+PSE group than that in TACE alone group (4.55 vs 3.26, P = 0.019). TACE+PSE group had longer median PFS (19.4 vs 9.5 months, P = 0.023) than TACE alone group, where PSE was an independent protective factor (HR, 0.508; P = 0.014). Initial and repeated PSE showed no significant differences in safety.Conclusion: Repeated PSE is effective in increasing PLT again and improving RBC, hemoglobin and liver function. It contributed to performing serial TACE procedures thereafter. TACE combined with repeated PSE has significantly longer PFS than TACE alone, where PSE was an independent protective factor. Moreover, the safety of repeated PSE was comparable to initial PSE.Keywords: hepatocellular carcinoma, hypersplenism, transarterial chemoembolization, partial splenic embolization

Liang B, Li C, Zhou Z, Xie Y. Drug Des Devel Ther. 2023;17:1037–1045. We, the Editor and Publisher of the journal Drug Design, Development and Therapy have retracted the published article. Following publication of the article, concerns were raised about the duplication of images from Figure 4. Specifically, Images for Figure 4A, Migration, 0 and 200; 400 and 800; and Invasion, 0 and 400 have been duplicated. The corresponding author did not respond to our queries and was unable to provide a satisfactory explanation for how the images came to be duplicated or provide satisfactory original data for the study. As verifying the validity of published work is core to the integrity of the scholarly record, the Publisher and Editor requested to retract the article and the corresponding author was notified of this decision. We have been informed in our decision-making by our editorial policies and COPE guidelines. The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as “Retracted”.

AlInAs/AlGaAs quantum dots (QDs) have emerged as excellent emitters across the visible spectral range, showcasing highly tunable electronic properties through variations in composition and size. This versatility allows for diverse band alignments within the same system. In this study, we present compelling evidence for the coexistence of type-I indirect and direct emissions from QDs, supported by comprehensive analyses of their photoluminescence responses to excitation power, temperature, and time, along with band structure calculations. The high-density QD system exhibits signs of lateral coupling, facilitated by carrier transfer between dots, modulated by energy barriers and recombination times. Additionally, we can unequivocally prove that the QDs act as carrier reservoirs that progressively feed optically active states in the bulk GaAs at low temperaturesan attractive prospect for hot-carrier photovoltaics. Above certain temperatures, the bulk system reverts to the anticipated predominantly radiative recombination dynamics. Our theoretical framework, accounting for the coexistence of QD specimens with varying recombination times, successfully elucidates the optical response at different temperatures, emphasizing the pivotal role of QD excitation in enhancing the effective lifetime of carriers in the bulk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silver‐based nanostructured composites as effective and stable catalysts were successfully designed as the catalyst to reduce the nitrophenols in aqueous solution at room temperature in the presence of NaBH4. The Co3O4‐C composites with regular morphology and adjustable components derived from ZIF‐67 in an air atmosphere at various temperatures (270, 300, and 350 °C) were chosen as a favorable platform to support silver nanoparticles. The acquired silver‐based nanocatalyst (Ag/Co3O4‐C) exhibited excellent catalytic performance towards the hydrogenation of nitrophenols (2‐NP, 3‐NP, and 4‐NP). The calculated rate constant (Kapp) towards the reduction of 4‐NP followed the order: Ag/Co3O4‐C‐300 (0.70 min−1)>Ag/Co3O4‐C‐270 (0.58 min−1)>Ag/Co3O4‐C‐350 (0.46 min−1). Ag/Co3O4‐C‐300 possessed the highest catalytic activity with no induction time during the reaction. What is more, Ag/Co3O4‐C‐300 could reduce 2‐NP and 3‐NP with the rate constant of 0.936 min−1 and 0.391 min−1, respectively. The catalytic activity was higher that many other metal‐based nanocomposites. The excellent catalytic performance was mainly attributed to the abundant active sites on the surface, and the interfacial synergistic effect between Ag and Co3O4‐C, which had a potential driving force for the hydrogenation reaction. In addition, the catalyst remained active even after recirculation experiments. The Ag‐based nanocomposites can be expected to be applied in industrial applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrous acid (HONO) is an important source of atmospheric hydroxyl radical (OH). However, HONO abundance in the marine boundary layer remain largely unknown. Here, ship-based measurements were performed to characterize the origins of HONO from ship plumes, marine atmosphere, and continental emissions over South China Sea (SCS) during September 2021. The results showed that the HONO concentrations were measured at substantial levels (1.0 ± 0.8 ppbv) in polluted plumes due to generally high NO x concentrations (52.3 ± 52.5 ppbv). Comparably, much lower HONO concentrations (0.086 ± 0.102 ppbv) were observed for marine atmosphere. During nighttime, the heterogeneous conversion of NO 2 was the predominant source of HONO and occurred mainly on the sea surfaces through NO 2 deposition. The HONO yield from this deposition (the proportion of NO 2 that was converted to HONO) was 0.08 and 0.06 for the marine atmosphere and continental emissions, respectively. In contrast, daytime known HONO formation of marine atmospheric origins was mainly attributed to homogeneous OH + NO reaction, although the contribution of heterogeneous NO 2 conversion might not be negligible. Approximately half of HONO sources during daytime are unknown, which were likely from photo-enhanced NO 2 conversation on the sea surfaces. Our results showed that for marine atmosphere and ship plumes, the daily contributions of HONO photolysis to OH radical formation were about 20.8 % and 72.2 %, respectively, while the contributions from ozone photolysis were 79.2 % and 27.8 %. An average HONO concentration of 0.17 ppbv was measured in close shore regions when air masses originated from mainland China, with the contributions from HONO and ozone to OH radical of 21.4 % and 78.6 % respectively, similar to those for the marine atmosphere. This study suggests that HONO in the SCS has various sources (e.g., marine atmosphere, ship plumes, and continental emissions) and makes significant contributions to the OH abundance which affects the oxidation capacity in this area., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Tropospheric ozone affects human health, ecosystems, and climate change. Previous studies on Tropospheric Column Ozone (TCO) have primarily concentrated on specific regions or global geographic divisions. This has led to insufficient exploration of the spatiotemporal characteristics and influencing factors of TCO in global and rational subregions. In this study, TCO is calculated using the Modern Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications version 2 (MERRA-2) reanalysis data and corrected using satellite data. Cluster analysis is conducted to explore the temporal characteristics of TCO variations in different regions. The results show that the global TCO is basically distributed latitudinally, with higher TCO in the northern hemisphere, which is related to atmospheric circulation, radiation, stratospheric transport, and the distribution of ozone precursors. Between 1980 and 2020, the global average annual TCO showed an increasing trend at 0.09 DU yr -1 due to rising anthropogenic emissions of ozone precursors (NO x at 589547.86 t yr -1 and NMVOC at 1070818.24 t yr -1 ), increasing tropopause height (-0.10 hPa yr -1 ), and the enhanced ozone flux at the tropopause (0.22 ppbv m s -2  yr -1 ). Cluster analysis reveals different trends in TCO changes across regions. The ocean south of 60°S and parts of West Antarctica (Region 2), the region from 30°N to 60°N and the western oceanic region of 30°S (Region 3), and the region from the equator to 60°S and the region north of 60°N (Region 5) exhibit increasing trends (with rates of 0.08 DU yr -1 , 0.07 DU yr -1 , and 0.11 DU yr -1 , respectively), linked to the enhanced ozone flux at the tropopause, the rising tropopause height and increasing ozone p precursors. Conversely, the decreasing TCO trends in the equatorial Pacific (Region 1) and East Antarctica (Region 4) (with rates of -0.01 DU yr -1 and -0.02 DU yr -1 ) may be related to increased cloudiness and weakened photochemical reactions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Histone lysine demethylase 4D (KDM4D) is a critical player in the regulation of tumorigenesis, emerging as a potential target for developing anti-tumor agents. In this study, a series of KDM4D inhibitors containing the 4,6-diarylquinoxaline scaffold were prepared based on the previously discovered hit compound QD-1. Among these inhibitors, 33a was the most potent compound, with an IC 50 value of 0.62 μM. In an in vitro assay, 33a showed a superior ability to inhibit the viability of liver cancer Huh-7 cells with IC 50  = 5.23 μM. 33a exhibits significant effects in inhibiting cell cycle progression and proliferation of liver cancer cells, as well as suppressing cell migration. This work provided a promising scaffold for developing KDM4D inhibitors, as well as a lead compound for the development of anti-tumor drugs targeting KDM4D., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This report introduces a novel surgical technique for middle meningeal artery embolization (MMAE) during a mini-craniotomy for subdural hematoma (SDH) evacuation. A patient with multiple health issues presented with a 14 mm right subacute SDH. During surgery, the MMA was retrogradely catheterized and embolized using Onyx 18. This approach, combining MMAE with hematoma evacuation, resulted in successful resolution of the SDH without complications. The procedure offers a more efficient workflow by integrating 2 interventions into 1, potentially reducing recurrence rates of SDH.

Human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2) is overexpressed in various solid tumor types, acting as an established therapeutic target. Over the last three decades, the fast-paced development of diverse HER2-targeted agents, notably marked by the introduction of the antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), yielding substantial improvements in survival rates. However, resistance to anti-HER2 treatments continues to pose formidable challenges. The complex structure and dynamic dimerization properties of HER2 create significant hurdles in the development of novel targeted therapeutics. In this review, we synthesize the latest insights into the structural intricacies of HER2 and present an unprecedented overview of the epitope characteristics of HER2-targeted antibodies and their derivatives. Furthermore, we delve into the correlation between anti-HER2 antibody binding epitopes and their respective functions, with a particular focus on their efficacy against resistant tumors. In addition, we highlight the potential of emerging anti-HER2 agents that target specific sites or non-overlapping epitopes, poised to transform the therapeutic landscape for HER2-positive tumors in the foreseeable future., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: Our study aimed to compare the accuracy of the effective atomic number (Z eff ) of five dual-energy CT (DECT) from three vendors and different generations under different scanning parameters., Methods: Z eff accuracy of five DECT scanners with twelve tube voltage configurations was evaluated by using the TomoTherapy cheese phantom. The potential dose dependence of the Z eff was investigated using three radiation dose (5, 15, and 25 mGy), and the robustness of Z eff was simulated for different organs of the body by placing the inserts at different positional depths. Bias and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) were used to characterize the accuracy of Zeff. Data underwent analysis using one-way ANOVA, followed by the Turky and LSD post hoc tests, simple linear regression, and linear mixed models., Results: All tube voltage configurations had a bias of less than 1. Dual layer detector DECT (dl-DECT) -140 kV has the lowest MAPE (1.79 %±1.93 %). The third generation dual source DECT (ds-DECT) and the second generation rapid switch DECT (rs-DECT) have higher MAPE than their predecessor DECT. The results of the linear mixed model showed that tube voltage configuration (F=16.92, p < 0.001) and insert type (F=53.26, p < 0.001) significantly affect the MAPE. In contrast, radiation dose only has a significant effect on the MAPE of rs-DECT. The inserts position does not affect the final MAPE., Conclusion: When scanning different inserts, Z eff accuracy varies by vendor and DECT generation. Of all the scanners, dl-DECT had the highest Z eff accuracy. Upgrading DECT generation doesn't lead to higher accuracy, or even lower., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Prostate cancer is a prevalent and debilitating disease that necessitates effective prevention and treatment strategies. Green tea, a well-known beverage derived from the Camellia sinensis plant, contains bioactive compounds with potential health benefits, including catechins and polyphenols. This comprehensive review aims to explore the potential benefits of green tea in prostate cancer prevention and treatment by examining existing literature. Green tea possesses antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-carcinogenic properties attributed to its catechins, particularly epigallocatechin gallate. Epidemiological studies have reported an inverse association between green tea consumption and prostate cancer risk, with potential protection against aggressive forms of the disease. Laboratory studies demonstrate that green tea components inhibit tumor growth, induce apoptosis, and modulate signaling pathways critical to prostate cancer development and progression. Clinical trials and human studies further support the potential benefits of green tea. Green tea consumption has been found to be associated with a reduction in prostate-specific antigen levels, tumor markers, and played a potential role in slowing disease progression. However, challenges remain, including optimal dosage determination, formulation standardization, and conducting large-scale, long-term clinical trials. The review suggests future research should focus on combinatorial approaches with conventional therapies and personalized medicine strategies to identify patient subgroups most likely to benefit from green tea interventions., (© 2024. The Chinese Journal of Integrated Traditional and Western Medicine Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Lipids are key aroma contributors in meat products. However, the role of different lipids in the presence of aroma compounds in roasted pigeons has not been studied. The formation of aroma compounds and lipids during the circulating non-fried roasting of pigeons was investigated. The results presented that 18 aroma compounds, including 5-methy-2,3-diethylpyrazine, were identified as key aroma compounds. A total of 6324 lipids were classed into 47 categories, such as phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), and triglyceride (TG). Nine lipids, containing PA(P-20:0/22:4(7Z,10Z,13Z,16Z)) and LPC 16:0-SN1, showed promise as potential biomarkers for discriminating differential pigeons using OPLS-DA. PC (13.76%), TG (13.58%), and their products were major lipids, among which TG 16:0 16:0 18:2, LPC 18:2-SN1, and PC 18:1&#95;18:1 played a crucial role in the presence of aroma compounds. Interestingly, the linoleic acid, an important aroma contributor, was predominantly bonded to the sn-2 position of phospholipid and sn-3 position of neutral lipids., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Aims: The impact of e-cigarettes/vaping on cardiac function remains contradictory owing to insufficient direct evidence of interorgan communication. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have protective or detrimental effects depending on pathological conditions, making it crucial to understand their role in lung-cardiac cell interactions mediated by vaping inhalation., Methods and Key Findings: Pulmonary EVs were characterized from animals that underwent 12 weeks of nicotine inhalation (vaping component) (EVs Nicotine ) or vehicle control (EVs Vehicle ). EVs Nicotine significantly increased in size and abundance compared with EVs Vehicle . The direct effect of EVs Nicotine and EVs Vehicle on cardiomyocytes was then assessed in vitro and in vivo. EVs Nicotine led to a decrease in cardiac function as manifested by reduced cardiac contractility and impaired relaxation. EVs Nicotine induced increased levels of cleaved caspase-1 and cleaved caspase-11 in cardiomyocytes, indicating the promotion of pyroptosis. Meanwhile, EVs Nicotine stimulated the secretion of fibrotic factors. Further analysis revealed that nicotine inhalation stimulated EVs Nicotine enriched with high levels of ERK5 (EVs Nicotine -ERK5). It was discovered that these EVs derived from pulmonary epithelial cells. Furthermore, inhibiting cardiac ERK5 blunted the EVs Nicotine -induced pyroptosis and fibrotic factor secretion. We further identified GATA4, a pro-pyroptosis transcription factor, as being activated through ERK5-dependent phosphorylation., Significance: Our research demonstrates that nicotine inhalation exacerbates cardiac injury through the activation of EVs derived from the lungs during e-cigarettes/vaping. Specifically, the EVs containing ERK5 play a crucial role in mediating the detrimental effects on cardiac function. This research provides new insights into the cardiac toxicity of vaping and highlights the role of EVs Nicotine -ERK5 in this process., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors have declared that no competing interest exists., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

A chiral supramolecular liquid crystal based on a pillararene mesogen was constructed. The regulation of liquid crystal behavior was achieved through the host-guest interactions between the pillararene-based mesogen and a tetraphenylethylene-containing guest. In addition, this supramolecular liquid crystal system, showing pH-responsive fluorescence emission character, was applied as an information encryption material capable of storing multiple levels of distinct information, thereby enriching the application of liquid crystal materials in the field of information security.

The human gut microbiota is a vast and complex microbial community. According to statistics, the number of bacteria residing in the human intestinal tract is approximately 10 times that of total human cells, with over 1,000 different species. The interaction between the gut microbiota and various organ tissues plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of local and systemic diseases, exerting a significant influence on disease progression. The relationship between the gut microbiota and intestinal diseases, along with its connection to the pulmonary immune environment and the development of lung diseases, is commonly referred to as the "gut-lung axis." The incidence of bronchial asthma is rising globally. With ongoing research on gut microbiota, it is widely believed that intestinal microorganisms and their metabolic products directly or indirectly participate in the occurrence and development of asthma. Based on the gut-lung axis, this review examines recent research suggesting that the intestinal microbiota can influence the occurrence and progression of allergic asthma through the modulation of cytokine immune balance and mucosal integrity. Though the precise immune pathways or microbial species influencing asthma through the gut-lung axis are still under exploration, summarizing the immune modulation through the gut-lung axis in allergic asthma may provide insights for the clinical management of the condition.

Objective: To evaluate the performance of the disk diffusion test with lefamulin 20 µg compared with the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) reference broth microdilution method., Methods: 572 clinical stains, including 240 Staphylococcus aureus, 211 Streptococcus pneumoniae and 121 Haemophilus influenzae, isolated from 71 medical centers from the China Antimicrobial Surveillance Network (CHINET) in 2020. Broth microdilution method and disk diffusion methods were performed according to CLSI. Categorical agreement (CA), major error (ME), and very major error (VME) were calculated., Results: Lefamulin showed potent activity against S. aureus, S. pneumoniae, and H. influenzae. Using the broth microdilution method, lefamulin inhibited 97.1% of S. aureus isolates at 0.25 mg/L; seven isolates were not susceptible. For S. pneumoniae and H. influenzae, the percentage of susceptibility to lefamulin was 100% and no non-susceptible strains were found in this study. Compared with the reference broth microdilution method, the CA of the lefamulin 20 µg disk testing was 99.8% (571/572), with 14.3% (1/7) VME and no ME. In our study, VME was determined in S. aureus. For S. pneumoniae and H. influenzae, the VME was not determined due to the lack of lefamulin non-susceptible strains., Conclusion: The lefamulin 20 µg disk diffusion testing showed excellent CA and ME with the reference broth microdilution method for S. aureus, S. pneumoniae, and H. influenzae. The VME exceeding CLSI recommendations may be a bias due to fewer lefamulin non-susceptible isolates. Our results suggest that lefamulin non-susceptible isolates detected by disk diffusion should be confirmed by the reference BMD., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

A randomized, open-label, 2-period, 2-sequence crossover study was conducted to evaluate the pharmacokinetics and bioequivalence of 2 oral formulations of vildagliptin tablets under both fasting and fed conditions in healthy Chinese subjects. A total of 56 healthy subjects were randomized to receive a single 50-mg dose of either a generic vildagliptin tablet (T) or the reference formulation (R). The washout period was 3 days. Blood samples were collected up to 24 hours postdosing during each period and analyzed for vildagliptin using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The 90% confidence intervals for the geometric mean ratios (T:R) of maximum serum concentration, area under the serum concentration-time curve from time 0 to the last measurable concentration, and area under the serum concentration-time curve from time 0 to infinity were all within the predefined bioequivalence range of 80%-125%. This indicates that the generic and reference formulations are bioequivalent under both fasting and fed states. All adverse events reported were mild and transient. High-fat meals delayed absorption and reduced the maximum peak concentration of both formulations; however, they did not affect the overall exposure. Therefore, vildagliptin can be taken without regard to meals., (© 2024, The American College of Clinical Pharmacology.)

The development of third-generation sequencing has accelerated the boom of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) calling methods, but evaluating accuracy remains challenging owing to the absence of the SNP gold standard. The definitions for without-gold-standard and performance metrics and their estimation are urgently needed. Additionally, the possible correlations between different SNP loci should also be further explored. To address these challenges, we first introduced the concept of a gold standard and imperfect gold standard under the consistency framework and gave the corresponding definitions of sensitivity and specificity. A latent class model (LCM) was established to estimate the sensitivity and specificity of callers. Furthermore, we incorporated different dependency structures into LCM to investigate their impact on sensitivity and specificity. The performance of LCM was illustrated by comparing the accuracy of BCFtools, DeepVariant, FreeBayes, and GATK on various datasets. Through estimations across multiple datasets, the results indicate that LCM is well-suitable for evaluating callers without the SNP gold standard, and accurate inclusion of the dependency between variations is crucial for better performance ranking. DeepVariant has a higher sum of sensitivity and specificity than other callers, followed by GATK and BCFtools. FreeBayes has low sensitivity but high specificity. Notably, appropriate sequencing coverage is another important factor for precise callers' evaluation. Most importantly, a web interface for assessing and comparing different callers was developed to simplify the evaluation process., (© 2024. International Association of Scientists in the Interdisciplinary Areas.)

Background: Laparoscopic right posterior anatomic resection (LRPAR) presents challenges due to uncontrollable hemorrhage from the inferior vena cava and the risk of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) gas embolism. However, there is a lack of research specifically addressing the safe exposure of right hepatic vein (RHV). Herein, we introduced a novel technique of combining occlusion of the RHV with the Pringle maneuver and presented the outcomes of our initial series., Patient and Method: All consecutive patients who underwent LRPAR using this novel technique were enrolled in this study from March 2021 to January 2024. The demographic characteristics, perioperative outcomes and follow-up data were collected and analyzed., Results: A total of 12 patients underwent LRPAR using the technique of double occlusion during study period. All the procedures were performed laparoscopically, with no conversions to open surgery. The median operative time was 203 min (range of 172-279 min) and the median blood loss was 200 ml (range of 50-280 ml). No patient received a blood transfusion during the perioperative period. Of note, the main trunk of the RHV was fully exposed on the cutting surface in all cases, and no evidence of CO 2 gas embolism was observed following double occlusion. None of the patients suffered from Clavien-Dindo grade II or higher postoperative complications, and the perioperative mortality was nil. The median postoperative stay was 5 days (range of 5-7 days). The median hospitalization cost was 43,048.5 RMB (40,240.35-57,921.53 RMB). At a median follow-up period of 24 months (range of 4-35 months), all patients were alive with normal daily living and no disease recurrence was observed., Conclusions: Combining occlusion of the right hepatic vein with the Pringle maneuver appears to be a feasible and expected technique for securing the exposure of RHV in LRPAR. Further follow-up and well-designed prospective comparative studies are needed to validate the feasibility and efficacy of this technique., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a typical food chemical contaminant with various detrimental effects, especially on reproductive system. Male prostate damage is also one of its major adverse health effects, of which mode of action (MOA) remains unclear. This study aims to explore the MOA for prostate toxicity of BPA using human normal prostate epithelial cell RWPE-1 for 28-day human-relevant-level exposure. A physiological based pharmacokinetic model was used to determine the concentration of BPA based on the actual oral exposure in China. The possible key events were identified by high-throughput transcriptome sequencing and validated by qPCR, Western blot and cell cycle assay, and the benchmark concentration analysis were conducted. The enriched KEGG pathways include the endocytosis, cell cycle, cellular senescence, MAPK and TNF signaling pathways. With increasing BPA concentrations, the increased mRNA and/or protein expressions of MAPKAPK2, c-JUN and c-fos in the MAPK signaling pathway, the increased mRNA expressions of CCND1 and CDKN1A, the decreased mRNA expression of CDC25C, the increased proportion of G0/G1 phase and S phase, as well as the decreased proportion of G2/M phase, were observed. The lowest value of benchmark concentration lower confidence limit (BMCL) was retrieved from G2/M phase ratio, with 110.580 and 175.862 nM for BMCL 5 and BMCL 10 , respectively, much higher than the male gonad maximum concentration of 0.019 nM of BPA at the current exposure level of adult Chinese males. In conclusion, the MOA of BPA induced male prostatic toxicity at human-relevant levels may include: key event (KE)1-MAPK signaling pathway activation, KE2-disorder of cell cycle regulatory gene expression (increased expression of CCND1 and CDKN1A, decreased expression of CDC25C), and KE3-disturbance of cell cycle (increased proportion of G0/G1 and S phases, decreased proportion of G2/M phases). However, more studies are needed to validate and complete the MOA., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: At present, embryologists are attempting to use conventional in vitro fertilization (cIVF) as an alternative to intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) for preimplantation genetic testing (PGT). However, the potential parental contamination origin of sperm cells and cumulus cells is considered the main limiting factor in the inability of cIVF embryos to undergo PGT., Methods: In this study, we established an IVF-PGTA assay for parental contamination tests with a contamination prediction model based on allele frequencies and linkage disequilibrium (LD) to compute the log-likelihood ratio (LLR) under competing ploidy hypotheses, and then verified its sensitivity and accuracy. Finally, comparisons of the effectiveness of SNP-based analysis and LLR-based IVF-PGTA among 40 cIVF embryos was performed, based on both statistical analysis of the parental contamination rate and chromosomal ploidy concordance rate between TE biopsy and ICM isolations., Results: With IVF-PGTA assay, biopsies with 10% maternal contamination could be detected accurately, and contamination caused by sperm cells could be eliminated completely. Utilizing LLR-based or single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) -based analyses, our comprehensive examination of 40 clinically discarded fresh cIVF embryos revealed an absence of paternal contamination. Strikingly, the LLR-based analysis uniquely revealed a mere instance of 24% maternal contamination within the trophectoderm cell (TE) biopsy of 5* embryo. Furthermore, it was solely through this analysis that embryo (9-F) was identified as a triploid of paternal origin., Conclusions: In this study, we developed a new bioinformatics analysis method for identifying parental contamination during IVF-PGT, especially for couples with nonmale factor infertility., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Tungsten is a crucial strategic metal that plays a significant role in various fields, such as the defense industry, fine chemicals, and the preparation of new materials. During the practice of numerous tungsten smelting processes, a large amount of acidic wastewater containing low concentrations of WO 3 is generated. The adsorption method, known for its simplicity, effectiveness, and ease of operation, represents the most promising approach for tungsten recovery and is vital for the sustainable development of the tungsten industry. In this study, D318 macroporous resin was used as an adsorbent to investigate its effectiveness in adsorbing WO 3 from acidic solutions. Static adsorption experiments revealed that the adsorption capacity of D318 resin for WO 3 was 683 mg·g -1 . Kinetic analysis indicated that the controlling step for the adsorption of WO 3 from acidic solutions by D318 resin was intraparticle diffusion. Thermodynamic analysis demonstrated that the adsorption process was endothermic and could occur spontaneously. By fitting the isothermal adsorption equation, it was found that the Langmuir model was more suitable for describing the adsorption process of WO 3 on D318 resin in acidic solutions. The results of dynamic adsorption experiments showed that under optimized conditions, the dynamic adsorption capacity for WO 3 was 529 mg·g -1 ; when using NaOH as the desorbent for cyclic desorption, the desorption rate for WO 3 was 98.21%. XPS and SEM-EDS testing and analysis confirmed that D318 macroporous resin exhibited excellent adsorption performance for tungsten in acidic solutions.

Precise survival risk stratification is crucial for personalized therapy in bladder cancer (BCa). This study developed and validated an end-to-end deep learning system using histological slides to predict overall survival (OS) risk in BCa patients. We employed the BlaPaSeg tile classifier to generate tissue probability heatmaps and segmentation maps, trained two prognostic networks, MacroVisionNet and UniVisionNet, and explored six potential BCa prognostic biomarkers. Across all cohorts, the AUC for BlaPaSeg ranged from 0.9906 to 0.9945, while the C-index varied from 0.655 to 0.834 for MacroVisionNet and 0.661 to 0.853 for UniVisionNet. After covariate adjustment, the hazard ratio (HR) values for high-risk groups were 1.97 to 5.06 in MacroVisionNet and 2.13 to 4.01 in UniVisionNet. The high-risk Coloc (Tumor Co-localization score) and IMTS (Integrated Muscle Tumor Score) groups illustrated a higher death risk with HR values from 1.41 to 10.16. The system improves BCa survival prediction and supports refined patient management., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Purpose: To evaluate the correlations between retinal microvascular changes and carotid artery stenosis (CAS) with and without plaques using fundus photography., Methods: Patients who had undergone bilateral carotid ultrasonography and bilateral fundus photography were divided into the following groups based on the carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) determined via ultrasonography in this retrospective, observational study: the control and CAS (comprising CAS with and without plaque subgroups) groups. The following retinal indicators were determined via fundus photography based on a deep learning algorithm: the arteriole-to-venule ratio (AVR), whole retinal fractal dimension (FD), arteriolar fractal dimension (AFD), venular fractal dimension (VFD), vascular density (VD), and VD within 3 mm (VD 3mm ) and 5 mm (VD 5mm ) from the macular fovea. The correlations between these indicators and IMT were also assessed., Results: In total, 715 participants, comprising 313 participants with CAS (CAS group; 91 with plaque and 222 without plaque) and 402 participants without CAS (control group), participated in this study. AFD, VFD, and FD in the CAS group were significantly lower than those in the control group (all p  < 0.001). VD, VD 3mm , and VD 5mm showed significant differences between the groups (all p  < 0.05). VFD in the CAS with plaque group was lower than that in the group without plaque ( p  = 0.014). VD 3mm , and VD 5mm showed significantly negative correlations with IMT min in the CAS subgroup., Conclusions: AFD, VFD, FD, VD, VD 3 mm , and VD 5 mm decreased, and fundus photography based on deep learning algorithm may provide new approaches for screening of CAS., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Purpose: Nocardia is emerging as a common and easily neglected cause of both healthcare- and occupation-associated infections worldwide, however, human vaccines for Nocardia prevention are not yet available. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the immunoprotective effect of the NFA47630 protein, a secreted protein abundant in the N. farcinica IFM10152 supernatant., Methods: Conservation and characteristics of nfa47630 were analyzed by PCR and bioinformatics. Then recombinant NFA47630 protein was cloned, expressed and purified for further antigenicity analysis. Subsequently, the ability to activate innate immunity was evaluated by examining the phosphorylation status of the MAPK signaling pathway and cytokine levels. Finally, the protective effect was evaluated on rNFA47630-immunized mice., Results: nfa47630 was conserved in N. farcinica strains with good antigenicity. The rNFA47630 protein was expressed under the optimal conditions of 0.2 mM IPTG, 28 °C, and it can be recognized by anti-N. farcinica and anti-N. cyriacigeorgica sera, but not anti-N. asteroids, anti-N. brasiliensis, anti-N. nova and anti-Mycobacterium bovis sera. It can upregulate the phosphorylation status of ERK, JNK, P38 and the cytokine levels of TNF-α, IL-10, IL-12, and IFN-γ. In addition, mice immunized with rNFA47630 protein exhibited higher antibody titers, greater bacterial clearance ability, milder organ infection, and higher survival rates than PBS-immunized mice., Conclusions: Our data demonstrate that NFA47630 is a potential vaccine candidate for defending against N. farcinica infection., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) is a complication of deep hypothermic circulatory arrest (DHCA). Various amounts of neurologic dysfunctions have been shown after DHCA, which has often been attributed to systemic inflammatory response syndrome and cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury. Remimazolam is one of the commonly used anesthetic drugs with protective actions against inflammatory diseases, such as sepsis and cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury. Here, we determined the protective effect and potential mechanism of action of remimazolam against neuronal damage after DHCA., Methods: A rat model of DHCA was established, and a gradient dosage of remimazolam was administered during cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). The cognitive function of rats was evaluated by Morris water maze. Hematoxylin and eosin and TUNEL staining were performed to assess hippocampus tissue injury and neuronal apoptosis. Inflammatory cytokines concentration were analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The protein expression was analyzed using automated electrophoresis western analysis and immunohistochemical analysis., Results: The appropriate dosage of remimazolam reduced histologic injury, neuronal apoptosis, microglia activation, and secondary inflammatory cascades, as well as the downregulation of the expression of the HMGB1-TLR4-NF-κB pathway after DHCA, improved the memory and learning abilities in DHCA rats. Further, administration of a TLR4 antagonist TAK-242 had a similar effect to remimazolam, while the TLR4 agonist LPS attenuated the effect of remimazolam., Conclusions: Remimazolam could ameliorate POCD after DHCA through the HMGB1-TLR4-NF-κB signaling pathway., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests. Yubo Xie reports administrative support, article publishing charges, equipment, drugs, or supplies, and statistical analysis were provided by the Special Fund of Neurotoxicity of General Anesthetics and Its Prevention and Treatment Innovation Team of the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University (No. YYZS2022001). Yubo Xie reports administrative support, article publishing charges, equipment, drugs, or supplies, and statistical analysis were provided by Guangxi Clinical Research Center for Anesthesiology (No. GK AD22035214). Yubo Xie reports administrative support, article publishing charges, equipment, drugs, or supplies, and statistical analysis were provided by Guangxi Key Research and Development Program (No. AB24010066). If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper, (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

FOLFOX, composed of 5-FU, oxaliplatin and leucovorin, is a first line chemotherapy regimen for colorectal cancer (CRC) treatment. In this study, we show that 5-FU and oxaliplatin induce DNA damage and activate cGAS/STING signaling leading to enhanced expression of interferon (IFN) β, IFN-stimulated genes and inflammatory cytokines in mouse and human colon cancer cells as well as increased intratumoral CD8 + T cells in mice. Crucially, 5-FU and oxaliplatin increase PD-L1 expression at the mRNA and protein levels, which has been shown to inhibit CD8 + T cell function. Depletion of cGAS, STING, IRF3, or IFNα/β receptor 1 (IFNAR1) abolishes this increase, indicating that 5-FU/oxaliplatin mediated upregulation of PD-L1 expression is dependent on tumor cell intrinsic cGAS/STING signaling. These results imply opposing roles for FOLFOX during cancer treatment. On one hand, 5-FU and oxaliplatin activate the innate immune response to facilitate anti-tumor immunity, and conversely upregulate PD-L1 expression to evade immune surveillance. Analysis of TCGA colon cancer dataset shows a positive correlation between expression of PD-L1 and components of the cGAS/STING pathway, supporting a role for cGAS/STING signaling in upregulating PD-L1 expression in colon cancer patients. Tumor studies in syngeneic immune competent mice demonstrate that the combination of 5-FU/oxaliplatin and anti-PD-1 significantly reduced tumor growth of colon cancer cells compared to 5-FU/oxaliplatin treatment alone. Taken together, our studies have identified a unique pathway leading to chemoresistance and provide a rationale to combine FOLFOX with anti-PD-1/PD-L1 as an effective CRC treatment., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Liang, Xing, Storts, Ye, Claybon, Austin, Ding, Liu, Wen, Miles, Fishel and Wang.)

Background: Root plays an important role in the growth and development of fruit trees; however, the molecular mechanisms behind the differences among rootstock varie-ties remain unclear., Methods: This study examined the effects of different rootstocks on root structure and the endogenous hormone content of 1-year old apple seedlings in combinations of Tianhong 2 (T2)/ Malus robusta (HT), T2/G935, and T2/Jizhen 2 (J2)., Results: The results showed that the T2/HT treatment had greater root length, surface area, volume, average diameter, tips and forks, followed by G935 and J2. In T2/HT leaves and roots, the indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and gibberellins (GA 3 ) levels were highest, and the abscisic acid (ABA) levels were the lowest. A root transcriptome analysis detected 10,064, 10,511, and 8,719 differentially expressed genes in T2/HT vs. T2/G935, T2/HT vs. T2/J2, and T2/J2 vs. T2/G935, respectively. The analysis of Gene Ontology (GO) terms indicated a significant enrichment in biological processes, cellular components, and molecular functions. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis showed that plant hormone signaling, MAPK signaling pathway-plant, and plant-pathogen interaction played important roles in differences in the rooting ability of different rootstocks. In addition, some key differential genes were associated with root growth and development and were involved in these metabolic pathways. This study is important for enriching theoretical studies of fruit tree roots., Competing Interests: The authors declare there are no competing interests., (©2024 Li et al.)

With the rapid pace of socioeconomic progress, there has been a continuous rise in the generation of municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) fly ash. Enhancing the efficiency of MSWI fly ash utilization, minimizing expenses, and developing more cost-effective and environmentally sustainable cementitious materials represent critical scientific challenges that warrant immediate attention. The research commenced with the preliminary treatment of MSWI fly ash using a blend of chemical activators and a water rinsing method. Following this, quicklime and coal fly ash were incorporated to formulate a geopolymer derived from MSWI, aimed at stabilizing the MSWI fly ash. Throughout this investigation, a selection of five chemical activators-calcium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide, sodium silicate, dilute sulfuric acid, and citric acid-was employed in conjunction with a water-washing procedure to condition the MSWI fly ash. Three single factor experiments denoted A, B, and C, were designed, and the corresponding geopolymer samples were prepared. In this research, the analysis focused on the solidified MSWI fly ash-based geopolymer samples, examining their physical and chemical characteristics, compressive strength, levels of heavy metal release, and the structure at a microscopic level. The findings revealed that the B3 series exhibited the most substantial 28-day compressive strength, reaching 1.692 MPa. Concurrently, the concentrations of leached heavy metals, including zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), chromium (Cr), lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), and nickel (Ni), were all beneath the regulatory thresholds stipulated by the GB16889 and GB18598 criteria, signifying a notably effective solidification outcome. During the geopolymerization process, gel phases such as calcium aluminosilicate hydrate (C-A-S-H) and calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H) are formed within the geopolymer matrix. This leads to the formation of a compact and cohesive cementitious material, which showcases superior mechanical strength and a robust capacity for heavy metal sequestration. This research contributes to the safe management of MSWI fly ash by not only facilitating its non-hazardous disposal but also enabling the efficient containment and elimination of heavy metals, chloride ions, and elemental aluminum., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Fetal multi-anatomical structure detection in Ultrasound (US) images can clearly present the relationship and influence between anatomical structures, providing more comprehensive information about fetal organ structures and assisting sonographers in making more accurate diagnoses, widely used in structure evaluation. Recently, deep learning methods have shown superior performance in detecting various anatomical structures in ultrasound images but still have the potential for performance improvement in categories where it is difficult to obtain samples, such as rare diseases. Few-shot learning has attracted a lot of attention in medical image analysis due to its ability to solve the problem of data scarcity. However, existing few-shot learning research in medical image analysis focuses on classification and segmentation, and the research on object detection has been neglected. In this paper, we propose a novel fetal anatomical structure fewshot detection method in ultrasound images, TKR-FSOD, which learns topological knowledge through a Topological Knowledge Reasoning Module to help the model reason about and detect anatomical structures. Furthermore, we propose a Discriminate Ability Enhanced Feature Learning Module that extracts abundant discriminative features to enhance the model's discriminative ability. Experimental results demonstrate that our method outperforms the state-of-the-art baseline methods, exceeding the second best method with a maximum margin of 4.8% on 5-shot of split 1 under 4CC. The code is publicly available at: https://github.com/lixi92/TKR-FSOD.

Objective: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most significant cardiovascular risk factors, playing vital roles in various cardiovascular diseases such as atherosclerosis (AS). This study attempted to explore key biomarkers for predicting AS in patients with PCOS and to investigate the role of immune cell infiltration in this process., Methods: We downloaded the expression matrix of AS (GSE100927, GSE28829) and PCOS (GSE54248) from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Differential expression analysis and weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) were used to identify PCOS-related genes in AS. Functional enrichment analysis was employed to reveal underlying mechanisms. Then, Protein-protein interaction (PPI) and three machine learning algorithms were used to screen the hub genes, including the Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO), Support Vector Machine-Recursive Feature Elimination (SVM-RFE), and Random Forest (RF). Moreover, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, calibration curve, and decision curve analysis (DCA) were applied to evaluate the diagnostic value of the nomogram model. Finally, we performed immune cell infiltration and single-gene GSEA., Results: A total of 41 genes were identified as PCOS-related genes in AS, with functional analysis indicating that the potential pathogenesis lies in inflammatory and immune responses. Furthermore, we identified two hub genes (MMP9 and P2RY13) by three machine learning algorithms. The nomogram model based on MMP9 and P2RY13 can be used as a new diagnostic model to differentiate AS in PCOS women (AUC＞0.9). The calibration curves and DCA curves demonstrated the excellent discriminative ability and clinical practicality of this nomogram. Finally, immune infiltration analysis revealed the disorder of immunocytes in AS. The two gene expressions were negatively correlated with Monocyte and Macrophages M1, while positively correlated with Macrophages M0. Single gene GSEA analysis suggested that the MMP9 and P2RY13 might be involved in the metabolism and inflammation responses., Conclusion: We identified MMP9 and P2RY13 as the biomarkers and developed a new nomogram for early diagnosing AS based on them in PCOS patients. Our findings may provide new insights into the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment targets of PCOS-associated AS., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None Declared., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background and purpose: Stenting appears to be a safe treatment for vertebral artery ostial stenosis (VAOS) with low complication rates and positive long-term effects. However, in-stent restenosis (ISR) after stenting is common. Drug-coated balloons (DCBs) are an effective management strategy for ISR in patients with coronary or carotid disease. In this study, we investigated the feasibility, safety, and effectiveness of DCB-assisted angioplasty for the treatment of ISR after treatment of VAOS. Research Design: The study included patients in the Department of Neurology at Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital who underwent DCB-assisted angioplasty for ISR after previously undergoing stenting for VAOS. We retrospectively analyzed the clinical and functional outcomes in these patients. Results: Fourteen patients were enrolled in the study between January 2018 and April 2022. Five of the patients were female, and the mean age was 69.4 ± 7.5 years. The technical success rate was 100% and the mean operation time was 57.1 ± 29.2 minutes. No perioperative complications were reported. There were no new cases of cerebral infarction or transient ischemic attacks in hospital or during 6 months of follow-up. There were only 2 reports of ISR in the vertebral artery ostium in the 6 months following DCB-assisted angioplasty. The median modified Rankin scale score was 0. Conclusion: DCB-assisted angioplasty may be feasible for treatment of ISR after stenting of the vertebral artery ostium. However, more research is needed to confirm our findings., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Constructing an easily repairable hydrophobic layer on the hydrogel surface that confers resistance to liquid interference remains a great challenge for hydrogel strain sensors. In this paper, superhydrophobic hydrogel sensors were prepared by driving hydrophobic organically modified silica (o-SiO 2 ) nanoparticles to the surface of polyacrylamide/sodium alginate (PAM/SA) double network hydrogels by a weak ultrasonic field in o-SiO 2 /cyclohexane dispersion. The hydroxyl groups present on the surface of o-SiO 2 are able to form hydrogen bonds with hydrogels, which in turn form a strong surface hydrophobic layer on its surface. The sensor exhibits superhydrophobic properties for different types of liquids, such as acids, salt solutions, etc., even in the stretched state. The broken o-SiO 2 layers can be repaired by immersing in the o-SiO 2 /cyclohexane dispersion. The SA significantly improved the mechanical properties as well as the strain response sensitivity of the hydrogels. The hydrogel sensor is characterized by low hysteresis to strain, wide detection range (0-894 %), low detection limit (1 %), high sensitivity (GF = 4.8), and good cyclic stability. The superhydrophobic surface allows the sensor to exhibit excellent anti-liquid interference. Salt solution droplets, prolonged contact with salt solution, and even short-term water immersion will not affect the sensor's response to strain. Moreover, repairing the broken hydrophobic layer enables the sensor to restore its resistance to liquid interference. The prepared hydrogel can be used for human motion monitoring in complex scenarios, including exercise sweating, rain, and short-time exposure to water., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) is a new high-throughput sequencing method that may have great importance in early diagnosis and clinical management of sepsis. This study aimed to detect the difference between mNGS and comprehensive routine microbiological test (CMT), and to explore the diagnostic efficacy of mNGS in septic patients. This study retrospectively analyzed 150 sepsis patients who were admitted to the intensive care units of 4 hospitals in Southwest China from October 1, 2018, to October 1, 2021, and underwent both blood mNGS and CMT. The demographic and clinical characteristics of the patients were recorded, and the distribution of pathogens was analyzed. Additionally, the diagnostic performance and concordance between mNGS and CMT were compared to evaluate the etiological diagnostic value of mNGS in sepsis patients. In this study of 150 sepsis patients, bacterial infections were identified in 126 (84.0%), viral in 15 (10.0%), and fungal in 9 (6.0%). Among the sample types, sputum was most common, representing 62% of the total cases. Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid constituted 58.7%, blood 56.0%, with other specimens including pleural fluid at 29.3%, pus at 19.3%, swabs at 9.3%, cerebrospinal fluid at 8.7%, tissue at 6.0%, and bone marrow at 5.3%. mNGS demonstrated a diagnostic accuracy of 56.0% for sepsis, with a sensitivity of 84.4%, specificity of 26.0%, a positive predictive value of 54.6%, a negative predictive value of 61.3%. Metagenomic testing enables the rapid and early identification of infectious pathogens in sepsis patients, especially fungi and viruses. The study found that mNGS has high sensitivity in diagnosing sepsis patients, particularly for fungal and viral infections. mNGS technology is beneficial for critically ill sepsis patients., Competing Interests: The authors have no funding and conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2024 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

The design and fabrication of high toughness electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding composite films with diminished reflection are an imperative task to solve electromagnetic pollution problem. Ternary MXene/ANF (aramid nanofibers)-MoS 2 composite films with nacre-like layered structure here are fabricated after the introduction of MoS 2 into binary MXene/ANF composite system. The introduction of MoS 2 fulfills an impressive "kill three birds with one stone" improvement effect: lubrication toughening mechanical performance, reduction in secondary reflection pollution of electromagnetic wave, and improvement in the performance of photothermal conversion. After the introduction of MoS 2 into binary MXene/ANF (mass ratio of 50:50), the strain to failure and tensile strength increase from 22.1 ± 1.7% and 105.7 ± 6.4 MPa and to 25.8 ± 0.7% and 167.3 ± 9.1 MPa, respectively. The toughness elevates from 13.0 ± 4.1 to 26.3 ± 0.8 MJ m -3 (~ 102.3%) simultaneously. And the reflection shielding effectiveness (SE R ) of MXene/ANF (mass ratio of 50:50) decreases ~ 10.8%. EMI shielding effectiveness (EMI SE) elevates to 41.0 dB (8.2-12.4 GHz); After the introduction of MoS 2 into binary MXene/ANF (mass ratio of 60:40), the strain to failure increases from 18.3 ± 1.9% to 28.1 ± 0.7% (~ 53.5%), the SE R decreases ~ 22.2%, and the corresponding EMI SE is 43.9 dB. The MoS 2 also leads to a more efficient photothermal conversion performance (~ 45 to ~ 55 °C). Additionally, MXene/ANF-MoS 2 composite films exhibit excellent electric heating performance, quick temperature elevation (15 s), excellent cycle stability (2, 2.5, and 3 V), and long-term stability (2520 s). Combining with excellent mechanical performance with high MXene content, electric heating performance, and photothermal conversion performance, EMI shielding ternary MXene/ANF-MoS 2 composite films could be applied in many industrial areas. This work broadens how to achieve a balance between mechanical properties and versatility of composites in the case of high-function fillers., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Backfilling is a promising measure for controlling surface subsidence in mined-out areas and disposing solid wastes from the mineral processing, there are increasing demands of enhanced toughness and anti-cracking properties of backfill materials to prolong the service life under the complex loads. In this study, polypropylene (PP) fibers were employed to improve performance of backfills, four-point bending and uniaxial compression tests were conducted to investigate the failure process and damage evolution of fiber-reinforced aeolian-sand backfill materials (FABs) using Digital Image Correlation (DIC) and Acoustic Emission (AE) techniques. The results show that the compressive strength tends to decrease with the increasing fiber volume fractions, while the four-point bending strength shows a tendency to increase initially and then decrease, and the optimum volume fraction of PP fiber is 0.6%. At the optimal fiber volume fraction, PP fibers with lengths of 3 mm and 9 mm resulted in a 65.25% and 81.62% increase in the four-point bending strength of FABs, respectively. As indicated by DIC measurements, PP fibers with a length of 9 mm were more effective in controlling the horizontal and vertical displacements of FABs under four-point bending loads than that of 3 mm, and the cracks developed more slowly at the same deflection. In addition, PP fibers with a length of 9 mm have stronger crack extension delay characteristics due to longer effective anchorage distance, as evidenced by more frequent acoustic emission ringing counts and higher cumulative ringing counts. The results of the study may provide a theoretical basis for the application of FABs materials in backfilling., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) planning optimization involves iterative adjustment of numerous parameters, and hence requires repeatedly dose recalculation. In this study, we used the deep learning method to develop a fast and accurate dose calculation method for VMAT., Methods: The classical 3D UNet was adopted and trained to learn the physics principle of dose calculation. The inputs included the projected fluence map (FM), computed tomography (CT) images, the radiological depth and the source-to-voxel distance (SVD). The projected FM was generated by projecting the accumulated FM between two consecutive control points (CPs) onto the patient's anatomy. The accumulated FM was calculated by simulating the movement of the multi-leaf collimator (MLC) from one CP to the next. The dose, calculated by the treatment planning system (TPS), was used as ground truth. 51 head and neck VMAT plans were used, with 43, 1 and 7 cases as training, validation, and testing datasets, respectively. Correspondingly, 7182, 180 and 1260 CP samples were included in the training, validation, and testing datasets., Results: This presented method was evaluated by comparing the derived dose distribution to the TPS calculated dose distribution. The dose profiles coincided for both the single CP and the entire plan (summation of all CPs). But the network derived dose was smoother than the TPS calculated dose. Gamma analysis was performed between the network derived dose and the TPS calculated dose. The average gamma pass rate was 96.56%, 98.75%, 98.03% and 99.30% under the criteria of 2% (tolerance) -2 mm (distance to agreement, DTA). 2%-3 mm, 3%-2 mm and 3%-3 mm. No significant difference was observed on the critical indices including the max, mean dose, and the relative volume covered by the 2000 cGy, 4000 cGy and the prescription dose. For one CP, the average computational time of the network and TPS was 0.09s and 0.53s. And for one patient, the average time was 16.51s and 95.60s., Conclusion: The dose distribution derived by the network showed good agreement with the TPS calculated dose distribution. The computational time was reduced to approximate one-sixth of its original duration. Therefore the presented deep learning-based dose calculation method has the potential to be used for planning optimization., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

As an abundant agricultural and forestry biomass resource, hemicelluloses are hard to be effectively degraded and utilized by microorganisms due to the constraints of membrane and metabolic regulations. Herein, we report a synthetic extracellular metabolic pathway with hemicellulose-degrading-enzymes controllably displayed on Escherichia coli surface as engineered bacterial consortia members for efficient utilization of xylan, the most abundant component in hemicellulose. Further, we develop a hemicellulose/O 2 microbial fuel cell (MFC) configuring of enzyme-engineered bacterial consortia based bioanode and bacterial-displayed laccase based biocathode. The optimized MFC exhibited an open-circuit voltage of 0.71 V and a maximum power density (P max ) of 174.33 ± 4.56 µW cm -2 . Meanwhile, 46.6% (w/w) α-ketoglutarate was produced in this hemicellulose fed-MFC. Besides, the MFC retained over 95% of the P max during 6 days' operation. Therefore, this work establishes an effective and sustainable one-pot process for catalyzing renewable biomass into high-value products and electricity in an environmentally-friendly way., (© 2024. The Author(s).)