Search

Phlebiopsis is a genus of poroid crust fungi belong to the family Phanerochaetaceae. The genus contains 19 species, which show a widespread distribution. In this paper, a strain of Phlebiopsis sp., named WS01, was isolated from tubers of Gastrodia elata collected in southern China. The endophytic fungus WS01 bearing fruiting-body was cultivated successfully in the fruiting body media. The characterized strain, in hyphae of the hymenium with colorless walls and cystidia lacking revealed that it morphologically differs from other Phlebiopsis species. A combined dataset of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS), the large subunit regions of nuclear ribosomal RNA gene (LSU) and RNA polymerase II largest subunit gene (rpb1) was used to confirm the phylogenetic placement of this species, and phylogenetic analyses were carried out with maximum likelihood and bayesian inference methods. The results provide evidence that the species represents a new member of the Phlebiopsis clade in the family Phanerochaetaceae, in which the new species formed a monophyletic lineage with a strong support (100% ML, 1.00 BPP) and then grouped with P. pilatii. According to a signature sequence for a new species, the strain is, therefore, proposed as Phlebiopsis xuefengensis sp. nov. It is the first record of Phlebiopsis fungi from the plant endophytes and the first novel fungal species isolated from Gastrodia elata.

Introduction Programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) and programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) blockade is currently widely used in the treatment of metastatic NSCLC. Despite available biomarker stratification, clinical responses vary. Thus, the search for novel biomarkers with improved response prediction is ongoing. Previously, using mass cytometry or cytometry by time-of-flight (CyTOF), our group demonstrated that CD39+CD8+ immune cells represent tumor antigen-specific, cytotoxic T cells in treatment-naive NSCLC. We hypothesized that accurate quantitation of this T cell subset would predict immunotherapy outcome. Methods To translate this to a clinical setting, the present study compared CyTOF data with a range of clinically relevant methods, including conventional immunohistochemistry (IHC), multiplex IHC or immunofluorescence (mIHC), and gene expression assay by NanoString. Results Quantification using mIHC but not conventional IHC or NanoString correlated with the CyTOF results. The specificity and sensitivity of mIHC were then evaluated in a separate retrospective NSCLC cohort. CD39+CD8+ T cell proportion, as determined by mIHC, successfully stratified responders and nonresponders to PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibitors (objective response rate of 63.6%, compared with 0% for the negative group). This predictive capability was independent from other confounding factors, such as total CD8+ T cell proportion, CD39+ lymphocyte proportion, PD-L1 positivity, EGFR mutation status, and other clinicopathologic parameters. Conclusions Our results suggest that the mIHC platform is a clinically relevant method to evaluate CD39+CD8+ T cell proportion and that this marker can serve as a potential biomarker that predicts response to PD-1 or PD-L1 blockade in patients with NSCLC. Further validation in additional NSCLC cohorts is warranted.

Electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding materials have become very important materials in modern society due to the increasing electromagnetic pollution. Although metal-based materials exhibited high shielding performance, they had lots of drawbacks, such as high density, less flexibility, low corrosion resistance, costly processing, and high surface reflection. Conductive polymer composites (CPC) gradually have come to the fore in recent years because the shortages of metal-based materials could overcome by CPC. However, the high-performance EMI shielding usually required high content of conductive fillers in CPC, which leaded to new drawbacks, such as mechanical deterioration, cost increase, and processing difficulties. Therefore, the main challenge for EMI shielding CPC was to achieve high EMI shielding effectiveness (SE) at low content of conductive fillers. In this paper, the CPC with multiple interfaces which has demonstrated to improve EMI SE was reviewed. First of all, the theory of EMI shielding in CPC was introduced in detail. Second, the CPC with various multiple structures, including foamed/porous, segregated, multi-component, multilayered/sandwiched, and prefabricated conductive networks, was discussed. Third, the reported mechanism of CPC with multiple interfaces was given in this paper.

Objective: This study aims to discuss the differential diagnosis value of endometrial volume and flow parameters in combination with serum carbohydrate antigen 125 (CA125) in endometrial benign and malignant lesions. Materials and methods: The data of 250 patients with endometrial lesions were retrospectively analyzed. Carbohydrate antigen 125 (CA125) was determined before the operation. The morphology, hemodynamics, volume and flow parameters of the endometrium were measured by transvaginal three-dimensional-power Doppler angiography (3D-PDA). The endometrial volume (EV), 3D-PDA vascular index (VI), flow index (FI) and vascularization flow index (VFI) were calculated using the virtual organ computer-aided analysis software (VOCAL). Results: According to the pathological results, 202 patients (80.8%) had benign endometrial lesions and 48 patients (19.2%) had endometrial cancer (EC). The endometrium of EC patients was thicker (15.64 ± 7.26 mm vs. 9.24 ± 5.06 mm, P 0.05). Conclusion: Transvaginal 3D-PDA can clearly show the morphological and hemodynamic characteristics of endometrial lesions, and assist in the detection of EC in combination with serum CA125. This may have important clinical application value.

Background Neoadjuvant therapy is associated with nodal downstaging and improved oncological outcomes in patients with lymph node (LN)-positive pancreatic cancer. This study aimed to develop and validate a nomogram to preoperatively predict LN-positive disease. Methods A total of 558 patients with resected pancreatic cancer were randomly and equally divided into development and internal validation cohorts. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to construct the nomogram. Model performance was evaluated by discrimination, calibration, and clinical usefulness. An independent multicenter cohort consisting of 250 patients was used for external validation. Results A four-marker signature was built consisting of carbohydrate antigen 19–9 (CA19–9), CA125, CA50, and CA242. A nomogram was constructed to predict LN metastasis using three predictors identified by multivariate analysis: risk score of the four-marker signature, computed tomography-reported LN status, and clinical tumor stage. The prediction model exhibited good discrimination ability, with C-indexes of 0.806, 0.742 and 0.763 for the development, internal validation, and external validation cohorts, respectively. The model also showed good calibration and clinical usefulness. A cut-off value (0.72) for the probability of LN metastasis was determined to separate low-risk and high-risk patients. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis revealed a good agreement of the survival curves between the nomogram-predicted status and the true LN status. Conclusions This nomogram enables the identification of pancreatic cancer patients at high risk for LN positivity who may have more advanced disease and thus could potentially benefit from neoadjuvant therapy.

The relationship between plate tectonics and the reworking of continental crust remains controversial. Multistage, hornblende-free, S-type granites across the Malay Peninsula Sn belt are ideal for investigating this research question. Here we present zircon U-Pb ages, in-situ apatite Nd and zircon Hf isotope data, and whole-rock major and trace element data for these S-type granites and spatially associated dykes. Four generations of Permian–Triassic (276–272, 262–260, 231–222, and 202 Ma) S-type granites were identified. The different S-type granites show distinct in-situ zircon Hf and apatite Nd isotopic compositions, implying generation from different sedimentary protoliths. Input of mantle-derived components for the formation of all these S-type granites, further indicating that both continental crustal reworking and growth occurred in the Malay Peninsula during the Permian–Triassic. A 250 Ma dolerite dyke in the Eastern Province was derived from an E-MORB-like mantle source. However, a 202 Ma monzonite dyke in the Western Province, was derived from mafic magmas produced by the melting of enriched mantle, followed by subsequent incorporation of crustal materials. All these S-type granitic magmas were reduced that inherited from sedimentary protoliths, which were favourable for Sn mineralization. Apatite F-Cl concentrations and F/Cl ratios in the S-type granites and related dykes changed systematically through time. We infer that the formation of these S-type granites and related dykes corresponds to the Palaeo-Tethyan evolution (i.e., early subduction of Palaeo-Tethyan oceanic lithosphere and subsequent collision between the Sibumasu and Indochina blocks). Our study also support that multistage S-type granites can be generated in distinct tectonic environments at different times in the same region.

Brigatinib, a multi-target kinase inhibitor, is primarily used to treat anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-positive patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who have previously received crizotinib or are resistant to crizotinib. In this study, we focused on elucidating the interaction mechanism between brigatinib and human alpha-1-acid glycoprotein (HAG) through experimental and computational approaches. Steady-state fluorescence and UV–vis spectroscopy measurements revealed that brigatinib could quench the intrinsic fluorescence of HAG in a static quenching manner and formed the brigatinib-HAG complex with the stoichiometric ratio of 1:1. The findings revealed that brigatinib had a stronger affinity on HAG due to higher binding constant of 2.91 × 105 M−1 at 298 K. It can be proved from thermodynamic parameter analysis that brigatinib spontaneously bound to HAG in the means of enthalpy driven, the main forces for stabilizing brigatinib-HAG complexes were hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interactions. The experimental results also indicated that the binding interaction induced micro-environmental changes around tryptophan residues and the alteration in secondary structure of HAG. The presence of metal ions like Mg2+, Zn2+, Ca2+, Ni2+ and Co2+ affects the binding interaction and thus change the therapeutic efficacy of brigatinib. Molecular docking results suggested that brigatinib was embedded to the hydrophobic cavity of HAG. The experimental and computational results certified that hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interaction as well as electrostatic energy and van der Waals forces plays a leading role in the binding process.

Direct dating of W and W Sn deposits by wolframite is more reliable relatively to gangue mineral and important for understanding their timing and genesis. However, such analysis still lacks of homogeneous wolframite standard recently. Due to containing considerable and variable common lead, and inhomogeneous in different grains, the wolframite sample of MTM, which is a promising candidate reference material proposed by previous studies, is not suitable as a primary standard for wolframite U Pb dating by LA-ICP-MS using the normal normalization method as zircons. In this contribution, a modified normalization method is established for wolframite U Pb dating, in which NIST612 or 614 and MTM are used for correction of Pb Pb and U Pb ratios, respectively. Wolframite U Pb dating are performed on the Langcun, Xihuashan, Piaotang, Shamai W or W Sn deposits and the Baiganhu ore district, the obtained lower intercept 206Pb/238U ages are comparable with the ages from syngenetic molybdenite, cassiterite, muscovite and the genetically related granites, as well as wolframite by water vapor-assisted ns-LA-ICP-MS U Pb dating method. The results of this analysis demonstrate that the robust age for W mineralization can be determined by LA-ICP-MS U Pb dating of wolframite using this modified calibration method. Mineralization ages of 125–130 Ma by directly dating of metal minerals for the Langcun W, Jianfengpo Sn and large-size Xianglushan W deposits confirm that there exists an important W Sn mineralization event in this period. The close temporal and spatial correlation indicates the granites and W-Cu-Mo-Pb-Zn-Sn mineralization have a genetic relationship with each other and are resulted from the same tectonic-magmatic-hydrothermal events during 140 to 120 Ma in South China.

Pyroptosis is a form of programmed cell death associated with inflammatory alterations. However, the intrinsic mechanisms and underlying correlation of pyroptosis-related lncRNAs (PRLs) in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remain unclear. The objective of the current research was to identify pyroptosis-related lncRNAs and a prognostic model to predict the prognosis of patients. We extracted pyroptosis-related lncRNAs to construct a risk model and validated them at Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center. Crosstalk between lncRNA SNHG10 and GSDMD was found to regulate pyroptosis levels. A new algorithm was used to establish a 0 or 1 PRL pair matrix and prognostic model. Six pyroptosis-related lncRNA pairs were identified and utilized to construct a risk model. The low-risk groups exhibited better prognoses than the high-risk groups. The area under the curve (AUC) indicated extremely high accuracy, reaching 0.810 at 1 year, 0.850 at 2 years, and 0.850 at 3 years in the training set. Patients with different risk scores exhibited distinct metabolic, inflammatory, and immune microenvironments as well as tumor mutation landscapes. Additionally, 9 commonly used chemotherapeutic drugs exhibited different sensitivities between the high- and low-risk groups. To conclude, we propose that pyroptosis exhibits a close correlation with PDAC. Our risk model based on PRL pairs may be beneficial for the accurate estimation of prognostic outcomes, the immune microenvironment, and drug sensitivity, bringing therapeutic hope for patients with PDAC.