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Background and aims: There is still limited knowledge regarding the dynamics of soil microbial community structures and functional groups during forest secondary succession after rubber monocultures (RP) abandonment. Methods: Bacterial and fungal communities and functions were investigated for the soil from six forest stands with three replicate plots. Selected stands included an RP, four spontaneous secondary forest stands that formed after RP abandonment at 1 (SF_1), 10 (SF_10), 20 (SF_20), and 40 (SF_40) years, as well as a primary forest (PF, approximately 100 years). Results: After RP abandonment, the alpha-diversity metrics of soil microbial communities increased during the first 40 years of succession but decreased in PF. The biomarkers Proteobacteria and Mortierellomycota increased significantly (P < 0.05) by 84% and 633% in PF, respectively, while Firmicutes showed a significant decrease of 89% in comparison with SF_1. Secondary succession increased the relative abundance of bacterial functional groups related to carbon cycling and fungal functional groups (especially ericoid mycorrhizal). Soil pH was the main edaphic factor in shaping microbial communities and functions. In addition, soil moisture and seasonal variations had direct impacts on fungal communities and bacterial functions. Conclusions: Collectively, these findings suggest that different successional trajectories occur in bacteria and fungi, owing to their divergent responses to the changes in season, soil moisture, and nutrients. Specifically, the frequent shifts in bacterial dominant phyla during succession, as well as the increased susceptibility of diversity and functional groups to season, indicate that bacteria respond more quickly to disturbances compared to fungi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Postoperative delirium (POD) is a common complication with poor prognosis in the elderly, but its mechanism has not been fully elucidated. There is evidence that the changes in synaptic activity in the brain are closely related to the occurrence of POD. And neuronal pentraxin 2 (NPTX2) can regulate synaptic activity in vivo. Aims: This study aims to explore whether decreased NPTX2 levels affects POD and whether the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers of POD mediate this association. Methods: In this prospective cohort study, we interviewed patients with knee/hip replacement 1 day before surgery to collect patient information and assess their cognitive function. CSF was extracted for measuring the CSF levels of NPTX2 and other POD biomarkers on the day of surgery. And postoperative follow-up visits were performed 1–7 days after surgery. Results: Finally, 560 patients were included in the study. The patients were divided into POD group and NPOD (non-POD) group. The POD group had a median age of 80 years, a female proportion of 45%, a median BMI of 24.1 kg/m2, and a median years of education of 9 years. The Mann–Whitney U test showed that CSF NPTX2 levels were significantly lower in POD group, compared with the NPOD group (P < 0.05). Univariate binary logistic regression analysis showed that reduced CSF levels of NPTX2 protected against POD (crude OR = 0.994, 95% CI 0.993–0.995, P < 0.001). The receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve indicated that CSF NPTX2 level had high predictive value for POD. Mediation analyses showed that CSF T-tau (mediating proportion = 21%) and P-tau (mediating proportion = 29%) had significant mediating effects on the association between CSF NPTX2 and POD. Conclusion: CSF NPTX2 levels were associated with the occurrence of POD. Low CSF NPTX2 levels may be an independent protective factor for POD. CSF T-tau and P-tau could mediate the association between CSF NPTX2 and POD occurrence. Clinical trial registration: The trial registration number (TRN): ChiCTR2200064740, Date of Registration: 2022-10-15. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Breast cancer patients with metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its components show worse treatment responses to chemotherapy. Metformin is a widely used antidiabetic drug which also shows potential anticancer effect. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy, safety, and metabolic parameters change of metformin combined with docetaxel, epirubicin, and cyclophosphamide (TEC) in neoadjuvant treatment (NAT) for breast cancer patients with metabolic abnormality. Methods: Eligible breast cancer patients were randomized to receive six cycles of TEC (docetaxel 75 mg/m2, epirubicin 75 mg/m2, and cyclophosphamide 500 mg/m2, d1, q3w) or TEC with metformin (TECM, TEC with oral metformin 850 mg once daily for the first cycle, then 850 mg twice daily for the following cycles). The primary end point was total pathological complete response (tpCR, ypTis/0N0) rate. Results: Ninety-two patients were enrolled and randomized from October 2013 to December 2019: 88 patients were available for response and safety assessment. The tpCR rates were 12.5% (5/40) and 14.6% (7/48) in the TEC and TECM groups, respectively (P = 0.777). There was no difference in Ki67 decrease after NAT between two groups (P = 0.456). Toxicity profile were similar between two groups. No grade 3 or higher diarrhea were recorded. Total cholesterol (TC) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol worsened after NAT in the TEC arm but remained stable in the TECM arm. The absolute increase of TC and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) was significantly lower in the TECM group compared with the TEC group. After a median follow-up of 40.8 (4.7–70.8) months, no survival difference was observed between TEC and TECM groups (all P > 0.05). Conclusion: Adding metformin to TEC didn't increase pCR rate and disease outcome in breast cancer patients with metabolic abnormality. However, additional metformin treatment with chemotherapy would prevent TC and LDL-C increase after NAT. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01929811. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) low breast cancer was considered as a distinct subtype different from HER2-zero breast cancer. Our study aimed to investigate the prognostic values of clinicopathological features and recurrence score (RS) in HER2-low and HER2-zero hormone receptor (HR)-positive breast cancer patients. Methods: A total of 2099 HR + primary female breast cancer patients diagnosed between Jan 2009 and Jan 2019 were collected. Tumors with immunohistochemistry 1 + /2 + and negative in situ hybridization results were defined as HER2-low. We compared the clinical and genetical features of HER2-low (n = 1732) and HER2-zero (n = 367) breast cancer and their prognostic values. Results: Estrogen receptor (ER) high expression (> 90%) was more common in HER2-low breast cancer than HER2-zero breast cancer (78.2% vs 58.6%, p < 0.01). Five-year disease-free survival (DFS) was similar between HER2-zero and HER2-low subgroups (92.3% vs 93.3%, p = 0.83). The predictive value of RS was only significant in HER2-zero patients (p = 0.03). The proliferation-related genes performed well in predicting DFS in HER2-zero patients, but not in HER2-low patients (p for interaction < 0.01). The higher HER2 module score was correlated with worse DFS only in HER2-low patients (p = 0.04). Conclusion: We observed similar survival outcomes between HER2-low and HER2-zero HR + patients. HER2-low patients had a higher proportion of ER high expressed tumors than HER2-zero patients did. RS and its proliferation module might be less clinically meaningful to HER2-low patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On a single-cylinder gasoline engine test bench, the experimental study of the effects of polishing the combustion chamber wall and piston top surface on the indicated thermal efficiency and combustion characteristics were carried out, and the mutual influence of combustion phase, combustion duration and indicated thermal efficiency before and after polishing the wall of combustion system was systematically analyzed. The results show that when the single-cylinder gasoline engine operates at stoichiometric air-fuel ratio, low load and low compression ratio, the heat transfer loss of the polished combustion chamber is reduced and the fuel economy is improved, and the indicated thermal efficiency is increased from 40.8 to 42.2 %. With the increasing of load and compression ratio, the knock effect caused by the reduction of heat transfer loss after polishing is enhanced, and the combustion phase is delayed and the combustion duration is prolonged, which eventually leads to the decrease of the indicated thermal efficiency. After combustion chamber polishing, HC and NOx decrease by up to 70 %. With the increase of compression ratio, HC emission gradually increases, while NOx emission gradually decreases. There is no obvious change trend of CO emission before and after polishing. When the gasoline engine operates in lean combustion mode, the indicated thermal efficiency increases effectively, and the highest thermal efficiency exceeds 45 %; When the gasoline engine operates at indicated mean effective pressure of 1.05 MPa, the reduction of heat transfer loss in the combustion chamber after polishing enhances the knocking tendency, resulting in the overall decrease of the gross indicated thermal efficiency compared with that before polishing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, an electric supercharger was installed on a GDI gasoline engine with LP EGR system. The engine performance and emission changes were experimentally investigated with electric supercharger and EGR. The experimental result shows that EGR has effects on energy saving and emission reduction. But it also decreases some power performance of engine, which electric supercharger could compensate. Electric supercharger even could enhance the engine dynamic property at low speed. Meanwhile, higher EGR rate could suppress the NOx emission to extremely low levels. But it is noticeable that high EGR rate will cause THC increase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aimed to combine plasma netrin-1 and clinical parameters to construct a diagnostic model for bladder pain syndrome/interstitial cystitis (BPS/IC). Methods: We analyzed the independent diagnostic value of netrin-1 and the correlation with clinical symptom scores of BPS/IC. Clinical parameters were selected using LASSO regression, and a multivariate logistic regression model based on netrin-1 was established, and then a nomogram of BPS/IC prevalence was constructed. The nomogram was evaluated using calibration curves, the C-index, and decision curve analysis (DCA). Finally, the model was validated using an internal validation method. Results: The area under the curve for the ability of netrin-1 to independently predict BPS/IC diagnosis was 0.858 (p < 0.001), with a sensitivity of 85% and specificity of 82%. The predicted nomogram included three variables: age, CD3 + /CD4 + T lymphocyte ratio, and netrin-1. The C-index of this nomogram was 0.882, and the predicted values were highly consistent with the actual results in the calibration curve. In addition, the internally validated C-index of 0.870 confirms the high reliability of the model. DCA results show that the net patient benefit of the netrin-1 combined with other clinical parameters was higher than that of the single netrin-1 model. Conclusion: Netrin-1 can be used as a diagnostic marker for BPS/IC and is associated with pain. The nomogram constructed by combining netrin-1 and clinical parameters was able to predict BPS/IC with great accuracy. In addition, Netrin-1 may also serve as a novel therapeutic target for BPS/IC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To evaluate the performance of interpretable machine learning models in predicting breast cancer molecular subtypes. Methods: We retrospectively enrolled 600 patients with invasive breast carcinoma between 2012 and 2019. The patients were randomly divided into a training (n = 450) and a testing (n = 150) set. The five constructed models were trained based on clinical characteristics and imaging features (mammography and ultrasonography). The model classification performances were evaluated using the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC), accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity. Shapley additive explanation (SHAP) technique was used to interpret the optimal model output. Then we choose the optimal model as the assisted model to evaluate the performance of another four radiologists in predicting the molecular subtype of breast cancer with or without model assistance, according to mammography and ultrasound images. Results: The decision tree (DT) model performed the best in distinguishing triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) from other breast cancer subtypes, yielding an AUC of 0.971; accuracy, 0.947; sensitivity, 0.905; and specificity, 0.941. The accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of all radiologists in distinguishing TNBC from other molecular subtypes and Luminal breast cancer from other molecular subtypes have significantly improved with the assistance of DT model. In the diagnosis of TNBC versus other subtypes, the average sensitivity, average specificity, and average accuracy of less experienced and more experienced radiologists increased by 0.090, 0.125, 0.114, and 0.060, 0.090, 0.083, respectively. In the diagnosis of Luminal versus other subtypes, the average sensitivity, average specificity, and average accuracy of less experienced and more experienced radiologists increased by 0.084, 0.152, 0.159, and 0.020, 0.100, 0.048. Conclusions: This study established an interpretable machine learning model to differentiate between breast cancer molecular subtypes, providing additional values for radiologists. Key Points: • Interpretable machine learning model (MLM) could help clinicians and radiologists differentiate between breast cancer molecular subtypes. • The Shapley additive explanations (SHAP) technique can select important features for predicting the molecular subtypes of breast cancer from a large number of imaging signs. • Machine learning model can assist radiologists to evaluate the molecular subtype of breast cancer to some extent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To build and validate deep learning and machine learning fusion models to classify benign, malignant, and intermediate bone tumors based on patient clinical characteristics and conventional radiographs of the lesion. Methods: In this retrospective study, data were collected with pathologically confirmed diagnoses of bone tumors between 2012 and 2019. Deep learning and machine learning fusion models were built to classify tumors as benign, malignant, or intermediate using conventional radiographs of the lesion and potentially relevant clinical data. Five radiologists compared diagnostic performance with and without the model. Diagnostic performance was evaluated using the area under the curve (AUC). Results: A total of 643 patients' (median age, 21 years; interquartile range, 12–38 years; 244 women) 982 radiographs were included. In the test set, the binary category classification task, the radiological model of classification for benign/not benign, malignant/nonmalignant, and intermediate/not intermediate had AUCs of 0.846, 0.827, and 0.820, respectively; the fusion models had an AUC of 0.898, 0.894, and 0.865, respectively. In the three-category classification task, the radiological model achieved a macro average AUC of 0.813, and the fusion model had a macro average AUC of 0.872. In the observation test, the mean macro average AUC of all radiologists was 0.819. With the three-category classification fusion model support, the macro AUC improved by 0.026. Conclusion: We built, validated, and tested deep learning and machine learning models that classified bone tumors at a level comparable with that of senior radiologists. Model assistance may somewhat help radiologists' differential diagnoses of bone tumors. Key Points: • The deep learning model can be used to classify benign, malignant, and intermediate bone tumors. • The machine learning model fusing information from radiographs and clinical characteristics can improve the classification capacity for bone tumors. • The diagnostic performance of the fusion model is comparable with that of senior radiologists and is potentially useful as a complement to radiologists in a bone tumor differential diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multi-gene assays have emerged as crucial tools for risk stratification in early-stage breast cancer. This study aimed to evaluate the prognostic significance of the 21-gene recurrence score (RS) in Chinese patients with pN0-1, estrogen receptor-positive (ER+), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative (HER2−) breast cancer. Among 800 patients recruited between 2009 and 2016, the median RS was 24 (0–69), with 27.4%, 46.8%, and 25.9% patients classified into low-, intermediate-, and high-risk groups. Cox regression analysis demonstrated that the high-risk category was associated with significantly higher odds of invasive disease-free survival (IDFS) and distant disease-free survival (DDFS) events compared with the low-risk category (IDFS: HR = 2.450, 95% CI 1.017–5.902, P = 0.046; DDFS: HR = 2.829, 95% CI 1.013–7.901, P = 0.047). No significant association between RS category and overall survival (OS) was found (intermediate vs. low: HR= 1.244, 95% CI 0.292–5.297, P = 0.768; high vs. low: HR = 2.933, 95% CI 0.759–11.327, P = 0.119). RS, as a continuous variable, was a highly significant predictor for IDFS (HR= 1.028, 95% CI 1.010–1.047, P = 0.002), DDFS (HR= 1.030, 95% CI 1.010–1.051, P = 0.003), and OS (HR= 1.034, 95% CI 1.007–1.063, P = 0.014). Our findings suggested that RS may predict IDFS in Chinese patients with ER+/HER2− breast cancer with N0 or N1 disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the continuous development of science and technology, China has gradually promoted the process of industrialization, and its economy has also developed rapidly. However, China's air pollution problem is getting more and more serious, and the control of air pollution has become a problem that the whole world is paying attention to. Because air pollution will have a corresponding impact on other industries, especially for the tourism industry, airlines can have a certain understanding and estimation of air quality by monitoring the results of air pollution, so as to serve consumers. Monitoring the pollution of the atmosphere is very important to ensure the stable development of the economy and the sustainable development of the environment. In particular, the application of technologies such as remote sensing and satellites has made the monitoring of air pollution more convenient. In this paper, the development information of PM2.5 is obtained by detecting the spatial distribution of PM2.5, so as to use satellite remote sensing technology to infer PM2.5. We have studied the corresponding inversion algorithms and established related models, and have also taken a series of measures to improve the accuracy of the research. With the satisfaction of people's material life, passengers have put forward higher requirements for the quality of air services. We also believe that aviation services should also keep pace with the times, improve customer satisfaction, adjust our own service model, and constantly use new technologies to improve the management system, and improve the brand's reputation and competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal extraradical hyphae exude their metabolites into the soil. Root exudate metabolites are affected by plant species and P status. However, the effect of P status on AM hyphal exudate metabolites has been unknown. This study aimed to examine hyphal exudate metabolite composition of two AM fungal species and their response to P deficiency through metabolite profiling. Rhizophagus clarus and R. irregularis were grown in a two-compartment in vitro culture system of Linum usitatissimum roots on solid modified Strullu-Romand medium in combination with two P levels (3 µM (P3) and 30 µM (P30)). Hyphal exudates were collected from the hyphal compartment at 118 days after inoculation (DAI). The metabolite composition of the hyphal exudates was determined by capillary electrophoresis/time-of-flight mass spectrometry, resulting in the identification of a total of 141 metabolites at 118 DAI. In the hyphal exudates of R. clarus, the concentrations of 18 metabolites, including sugars, amino acids, and organic acids, were significantly higher (p < 0.05) under P3 than under P30 conditions. In contrast, the concentrations of 10 metabolites, including sugar and amino acids, in the hyphal exudates of R. irregularis were significantly lower (p < 0.05) under P3 than under P30 conditions. These findings suggest that the extraradical hyphae of AM fungi exude diverse metabolites of which concentrations are affected by P conditions and differ between AM fungal species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To investigate the effect of different breast lesions on exposure parameters in digital mammography and to determine whether the exposure parameters can additively improve diagnostic efficiency.Methods: Craniocaudal view and mediolateral view full-field digital mammography images from 982 women with unilateral lesions (341 with malignant lesions, 189 with benign lesions, and 452 healthy women) obtained at Nanfang Hospital were reviewed. Differences in exposure parameters (tube voltage and load, breast thickness (BT), and average glandular dose (AGD)) between breasts were calculated. The relationships between parameter differences and lesion size were explored. A logistic regression model was used based on the AGD and BT differences, and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was used to assess the performance of these parameters in differentiating malignant from benign and healthy subjects. Independently, data from 129 women (82 with malignant and 47 with benign lesions) treated at Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital were collected to validate the model.Results: Differences in tube voltage and load, BT, and AGD between breasts were significantly greater in the malignant subjects than benign (p < 0.05) and healthy subjects (p < 0.05). The AUCs for the comparisons of malignant vs. healthy subjects, malignant vs. benign subjects, and benign vs. healthy subjects were 0.77 ± 0.02, 0.72 ± 0.02, and 0.57 ± 0.02, respectively. The model combining the exposure parameters with the BI-RADS category resulted in a higher AUC (0.910 ± 0.03) compared with physician diagnosis alone (0.820 ± 0.04) for differentiating between malignant and benign lesions.Conclusions: Exposure parameters additively improved diagnostic accuracy for breast cancer and yielded more reliable results.Key Points: • Differences in kVp, mAs, BT, and AGD between breasts were significantly greater in the malignant subjects than benign and healthy subjects. • The model combining exposure parameters with the BI-RADS category resulted in a higher AUC compared with the physician's diagnosis for differentiating between malignant and benign lesions. • Exposure parameters additively improved diagnostic accuracy for breast cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High vigor seeds have greater yield potential than those with low vigor; however, long-term storage leads to a decline in this trait. The objective of this study was to identify quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for seed vigor-related traits under artificial aging conditions using a high-density genetic linkage map of wheat (Triticum aestivum) and mine the related candidate genes. A doubled haploid population, derived from a cross between Hanxuan 10 × Lumai 14, was used as the experimental material. Six controlled-environment treatments were set up, i.e. the seeds were aged for 0, 24, 36, 48, 60, and 72 h at a high temperature (48 °C) and under high humidity (relative humidity 100%). Eight traits including seed germination percentage, germination energy, germination index, seedling length, root length, seedling weight, vigor index, and simple vigor index were measured. With the prolongation of artificial aging treatment, these traits showed a continuous downward trend and significant correlations were observed between most of them. A total of 49 additive QTLs for seed vigor-related traits were mapped onto 12 chromosomes (1B, 2D, 3A, 3B, 3D, 4A, 4D, 5A, 5B, 5D, 6D, and 7A); and each one accounted for 6.01–17.18% of the phenotypic variations. Twenty-five pairs of epistatic QTLs were detected on all chromosomes, except for 5D, 6A, and 7D, and each epistasis accounted for 7.35–26.06% of the phenotypic variations. Three additive QTL hot spots were found on chromosomes 5A, 5B, and 5D, respectively. 13 QTLs, QGEe5B, QGIe5B, QSLc5B, QSLd5B, QSLf5B, QRLd5B, QRLe5B, QRLf5B, QVId5B, QVIe5B, QVIf5B, QSVId5B, and QSVIe5B, were located in the marker interval AX-94643729 ~ AX-110529646 on 5B and the physical interval 707,412,449–710,959,479 bp. Genes including TRAESCS5B01G564900, TRAESCS5B01G564200, TRAESCS5B01G562600, TraesCS5B02G562700, TRAESCS5B01G561300, TRAESCS5B01G561400, and TRAESCS5B01G562100, located in this marker interval, were found to be involved in regulating the processes of carbohydrate and lipid metabolism, transcription, and cell division during the germination of aging seeds, thus they were viewed as candidate genes for seed viability-related traits. These findings provide the basis for the seed-based cloning and functional identification of related candidate genes for seed vigor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Microcalcification is one of the most reliable clinical features of the malignancy risk of breast cancer, and it is associated with enhanced tumour aggressiveness and poor prognosis. However, its underlying molecular mechanism remains unclear.Methods: Clinical data were retrieved to analyse the association between calcification and bone metastasis in patients with breast cancer. Using multiple human breast cancer cell lines, the osteogenic cocktail model was established in vitro to demonstrate calcification-exacerbated metastasis. Migration and invasion characteristics were determined by wound healing and transwell migration. mRNA and protein expression were identified by quantitative PCR and western blotting. Metabolic alterations in breast cancer cells were evaluated using Seahorse Analyser.Results: The osteogenic differentiation of human breast cancer cells activated the classical TGF-β/Smad signalling pathway and the non-canonical MAPK pathway, which, in turn, exacerbated the progression of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). The metabolic programme switched to enhancing mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) upon osteogenic differentiation. Rotenone was used to inhibit the OXPHOS complex during osteogenesis to block mitochondrial function, consequently reversing the EMT phenotype.Conclusions: This study provides important insights into the mechanisms involved in breast cancer bone metastasis, and outlines a possible strategy to intervene in OXPHOS for the treatment of breast tumours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The complex physiological barriers impose extremely conflicting demands on systemic drug delivery, so both particle size and surface charge of the nanoplatforms become vital factors. As a carbon-based nanomaterial with excellent optical properties, carbon dots are not suitable for direct systemic transport in vivo, which limits their application in the field of biomedical imaging, especially in the areas of diagnosis and cancer treatment. Liposomes have been developed as universal nanocarriers for various drugs. In this study, we aimed to build a highly precise and penetrative drug delivery system (DDS) using carbon dots encapsulated by liposomes. Methods: Carbon dots (CDs) were synthesized by the hydrothermal method using citric acid and ethylenediamine. Furthermore, simian virus 40 large T-antigen derived the nuclear targeting sequence (NLS) was bonded on the surface of CDs to obtain CDs-NLS. The antitumor drug doxorubicin was loaded onto the CDs-NLS through an acid-labile hydrazine bond to obtain DOX@CDs. Finally, DOX@CDs were encapsulated in aqueous centers of folate-coated and pH-sensitive liposomes, named pHSL-FA. Results: In this paper, a nucleus-targeted nanocomposite (DOX@CDs), which bonds with the nuclear targeting sequence (NLS) and the anticancer drug doxorubicin (DOX), has physicochemical properties of particle size of about 3.8 nm, zeta potential of +31.8 mV and high quantum yield of 64.53%. The negatively charged folate-coated and pH-sensitive liposomes (pHSL-FA) are used as a carrier to reverse the surface charge of DOX@CDs. Compared to free DOX@CDs, pHSL-FA show higher tumor accumulation in 4 T1 tumor-bearing mice and further improve cytotoxicity to tumor cells. Conclusions: This work proposes a unique nanomedical approach that enables the precise delivery of chemotherapy drugs and significantly reduces side effects, which is promising for clinical translation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computer-aided detection (CADe) and diagnosis (CADx) system of mammographic microcalcification clusters (MCCs) is built for helping human observers to find suspicious areas of MCC and providing risk predictions of malignancy as a reference, since it is challenging and time consuming for radiologists to manually identify some subtle microcalcifications (MCs) and perform precise interpretation in mammograms. However, the performance of traditional CADe and CADx systems is not good enough, thus it is difficult to combine them into a whole system that integrates detection and diagnosis together. The purpose of this study is to develop a fully automatic computer-aided MCC detection and diagnosis system based on deep learning method. In order to detect subtle MCs accurately, a MC candidate detection system is used to obtain a great number of potential MC candidates, then a deep convolution neural network (DCNN) is trained specially to discriminate true MCs from detected MC candidates. Different from previous literatures committing to finding and selecting effective features, the proposed method replaces manual feature extraction step by using DCNN. To accelerate the training procedure of the DCNN, a neutrosophic boosting (NB) strategy is applied in the training stage. Then a density-based regional clustering method is imposed on those true MCs to form MCCs. Finally, another DCNN is employed to differentiate benign from malignant MCC lesions. For cluster-based MCC detection evaluation, a sensitivity of 90% is achieved at 0.14 false positives (FPs) per image. For case-based MCC classification evaluation, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUCs) on validation and testing sets are 0.945, 0.933 for proposed system, respectively. Our obtained results demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed method for automated detection and classification of MCCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To evaluate the impact of utilizing digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) or/and full-field digital mammography (FFDM), and different transfer learning strategies on deep convolutional neural network (DCNN)-based mass classification for breast cancer.Methods: We retrospectively collected 441 patients with both DBT and FFDM on which regions of interest (ROIs) covering the malignant, benign and normal tissues were extracted for DCNN training and validation. Experiments were conducted for tasks in distinguishing malignant/benign/normal: (1) classification capabilities of DBT vs FFDM and the role of transfer learning were validated on 2D-DCNN; (2) different strategies of combining DBT and FFDM and the associated impacts on classification were explored; (3) 2D-DCNN and 3D-DCNN trained from scratch with volumetric DBT were compared.Results: 2D-DCNN with transfer learning outperformed that without for DBT in distinguishing malignant (ΔAUC = 0.059 ± 0.009, p < 0.001), benign (ΔAUC = 0.095 ± 0.010, p < 0.001) and normal tissue (ΔAUC = 0.042 ± 0.004, p < 0.001) (paired samples t test). 2D-DCNN trained on DBT (with transfer learning) achieved higher accuracy than those on FFDM (malignant: ΔAUC = 0.014 ± 0.014, p = 0.037; benign: ΔAUC = 0.031 ± 0.006, p < 0.001; normal: ΔAUC = 0.017 ± 0.004, p < 0.001) (independent samples t test). The 2D-DCNN employing both DBT and FFDM for training achieved better performances in benign (FFDM: ΔAUC = 0.010 ± 0.008, p < 0.001; DBT: ΔAUC = 0.009 ± 0.005, p < 0.001) and normal (FFDM: ΔAUC = 0.005 ± 0.003, p < 0.001; DBT: ΔAUC = 0.002 ± 0.002, p < 0.001) (related samples Friedman test). The 3D-DCNN and 2D-DCNN trained from scratch with DBT only produced moderate classification.Conclusions: Transfer learning facilitates mass classification for both DBT and FFDM, and DBT outperforms FFDM when equipped with transfer learning. Integrating DBT and FFDM in DCNN training enhances mass classification accuracy for breast cancer.Key Points: • Transfer learning facilitates mass classification for both DBT and FFDM, and the DBT-based DCNN outperforms the FFDM-based DCNN when equipped with transfer learning. • Integrating DBT and FFDM in DCNN training enhances breast mass classification accuracy. • 3D-DCNN/2D-DCNN trained from scratch with volumetric DBT but without transfer learning only produce moderate mass classification result. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The major challenge to treat the clinical adverse effects of long-segment urethra is in achieving viable tissue substitution. The substituted construct's properties-such as its resilience, contraction, and ability to minimize scar-stenosis formation should be considered. In the present work, a unique polyurethane-urea (PUU) fibrous membrane is fabricated by electrospinning. Then PUU was coated by collagen and formed the elasticity hydrogel after immersed in collagen solution. Meanwhile, the cPUU hydrogel exhibited a fibrous microstructure. This cPUU hydrogel had outstanding stretching property with 404 ± 40% elongation at break compared with traditional hydrogels, which satisfied the requirement of urethra. The cPUU hydrogel also supported the adhesion and growth of bladder smooth-muscle cells (BSMCs) in natural state cell morphology. Urethral defects in New Zealand male rabbits were repaired with cPUU seeded with BSMCs in vivo. After three months, more smooth-surface area of reconstructed urethral tissues was observed in the cPUU hydrogel-BMSCs groups compared with that of the control group. The luminal patency and the incidence of complications-including calculus formation, urinary fistula, and urethral-stricture occurrence were significantly lower in the cPUU group compared with that of the control group. Hence, cPUU fibrous hydrogels are promising scaffolds for application in urological tissue engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There are limited data about how to manage patients with discordant hormonal receptor (HR) status between core needle biopsy (CNB) and following surgical sample (FSS). This study aimed to evaluate clinicopathological features and disease outcome for these HR discordance patients. Patients and Methods: Invasive breast cancer patients with paired HR between CNB and FSS were retrospectively analyzed, being classified into three groups: HR positive, HR negative, and HR discordance. Patient characteristics, treatment decisions, and disease outcome were compared among above groups. Results: A total of 1710 patients (1233 HR positive, 417 HR negative, and 60 HR discordance patients) were enrolled. Compared with the HR positive group, HR discordance patients were associated with more human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 positivity (P < 0.001) and higher Ki67 level (P = 0.001) tumors. The fraction of patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy was 95.0% and 93.8% in the HR discordance or HR negative groups, much higher than in the HR positive group (66.7%, P < 0.001). Of 60 HR discordance patients, 34 (56.7%) received adjuvant endocrine therapy. The 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) rate was 90.4% for HR discordant patients, showing no statistical difference compared with HR positive (87.0%, P = 0.653) or HR negative (83.2%, P = 0.522) groups. For HR discordance patients, there was no difference in DFS between patients who received adjuvant endocrine therapy or not (P = 0.259). Conclusions: HR discordance patients had similar tumor characteristics, adjuvant chemotherapy treatment, and DFS compared with HR negative patients. The benefit of endocrine therapy in these HR discordance patients is uncertain and deserves further clinical evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An improved gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method was developed for the simultaneous determination of 24 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in edible oils. A novel purification procedure based on the coupling double cartridges (molecular imprinting polymer (MIP) cartridge and PAHs special cartridge) was applied. Under the optimized conditions, the method presented excellent linearity (r ≥ 0.9990) in the range of 1.0–250 μg L−1, the detection limits were 0.1–1 μg kg−1, and high recoveries (86.0–116%) and good reproducibility (relative standard deviations (RSDs) ≤ 10.8) were also obtained using the two solid-phased extraction cartridges in combination. This method is sensitivity, accuracy, which can be used to detect 24 PAHs in edible oil samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is widely recognized as the precursor of invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC). We aimed to analyze the clinicopathological characteristics and clinical outcomes of coexisting DCIS component in IDC and its clinical significance according to molecular subtypes. Methods: Data from 3001 patients with IDC (79.4%) and IDC/DCIS (20.6%) who underwent surgery from January 2009 to June 2016 were retrospectively assessed. The clinical outcomes of IDC with coexistent DCIS in different molecular subtypes were evaluated. Results: IDC/DCIS patients were more likely to be younger (P < 0.001), had low tumor grade (P = 0.001), had less lymph node involvement (P = 0.038) and received more mastectomy (P = 0.002) than IDC patients. In the comparison of molecular subtype prevalence, IDC/DCIS patients were more frequently presented with luminal B/HER2 positive (12.5% vs 11.0%, P < 0.001) and HER2 positive subtypes (20.9% vs 9.8%, P < 0.001). The 5-year disease-free survival (DFS, 90.9% vs 87.5%, P = 0.021) and 5-year overall survival (OS 96.1% vs 94.0%, P = 0.018) were significantly improved in IDC/DCIS patients compared to IDC patients. In multivariate analysis, the presence of coexisting DCIS (P = 0.048), tumor size (P < 0.001), lymph node status (P < 0.001), lymphovascular invasion (P = 0.007) and molecular subtypes (P < 0.001) were independent prognostic factors for DFS. Furthermore, coexistence of DCIS component in IDC significantly improved DFS in HER2 positive (94.8% vs 78.5%, P = 0.003), but had no association in luminal and triple negative subtypes. Conclusions: IDC with coexisting DCIS was associated with improved prognosis. Patients with IDC/DCIS presented with more HER2 positive expression and might improve DFS in HER2 positive breast cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Few data exist to elucidate whether patients with a suspicious axillary lymph node (ALN) at ultrasound but a negative fine-needle aspiration result (FNA group) can be managed as having ultrasound node-negative disease (AUN group). This study compared various ALN statuses between the AUN and FNA groups to guide further ALN management. Methods: Patients who had clinical T1-2N0 breast cancer treated with sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy were retrospectively analyzed. The ALN metastasis status, SLN status, and non-SLN metastasis rates in the entire population and the patients with one or two positive SLNs were compared between the AUN and FNA groups. Results: A total of 1007 patients (886 AUN and 121 FNA patients) were eligible for the final analysis: The incidence of ALN metastasis did not differ between the AUN group (16.5%) and the FNA group (21.5%) ( P = 0.170). In addition, three or more metastases were found in only 2.4% of the AUN patients and 3.3% of the FNA patients ( P = 0.405). The non-SLN metastasis rate was 22.6% (33/146) in the AUN group and 19.2% (5/26) in the FNA group ( P = 0.699). For the patients with one or two positive SLNs, the rate of non-SLN metastasis was similar between the AUN group (19.6%, 27/138) and the FNA group (12.5%, 3/24) ( P = 0.591). Conclusions: Patients with a suspicious ALN at ultrasound but a negative FNA result had ALN statuses similar to those of the ultrasound node-negative patients, indicating that these patients can be treated as having ultrasound node-negative disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Avian leukosis virus (ALV) causes high mortality associated with tumor formation and decreased fertility, and results in major economic losses in the poultry industry worldwide. Recently, a putative novel ALV subgroup virus named ALV-K was observed in Chinese local chickens. In this study, a novel ALV strain named GD14LZ was isolated from a Chinese local yellow broiler in 2014. The proviral genome was sequenced and phylogenetically analyzed. The replication ability and pathogenicity of this virus were also evaluated. The complete proviral genome sequence of GD14LZ was 7482 nt in length, with a genetic organization typical of replication-competent type C retroviruses lacking viral oncogenes. Sequence analysis showed that the gag, pol and gp37 genes of GD14LZ have high sequence similarity to those of other ALV strains (A-E subgroups), especially to those of ALV-E. The gp85 gene of the GD14LZ isolate showed a low sequence similarity to those other ALV strains (A-E subgroups) but showed high similarity to strains previously described as ALV-K. Phylogenetic analysis of gp85 also suggested that the GD14LZ isolate was related to ALV-K strains. Further study showed that this isolate replicated more slowly and was less pathogenic than other ALV strains. These results indicate that the GD14LZ isolate belongs to the novel subgroup ALV-K and probably arose by recombination of ALV-K with endogenous viruses with low replication and pathogenicity. This virus might have existed in local Chinese chickens for a long time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inflammation and tumor immune microenviroment are critical factors for prognosis in numerous cancers. The aim of this study was to determine the prognostic value of preoperative neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in breast cancer. We performed a retrospective analysis of 487 patients diagnosed with primary breast cancer at Shanghai Ruijin hospital from January 2009 to December 2010. Hematological parameters before surgery, clinicopathological data, and survival status were obtained. Survival analysis was used to evaluate the prognostic value of NLR. The optimal cutoff value was determined as 1.93 for NLR and the median follow-up time was 55.0 months. On univariate analysis, patients with high NLR (>1.93) had worse 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) compared to those with low NLR (77.9 vs 88.0 %, p = 0.002). Regarding overall survival, there was no significant difference between patients with high NLR and low NLR, with 5-year overall survival of 90.8 and 91.7 % ( p = 0.707). In triple-negative breast cancer, patients with high NLR was associated with worse 5-year DFS compared with patients with low NLR (63.4 vs 84.9 %, p = 0.040). Mutivariate analysis revealed that NLR was an independent prognostic factor for DFS in breast cancer (HR = 1.867, 95 % confidence interval; (95%CI) = 1.155-3.017, p = 0.011). Preoperative NLR is an independent predictor of DFS in breast cancer patients, especially in triple-negative subtype. Further studies are required to validate the prognostic value of NLR before clinical application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The oncogenic protein ARHGEF5/TIM has long been known to express specifically in human breast cancer and other tumors, which is an important member of Rho guanine nucleotide exchange factors that activate Rho-family GTPases by promoting GTP/GDP exchange. The activation capability of TIM is auto-inhibited by a putative helix N-terminal to Dbl homology (DH) domain, which is stabilized by intramolecular interaction of Src homology 3 domain with a poly-proline sequence that locates between the helix and DH domain. Here, we attempted to target TIM DH domain using the modified versions of its auto-inhibitory helix. In the procedure, bioinformatics techniques were used to investigate the intramolecular interaction of DH domain with auto-inhibitory helix and, based on obtained knowledge, to optimize physicochemical property and structural conformation for the helix. We also performed affinity assay to determine the binding strength of modified peptides to DH domain. Consequently, two modified peptides, namely, DALYEEYNLVV and EVLYEEYQLVV were found as good binders of DH domain with dissociation constants K of 0.35 and 2 µM, respectively. Structural analysis revealed that the charge neutralization and electrostatic interaction confer additional stability for these two peptide complexes with DH domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Avian leukosis virus subgroup E (ALVE) is a family of endogenous retroviruses in the chicken genome. To investigate the genetic consequences of chicken domestication, we analyzed 18 ALVE loci in red jungle fowls, layers, broilers, and Chinese indigenous chickens. None of the ALVE loci tested were found in red jungle fowls, but 12 were present in domestic chickens. ALVE1 and ALVE16 are found in regions of the genome that harbor quantitative trait loci (QTL) affecting egg production traits. ALVE1 was fixed and ALVE16 was detected only in layers. By contrast, ALVE-b1, ALVE-b5, ALVE-b6, and ALVE-b8 integrated into regions of the genome that harbor QTL affecting meat production traits. Carrier frequencies of these four ALVE loci were high in broilers and low in Chinese local chickens; the loci were not found in the layers. This study demonstrated that insertionally polymorphic ALVE loci can illustrate the selective footprints in the chicken genome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genetic and epigenetic changes in the estrogen receptor alpha (ER-α) gene, according to multiple lines of evidence, might alter its expression and its downstream signaling thereby increasing the risk of developing prostate cancer. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to determine whether polymorphisms in two intronic restriction sites in the ER-α ( PvuII and XbaI) gene contribute to prostate cancer. A literature search for eligible studies published before November 5, 2013 was conducted in the PubMed, Embase, China Biology Medicine (CBM), and CNKI databases. Pooled crude odds ratios (ORs) and their corresponding 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated. Eighteen case-control and cohort studies were included in this meta-analysis with a total 4,884 prostate cancer cases and 10,134 healthy controls. Two common ER-α polymorphisms were examined: IVS1-397 C > T (a.k.a. the PvuII restriction site, rs2234693) and IVS1-351 A > G (a.k.a. the XbaI restriction site, rs9340799). Results from this meta-analysis showed that the PvuII polymorphism was not significantly associated with prostate cancer risk in any of the racial subgroups, either by allelic or genotypic frequencies. However, this meta-analysis revealed that the G allele in the XbaI polymorphism was associated with a statistically significant increase in the risk of prostate cancer. In a stratified analysis based on ethnicity, the XbaI G allele remained significantly correlated with an increased risk of prostate cancer in Africans; this correlation, however, was not found in Caucasians or Asians. In summary, a positive association correlation was observed between frequencies of the XbaI (A > G) polymorphism and prostate cancer, especially in Africans, but not such correlation was found with regard to the frequency of the PvuII (C > T) polymorphism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes how coloration of silk can be achieved using a coupling reaction between a diazonium compound, made from Color Base Red G (C.I. 37105) and tyrosine residues in the silk protein fibroin. A pigment with an azo structure obtained from the reaction between the diazonium of Color Base Red G with p-methylphenol was synthesized and studied as a model compound for the coloration reaction. The colored materials were characterized using UV-vis, FT-Raman, FT-IR, H-NMR, and mass spectroscopy. Both the colored silk and the model compound gave yellow colors with absorption maxima in the region of 400 nm. The results suggest that the use of coupling reactions could be developed into a dyeing method for protein fibers or other protein materials that contain tyrosine residues. Because the chromophores are incorporated into the protein chains, such dyed silks should have good wet fastness properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of phenylazo- β-naphthol-containing sulfonamide disperse dyes were prepared from C.I. Acid Orange 7 by successive reactions of chlorination and amination, and their chemical structures were characterized by FTIR, H NMR, and mass spectrometry. The dyes were applied to coloring of knitted fabrics from fine denier polypropylene fibers by exhaust dyeing and their optimal dyeing conditions, such as dyebath pH, dyeing temperature, dyeing time, and dye concentration were investigated in detail. Then, dye exhaustion, color strength, and color fastnesses of the dyes on the fibers were assessed and summarized. In view of dye exhaustion and color strength of the sulfonamide dyes on fine denier PP fabrics, 90°C was selected as the best dyeing temperature at dye concentration below or equal to 3.0% owf. For achieving higher color strength, 130°C was the better choice when the dye concentration was above 3.0% owf. The sulfonamide dyes, especially secondary sulfonamide dyes, exhibited superior dye exhaustion and color fastnesses to washing, sublimation, and rubbing on fine denier PP fabrics in comparison to C.I. Solvent Yellow 14 bearing the same chromophore but without sulfonamide group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silk fibrillation, one major weakness of silk fibers, can lead to undesirable fabric appearance. In this research, an effective method for reducing the fibrillation of silk fibers through the graft copolymerization with methyl methacrylate (MMA) has been developed. The major copolymerization factors such as the initiator concentration, MMA monomer concentration, reaction time and temperature were investigated. An AATCC Crockmeter was used to rub the fabric to simulate the abrasion in production to generate the fibrillation. The microscope observation and the evaluation of fibrillation index ( FI) were applied to assess the degree of fibrillation of silk fibers. The optimum graft copolymerization factors were obtained. Instrumental analyses, such as FTIR, TG and SEM, proved that the silk fabric had been successfully grafted with MMA monomers. The fibrillation of the grafted silk fibers was considerably reduced since the coated PMMA can protect the silk fiber. In addition, the physical properties such as the crease recovery, breaking strength, and the breaking length of the grafted silk fabrics were also improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our recent research on designing microstructured fiber with novel dispersion properties is reported in this paper. Two kinds of photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) are introduced first. One is the highly nonlinear PCF with broadband nearly zero flatten dispersion. With introducing the germanium-doped (Ge-doped) core into highly nonlinear PCF and optimizing the diameters of the first two inner rings of air holes, a new structure of highly nonlinear PCF was designed with the nonlinear coefficient up to 47W−1·km−1 at the wavelength 1.55 μm and nearly zero flattened dispersion of ±0.5 ps/(km·m) in telecommunication window (1460–1625 nm). Another is the highly negative PCF with a ring of fluorin-doped (F-doped) rods to form its outer ring core while pure silica rods to form its inner core. The peak dispersion −1064 ps/(km·nm) in 8 nm full width at half maximum (FWHM) wavelength range and −365 ps/(km·m) in 20 nm (FWHM) wavelength range can be reached by adjusting the structure parameters. Then, our recent research on the fabrication of PCFs is reported. Effects of draw parameters such as drawing temperature, feed speed, and furnace temperature on the geometry of the final photonic crystal fiber are investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To evaluate the clinical and radiological factors that affect the recurrence of the meningioma patient so as to effectively prevent and cure recurrence of meningioma patients more earlier. Methods: The clinical features and radiological aspects in 145 cases of meningiomas undergoing operation during 1993--1997 were retrospectively studied. The data of only 83 cases of all 145 cases were available. The factors were evaluated with univariate and multivariate analysis. Results: With univariate analysis, 7 factors showed highly significance to recurrence of meningiomas: tumor size, tumor location, tumor shape, edema, extent of resection, pathological grade, CT enhancement. With multivariate analysis, 4 factors showed significant danger to recurrence of meningiomas: pathological grade, extent of resection, tumor shape and CT enhancement. Conclusion: The main factors that affect the recurrence of meningioma patients are pathological grade, extent of resection, tumor shape and CT enhancement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To evaluate the safety and feasibility of a percutaneous Port-Catheter System (PCS) implanted via the subclavian artery (SCA) for regional chemotherapy or chemoembolization of thoracic, abdominal, and pelvic malignant tumors.Methods: Percutaneous puncture of the SCA was performed in 256 patients with thoracic, abdominal, or pelvic malignant tumors; then a catheter was inserted into the target artery. After the first transcatheter chemotherapy or chemoembolization with an emulsion of lipiodol and anticancer agents, an indwelling catheter was introduced with its tip placed in the target artery and its end subcutaneously connected to a port.Results: The procedure was successfully completed in all 256 cases (100%). The indwelling catheter tip was satisfactorily placed in the target arteries in 242 cases (98%). Complications attributable to the procedure occurred in 20 (7.8%) cases, including pneumothorax (n = 10, 4%), hemothorax (n = 1, 0.4%), infections in the pocket (n = 4, 1.6%), and hematoma at the puncture site (n = 5, 2%). There were no severe sequelae or deaths. The duration of PCS usage was 1-36 months (median 9.5 months). During the course of treatment, occlusion of the target artery occurred in 20 cases (7.8%). Dislocation of the tip of the indwelling catheter occurred in 12 cases (4.7%); in 10 of the 12, the tip of the indwelling catheter was repositioned into the target artery. In all 10 cases no large symptomatic hematomas developed after the PCS was removed.Conclusion: Percutaneous PCS implantation via the left SCA, a relatively new procedure, is a safe and less invasive treatment approach than surgical placement for malignancies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 21-gene recurrence score (RS) assay is prognostic and predictive for hormone receptor (HR)+/HER2-/node- breast cancer (BC) patients. However, its clinical value in node + patients hasn't been elucidated. HR+/HER2-/pN1 patients operated in Comprehensive Breast Health Center, Shanghai Ruijin Hospital from January 2014 to December 2018, with available RS results were retrospectively included. Clinico-pathological characteristics were compared. Adjuvant chemotherapy recommendations pre-/post- RS assay and actual usage were analyzed. A total of 303 patients were included, with 59, 178, 66 RS < 18, 18–30 and ≥ 31. Age (P < 0.001), comorbidity (P = 0.013), and RS category (P < 0.001) were independently associated with chemotherapy recommendation. Compared with low RS patients, those with intermediate (OR 6.58, 95% CI 2.37–18.31, P < 0.001) or high (OR 54.14, 95% CI 3.77–776.54, P = 0.003) RS were more likely to be recommended with chemotherapy. RS independently influence chemotherapy decision in postmenopausal population as well. Chemotherapy recommendation changed for 9.57% patients after RS assay. Patient adherence rate to chemotherapy recommendation was 94.72% (287/303). The 21-gene RS independently influenced chemotherapy recommendation in pN1 BC patients, which could provide additional information to guide chemotherapy decision with relatively good treatment adherence rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The three genetic populations used in this study included a doubled-haploid (DH) population derived from 'Hanxuan 10' × 'Lumai 14', a BC3F6 population from 'Lumai 14' × 'Jing 411' [introgression line (IL) population 1], and a BC3F6 population from 'Lumai 14' × 'Shaanhan 8675' (IL population 2). The genetic characters underpinning kernel morphological traits, such as kernel length, kernel width, kernel thickness, kernel length/width ratio, kernel length/thickness ratio, and kernel width/thickness ratio were analyzed. Quantitative trait loci (QTL) for all the above traits were mapped in the three populations across six, three, and three environments, respectively. The genetic effects of qKW-6A, which was detected in all three populations, were analyzed. Forty six additive QTLs for kernel morphological traits were detected in the DH population, and 20 additive QTLs were detected in each of the IL populations. A kernel-width QTL, qKW-6A, was located within the same interval in all three populations. qKT-7A-3, qLTR-4A, and qWTR-7A-1 mapped in the DH population were located in the same marker intervals as qKT-7A-1, qLTR-4A, and qWTR-7A-1, respectively, in IL population 2. qLWR-5A-2, qWTR-5A-2, and qWTR-5A-1 from the DH population were detected in five, four, and three environments, and explained 14.72, 25.11, and 25.91%, respectively, of the phenotypic variation. qLTR-7A from IL population 1 and qLWR-5B from IL population 2, detected in all three environments, explained 6.10 and 10.66% of the phenotypic variation, respectively. On the other hand, negative alleles of qKW-6A for kernel width detected in all three populations were derived from 'Lumai 14'. Donor segments including this QTL were introgressed into 18 lines of IL population 1 and 44 lines of IL population 2. The mean kernel width in these lines was greater than the recurrent parent 'Lumai 14' under drought-stress conditions in 2 years, indicating that qKW-6A played an important role in determination of kernel width. Line 157 from IL population 2 contained only five chromosomal segments from the donor parent, and these donor segments harbored no QTL for kernel width other than qKW-6A. However, kernel width in this line was significantly greater than that of 'Lumai 14' in all three environments. Thus, Line 157 can be regarded as a near-isogenic line for fine mapping and map-based cloning of qKW-6A. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simvastatin, an HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor, has lung vascular-protective effects that are associated with decreased agonist-induced integrin β4 (ITGB4) tyrosine phosphorylation. Accordingly, we hypothesized that endothelial cell (EC) protection by simvastatin is dependent on these effects and sought to further characterize the functional role of ITGB4 as a mediator of EC protection in the setting of excessive mechanical stretch at levels relevant to ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI). Initially, early ITGB4 tyrosine phosphorylation was confirmed in human pulmonary artery EC subjected to excessive cyclic stretch (18% CS). EC overexpression of mutant ITGB4 with specific tyrosines mutated to phenylalanine (Y1440, Y1526 Y1640, or Y1422) resulted in significantly attenuated CS-induced cytokine expression (IL6, IL-8, MCP-1, and RANTES). In addition, EC overexpression of ITGB4 constructs with specific structural deletions also resulted in significantly attenuated CS-induced inflammatory cytokine expression compared to overexpression of wildtype ITGB4. Finally, mice expressing a mutant ITGB4 lacking a cytoplasmic signaling domain were found to have attenuated lung injury after VILI-challenge (VT = 40 ml/kg, 4 h). Our results provide mechanistic insights into the anti-inflammatory properties of statins and may ultimately lead to novel strategies targeted at ITGB4 signaling to treat VILI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The group of avian sarcoma and leukosis virus (ASLV) in chickens contains six highly related subgroups, A to E and J. Four genetic loci, tva, tvb, tvc and tvj, encode for corresponding receptors that determine the susceptibility to the ASLV subgroups. The prevalence of ASLV in hosts may have imposed strong selection pressure toward resistance to ASLV infection, and the resistant alleles in all four receptor genes have been identified. In this study, two new alleles of the tva receptor gene, tvar5 and tvar6, with similar intronic deletions were identified in Chinese commercial broilers. These natural mutations delete the deduced branch point signal within the first intron, disrupting mRNA splicing of the tva receptor gene and leading to the retention of intron 1 and introduction of premature TGA stop codons in both the longer and shorter tva isoforms. As a result, decreased susceptibility to subgroup A ASLV in vitro and in vivo was observed in the subsequent analysis. In addition, we identified two groups of heterozygous allele pairs which exhibited quantitative differences in host susceptibility to ASLV-A. This study demonstrated that defective splicing of the tva receptor gene can confer genetic resistance to ASLV subgroup A in the host. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]