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Background: Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) typically present with a complex anatomical distribution, often accompanied by insidious symptoms. This combination contributes to its high incidence and poor prognosis. It is now understood that the immune features of cellular components within the tumor ecosystem and their complex interactions are critical factors influencing both tumor progression and the effective immune response. Methods: We obtained single-cell RNA sequencing data of 26,496 cells from three tumor tissues and five normal tissues and performed subsequent analyses. Immunohistochemical staining on tumor sections was used to validate the presence of malignant cells. Additionally, we included bulk RNA sequencing data from 502 HNSCC patients. Kaplan–Meier analysis and the log-rank test were employed to assess predictors of patient outcomes. Results: We identified three epithelial subclusters exhibiting immune-related features. These subclusters promoted the infiltration of T cells, dendritic cells, and monocytes into the tumor microenvironment. Additionally, cancer-associated fibroblasts displayed tumor-promoting and angiogenesis characteristics, contrasting with the predominant antigen-presenting and inflammatory roles observed in fibroblasts from normal tissues. Furthermore, tumor endothelial subsets exhibited a double-sided effect, promoting tumor progression and enhancing the effectiveness of immune response. Finally, follicular helper T cells and T helper 17 cells were found to be significantly correlated with improved outcomes in HNSCC patients. These CD4+ T cell subpopulations could promote the anti-tumor immune response by recruiting and activating B and T cells. Conclusion: Our findings provide deeper insights into the immune features of the tumor ecosystem and reveal the prognostic significance of follicular helper T cells and T helper 17 cells. These findings may pave the way for the development of therapeutic approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban parks are an important part of urban ecosystems and play an important role in biodiversity conservation. However, it is still unclear how park characteristics affect plant diversity which could hinder the conservation of urban biodiversity due to the ineffective design of urban parks. The diversity of woody plants in 33 parks of Changchun, China, was measured with plot measurements and linked with urban park characteristics (e.g., size and age of the park) to uncover the relationship between them. The results show that urban woody plant species were abundant, with 98 species belonging to 51 genera and 26 families in the snow climate city of Changchun. The variation in woody plant diversity was largely explained by internal patch characteristics (e.g., size, age, shape), and external factors surrounding the park (e.g., land use type and socioeconomic level) accounted for only 16.0% in our study. For internal patch characteristics, older urban parks with larger areas demonstrated a richer level of plant diversity and increased nonlinearly with increasing park area. The threshold size significantly affecting plant diversity variation was approximately 30 ha. Plant diversity had positive linear relationships with the ages of urban parks, supporting the legacy effect. In addition, woody plant diversity nonlinearly decreased with increasing park shape index, which suggested that the plant diversity could also be increased by optimizing the park shape. Regarding the external factors surrounding parks, the spatial distribution of woody plant diversity varied greatly from the urban center to the suburbs. House prices around the park had positive linear relationships with woody plant diversity in parks, supporting the luxury effect. However, building and road proportions, and green space proportion had no relationship with plant diversity in parks. This study can provide a robust reference for enriching plant diversity in urban parks, thus improving the development of urban sustainable cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: It was unknown whether surgery for primary tumor would affect the occurrence of local symptoms caused by tumor progression in patients with de novo stage IV breast cancer (BC). Our work attempted to probe the effect of local resection on controlling local symptoms and improving the quality of life in de novo stage IV BC patients. Methods: Our study included patients presenting with de novo stage IV BC at the Cancer Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences from January 2008 to December 2014. In this study, we defined a new term called "local progress/recurrence of symptoms" (LPRS) to refer to the local problems caused by tumor progression/recurrence. All the patients were grouped into surgery and non-surgery groups. The characteristics of the two groups were analyzed by Chi square and Fisher's test. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression models were designed to evaluate independent prognostic factors. Results: This study contained 177 patients. The follow-up deadline was April 1, 2019. The median follow-up time was 33 months (range 1–135 months). In included patients, 77 (43.5%) underwent surgery for primary tumors. Primary tumor surgery could reduce the occurrence of LPRS (relative risk/risk ratio (RR = 0.440; 95% CI 0.227–0.852; p = 0.015)) and patients without LPRS had longer OS (45 months vs 29 months, p < 0.001). In addition, patients who had only one symptom had better OS than those who had two or three symptoms (p = 0.0175). Conclusions: The quality of life in patients with de novo stage IV breast cancer can be improved by reducing the incidence of local symptoms through primary tumor surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]