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Background: The metastatic cascade, a multifaceted and highly aggressive process, is the primary cause of mortality. The survival of quiescent cancer cells in circulatory system during metastasis is crucial, yet our comprehension is constrained by the absence of universally accepted quiescent cancer models. Method: We developed a quiescent cancer cell model using high-density cultivation. Based on the scRNA-seq analysis, IP-MS, metabolomics, mouse lung metastasis models, cholesterol assay, PLA and other molecular experiments, we explored the molecular mechanism. Immunofluorescence, atomic force microscope, FluidFM, and shear stress stimulation were used to analyze the cytoskeleton and membrane properties contributing to mechanical force resistance. Result: We established a quiescent cancer cell model induced by high-density cultivation. Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) analysis reveals that CDC25A plays a crucial role in the transition to quiescence, with its expression significantly elevated in the quiescent state. Depletion of CDC25A leads to an increased proliferative capacity, and reduced metastasis under high-density conditions. Mechanistically, upregulated CDC25A in quiescent cells enhances cholesterol metabolism via endosome pathways, leading to cell cycle arrest. This increase in cholesterol reinforces the cytoskeleton, alters membrane properties, and improves resistance to mechanical forces in circulatory system. Conclusion: CDC25A significantly increased the cholesterol metabolism through endosome pathway in quiescent cancer cells, leading to the significant changes in cytoskeleton and membrane properties so as to enhance the resistance of mechanical force in circulatory system, facilitating lung metastasis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fluid management remains a critical challenge in the treatment of septic shock, with individualized approaches lacking. This study aims to develop a statistical model based on transcriptomics to identify subgroups of septic shock patients with varied responses to fluid strategy. The study encompasses 494 septic shock patients. A benefit score is derived from the transcriptome space, with higher values indicating greater benefits from restrictive fluid strategy. Adherence to the recommended strategy is associated with a hazard ratio of 0.82 (95% confidence interval: 0.64–0.92). When applied to the baseline hospital mortality rate of 16%, adherence to the recommended fluid strategy could potentially lower this rate to 13%. A proteomic signature comprising six proteins is developed to predict the benefit score, yielding an area under the curve of 0.802 (95% confidence interval: 0.752–0.846) in classifying patients who may benefit from a restrictive strategy. In this work, we develop a proteomic signature with potential utility in guiding fluid strategy for septic shock patients. Fluid management in septic shock lacks personalized approaches, which are critical for improving patient outcomes. Here, the authors show that a proteomic signature can help identify patients who may benefit from a restrictive fluid strategy, potentially reducing hospital mortality rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We developed an interpretable machine learning algorithm that prospectively predicts the risk of thrombocytopenia in older critically ill patients during their stay in the intensive care unit (ICU), ultimately aiding clinical decision-making and improving patient care. Data from 2286 geriatric patients who underwent surgery and were admitted to the ICU of Dongyang People's Hospital between 2012 and 2021 were retrospectively analyzed. Integrated algorithms were developed, and four machine-learning algorithms were used. Selected characteristics included common demographic data, biochemical indicators, and vital signs. Eight key variables were selected using the Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator and Random Forest Algorithm. Thrombocytopenia occurred in 18.2% of postoperative geriatric patients, with a higher mortality rate. The C5.0 model showed the best performance, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve close to 0.85, along with unparalleled accuracy, precision, specificity, recall, and balanced accuracy scores of 0.88, 0.98, 0.89, 0.98, and 0.85, respectively. The support vector machine model excelled at predictively assessing thrombocytopenia severity, demonstrating an accuracy rate of 0.80 in the MIMIC database. Thus, our machine learning-based models have considerable potential in effectively predicting the risk and severity of postoperative thrombocytopenia in geriatric ICU patients for better clinical decision-making and patient care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Young patients with breast ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) often face a poorer prognosis. The genomic intricacies in young-onset DCIS, however, remain underexplored. Methods: To address this gap, we undertook a comprehensive study encompassing exome, transcriptome, and vmethylome analyses. Our investigation included 20 DCIS samples (including 15 young-onset DCIS) and paired samples of normal breast tissue and blood. Results: Through RNA sequencing, we identified two distinct DCIS subgroups: "immune hot" and "immune cold". The "immune hot" subgroup was characterized by increased infiltration of lymphocytes and macrophages, elevated expression of PDCD1 and CTLA4, and reduced GATA3 expression. This group also exhibited active immunerelated transcriptional regulators. Mutational analysis revealed alterations in TP53 (38%), GATA3 (25%), and TTN (19%), with two cases showing mutations in APC, ERBB2, and SMARCC1. Common genomic alterations, irrespective of immune status, included gains in copy numbers at 1q, 8q, 17q, and 20q, and losses at 11q, 17p, and 22q. Signature analysis highlighted the predominance of signatures 2 and 1, with "immune cold" samples showing a significant presence of signature 8. Our methylome study on 13 DCIS samples identified 328 hyperdifferentially methylated regions (DMRs) and 521 hypo-DMRs, with "immune cold" cases generally showing lower levels of methylation. Conclusion: In summary, the molecular characteristics of young-onset DCIS share similarities with invasive breast cancer (IBC), potentially indicating a poor prognosis. Understanding these characteristics, especially the immune microenvironment of DCIS, could be pivotal in identifying new therapeutic targets and preventive strategies for breast cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ferroptosis, a nonapoptotic form of cell death marked by iron-dependent peroxidation of phospholipids, is associated with the occurrence and progression of tumors. Erastin, a selective inhibitor of the cystine/glutamate transporter system Xc−, can induce the ferroptosis of cancer cells. Multiple myeloma (MM) has been reported to be insensitive to erastin-induced ferroptosis. However, we found the erastin sensitivity of different MM cells varied widely. Specifically, SLC7A11 abundance determined the sensitivity of MM cells to erastin-induced ferroptosis. MM cells expressing a high SLC7A11 level were more sensitive to erastin-induced ferroptosis than cells expressing a low level of SLC7A11. Moreover, the expression of SLC7A11 gradually increased with the progression of plasma cell dyscrasias. Survival analysis indicated that high levels of SLC7A11 predicted a poor prognosis for MM patients. Knocking down SLC7A11 expression significantly inhibited the proliferation of MM cells and induced ferroptotic cell death. Additionally, we revealed that the long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) SLC7A11-AS1 was a critical regulatory factor of SLC7A11 expression. SLC7A11-AS1 overexpression diminished SLC7A11 levels, leading to the ferroptosis of MM cells. In summary, our data show that heterogeneous SLC7A11 expression affects MM cell sensitivity to ferroptosis, providing a theoretical basis for improving the clinical treatment of MM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Bridges play a crucial role in ensuring regional connectivity and traffic safety. However, their vulnerability to environmental factors and material degradation can lead to varying degrees of damage. The bridge structural health monitoring system (SHMS) has emerged as an efficient and intelligent alternative to traditional detection methods to tackle these challenges. Methods: This paper presents an improved approach for reconstructing the response of measuring points based on proper orthogonal decomposition. First, the novel sensor layout scheme based on orthogonal decomposition is introduced to reconstruct stress responses at measuring points. Subsequently, the proposed response reconstruction theory is developed by decomposing stress responses from known points into random time functions and modes. These components are then combined with verification point modes and random time functions using the interpolation method, enabling the determination of stress responses at verification points. Lastly, the proposed response reconstruction theory is validated through numerical simulations and laboratory experiments. Results: The results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves an error rate of less than 5% when comparing the maximum stress response identified by the proposed method to the actual value. Moreover, it has minimal impact on vehicle weight, speed, and complex load factors. Conclusion: Therefore, the response reconstruction method and sensor layout scheme proposed in this study provide an accurate and efficient solution for bridge SHMS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the large consumption of fossil energy, people began spend attention and energy to find and unearth renewable energy, and electrolytic water hydrogen evolution is an ideal scheme. The key to hydrogen production from electrolytic water is to find an appropriate catalyst. Here, we have developed an efficient and durable catalyst by introducing Ruthenium into porous graphene oxide (Ru@PGO), When the current density is 10 mA cm−2, the the corresponding overpotential and Tafel slope are 40.2 mV and 89.68 mV dec−1 respectively, and its stability is very excellent. Through theoretical calculation, it is found that ΔGH* is low, and reveals the effect of pore structure and oxygen introduction on the catalyst. It provides a feasible scheme for the preparation of new catalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The loss of the tail is among the most notable anatomical changes to have occurred along the evolutionary lineage leading to humans and to the 'anthropomorphous apes'1–3, with a proposed role in contributing to human bipedalism4–6. Yet, the genetic mechanism that facilitated tail-loss evolution in hominoids remains unknown. Here we present evidence that an individual insertion of an Alu element in the genome of the hominoid ancestor may have contributed to tail-loss evolution. We demonstrate that this Alu element—inserted into an intron of the TBXT gene7–9—pairs with a neighbouring ancestral Alu element encoded in the reverse genomic orientation and leads to a hominoid-specific alternative splicing event. To study the effect of this splicing event, we generated multiple mouse models that express both full-length and exon-skipped isoforms of Tbxt, mimicking the expression pattern of its hominoid orthologue TBXT. Mice expressing both Tbxt isoforms exhibit a complete absence of the tail or a shortened tail depending on the relative abundance of Tbxt isoforms expressed at the embryonic tail bud. These results support the notion that the exon-skipped transcript is sufficient to induce a tail-loss phenotype. Moreover, mice expressing the exon-skipped Tbxt isoform develop neural tube defects, a condition that affects approximately 1 in 1,000 neonates in humans10. Thus, tail-loss evolution may have been associated with an adaptive cost of the potential for neural tube defects, which continue to affect human health today. An insertion of an Alu element into an intron of the TBXT gene is identified as a genetic mechanism of tail-loss evolution in humans and apes, with implications for human health today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synthetic Chromosome Rearrangement and Modification by LoxP-mediated Evolution (SCRaMbLE) is a promising tool to study genomic rearrangements. However, the potential of SCRaMbLE to study genomic rearrangements is currently hindered, because a strain containing all 16 synthetic chromosomes is not yet available. Here, we construct SparLox83R, a yeast strain containing 83 loxPsym sites distributed across all 16 chromosomes. SCRaMbLE of SparLox83R produces versatile genome-wide genomic rearrangements, including inter-chromosomal events. Moreover, when combined with synthetic chromosomes, SCRaMbLE of hetero-diploids with SparLox83R leads to increased diversity of genomic rearrangements and relatively faster evolution of traits compared to hetero-diploids only with wild-type chromosomes. Analysis of the SCRaMbLEd strain with increased tolerance to nocodazole demonstrates that genomic rearrangements can perturb the transcriptome and 3D genome structure and consequently impact phenotypes. In summary, a genome with sparsely distributed loxPsym sites can serve as a powerful tool for studying the consequence of genomic rearrangements and accelerating strain engineering in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Synthetic Chromosome Rearrangement and Modification by LoxP-mediated Evolution (SCRaMbLE) is a promising tool to study genomic rearrangements. Here the authors present an engineered yeast strain with 83 sparsely distributed loxPsym sites across the genome can genrerate large-scale genomic rearrangements, which benefits cell fitness under stress and boosts the SCRaMbLE system when combined with synthetic chromosomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pollutant control performance of exhaust hoods plays a crucial role in the indoor air quality and energy consumption of ventilation systems in industrial buildings. To better understand the impact of local ventilation on the industrial indoor environment, this paper presents a literature review of exhaust hood performance and its improvement technologies. To create an index for evaluating the performance of exhaust hoods, the capture velocity, capture efficiency, flow ratio of pollutant emissions and exhaust airflow and energy consumption are first introduced. A number of factors affecting exhaust hood performance are assessed such as hood type, hood opening size, exhaust rate, installation distance, pollution source emission and environmental disturbance. Compared to structural improvement methods, the use of active airflow is a more effective way to improve the exhaust hood performance. The most commonly used methods for determining the exhaust rate are the controlled speed method and the flow ratio method. The use of an exhaust hood with an appropriate exhaust rate and jet parameters (for an active air-assisted hood) can effectively improve the pollutant control performance and reduce the energy consumption that would be wasted on the redundant exhaust rate. With more information focused on exhaust hood performance, this work suggests more effective strategies for improving indoor air quality and reducing energy consumption in industrial buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The synthesis of various electronic transmission material molecules using a perylene diimide (PDI) group was successfully carried out. Investigation of a series of different analogous donor-acceptor molecules indicates that the optical absorption properties and energy levels are tremendously affected by the molecular conjugation. The electron-accepting and electron-donating properties conferred by the various groups influence the intramolecular push-pull and push-push interactions, which in turn affect the electronic transitions. In addition, the various groups and their geometries correlate with the molecular crystallinity as evidenced by differential scanning calorimetry. When an electron-deficient unit of diketopyrrolopyrrole was inserted between two lateral PDIs, a more n-type nature and favorable electron mobility can be obtained in organic field-effect transistors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genetically engineered mouse models (GEMMs) help us to understand human pathologies and develop new therapies, yet faithfully recapitulating human diseases in mice is challenging. Advances in genomics have highlighted the importance of non-coding regulatory genome sequences, which control spatiotemporal gene expression patterns and splicing in many human diseases1,2. Including regulatory extensive genomic regions, which requires large-scale genome engineering, should enhance the quality of disease modelling. Existing methods set limits on the size and efficiency of DNA delivery, hampering the routine creation of highly informative models that we call genomically rewritten and tailored GEMMs (GREAT-GEMMs). Here we describe ‘mammalian switching antibiotic resistance markers progressively for integration’ (mSwAP-In), a method for efficient genome rewriting in mouse embryonic stem cells. We demonstrate the use of mSwAP-In for iterative genome rewriting of up to 115 kb of a tailored Trp53 locus, as well as for humanization of mice using 116 kb and 180 kb human ACE2 loci. The ACE2 model recapitulated human ACE2 expression patterns and splicing, and notably, presented milder symptoms when challenged with SARS-CoV-2 compared with the existing K18-hACE2 model, thus representing a more human-like model of infection. Finally, we demonstrated serial genome writing by humanizing mouse Tmprss2 biallelically in the ACE2 GREAT-GEMM, highlighting the versatility of mSwAP-In in genome writing.This study describes a method to insert large stretches of exogenous DNA into mammalian genomes, which is used to insert human ACE2 loci into mouse to produce a model of human SARS-CoV-2 infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we consider positive solutions for the following fractional p-Laplacian problem with critical growth (- Δ) p s u = μ u q - 1 + u p s ∗ - 1 , u > 0 in Ω , u = 0 in R n \ Ω , where Ω ⊂ R n is a bounded domain with smooth boundary, μ > 0 , p ≥ 2 , s ∈ (0 , 1) , n > s p and q ∈ [ p , p s ∗) with p s ∗ = np n - s p . (- Δ) p s is the fractional p-Laplacian operator. Using minimax methods and Lusternik–Schnirelman theory, we show that the number of positive solutions of the problem with the least number of closed and contractible sets in Ω ¯ which cover Ω ¯ , provided that q = p with n ≥ s p 2 or q ∈ (p , p s ∗) with n > 2 s (p q + p - q) p q + 2 p - p 2 - q . Our results improve and generalize the result of Alves and Ding (J Math Anal Appl 279:508–521, 2003) and Figueiredo et al. (Calc Var Part Differ Equ 57:1–24, 2018). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The neuropeptide B/W signaling system is composed of neuropeptide B (NPB), neuropeptide W (NPW), and two cognate receptors, NPBWR1 and NPBWR2, which are involved in diverse physiological processes, including the central regulation of neuroendocrine axes in vertebrates. The components of this signaling system are not well conserved during vertebrate evolution, implicating its functional diversity. The present study characterized the ricefield eel neuropeptide B/W system, generated a specific antiserum against the neuropeptide B/W receptor, and examined the potential roles of the system in the regulation of adenohypophysial functions. The ricefield eel genome contains npba, npbb, and npbwr2b but lacks the npw, npbwr1, and npbwr2a genes. The loss of npw and npbwr1 probably occurred at the base of ray-finned fish radiation and that of npbwr2a species specifically in ray-finned fish. Npba and npbb genes are produced through whole-genome duplication (WGD) in ray-finned fish. The ricefield eel npba was expressed in the brain and some peripheral tissues, while npbb was predominantly expressed in the brain. The ricefield eel npbwr2b was also expressed in the brain and in some peripheral tissues, such as the pituitary, gonad, heart, and eye. Immunoreactive Npbwr2b was shown to be localized to Lh and Fsh cells but not to Gh or Prl cells in the pituitary of ricefield eels. Npba upregulated the expression of fshb and cga but not lhb mRNA in pituitary fragments of ricefield eels cultured in vitro. The results of the present study suggest that the NPB system of ricefield eels may be involved in the neuroendocrine regulation of reproduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sepsis, a life-threatening condition caused by an inflammatory response to systemic infection, results in a significant social burden and healthcare costs. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the C-reactive protein (CRP) trajectories of patients with sepsis in the intensive care unit (ICU) and the in-hospital mortality rate. We reviewed 1464 patients with sepsis treated in the ICU of Dongyang People's Hospital from 2010 to 2020 and used latent growth mixture modeling to divide the patients into four classes according to CRP trajectory (intermediate, gradually increasing, persistently high, and persistently low CRP levels). We found that patients with intermediate and persistently high CRP levels had the lowest (18.1%) and highest (32.6%) in-hospital mortality rates, respectively. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that patients with persistently high (odds ratio [OR] = 2.19, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.55–3.11) and persistently low (OR = 1.41, 95% CI = 1.03–1.94) CRP levels had a higher risk of in-hospital mortality than patients with intermediate CRP levels. In conclusion, in-hospital mortality rates among patients with sepsis differ according to the CRP trajectory, with patients with intermediate CRP levels having the lowest mortality rate. Further research on the underlying mechanisms is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four solution-processable, linear conjugated polymers of intrinsic porosity are synthesised and tested for gas phase carbon dioxide photoreduction. The polymers' photoreduction efficiency is investigated as a function of their porosity, optical properties, energy levels and photoluminescence. All polymers successfully form carbon monoxide as the main product, without the addition of metal co-catalysts. The best performing single component polymer yields a rate of 66 μmol h−1 m−2, which we attribute to the polymer exhibiting macroporosity and the longest exciton lifetimes. The addition of copper iodide, as a source of a copper co-catalyst in the polymers shows an increase in rate, with the best performing polymer achieving a rate of 175 μmol h−1 m−2. The polymers are active for over 100 h under operating conditions. This work shows the potential of processable polymers of intrinsic porosity for use in the gas phase photoreduction of carbon dioxide towards solar fuels. This works presents a series of solution processable, conjugated polymers of intrinsic microporosity, which are used as photocatalysts for carbon dioxide reduction to carbon monoxide in the presence of hydrogen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The newly developed nonhydrostatic (NH) global spectral dynamical core is evaluated by using three-dimensional (3D) benchmark tests with/without moisture. This new dynamical core differs from the original Aladin-NH like one in the combined use of a dry-mass vertical coordinate and a new temperature variable, and thus, it inherently conserves the dry air mass and includes the mass sink effect associated with precipitation flux. Some 3D dry benchmark tests are first conducted, including steady state, dry baroclinic waves, mountain waves in non-sheared and sheared background flows, and a dry Held–Suarez test. The results from these test cases demonstrate that the present dynamical core is accurate and robust in applications on the sphere, especially for addressing the nonhydrostatic effects. Then, three additional moist test cases are conducted to further explore the improvement of the new dynamical core. Importantly, in contrast to the original Aladin-NH like one, the new dynamical core prefers to obtain simulated tropical cyclone with lower pressure, stronger wind speeds, and faster northward movement, which is much closer to the results from the Model for Prediction Across Scales (MPAS), and it also enhances the updrafts and provides enhanced precipitation rate in the tropics, which partially compensates the inefficient vertical transport due to the absence of the deep convection parameterization in the moist Held–Suarez test, thus demonstrating its potential value for full-physics global NH numerical weather prediction application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Iron-rich deep brain nuclei (DBN) of the human brain are involved in various motoric, emotional and cognitive brain functions. The abnormal iron alterations in the DBN are closely associated with multiple neurological and psychiatric diseases. Quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) provides the spatial distribution of the magnetic susceptibility of human brain tissues. Compared to traditional structural imaging, QSM provides superiority for imaging the iron-rich DBN owing to the susceptibility difference existing between brain tissues. In this study, we constructed a Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) space unbiased QSM human brain atlas via group-wise registration from 100 healthy subjects aged 19–29 years. The atlas construction process was guided by hybrid images that were fused from multi-modal magnetic resonance images (MRI). We named it as Multi-modal-fused magnetic Susceptibility (MuSus-100) atlas. The high-quality susceptibility atlas provides extraordinary image contrast between iron-rich DBN with their surroundings. Parcellation maps of DBN and their subregions that are highly related to neurological and psychiatric pathology were then manually labeled based on the atlas set with the assistance of an image border-enhancement process. Especially, the bilateral thalamus was delineated into 64 detailed subregions referring to the Schaltenbrand–Wahren stereotactic atlas. To our best knowledge, the histological-consistent thalamic nucleus parcellation map is well defined for the first time in the MNI space. Compared with existing atlases that emphasizing DBN parcellation, the newly proposed atlas outperforms on the task of atlas-guided individual brain image DBN segmentation both in accuracy and robustness. Moreover, we applied the proposed DBN parcellation map to conduct detailed identification of the pathology-related iron content alterations in subcortical nuclei for Parkinson's Disease (PD) patients. We envision that the MuSus-100 atlas can play a crucial role in improving the accuracy of DBN segmentation for the research of neurological and psychiatric disease progress and also be helpful for target planning in deep brain stimulation surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The genome of an organism is inherited from its ancestor and continues to evolve over time, however, the extent to which the current version could be altered remains unknown. To probe the genome plasticity of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, here we replace the native left arm of chromosome XII (chrXIIL) with a linear artificial chromosome harboring small sets of reconstructed genes. We find that as few as 12 genes are sufficient for cell viability, whereas 25 genes are required to recover the partial fitness defects observed in the 12-gene strain. Next, we demonstrate that these genes can be reconstructed individually using synthetic regulatory sequences and recoded open-reading frames with a “one-amino-acid-one-codon” strategy to remain functional. Finally, a synthetic neochromsome with the reconstructed genes is assembled which could substitute chrXIIL for viability. Together, our work not only highlights the high plasticity of yeast genome, but also illustrates the possibility of making functional eukaryotic chromosomes from entirely artificial sequences.In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the left arm of chromosome XII only requires 12 genes to maintain cell viability, whereas 25 genes are needed for robust fitness. Here the authors demonstrate that the entire arm can be replaced by a neochromosome with completely artificial sequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common postoperative complication among patients in the neurological intensive care unit (NICU), often resulting in poor prognosis and high mortality. In this retrospective cohort study, we established a model for predicting AKI following brain surgery based on an ensemble machine learning algorithm using data from 582 postoperative patients admitted to the NICU at the Dongyang People's Hospital from March 1, 2017, to January 31, 2020. Demographic, clinical, and intraoperative data were collected. Four machine learning algorithms (C5.0, support vector machine, Bayes, and XGBoost) were used to develop the ensemble algorithm. The AKI incidence in critically ill patients after brain surgery was 20.8%. Intraoperative blood pressure; postoperative oxygenation index; oxygen saturation; and creatinine, albumin, urea, and calcium levels were associated with the postoperative AKI occurrence. The area under the curve value for the ensembled model was 0.85. The accuracy, precision, specificity, recall, and balanced accuracy values were 0.81, 0.86, 0.44, 0.91, and 0.68, respectively, indicating good predictive ability. Ultimately, the models using perioperative variables exhibited good discriminatory ability for early prediction of postoperative AKI risk in patients admitted to the NICU. Thus, the ensemble machine learning algorithm may be a valuable tool for forecasting AKI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Dysregulation of alternative splicing (AS) triggers many tumours, understanding the roles of splicing events during tumorigenesis would open new avenues for therapies and prognosis in multiple myeloma (MM). Methods: Molecular, genetic, bioinformatic and statistic approaches are used to determine the mechanism of the candidate splicing factor (SF) in myeloma cell lines, myeloma xenograft models and MM patient samples. Results: GSEA reveals a significant difference in the expression pattern of the alternative splicing pathway genes, notably enriched in MM patients. Upregulation of the splicing factor SRSF1 is observed in the progression of plasma cell dyscrasias and predicts MM patients' poor prognosis. The c-indices of the Cox model indicated that SRSF1 improved the prognostic stratification of MM patients. Moreover, SRSF1 knockdown exerts a broad anti-myeloma activity in vitro and in vivo. The upregulation of SRSF1 is caused by the transcription factor YY1, which also functions as an oncogene in myeloma cells. Through RNA-Seq, we systematically verify that SRSF1 promotes the tumorigenesis of myeloma cells by switching AS events. Conclusion: Our results emphasise the importance of AS for promoting tumorigenesis of MM. The candidate SF might be considered as a valuable therapeutic target and a potential prognostic biomarker for MM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intraseasonal oscillation of the mixed layer and upper ocean temperature has been found to occur over the South China Sea (SCS) in the summer monsoon season based on the multiple reanalysis and observational data in this study. The method of composite analysis and an upper ocean temperature equation assisted the analysis of physical mechanisms. The results show that the mixed layer depth (MLD) in the SCS has a significant oscillation with a 30–60 d period over the SCS region, which is closely related to boreal summer intraseasonal oscillation (BSISO) activities. The MLD can increase (decrease) during the positive (negative) phase of the BSISO and usually lags behind by approximately one-eighth of the lifecycle (5 days) of the BSISO-related convection. The BSISO may cause periodic anomalies at the air-sea boundary, such as wind stress and heat flux, so it can play a dominant role in modulating the variation in MLD. There also are significant intraseasonal seawater temperature anomalies in both the surface and subsurface layers of the SCS. In addition, during the initial phase of the BSISO, the temperature anomaly signals of the thermocline are obviously opposite to the sea surface temperature (SST), especially in the southern SCS. According to the results from the analysis of the temperature equation, the vertical entrainment term caused by BSISO-related wind stress is stronger than the thermal forcing during the initial stage of convection, and it is more significant in the southern SCS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CO2 hydrogenation to methanol has been extensively studied over Cu-based catalysts. H2O is an inevitable by-product during this reaction process. The essential role of H2O in determining the catalytic performance remains controversial. Herein, three kinds of common Cu-based catalysts (Cu/ZnO, Cu/Al2O3, Cu/SiO2) were selected to investigate the effect of H2O on the reaction performance over the range of 190 °C–290 °C in detail. Of all catalysts tested, it was noted that adding H2O showed substantially different effects on the methanol selectivity compared with the normal reaction. The representative Cu/SiO2 catalyst was further selected to investigate the role of H2O through a series of characterizations including BET, XRD, TEM, H2-TPR and XPS, etc. Moreover, in situ FT-IR experiment was further conducted to understand the effect of H2O on the reaction pathways. The results indicated that H2O played the significant role on regulating the methanol selectivity by inhibiting and promoting the transformation from monodentate carbonate to bidentate formate over all the Cu-based catalysts at low (190–230 °C) and high (230–290 °C) temperature ranges, respectively. This preliminary study offers directions for the optimization of experimental conditions for the H2O involving reactions and provides referable experience for the further exploration and utilization of H2O effects on related fields as well. The addition of H2O shows a significant characteristic effect on methanol selectivity by inhibiting and promoting the conversion of monodentate carbonate to bidentate formate at low (190–230 ℃) and high (230–290 ℃) temperatures ranges, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Hydroxyapatite-coated quartz sands were synthesized by the sol–gel method and employed as a permeable reactive barrier (PRB) medium for the manganese contaminated aqueous solution treatment. The effects of composite particle size, initial concentration of manganese, and hydraulic load on the manganese removal in aqueous solution were investigated by column test. The Thomas and Yoon-Nelson dynamic models were used to reproduce the Mn(II) adsorption behavior observed in these column experiments. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) coupled with energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS), X-ray diffractometer (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were employed to investigate the Mn(II) removal mechanism. Results showed that the initial concentration of manganese had the greatest influence on Mn(II) removal when the initial concentration of manganese is 3 mg/L, the particle size is 0.15 ~ 0.3 mm, the hydraulic load is 5.5 m3/m2·d, and the adsorption capacity of the composites reached the maximum of 1.10 mg/g. The Thomas model fitted the breakthrough curves better. The maximum adsorption capacity of Mn(II) is 0.7546 mg/g. The adsorption mechanisms are mainly ion exchange and dissolution–precipitation. The results indicate that the hydroxyapatite-coated quartz sands could be an effective PRB media for the manganese-contaminated water treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the effects of the assumption on the types of air-mass conservation prescribed in numerical models. First, predictions of the July 2021 ("21.7") Henan extreme rainfall event from the Integrated Forecast System (IFS) at ECMWF were compared with those from the Yin-He Global Spectral Model (YHGSM), which is a global spectral model with total air-mass conservation (TMC) and dry air-mass conservation (DMC) options. Then, a sensitivity test between simulations from the YHGSM adopting TMC and DMC was conducted. The results show that both the IFS and YHGSM predicted relatively well the 24-h rainfall amount less than 100 mm day−1 on 20 and 21 July 2021 at lead times of 84, 60, and 36 h. For heavy precipitation exceeding 100 mm day−1, however, both models obviously underestimated the daily rainfall amount on 20 July 2021, but the YHGSM produced more precise and stable precipitation forecasts on these two days than the IFS, especially the maximum 24-h precipitation amount, with better consistency at lead times of 84, 60, and 36 h. These differences are further examined in the sensitivity test. Predictions from the YHGSM with DMC show rainfall distributions and daily rainfall amounts closer to the observations at longer lead times. It is inferred that considering sources or sinks of total water in dynamical cores with DMC may have positive feedback for the precise prediction of condensates. For extreme rainfall events, the high local loss of total water may have caused a loss of the atmospheric mass, leading to an additional decrease in surface pressure. Subsequently, the unbalanced pressure gradient force enhances the cyclonic rotation of surface wind and strengthens convergence in the lower troposphere, which in turn further strengthens the vertical velocity, circularly contributing to the enhanced precipitation if the water vapor condition is favorable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To discuss the effect and mechanism of circular-CCND1 (circ-CCND1) on the regulation of calcified aortic valve disease (CAVD). Differentially expressed circRNAs were screened through the GSE155119 data set and biological prediction. Subsequently, the miR-138-5p, CCND1, and circ-CCND1 expression were detected in the non-calcified and calcified aortic valve. Then Pearson correlation analysis was performed to analyze the correlation between the above expression, and dual luciferase and RNA-pull down assays for verifying the target relationship. Porcine aortic valve interstitial cells (AVICs) were isolated and transfected with pcDNA-circ-CCND1, miR-138-5p inhibitor, and miR-138-5p mimics. The alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity was quantitatively analyzed by ALP staining, and alizarin-red staining was to check the calcium nodules formation. Finally, Western blot was applied to detect the expression of proteins associated with osteogenic differentiation (Runx2, Osterix, OPN) and CCND1/P53/P21 pathway proteins. Circ-CCND1 was highly expressed in calcific aortic valves. After inhibiting circ-CCND1 expression, a significant reduction was shown in ALP activity, the degree of ossification and the formation of calcium nodules in AVICs, and osteogenic differentiation-related protein expression and CCND1/P53/P21 pathway protein expression. By contrast, inhibition of miR-138-5p and circ-CCND1 together promoted the calcification of AVICs and expression of CCND1/P53/P21 pathway proteins. P53 inhibitor (PFT-α) could significantly reduce activation of CCND1/P53/P21 pathway protein expression by circ-CCND1 overexpression. However, P53 activator (Nutlin-3) significantly restored the suppression of the above pathway-related protein expression by downregulation of circ-CCND1. Circ-CCND1 sponges miR-138-5p to regulate CCND1 expression, thereby promoting the calcification of AVICs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Although lorlatinib, the third generation of echinoderm microtubule protein 4-anaplastic lymphoma kinase (EML4-ALK) tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), overcame the previous generation ALK-TKIs' drug resistance problems, but the mechanism of lorlatinib resistance remained unclear. Furthermore, optimal chemotherapy for lorlatinib-resistant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients was still unknown. Methods: A lorlatinib-resistant NSCLC cell line SNU-2535LR was generated by gradually increasing dose of lorlatinib to crizotinib-resistant cell line SNU-2535 in vitro. To study the resistance mechanism of SNU-2535LR cells, we applied CCK-8 assay to detect the sensitivity of crizotinib and the reverse effect of APR-246, a p53 activator, on lorlatinib-induced resistance and different chemotherapy drugs to SNU-2535LR cells. We also detected the expressions of EML4-ALK-related proteins of SNU-2535LR cells via western blot.Please confirm that author names have been identified correctly and are presented in the right order.Dear Editor: I have carefully confirmed that the author names have been identified correctly and are presented in right order.Thank you very much! Your sincerely BoXie Results: The sensitivity of SNU-2535LR cells to lorlatinib was decreased significantly than that of SNU-2535 cells. EML4-ALK fusion was decreased both at protein level and DNA level in SNU-2535LR cells. More interesting, the crizotinib-resistant mutation ALK p.G1269A disappeared, while new TP53 mutation emerged in SNU-2535LR cells. APR-246 can reverse the lorlatinib resistance in SNU-2535LR cells, with a reversal index of 4.768. Compared with SNU-2535 cells, the sensitivity of SNU-2535LR cells to gemcitabine, docetaxel and paclitaxel was significantly increased (P < 0.05), but decreased to cisplatin (P < 0.05). Conclusion: This study demonstrated that the combination of p53 protein agonist and lorlatinib may provide a new therapeutic strategy for NSCLC patients with lorlatinib resistance and TP53 mutation. Furthermore, the results also provide guidance for selecting optimal chemo-regimens for NSCLC patients after ALK-TKIs failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) demonstrates high genome instability. Here, we analyze 528 whole genomes to investigate structural variations' mechanisms and biological functions. SVs show multi-mode distributions in size, indicating distinct mutational processes. We develop a tool and define five types of complex rearrangements with templated insertions. We highlight a type of fold-back inversion, which is associated with poor outcomes. Distinct rearrangement signatures demonstrate variable genomic metrics such as replicating time, spatial proximity, and chromatin accessibility. Specifically, fold-back inversion tends to occur near the centrosome; TD-c2 (Tandem duplication-cluster2) is significantly enriched in chromatin-accessibility and early-replication region compared to other signatures. Analyses of TD-c2 signature reveal 9 TD hotspots, of which we identify a hotspot consisting of a super-enhancer of PTHLH. We confirm the oncogenic effect of the PTHLH gene and its interaction with enhancers through functional experiments. Finally, extrachromosomal circular DNAs (ecDNAs) are present in 14% of ESCCs and have strong selective advantages to driver genes. The biological and clinical implications of high genome instability in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) remain to be explored. Here, the authors analyse 528 whole genomes and investigate the landscape and molecular mechanisms underlying structural variations in ESCC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared with traditional microwave humidity sounding capabilities at 183 GHz, new channels at 118 GHz have been mounted on the second generation of the Microwave Humidity Sounder (MWHS-2) onboard the Chinese FY-3C and FY-3D polar orbit meteorological satellites, which helps to perform moisture sounding. In this study, as the all-sky approach can manage non-linear and non-Gaussian behavior in cloud- and precipitation-affected satellite radiances, the MWHS-2 radiances in all-sky conditions were first assimilated in the Yinhe four-dimensional variational data assimilation (YH4DVAR) system. The data quality from MWHS-2 was evaluated based on observation minus background statistics. It is found that the MWHS-2 data of both FY-3C and FY-3D are of good quality in general. Six months of MWHS-2 radiances in all-sky conditions were then assimilated in the YH4DVAR system. Based on the forecast scores and observation fits, we conclude that the all-sky assimilation of the MWHS-2 at 118- and 183-GHz channels on FY-3C/D is beneficial to the analysis and forecast fields of the temperature and humidity, and the impact on the forecast skill scores is neutral to positive. Additionally, we compared the impacts of assimilating the 118-GHz channels and the equivalent Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A (AMSUA) channels on global forecast accuracy in the absence of other satellite observations. Overall, the impact of the 118-GHz channels on the forecast accuracy is not as large as that for the equivalent AMSUA channels. Nevertheless, all-sky radiance assimilation of MWHS-2 in the YH4DVAR system has indeed benefited from the 118-GHz channels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first Asia–Pacific Comparison of Absolute Gravimeters was held in National Institute of Metrology China from January 2016 to April 2016. Ten absolute gravimeters from Asian-Pacific region participated in the comparison. The comparison is linked to the 9th International Key Comparison of Absolute Gravimeters in 2013. Two data processing methods are present. The first one is to determine the comparison reference values only by the measurements of the two gravimeters from National Metrology Institutes and Designated Institutes. The second one is to obtain the comparison reference values by including the measurements of all the gravimeters which participated in the comparison. The results are presented in this paper, including the comparison reference values and the degrees of equivalence for the participating absolute gravimeters. The linking converters for the three comparisons were compared as well. Clearly, including more gravimeters that participated in the preceding ICAG would achieve better linking result and global equivalence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ambient solution-processed conductive materials with a sufficient low work function are essential to facilitate electron injection in electronic and optoelectronic devices but are challenging. Here, we design an electrically conducting and ambient-stable polymer electrolyte with an ultralow work function down to 2.2 eV, which arises from heavy n-doping of dissolved salts to polymer matrix. Such materials can be solution processed into uniform and smooth films on various conductors including graphene, conductive metal oxides, conducting polymers and metals to substantially improve their electron injection, enabling high-performance blue light-emitting diodes and transparent light-emitting diodes. This work provides a universal strategy to design a wide range of stable charge injection materials with tunable work function. As an example, we also synthesize a high-work-function polymer electrolyte material for high-performance solar cells. Ambient-stable solution-processed conductive materials with a low work function are essential to facilitate electron injection. Here, the authors design and synthesise polymer electrolyte with work function down to 2.2 eV for applications in high-performance light-emitting diodes and solar cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microbial communities composed of bacteria, archaea and fungi play a pivotal role in driving the biogeochemical cycles in the marine ecosystem. Despite the vastness of the South Indian Ocean, only a few studies reported the simultaneous analysis of bacterial, archaeal and fungal diversity therein, particularly archaeal and fungal communities in deep-sea environments received less attention previously. In this study, microbial diversity, community composition and dynamics in microbial community structure in eight deep-sea sediment samples collected from different sites at varying depths of the South Indian Ocean were explored using Next-Generation Sequencing. In total, 21 bacterial phyla representing 541 OTUs were identified from the eight samples, where phylum Proteobacteria was found as the most abundant bacterial phylum in five out of eight samples. Firmicutes and Chloroflexi were the dominant phyla in the rest of the three samples. In the case of archaea, uncultured species belonging to the phyla Thaumarchaeota and Euryarchaeota were the abundant taxa in all the samples. Similarly, Ascomycota and Basidiomycota were the most abundant fungal phyla present therein. In all the eight samples studied here, about 10–58% and 19–26% OTUs in archaeal and fungal communities were mapped to unclassified taxa respectively, suggesting the lack of representation in databases. Co-occurrence network analysis further revealed that bacterial communities tend to be more dynamic than archaeal and fungal communities. This study provides interesting insights into the microbial diversity, community composition and dynamics in microbial community structure in the deep-sea sediments of the South Indian Ocean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Localized Weighted Ensemble Kalman Filter (LWEnKF) is a new nonlinear/non-Gaussian data assimilation (DA) method that can effectively alleviate the filter degradation problem faced by particle filtering, and it has great prospects for applications in geophysical models. In terms of operational applications, along-track sea surface height (AT-SSH), swath sea surface temperature (S-SST) and in-situ temperature and salinity (T/S) profiles are assimilated using the LWEnKF in the northern South China Sea (SCS). To adapt to the vertical S-coordinates of the Regional Ocean Modelling System (ROMS), a vertical localization radius function is designed for T/S profiles assimilation using the LWEnKF. The results show that the LWEnKF outperforms the local particle filter (LPF) due to the introduction of the Ensemble Kalman Filter (EnKF) as a proposal density; the RMSEs of SSH and SST from the LWEnKF are comparable to the EnKF, but the RMSEs of T/S profiles reduce significantly by approximately 55% for the T profile and 35% for the S profile (relative to the EnKF). As a result, the LWEnKF makes more reasonable predictions of the internal ocean temperature field. In addition, the three-dimensional structures of nonlinear mesoscale eddies are better characterized when using the LWEnKF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foxo1, a member of Foxo transcription factor family, is involved in a number of physiological processes including metabolism, cell cycle progression, aging, and apoptosis. In the ovarian granulosa cell of mouse, Foxo1 is implicated to inhibit the expression of Cyp19a1, a gene encoding the aromatase that converts androgens into estrogens. Currently, the information about the expression and physiological relevance of Foxo1 homologues in the ovary of teleosts is scarce. In the present study, cDNAs encoding two forms of Foxo1, Foxo1a and Foxo1b, were isolated from the orange-spotted grouper. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that the orange-spotted groupers Foxo1a and Foxo1b were closely related to the counterparts of the ricefield eel. RT-PCR analysis showed that the orange-spotted groupers foxo1a and foxo1b were expressed in a wide range of tissues, with high levels detected in the brain regions, liver, and intestine. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis showed similar expression profiles for cyp19a1a, foxo1a, and foxo1b in the ovary during development from the primary growth to mature stages, with peak values detected at the vitellogenic stage. In situ hybridization detected mRNA of foxo1a, foxo1b, and cyp19a1a in granulosa cells surrounding vitellogenic oocytes. In vitro transfection showed that both Foxo1a and Foxo1b upregulated the orange-spotted grouper cyp19a1a promoter activities, possibly through the conserved Foxo binding site. Collectively, these results suggest that both Foxo1a and Foxo1b may be involved in the regulation of the ovarian functions in the orange-spotted grouper and the physiological roles of Foxo1 homologues in the ovary may be diversified in vertebrates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Next-generation wearable electronics require enhanced mechanical robustness and device complexity. Besides previously reported softness and stretchability, desired merits for practical use include elasticity, solvent resistance, facile patternability and high charge carrier mobility. Here, we show a molecular design concept that simultaneously achieves all these targeted properties in both polymeric semiconductors and dielectrics, without compromising electrical performance. This is enabled by covalently-embedded in-situ rubber matrix (iRUM) formation through good mixing of iRUM precursors with polymer electronic materials, and finely-controlled composite film morphology built on azide crosslinking chemistry which leverages different reactivities with C–H and C=C bonds. The high covalent crosslinking density results in both superior elasticity and solvent resistance. When applied in stretchable transistors, the iRUM-semiconductor film retained its mobility after stretching to 100% strain, and exhibited record-high mobility retention of 1 cm2 V−1 s−1 after 1000 stretching-releasing cycles at 50% strain. The cycling life was stably extended to 5000 cycles, five times longer than all reported semiconductors. Furthermore, we fabricated elastic transistors via consecutively photo-patterning of the dielectric and semiconducting layers, demonstrating the potential of solution-processed multilayer device manufacturing. The iRUM represents a molecule-level design approach towards robust skin-inspired electronics. Next-generation skin-inspired electronics require enhanced mechanical robustness and device complexity including elasticity, solvent resistance, and facile patternability. Here, the authors show a molecular design concept that simultaneously achieves all these requirements by covalently linking an in-situ formed rubber matrix with polymer electronic materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The resolution of ocean reanalysis datasets is generally low because of the limited resolution of their associated numerical models. Low-resolution ocean reanalysis datasets are therefore usually interpolated to provide an initial or boundary field for higher-resolution regional ocean models. However, traditional interpolation methods (nearest neighbor interpolation, bilinear interpolation, and bicubic interpolation) lack physical constraints and can generate significant errors at land-sea boundaries and around islands. In this paper, a machine learning method is used to design an interpolation algorithm based on Gaussian process regression. The method uses a multiscale kernel function to process two-dimensional space meteorological ocean processes and introduces multiscale physical feature information (sea surface wind stress, sea surface heat flux, and ocean current velocity). This greatly improves the spatial resolution of ocean features and the interpolation accuracy. The eff ectiveness of the algorithm was validated through interpolation experiments relating to sea surface temperature (SST). The root mean square error (RMSE) of the interpolation algorithm was 38.9%, 43.7%, and 62.4% lower than that of bilinear interpolation, bicubic interpolation, and nearest neighbor interpolation, respectively. The interpolation accuracy was also significantly better in off shore area and around islands. The algorithm has an acceptable runtime cost and good temporal and spatial generalizability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new type of Ca/Fe-phosphate composite CFP(CN) was prepared by a sol–gel method. The effects of pH, reaction time, initial uranium concentration, reaction temperature, and Mn(II) selective adsorption were investigated by static batch experiments. The adsorption process of CFP(CN) on U(VI) was in line with the quasi-second-order kinetic model and the Langmuir adsorption isotherm model. The results of thermodynamic analysis show that the adsorption of U(VI) by CFP(CN) is a spontaneous process with heat absorption and entropy increase. The adsorption mechanism of U(VI) on CFP(CN) was investigated by SEM, XRD and FT-IR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data assimilation systems usually assume that the observation errors of wind components, i.e., u (the longitudinal component) and v (the latitudinal component), are uncorrelated. However, since wind components are derived from observations in the form of wind speed and direction (spd and dir), the observation errors of u and v are correlated. In this paper, an explicit expression of the observation errors and correlation for each pair of wind components are derived based on the law of error propagation. The new data assimilation scheme considering the correlated error of wind components is implemented in the Weather Research and Forecasting Data Assimilation (WRFDA) system. Besides, adaptive quality control (QC) is introduced to retain the information of high wind-speed observations. Results from real data experiments assimilating the Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT) sea surface winds suggest that analyses from the new data assimilation scheme are more reasonable compared to those from the conventional one, and could improve the forecasting of Typhoon Noru. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Secondary plasma cell leukaemia (sPCL) is an aggressive form of multiple myeloma (MM), but the mechanism underlying MM progresses into PCL remains unknown.Methods: Gene expression profiling of MM patients and PCL patients was analysed to identify the molecular differences between the two diseases. Cox survival regression and Kaplan-Meier analysis were performed to illustrate the impact of integrin subunit alpha 6 (ITGA6) on prognosis of MM. Invasion assays were performed to assess whether ITGA6 regulated the progression of MM to PCL.Results: Gene expression profiling analyses showed that cell metastasis pathways were enriched in PCL and ITGA6 was differentially expressed between PCL and MM. ITGA6 expression was an independent prognostic factor for event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) of MM patients. Moreover, the stratification ability of the International Staging System (ISS) of MM was improved when including ITGA6 expression. Functional studies uncovered that increased ITGA6 reduced the myeloma cell invasion. Additionally, low expression of ITGA6 resulted from epigenetic downregulating of its anti-sense non-coding RNA, ITGA6-AS1.Conclusion: Our data reveal that ITGA6 gradually decreases during plasma cell dyscrasias progression and low expression of ITGA6 contributes to myeloma metastasis. Moreover, ITGA6 abundance might help develop MM prognostic stratification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mesoscale eddies play an important role in modulating the ocean circulation. Many previous studies on the three-dimensional structure of mesoscale eddies were mainly based on composite analysis, and there are few targeted observations for individual eddies. A cyclonic eddy surveyed during an oceanographic cruise in the Northwest Pacific Ocean is investigated in this study. The three-dimensional structure of this cyclonic eddy is revealed by observations and simulated by the four-dimensional variational data assimilation (4DVAR) system combined with the Regional Ocean Modeling System. The observation and assimilation results together present the characteristics of the cyclonic eddy. The cold eddy has an obvious dual-core structure of temperature anomaly. One core is at 50–150 m and another is at 300–550 m, which both have the average temperature anomaly of approximately −3.5°C. The salinity anomaly core is between 250 m and 500 m, which is approximately −0.3. The horizontal velocity structure is axis-asymmetric and it is enhanced on the eastern side of the cold eddy. In the assimilation experiment, sea level anomaly, sea surface temperature, and in situ measurements are assimilated into the system, and the results of assimilation are close to the observations. Based on the high-resolution assimilation output results, the study also diagnoses the vertical velocity in the mesoscale eddy, which reaches the maximum of approximately 10 m/d. The larger vertical velocity is found to be distributed in the range of 0.5 to 1 time of the normalized radius of the eddy. The validation of the simulation result shows that the 4DVAR method is effective to reconstruct the three-dimensional structure of mesoscale eddy and the research is an application to study the mesoscale eddy in the Northwest Pacific by combining observation and assimilation methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zero-valent-iron coated quartz sand (ZVI-S) was used to remove uranium from groundwater in this study. Batch experiments and column experiments were conducted to study the influences of ZVI-S dosage, solution pH, contact time, and initial U(VI) concentration on U(VI) removal from solution and to simulate U(VI) removal efficiency using ZVI-S with different particle sizes, hydraulic loads, and U(VI) concentrations. The results showed that the highest U(VI) removal efficiency in batch experiments and column experiments was 85.33% and 79.19%, respectively, indicating that ZVI-S is efficient and promising for uranium removal from groundwater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mesoscale eddies are common oceanic phenomena. Although many related studies have been conducted, the ability for mesoscale eddies to carry real particles remains poorly addressed. We considered the drifters as real particles to characterize the capability of mesoscale eddies to carry particles. Firstly, mesoscale eddies in the northwest Pacific (99°E–180°E, 0°–66°N) were identified using sea level anomaly (SLA) data from 1993 to 2015. Secondly, three important parameters (the carrying days, the number of circles the drifter revolving around the eddy center, and the carrying distances) were calculated by colocalizing eddy data with drifters. Finally, statistical analysis and composite analysis were conducted, reflecting the capability of mesoscale eddies to carry particles. The mechanisms on the carrying capability of eddies were also discussed. Results show that (1) the motion of carried drifters reflects the upper limit of rotational speed of eddies that the drifters revolve around the eddy center by ≤ 90° for one day in most cases; (2) the drifters tend to be carried for a longer time when their minimal distances to the eddy center measured with normalized distance are small; (3) there are two types of eddies (cyclonic and anticyclonic eddies) in different subregions of northwest Pacific, and each has a different carrying capability (on average, similar in the tropical ocean and Subtropical Countercurrent, cyclonic eddies tend to have stronger carrying capability in Southern Kuroshio Extension, and anticyclonic eddies tend to have stronger carrying capability in Northern Kuroshio Extension and Subarctic Gyre); (4) on average, the carried drifters tend to travel for a longer time around the normalized eddy radii ranging from 0.41 to 0.76; (5) the carrying days are related to the Rossby number of the eddy (in general when the Rossby number is smaller, the carrying days are longer). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]