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Background Giant hepatic hemangiomas are rare and can cause serious complications that contribute to a high risk of perinatal mortality. The purpose of this article is to review the prenatal imaging features, treatment, pathology, and prognosis of an atypical fetal giant hepatic hemangioma and to discuss the differential diagnosis of fetal hepatic masses. Case presentation A gravida 9, para 0 woman at 32 gestational weeks came to our institution for prenatal ultrasound diagnosis. A complex, heterogeneous hepatic mass measuring 5.2 × 4.1 × 3.7 cm was discovered in the fetus using conventional two-dimensional ultrasound. The mass was solid and had both a high peak systolic velocity (PSV) of the feeding artery and intratumoral venous flow. Fetal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed a clear, hypointense T1-W and hyperintense T2-W solid hepatic mass. Prenatal diagnosis was very difficult due to the overlap of benign and malignant imaging features on prenatal ultrasound and MRI. Even postnatally, neither contrast-enhanced MRI nor contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) was useful in accurately diagnosing this hepatic mass. Due to persistently elevated Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), a laparotomy was performed. Histopathological examination of the mass showed atypical features such as hepatic sinus dilation, hyperemia, and hepatic chordal hyperplasia. The patient was ultimately diagnosed with a giant hemangioma, and the prognosis was satisfactory. Conclusions When a hepatic vascular mass is found in a third trimester fetus a hemangioma should be considered as a possible diagnosis. However, prenatal diagnosis of fetal hepatic hemangiomas can be challenging due to atypical histopathological findings. Imaging and histopathological assays can provide useful information for the diagnosis and treatment of fetal hepatic masses.

Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is a major health burden closely related to lipid metabolism disorders. Leptin has lipid-lowering efficacy, but the specific mechanism of its local effects on kidney is still unclear. This study aims to investigate the role of ectopic lipid deposition (ELD) in DKD and evaluate the lipid-lowering efficacy of leptin in the palmitic acid (PA)-induced renal tubular epithelial cells (NRK-52E). DKD model was established in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats by giving single intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ, 30 mg/kg) after high-fat diet for 8 weeks. Then, the expression changes of lipid metabolism-related markers were observed. At week 12, the protein expression level of lipid-deposited marker adipose differentiation-related protein (ADRP) was significantly increased. Besides, the lipid synthesis marker sterol regulatory element-binding protein 1c (SREBP 1c) was highly expressed while the expression of insulin-induced gene 1 (Insig-1), a key molecular of inhibiting SREBP 1c, was decreased. Leptin and compound c were incubated with the PA-induced NRK-52E cells to investigate the lipid-lowering effects and whether this effect was mediated by the AMPK/Insig-1/SREBP 1c signaling pathways. mRNA and protein of ADRP and SREBP 1c were reduced after leptin treatment, while Insig-1 and phosphorylated AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) were increased. Conversely, inhibition of AMPK phosphorylation by compound c mostly eliminated lipid-lowering efficacy of leptin in PA-induced cells. Collectively, these results suggested that there was ELD of renal tubular epithelial cells in DKD rats. Leptin upregulated the expression level of Insig-1 by activating AMPK to attenuate ELD in PA-induced NRK-52E cells.

Kidney functions, including electrolyte and water reabsorption and secretion, could be influenced by circulating hormones. The pituitary gland produces a variety of hormones and cytokines; however, the influence of these factors on the kidney has not been well explained and explored. To provide more in-depth information and insights to support the pituitary–kidney axis connection, we used mouse pituitary and kidney single-cell transcriptomics data from the GEO database for further analysis. Based on a ligand–receptor pair analysis, cell–cell interaction patterns between the pituitary and kidney cell types were described. Key ligand–receptor pairs, such as GH-GHR, PTN-SDC2, PTN-SDC4, and DLK1-NOTCH3, were relatively active in the pituitary–kidney axis. These ligand–receptor pairs mainly target proximal tubule cells, principal cells, the loop of Henle, intercalated cells, pericytes, mesangial cells, and fibroblasts, and these cells are related to physiological processes, such as substance reabsorption, angiogenesis, and tissue repair. Our results suggested that the pituitary gland might directly regulate kidney function by secreting multiple hormones or cytokines and indicated that the above ligand–receptor pairs might represent a new research focus for studies on kidney function or kidney disease.

This study aimed to compare MRI quality between conventional fast spin echo T2 weighted imaging (FSE T2WI) with periodically rotated overlapping parallel lines with enhanced reconstruction (PROPELLER) FSE T2WI for patients with various porcelain fused to metal (PFM) crown and analyze the value of PROPELLER technique in reducing metal artifacts. Conventional FSE T2WI and PROPELLER FSE T2WI sequences for axial imaging of head were applied in participants with different PFM crowns: cobalt-chromium (Co–Cr) alloy, pure titanium (Ti), gold–palladium (Au–Pd) alloy. Two radiologists evaluated overall image quality of section in PFM using a 5-point scale qualitatively and measured the maximum artifact area and artifact signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) quantitatively. Fifty-nine participants were evaluated. The metal crown with the least artifacts and the optimum image quality shown in conventional FSE T2WI and PROPELLER FSE T2WI were in Au–Pd alloy, Ti, and Co–Cr alloy order. PROPELLER FSE T2WI was superior to conventional FSE T2WI in improving image quality and reducing artifact area for Co-Cr alloy (17.0 ± 0.2% smaller artifact area, p p = 0.005), but had similar performance compared to FSE T2WI for Au–Pd alloy. The SNRs of the tongue and masseter muscle were significantly higher on PROPELLER FSE T2WI compared with conventional FSE T2WI (tongue: 29.76 ± 8.45 vs. 21.54 ± 9.31, p = 0.007; masseter muscle: 19.11 ± 8.24 vs. 15.26 ± 6.08, p = 0.016). Therefore, the different PFM crown generate varying degrees of metal artifacts in MRI, and the PROPELLER can effectively reduce metal artifacts especially in the PFM crown of Co-Cr alloy.

Targeting the p53-MDM2 pathway to reactivate tumor p53 is a chemotherapeutic approach. However, the involvement of this pathway in CD8+ T cell-mediated antitumor immunity is unknown. Here, we report that mice with MDM2 deficiency in T cells exhibit accelerated tumor progression and a decrease in tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T cell survival and function. Mechanistically, MDM2 competes with c-Cbl for STAT5 binding, reduces c-Cbl-mediated STAT5 degradation and enhances STAT5 stability in tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T cells. Targeting the p53-MDM2 interaction with a pharmacological agent, APG-115, augmented MDM2 in T cells, thereby stabilizing STAT5, boosting T cell immunity and synergizing with cancer immunotherapy. Unexpectedly, these effects of APG-115 were dependent on p53 and MDM2 in T cells. Clinically, MDM2 abundance correlated with T cell function and interferon-γ signature in patients with cancer. Thus, the p53-MDM2 pathway controls T cell immunity, and targeting this pathway may treat patients with cancer regardless of tumor p53 status.

There has been limited research that examined the association between gratitude and acculturation stress and the mediation and moderation mechanisms of the link. This current study discussed whether affect balance and resilience mediate the relationship between gratitude and acculturation stress and whether social support moderates the mediation effects. We used the data selected from 266 international students from One Belt & One Road countries in China to test the theoretical model. The participants completed the measures of gratitude, acculturation stress, affect balance, resilience, and social support. The findings indicated that gratitude was negatively related to acculturation stress. Moreover, affect balance and resilience mediated the relationship between gratitude and acculturation stress. The findings further indicated that perceived social support moderates the association between gratitude and affect balance. The limitations and implications for future studies are discussed in the end.

Metastasis is the primary cause of cancer mortality, and cancer frequently metastasizes to the liver. It is not clear whether liver immune tolerance mechanisms contribute to cancer outcomes. We report that liver metastases diminish immunotherapy efficacy systemically in patients and preclinical models. Patients with liver metastases derive limited benefit from immunotherapy independent of other established biomarkers of response. In multiple mouse models, we show that liver metastases siphon activated CD8+ T cells from systemic circulation. Within the liver, activated antigen-specific Fas+CD8+ T cells undergo apoptosis following their interaction with FasL+CD11b+F4/80+ monocyte-derived macrophages. Consequently, liver metastases create a systemic immune desert in preclinical models. Similarly, patients with liver metastases have reduced peripheral T cell numbers and diminished tumoral T cell diversity and function. In preclinical models, liver-directed radiotherapy eliminates immunosuppressive hepatic macrophages, increases hepatic T cell survival and reduces hepatic siphoning of T cells. Thus, liver metastases co-opt host peripheral tolerance mechanisms to cause acquired immunotherapy resistance through CD8+ T cell deletion, and the combination of liver-directed radiotherapy and immunotherapy could promote systemic antitumor immunity. Liver metastases reduce clinical and preclinical immune-checkpoint inhibitor efficacy through hepatic siphoning of circulating activated CD8+ T cells, but therapeutic benefit can be improved by combining immunotherapy with liver-directed radiotherapy.

Expansive soil is considered to be an unfavorable soil due to its swelling-shrinking behavior. In order to improve the properties of expansive soil, the addition of steel slag powder (SSP) has been used to improve expansive soil that has been mixed with the cement. In this study, a series of cylindrical improved expansive soil specimens were prepared, which were improved either by the addition of cement, cement SSP, or cement SSP sodium hydroxide (NaOH). All of the specimens were prepared with an optimum water content and then subjected to a maximum of 12 closed-system freeze-thaw (F–T) cycles. The specimens were subjected to different curing times and temperatures (−5°C,−10°C and −15°C) during the tests. After each freeze-thaw (F–T) cycle, the volume of each specimen was measured and an unconfined compression strength (UCS) test was performed. The results have shown that as the temperature of the F–T cycle decreased, the volume expansion rate increased with the increase of the length of the F–T cycle. As the curing time increased, the effect of the F–T cycles on the volume change rate of the specimens reduced and the UCS increased. The first F–T cycle had the greatest influence on the volume of the specimen as well as the UCS of the improved expansive soil. After the improved expansive soils had undergone more than eight F–T cycles, the volume change rate of the specimen tended to stabilize. The maximum F–T volume change rate of the improved soil was 1.93%. When the curing age was 60d and 90d, the strength of the specimen with cement SSP sodium hydroxide was 377.3 kPa and 294.7 kPa higher than the specimen with cement only (ES specimen), and its strength degradation rate was 18.737% and 9.97% lower than the ES specimen. The results have shown that the addition of SSP and cement improved the expansive soil; moreover, NaOH inhibited the degradation of the soil during an F–T cycle.

Abnormal epigenetic patterns correlate with effector T cell malfunction in tumours1-4, but the cause of this link is unknown. Here we show that tumour cells disrupt methionine metabolism in CD8+ T cells, thereby lowering intracellular levels of methionine and the methyl donor S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) and resulting in loss of dimethylation at lysine 79 of histone H3 (H3K79me2). Loss of H3K79me2 led to low expression of STAT5 and impaired T cell immunity. Mechanistically, tumour cells avidly consumed methionine and outcompeted T cells for methionine by expressing high levels of the methionine transporter SLC43A2. Genetic and biochemical inhibition of tumour SLC43A2 restored H3K79me2 in T cells, thereby boosting spontaneous and checkpoint-induced tumour immunity. Moreover, methionine supplementation improved the expression of H3K79me2 and STAT5 in T cells, and this was accompanied by increased T cell immunity in tumour-bearing mice and patients with colon cancer. Clinically, tumour SLC43A2 correlated negatively with T cell histone methylation and functional gene signatures. Our results identify a mechanistic connection between methionine metabolism, histone patterns, and T cell immunity in the tumour microenvironment. Thus, cancer methionine consumption is an immune evasion mechanism, and targeting cancer methionine signalling may provide an immunotherapeutic approach.

Until now, knowledge about the effects of motor training on the temporal dynamics of the brain functional organization is still limited. Here we combined dynamic functional connectivity density (dFCD) mapping and k-means clustering analyses to explore how early and advanced stages of motor training affected the brain dynamic FC architecture and dynamic states in little-ball athletes using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data of student-athletes (SA), elite athletes (EA) and non-athlete healthy controls (NC). The ANOVA analysis demonstrated the levels of dFCD variability in the EA group had the trend to regress to the NC group levels in all statistically significant regions. Specifically, the brain regions responsible for the basic motor and sensory innervations showed more stabilized dFCD variability in EA and NC compared with SA. The results supported the idea of a stronger efficiency of functional networks and an automation process of new motor skills in EA. Furthermore, EA and NC had the increased dFCD variability in brain regions responsible for top-down visual-motor control compared with SA; while EA exhibited more flexible alterations in FCD status levels and the equilibrium probability in the long run compared with SA and NC. This suggested that regions involved in higher functions of visual-motor control exhibited more flexibility in functional regulation with other brain networks in EA. Our findings suggested the diversity and specialization of fluctuating dynamic brain adaption induced by motor training in different training stages, and highlighted the effect of motor training stages on brain functional adaption.

Due to the enhanced electrochemical activities, mixed metal oxides offer new and fascinating opportunities for high-performance supercapacitor electrodes. However, sluggish ionic and electronic kinetics within the electrode fundamentally limit further improvement of their electrochemical performance. To compensate for the deficiency, a flexible electrode (CNTF/Ni-Co-Mn-Mo NS/CNTN) composed of vertically-aligned areolate quaternary metal oxide nanosheets sandwiched between carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is constructed in this study, which demonstrates a unique hierarchical porous structure that can provide three-dimensional transport channels for both ions and electrons. The vertically aligned areolate quaternary metal oxide nanosheets enable increased exposed surface area and paths for ion transport, diffusion and redox reactions, resulting in an evident enhancement in electrochemical activities. Besides, the CNT networks provide improved conductivity, which can accelerate the electron transport. As a result, the flexible supercapacitor based on the CNTF/Ni-Co-Mn-Mo NS/CNTN electrode demonstrates a specific areal capacitance of 3738 mF cm−2, corresponding to a high energy density of 1.17 mW h cm−2, which outperforms most of the flexible devices reported recently. Additionally, excellent flexibility of up to 180° bend and superior performance stability of 87.87% capacitance retention after 10,000 charge-discharge cycles can be obtained. This unique design opens up a new way in the development of flexible energy storage devices with high performance.

This paper deals with a class of nonlinear viscoelastic wave equation with damping and source terms ${u_{tt}} - \Delta u - \Delta {u_t} - \Delta {u_{tt}} + \int_0^t {g(t - s)\Delta u(s)ds + {u_t}{u_t}{^{m - 2}} = u|u|{^{p - 2}}} $ with acoustic boundary conditions. Under some appropriate assumption on relaxation function g and the initial data, we prove that the solution blows up in finite time if the positive initial energy satisfies a suitable condition.

This paper deals with a class of Petrovsky system with nonlinear damping $$\begin{aligned} w_{tt}+\Delta _{\mathbb{B}}^{2}w-k_{2} \Delta _{\mathbb{B}}w_{t}+aw_{t} \vert w_{t} \vert ^{m-2}=bw \vert w \vert ^{p-2} \end{aligned}$$ w t t + Δ B 2 w − k 2 Δ B w t + a w t | w t | m − 2 = b w | w | p − 2 on a manifold with conical singularity, where $\Delta _{\mathbb{B}}$ Δ B is a Fuchsian-type Laplace operator with totally characteristic degeneracy on the boundary $x_{1}=0$ x 1 = 0 . We first prove the global existence of solutions under conditions without relation between m and p, and establish an exponential decay rate. Furthermore, we obtain a finite time blow-up result for local solutions with low initial energy $E(0)< d$ E ( 0 ) < d .

Forest tree species are increasingly subject to severe mortalities from exotic pests, pathogens, and invasive organisms, accelerated by climate change. Such forest health issues are threatening multiple species and ecosystem sustainability globally. One of the most extreme examples of forest ecosystem disruption is the extirpation of the American chestnut (Castanea dentata) caused by the introduction of chestnut blight and root rot pathogens from Asia. Asian species of chestnut are being employed as donors of disease resistance genes to restore native chestnut species in North America and Europe. To aid in the restoration of threatened chestnut species, we present the assembly of a reference genome for Chinese chestnut (C. mollissima) "Vanuxem," one of the donors of disease resistance for American chestnut restoration. From the de novo assembly of the complete genome (725.2 Mb in 14,110 contigs), over half of the sequences have been anchored to the 12 genetic linkage groups. The anchoring is validated by genetic maps and in situ hybridization to chromosomes. We demonstrate the value of the genome as a platform for research and species restoration, including signatures of selection differentiating American chestnut from Chinese chestnut to identify important candidate genes for disease resistance, comparisons of genome organization with other woody species, and a genome-wide examination of progress in backcross breeding for blight resistance. This reference assembly should prove of great value in the understanding, improvement, and restoration of chestnut species. Forest Health Initiative [137RFP, 2008-011]; United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and AgricultureUnited States Department of Agriculture (USDA) [2016-67013-24581]; USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture Federal Appropriations [PEN04532, 1000326, NE-1833]; Foundation for the Carolinas; National Science Foundation (NSF)National Science Foundation (NSF) [1444573]; NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biology Grant [1711950]; Institutional Development Award (IDeA) from the National Institute of GeneralMedical Sciences of the National Institutes of HealthUnited States Department of Health & Human ServicesNational Institutes of Health (NIH) - USA [P20GM109094]; American Chestnut Foundation This project was funded by the Forest Health Initiative (https://foresthealthinitiative.org/) through grant #137RFP#2008-011 to JEC. Support was also provided by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture grant 2016-67013-24581 to The American Chestnut Foundation. Additional support was provided through several grants-inaid to JEC fromThe American Chestnut Foundation and to JEC andMES through the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture Federal Appropriations under Project PEN04532 (Accession number 1000326) and NE-1833, respectively. Construction of saturated genetic maps and root RNAseq dataset was partially supported by the Foundation for the Carolinas. Bioinformatics was supported by National Science Foundation (NSF) Award #1444573, "Standards and Cyberinfrastructure that Enable 'Big-Data' Driven Discovery for Tree Crop Research" (MES; PI Main). Emily Bellis was supported by NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biology Grant No. 1711950. Rooksana Noorai was supported by an Institutional Development Award (IDeA) from the National Institute of GeneralMedical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under grant number P20GM109094. Public domain – authored by a U.S. government employee

In recent years, research on a special class of frames, named K-frames where K is an operator, has become significant in theory and applications. Since the finite sum of K-frames may not be a K-frame for the Hilbert space, in this paper, we discuss the sum and stability of K-frames in Hilbert spaces. First, we obtain some sufficient conditions for the finite sum of a K-frame and a Bessel sequence to be a K-frame. Then we get the K-dual of the sum of K-frames by the dual of the original K-frames. In particular, we give some new results about the operator K and the analysis operator in the discussion. Moreover, we discuss the stability of K-frames and get some conclusions.

During mammalian oocyte growth, chromatin configuration transition from the nonsurrounded nucleolus (NSN) to surrounded nucleolus (SN) type plays a key role in the regulation of gene expression and acquisition of meiotic and developmental competence by the oocyte. Nonetheless, the mechanism underlying chromatin configuration maturation in oocytes is poorly understood. Here we show that nucleolar protein DCAF13 is an important component of the ribosomal RNA (rRNA)-processing complex and is essential for oocyte NSN-SN transition in mice. A conditional knockout of Dcaf13 in oocytes led to the arrest of oocyte development in the NSN configuration, follicular atresia, premature ovarian failure, and female sterility. The DCAF13 deficiency resulted in pre-rRNA accumulation in oocytes, whereas the total mRNA level was not altered. Further exploration showed that DCAF13 participated in the 18S rRNA processing in growing oocytes. The lack of 18S rRNA because of DCAF13 deletion caused a ribosome assembly disorder and then reduced global protein synthesis. DCAF13 interacted with a protein of the core box C/D ribonucleoprotein, fibrillarin, i.e., a factor of early pre-rRNA processing. When fibrillarin was knocked down in the oocytes from primary follicles, follicle development was inhibited as well, indicating that an rRNA processing defect in the oocyte indeed stunts chromatin configuration transition and follicle development. Taken together, these results elucidated the in vivo function of novel nucleolar protein DCAF13 in maintaining mammalian oogenesis.

This paper studies the global exponential stability and fuzzy control for Takagi–Sugeno (T–S) nonlinear systems with bounded uncertain delays. Most existing T–S methods represent global nonlinear systems by connecting local linear systems with linguistic description. However, many complex systems cannot be represented by linear systems. In this paper, some local nonlinear systems having nice dynamic properties are employed to represent a global complex system. Moreover, the delays are any uncertain bounded continuous functions. Sufficient conditions for global exponential stability of these delayed global complex systems are derived. Criteria for design of nonlinear fuzzy controllers to feedback control the stability of global nonlinear fuzzy systems are given.

Maternal intake of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA; 20:5 n-3) and docosahexaenoic acid (22:6 n-3) has been associated with reduced adiposity in children, suggesting the possibility to program adipose development through dietary fatty acids before birth. This study determined if enriching the maternal diet in fish oil, the primary source of EPA and DHA, affected adipose development in offspring. Broiler chickens were used because they are obesity-prone, and because fatty acids provided to the embryo can be manipulated through the hen diet. Hens were fed diets supplemented (2.8% wt:wt) with corn oil (CO; n-6) or fish oil (FO; n-3) for 28 d. Chicks from both maternal diet groups were fed the same diet after hatch. Maternal FO consumption enriched chick adipose tissue in EPA and DHA and reduced adiposity by promoting more, but smaller, adipocytes. This adipocyte profile was paralleled by upregulated expression of the adipogenic regulator PPARG and its co-activator PPARGC1B, and reduced expression of LPL. Proteomics identified 95 differentially abundant proteins between FO and CO adipose tissue, including components of glucose metabolism, lipid droplet trafficking, and cytoskeletal organization. These results demonstrate that the maternal dietary fatty acid profile programs offspring adipose development.

The lymphatic system is important in mounting an immune response to foreign antigens and tumors in humans and animal models. The liver produces a large amount of lymph, and its lymphatic system is divided into three major components: the portal, sublobular and superficial lymphatic vessels. Despite the fact that mice are the most commonly used laboratory animals, detailed descriptions of the anatomical location and function of the lymph nodes (LNs) that drain the liver are surprisingly absent. In this study, we found that the portal and celiac LNs adjacent to mouse liver were stained with Evans blue within 5-8 min. Enhanced green fluorescence protein (EGFP)-positive cells from the liver also drained into the two aforementioned LNs. These data indicate that the portal and celiac LNs drain the mouse liver. Lymphadenectomy of the identified liver-draining LNs resulted in hepatitis B virus (HBV) persistence in immunocompetent mice compared with the sham group. In addition, the frequencies of CD8(+) T cells and dendritic cells (DCs) increased significantly in the liver-draining LNs after hydrodynamic injection of HBV plasmid. Liver-draining LN cells in HBV plasmid-injected mice also showed significant antigen-specific proliferation in response to stimulation with recombinant hepatitis B core antigen in vitro. Adoptive transfer of these cells into Rag1(-/-) mice induced a reduction in the serum concentration of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) compared to liver-draining LN cells in uninjected mice. Altogether our data characterize the liver-draining LNs and provide evidence that the liver-draining LNs induce an anti-HBV-specific immune response responsible for HBV clearance.

This paper studies the continuous attractors of discrete-time recurrent neural networks. Networks in discrete time can directly provide algorithms for efficient implementation in digital hardware. Continuous attractors of neural networks have been used to store and manipulate continuous stimuli for animals. A continuous attractor is defined as a connected set of stable equilibrium points. It forms a lower dimensional manifold in the original state space. Under some conditions, the complete analytical expressions for the continuous attractors of discrete-time linear recurrent neural networks as well as discrete-time linear-threshold recurrent neural networks are derived. Examples are employed to illustrate the theory.