Search

Abstract At present, medical image classification algorithm plays an important role in clinical diagnosis. However, due to the scarcity of data labels, small sample size, uneven distribution, and poor domain generalization, many algorithms still have limitations. Therefore, a deep learning training network for disease classification and recognition of multimodal few‐shot medical images are proposed, trying to solve the above problems and limitations. The network is based on the idea of meta‐learning for training. Specifically, the technology of transfer learning and few‐shot learning are used. In the process of building and improving the network structure, the multi‐source domain generalization method, which performs well in the field of person re‐identification, is combined. Finally, the applicability and effectiveness of the model are verified by using Grad‐CAM tool. The experiments show that the accuracy of classification and recognition of the model is better than the advanced model in this field. The concerned areas of model classification are similar or the same as the manually labelled areas. It is of far‐reaching significance to improve the efficiency of future clinical auxiliary diagnosis and patient diversion, as well as to promote the development of the Wise Information Technology of Med in the future.

Abstract Background Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a type of head and neck cancer with high incidence in China. The molecular mechanisms of vasculogenic mimicry (VM) and angiogenesis are not fully elucidated in NPC. More specially, it has seldomly been reported that Epstein–Barr virus‐encoded miRNA can regulate VM and angiogenesis in NPC. The aim of this study was to investigate the function and molecular mechanism of a targeting exosome system (iRGD‐exo‐antagomiR) against VM and angiogenesis in NPC, and to provide new approaches for improving the comprehensive treatment of NPC. Methods Exosomes were isolated by differential ultracentrifugation. Dynamic light scattering, transmission electron microscopy and western blotting were performed to characterize the exosomes. The 3D‐Culture assay, tube formation assay, chicken chorioallantoic membrane assay, Matrigel plug assay, mouse xenograft tumor modeling and immunohistochemical staining were applied to evaluate the anti‐VM and anti‐angiogenic effects of the targeting exosome system in vitro and in vivo. Western blot was performed to detect the changes of downstream regulated networks following interference and recovery of the target gene. Results In vitro or in vivo treatment with iRGD‐tagged exosome containing antagomiR‐BART1‐5p specifically suppressed VM and angiogenesis in NPC. EBV‐miR‐BART1‐5p promoted VM and angiogenesis in vitro and in vivo by regulating VEGF, PI3K, Akt, mTOR and HIF1‐α in a Spry2‐dependent manner. Conclusions Our findings demonstrated that targeting exosomes enveloped EBV‐miR‐BART1‐5p‐antagomiRs in a Spry2‐dependent manner for NPC therapy through both anti‐VM and anti‐angiogenesis in vitro and in vivo.

Abstract This paper concentrates on robust deadlock control problems for an automated manufacturing system with uncontrollable, unobservable events and resource failures, which is modeled by a subclass of Petri nets. A recovery subnet is added to the holder of each unreliable resource to model resource failure and recovery. In order to prevent a strict minimal siphon in a Petri net model from being emptied, an extended constraint set is constructed based on the complementary set of a strict minimal siphon to obtain a robust liveness constraint. Due to the uncontrollability and unobservability of the transitions, an automated manufacturing system cannot enforce inadmissible robust liveness constraints. It is necessary to decide the admissibility of robust liveness constraints and transform the inadmissible constraints into admissible ones. To this end, a monitor is designed for each admissible robust liveness constraint such that it can be enforced. Finally, an iterative algorithm is developed to perform the above steps and a robust liveness controlled system is obtained. The feasibility of the control strategy is demonstrated by examples.

Abstract Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease mainly involving the colon and rectum, which features recurrent mucosal inflammation. The excessive production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is a trigger for pathological changes such as cell apoptosis and disordered immune microenvironments, which are crucial for the progression of UC and can be a promising therapeutic target. Nowadays, the development of targeted therapeutic strategies for UC is still in its infancy. Thus, developing effective therapies based on ROS scavenging and elucidating their molecular pathways are urgently needed. Herein, a biomimetic nanoformulation (Pd@M) with cubic palladium (Pd) as the core and macrophage‐derived extracellular vesicles (MEVs) as the shell is synthesized for the treatment of UC. These Pd@M nanoformulations exhibit multienzyme‐like activities for effective ROS scavenging, excellent targeting ability as well as good biocompatibility. It is verified that Pd@M can regulate the polarization state of macrophages by inhibiting glycolysis, and decrease neutrophil infiltration and recruitment. In this way, the colonic inflammatory and immune microenvironment is remodeled, and apoptosis is prevented, ultimately improving colonic mucosal barrier function and alleviating colitis in the mouse model. This finding provides a promising alternative option for the treatment of UC patients.

Abstract The immune system of elderly individuals behaves differently from young adults, leading to a general assumption that the decline of immune system function increases the susceptibility to infectious and noninfectious diseases. This age‐related internal immune function failure, termed "immune senescence," contributes to the increment of morbidity and mortality associated with diseases in elderly populations. Cord blood is considered as a source of “young” immune cells for anti‐infectious immunity and adoptive cancer immunotherapy. In this review, we describe immune aging and the application of cord blood for replenishing aging immune cells against neoplastic diseases.

Abstract In recent years, deep learning methods were good solutions for object detection in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images. However, the problems of complex scenarios, large object scale differences and imperfect fine‐grained classification in ship detection were intractable. In response, an improved model GDB‐YOLOv5s (Improved YOLOv5s model incorporating global attention mechanism (GAM), DCN‐v2 and BiFusion) is designed. This model introduces deformable convolution networks (DCN‐v2) into the Backbone to enhance the adaptability of the receptive field. It replaces the original Neck's PANet structure with a BiFusion structure to better fuse the extracted multiscale features. Additionally, it integrates GAM into the network to reduce information loss and improve global feature interaction. Experiments were conducted on single‐class dataset SSDD and multi‐class dataset SRSSD‐V1.0. The results show that the GDB‐YOLOv5s model improves mean average precision scores (mAP) significantly, outperforming the original YOLOv5s model and other traditional methods. GDB‐YOLOv5s also improves Precision‐score (P) and Recall‐score (R) for fine‐grained classification to some extent, thereby reducing false alarms and missed detections. It has been proved that the improved model is relatively effective.

Abstract The effectiveness of Toll‐like 9 agonists (CpG) as an adjuvant for tumor immunotherapy is restricted due to their insufficient ability to activate anti‐tumor immunity. To address that, the common nutrient metal ions are explored (Mn2+, Cu2+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Zn2+, Fe3+, and Al3+), identifying Mn2+ as a key enhancer of CpG to mediate immune activation by augmenting the STING‐NF‐κB pathway. Mn2+ and CpG are then self‐assembled with epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) into a nanoadjuvant MPN/CpG. Local delivery of MPN/CpG effectively inhibits tumor growth in a B16 melanoma‐bearing mouse model, reshaping the tumor microenvironment (TME) by repolarizing M2‐type tumor‐associated macrophages (TAMs) to an M1‐type and boosting intra‐tumoral infiltration of CD8+/CD4+ T lymphocytes and DCs. Furthermore, compared to free CpG, MPN/CpG exhibits heightened accumulation in lymph nodes, enhancing CpG uptake and DC activation, consequently inducing significant antigen‐specific cytotoxic CD8+ T cell immune response and humoral immunity. In a prophylactic tumor‐bearing mouse model, MPN/CpG vaccination with OVA antigen significantly delays B16‐OVA melanoma growth and extends mouse survival. These findings underscore the potential of MPN/CpG as a multifunctional adjuvant platform to drive powerful innate and adaptive immunity and regulate TME against tumors.

Abstract The tumour‐targeting efficiency of systemically delivered chemodrugs largely dictates the therapeutic outcome of anticancer treatment. Major challenges lie in the complexity of diverse biological barriers that drug delivery systems must hierarchically overcome to reach their cellular/subcellular targets. Herein, an “all‐in‐one” red blood cell (RBC)‐derived microrobot that can hierarchically adapt to five critical stages during systemic drug delivery, that is, circulation, accumulation, release, extravasation, and penetration, is developed. The microrobots behave like natural RBCs in blood circulation, due to their almost identical surface properties, but can be magnetically manipulated to accumulate at regions of interest such as tumours. Next, the microrobots are “immolated” under laser irradiation to release their therapeutic cargoes and, by generating heat, to enhance drug extravasation through vascular barriers. As a coloaded agent, pirfenidone (PFD) can inhibit the formation of extracellular matrix and increase the penetration depth of chemodrugs in the solid tumour. It is demonstrated that this system effectively suppresses both primary and metastatic tumours in mouse models without evident side effects, and may represent a new class of intelligent biomimicking robots for biomedical applications.

Abstract Reactive oxygen species (ROS) constitute a spectrum of oxygenic metabolites crucial in modulating pathological organism functions. Disruptions in ROS equilibrium span various diseases, and current insights suggest a dual role for ROS in tumorigenesis and the immune response within cancer. This review rigorously examines ROS production and its role in normal cells, elucidating the subsequent regulatory network in inflammation and cancer. Comprehensive synthesis details the documented impacts of ROS on diverse immune cells. Exploring the intricate relationship between ROS and cancer immunity, we highlight its influence on existing immunotherapies, including immune checkpoint blockade, chimeric antigen receptors, and cancer vaccines. Additionally, we underscore the promising prospects of utilizing ROS and targeting ROS modulators as novel immunotherapeutic interventions for cancer. This review discusses the complex interplay between ROS, inflammation, and tumorigenesis, emphasizing the multifaceted functions of ROS in both physiological and pathological conditions. It also underscores the potential implications of ROS in cancer immunotherapy and suggests future research directions, including the development of targeted therapies and precision oncology approaches. In summary, this review emphasizes the significance of understanding ROS‐mediated mechanisms for advancing cancer therapy and developing personalized treatments.

Background Penetrating spinal cord injury (PSCI) with retained foreign bodies (RFB) is rarely observed in clinics and may result in a complete or incomplete neurological deficit. This study was performed to appraise the treatment effect of laminectomy for PSCI with RFB. Case Presentation This study presented three patients referred to a tertiary hospital between August 2011 and October 2018 due to PSCI with RFB and receiving laminectomy. The first patient was a 25‐year‐old female with a butcher's knife piercing the T9 lamina and T10 vertebral body obliquely; the second was a 49‐year‐old male who suffered a perforating wound of the cervical spinal canal and injury of vertebral artery from foreign glass, while the third was a 60‐year‐old male with a wooden stick penetrating stomach and terminating in the L1 lamina. The first and second patients immediately underwent laminectomy for debridement and removal of RFB, while the third received two‐staged operations to remove the retained stick thoroughly. Unfortunately cases 1 and 3 eventually resulted in total paralysis and case 2 revealed no improvement in myodynamia. Then, Medline/PubMed, Embase and the Cochrane Library were systematically searched, and 23 articles involving 25 additional cases with this kind of injury were included for analysis. Conclusions The optimal treatment strategy for penetrating spinal cord injury with retained foreign bodies remains challenging and should be assessed case‐by‐case. If possible, surgical removal of foreign bodies by laminectomy is preferred immediately to prevent delayed presentation and persistent contamination. Meanwhile, a multidisciplinary team is needed to address concomitant injuries.

Abstract Background Alzheimer's disease (AD) has become a common illness affecting the elderly, adding to society's social and financial burden. We used two‐sample Mendelian randomization (MR) in this study to determine the association between working status and AD. Methods We performed a two‐sample MR analysis. The genetic associations were derived from the UK Biobank (n = 263,615) and the International Genomics of Alzheimer's Project (n = 63,926). Inverse variance weighted (IVW), MR‐Egger, and weighted median were used in the MR analysis. The funnel plot, Cochran's Q test, MR‐Egger intercept test, and leave‐one‐out analysis were used in sensitivity analyses. Further risk factor analyses were carried out to look into the potential mediators. Results Jobs involve heavy manual or physical work (OR = 2.13, 95%CI 1.36–3.36; p = .0011), job involves mainly walking or standing (OR = 1.74, 95%CI 1.19–2.54; p = .004), and job involves shift work (OR = 2.78, 95%CI 1.14–6.80; p = .02) increased the risk of AD in the IVW analysis. There was no heterogeneity and no horizontal pleiotropy in the sensitivity analysis. Risk factor analysis suggested that each of the above association may be mediated by different risk factors. Conclusion Our study adds to the evidence that the development of AD is associated with the working status (job involves heavy manual or physical work, job involves mainly walking or standing, and job involves shift work) by using extensive human genetic data.

Abstract Whether hemoglobin is associated with outcomes of a specific subtype of intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is unknown. A total of 4643 patients with ICH from a multicenter cohort were included in the analysis (64.0% male; mean age [SD], 58.3 [15.2] year), of whom 1319 (28.4%) had anemia on admission. The unsupervised consensus cluster method was employed to classify the patients into three clusters. The patients of cluster 3 were characterized by a high frequency of anemia (85.3%) and mainly composed of patients of systemic disease ICH subtype (SD‐ICH; 90.0%) according to the SMASH‐U etiologies. In SD‐ICH, a strong interaction effect was observed between anemia and 3‐month death (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 4.33, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.60–11.9, p = 0.004), and the hemoglobin levels were linearly associated with 3‐month death (aOR 0.75, 95% CI 0.60–0.92; p = 0.009), which was partially mediated by larger baseline hematoma volume (p = 0.008). This study demonstrated a strong linear association between low hemoglobin levels and worse outcomes in SD‐ICH, suggesting that hemoglobin‐elevating therapy might be extensively needed in a specific subtype of ICH.

Abstract Antimony selenide (Sb2Se3) nanorod arrays along the [001] orientation are known to transfer photogenerated carriers rapidly due to the strongly anisotropic one‐dimensional crystal structure. With advanced light‐trapping structures, the Sb2Se3 nanorod array‐based solar cells have excellent broad spectral response properties, and higher short‐circuit current density than the conventional planar structured thin film solar cells. However, the interface engineering for the Sb2Se3 nanorod array‐based solar cell is more crucial to increase the performance, because it is challenging to coat a compact buffer layer with perfect coverage to form a uniform heterojunction interface due to its large surface area and length–diameter ratio. In this work, an intermeshing In2S3 nanosheet‐CdS composite as the buffer layer, compactly coating on the Sb2Se3 nanorod surface is constructed. The application of In2S3‐CdS composite buffers build a gradient conduction band energy configuration in the Sb2Se3/buffer heterojunction interface, which reduces the interface recombination and enhances the transfer and collection of photogenerated electrons. The energy‐level regulation minimizes the open‐circuit voltage deficit at the interfaces of buffer/Sb2Se3 and buffer/ZnO layers in the Sb2Se3 solar cells. Consequently, the Sb2Se3 nanorod array solar cell based on In2S3‐CdS composite buffers achieves an efficiency of as high as 9.19% with a VOC of 461 mV.

Abstract As a basic innate immune response to the disordered tissue homeostasis, inflammation is related to the pathogenesis of multiple diseases, including bacterial infections, atherosclerosis, neurodegenerative diseases, and cancers. It is also a pivotal feature of some metabolic disorders such as diabetes and obesity. The visualization of in vivo inflammations can help us to comprehend the pathogenesis of these diseases and develop new solutions to diagnose them. Over the past few decades, a variety of strategies (eg, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging [MRI], and ultrasound [US] imaging) have been utilized for visualizing inflammations by imaging the structural changes of inflammatory tissues. Moreover, many recent studies have focused on some probes that can target or localize the inflammatory sites by specific binding to inflammation‐related molecules, being internalized by inflammatory cells, or becoming detectable only under inflammatory conditions. These probes can also be applied to visualize inflammations by MRI, positron emission tomography, single‐photon emission computed tomography, photoacoustic imaging, optical imaging (eg, fluorescence imaging, bioluminescence imaging, and chemiluminescence imaging), contrast‐enhanced US imaging, and the combined use of the abovementioned methods. This review not only summarizes the existing strategies for visualizing inflammations, but also discusses the limitations of the present strategies and the future directions on the development of new strategies for realizing the in vivo inflammation visualization.

Abstract Sb2S3 has attracted great research interest very recently as a promising absorber material for photoelectric and photovoltaic devices because of its unique optical and electrical properties and single, stable phase. However, the intrinsic high resistivity property of Sb2S3 material is one of the major factors restricting the further improvement of its application. In this work, the C60 modification of Sb2S3 thin films is investigated. The conductivity of Sb2S3 thin films increases from 4.71 × 10−9 S cm−1 for unmodified condition to 2.86 × 10−8 S cm−1 for modified thin films. Thin‐film solar cells in the configuration of glass/(SnO2:F) FTO/TiO2/Sb2S3(C60)/Spiro‐OMeTAD/Au are fabricated, and the conversion efficiency is increased from 1.10% to 1.74%.

In order to analyze the channel estimation performance of near space high altitude platform station (HAPS) in wireless communication system, the structure and formation of HAPS are studied in this paper. The traditional Least Squares (LS) channel estimation method and Singular Value Decomposition-Linear Minimum Mean-Squared (SVD-LMMS) channel estimation method are compared and investigated. A novel channel estimation method and model are proposed. The channel estimation performance of HAPS is studied deeply. The simulation and theoretical analysis results show that the performance of the proposed method is better than the traditional methods. The lower Bit Error Rate (BER) and higher Signal Noise Ratio (SNR) can be obtained by the proposed method compared with the LS and SVD-LMMS methods.

Wind shear is a dangerous atmospheric phenomenon in aviation. Wind shear is defined as a sudden change of speed or direction of the wind. In order to analyze the influence of wind shear on the efficiency of the airplane, this paper proposes a mathematical model of point target rain echo and weather target signal echo based on Doppler effect. The wind field model is developed in this paper, and the antenna model is also studied by using Bessel function. The spectrum distribution of symmetric and asymmetric wind fields is researched by using the mathematical model proposed in this paper. The simulation results are in accordance with radial velocity component, and the simulation results also confirm the correctness of the established model of antenna.