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Metformin has been found to have inhibitory effects on a variety of tumors. However, its effects on non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remain unclear. We demonstrated that metformin could inhibit the proliferation of A549 and H1299 cells. RNA transcriptome sequencing revealed that PDL1 was significantly downregulated in both cell types following treatment with metformin (P

Background The prognostic significance of ALK rearrangement is still contradictory. Here, we aimed to investigate the clinical characteristics and outcomes of lung adenocarcinoma patients with ALK rearrangement, and analyze whether these patients benefited from targeted therapy. Methods This was a retrospective cohort study of 80 ALK‐rearranged lung adenocarcinoma patients who had undergone radical surgery and another 3031 ALK mutation‐negative patients were retrospectively reviewed for inclusion in this case‐controlled analyses. Overall survival (OS) was evaluated using the Kaplan‐–Meier method. Univariate analysis (UVA) and multivariate analysis (MVA) by the Cox proportional hazards regression identified risk factors that predicted OS. Results Compared to ALK‐negative patients, the ALK rearranged patients were younger, with more non‐smokers, more females, a larger primary tumor was demonstrated, and were a higher pathological stage. In particular, the risk of lymph node metastasis was higher. For patients with surgically‐resected tumors, the prognosis was better for ALK rearranged patients (HR = 0.503; 95% CI: 0.259–0.974, p = 0.041). In addition, for stage II–III patients, targeted therapy was an independent prognostic factor of better OS (HR = 0.159; 95% CI: 0.032–0.801, p = 0.026). Conclusions ALK rearranged lung adenocarcinoma patients who have undergone radical surgery have distinct clinical features. Patients with ALK rearrangement may have a favorable prognosis, and stage II–III patients may benefit from targeted treatment., The article compared 80 ALK+ and 3031 ALK‐ lung adenocarcinoma patients after surgery, explored the clinicopathological characteristics and prognostic features of ALK+ lung adenocarcinoma patients, and analyzed the impact of targeted drugs on the survival of ALK+ lung adenocarcinoma patients after surgery.

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) accounts for 90% of all cases of esophageal cancers worldwide. Although neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT-ESCC) improves the survival of ESCC patients, the five-year survival rate of these patients is dismal. The tumor microenvironment (TME) and tumor heterogeneity decrease the efficacy of ESCC therapy. In our study, 113,581 cells obtained from five ESCC patients who underwent surgery alone (SA-ESCC) and five patients who underwent preoperative paclitaxel plus platinum chemotherapy (NACT-ESCC), were used for scRNA-seq analysis to explore molecular and cellular reprogramming patterns. The results showed samples from NACT-ESCC patients exhibited the characteristics of malignant cells and TME unlike samples from SA-ESCC patients. Cancer cells from NACT-ESCC samples were mainly at the ‘intermediate transient stage’. Stromal cell dynamics showed molecular and functional shifts that formed the immune-activation microenvironment. APOE, APOC1, and SPP1 were highly expressed in tumor-associated macrophages resulting in anti-inflammatory macrophage phenotypes. Levels of CD8+ T cells between SA-ESCC and NACT-ESCC tissues were significantly different. Immune checkpoints analysis revealed that LAG3 is a potential immunotherapeutic target for both NACT-ESCC and SA-ESCC patients. Cell–cell interactions analysis showed the complex cell-cell communication networks in the TME. In summary, our findings elucidate on the molecular and cellular reprogramming of NACT-ESCC and ESCC patients. These findings provide information on the potential diagnostic and therapeutic targets for ESCC patients.

Background Tumor invasiveness reflects many biological changes associated with tumorigenesis, progression, metastasis, and drug resistance. Therefore, we performed a systematic assessment of invasiveness-related molecular features across multiple human cancers. Materials and methods Multi-omics data, including gene expression, miRNA, DNA methylation, and somatic mutation, in approximately 10,000 patients across 30 cancer types from The Cancer Genome Atlas, Gene Expression Omnibus, PRECOG, and our institution were enrolled in this study. Results Based on a robust gene signature, we established an invasiveness score and found that the score was significantly associated with worse prognosis in almost all cancers. Then, we identified common invasiveness-associated dysregulated molecular features between high- and low-invasiveness score group across multiple cancers, as well as investigated their mutual interfering relationships thus determining whether the dysregulation of invasiveness-related genes was caused by abnormal promoter methylation or miRNA expression. We also analyzed the correlations between the drug sensitivity data from cancer cell lines and the expression level of 685 invasiveness-related genes differentially expressed in at least ten cancer types. An integrated analysis of the correlations among invasiveness-related genetic features and drug response were conducted in esophageal carcinoma patients to outline the complicated regulatory mechanism of tumor invasiveness status in multiple dimensions. Moreover, functional enrichment suggests the invasiveness score might serve as a predictive biomarker for cancer patients receiving immunotherapy. Conclusion Our pan-cancer study provides a comprehensive atlas of tumor invasiveness and may guide more precise therapeutic strategies for tumor patients.

Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Traditional RNA sequencing data fails to detect the exact cellular and molecular changes in tumor cells as they make up only a small proportion of tumor tissue. 10× genomics single-cell RNA sequencing (10× scRNA-seq) and gene expression data of LUAD patients was obtained from the Department of Thoracic Surgery, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, ArrayExpress, TCGA, and GEO databases. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in LUAD and alveolar cells (DEGs-scRNA-cancer_cell), tumor- and normal tissue-derived cells (DEGs-scRNA-sample), and normal and LUAD patients (DEGs-Bulk). Flow cytometry and qRT-PCR were performed to validate the significantly differentially expressed ligand-receptor pairs. We selected 159,219 cells and 594 samples in the scRNA-seq data and traditional RNA sequencing, respectively. A total of 1042 DEGs-scRNA-cancer_cell, 788 DEGs-scRNA-sample, and 2510 DEGs-Bulk were identified in this study. We also identified 57 DEGs that were only detected in DEGs-scRNA-cancer_cell (only-DEGs-scRNA-cancer_cell). To explore the relationship between only-DEGs-scRNA-cancer_cell and survival in LUAD, 14 and 22 only-DEGs-scRNA-cancer_cell, which were closely related with survival in TCGA and GEO cohorts were identified. Functional enrichment analyses showed these DEGs-scRNA-cancer_cells were mainly related to cell proliferation and immunoregulation. Our study detected and compared DEGs at different levels and revealed genes that may regulate tumor development. Our results provide a potential new protocol to determine the contribution of DEGs to cancer progression and to help identify potential therapeutic targets.

Yuansheng Zheng,1,* Yiwei Huang,1,* Guoshu Bi,1,* Zhencong Chen,1 Tao Lu,1 Songtao Xu,1,2 Cheng Zhan,1 Qun Wang1 1Department of Thoracic Surgery, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai City, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Thoracic Surgery, Xiamen Branch, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Xiamen City, Fujian Province, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Cheng Zhan; Qun WangDepartment of Thoracic Surgery, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, No. 180, Fenglin Road, Shanghai 200032, People’s Republic of ChinaTel/Fax +86-21-64041990Email czhan10@fudan.edu.cn; wang.qun@zs-hospital.sh.cnBackground: Most non-small cell lung cancer patients with enlarged mediastinal lymph nodes (LN) in preoperative computer tomography (CT) images are diagnosed with N0 in the pathological examination after surgery. However, these patients seem to have worse survival than those without enlarged mediastinal LN in our clinical practice. This study aimed to investigate whether the size of mediastinal LN is correlated with the prognosis in pathological N0 patients, which could help us to predict the prognoses further.Methods: The retrospective cohort study involved 758 N0 patients with a thin layer CT scan. We have measured the size of mediastinal LN, including long diameter, short diameter, and volume on CT image, and classified patients by X-tile. Next, we explored the risk factors of enlarged LN by univariate and multivariate logistic analysis. Then, we have compared the 5-year cancer-specific survival by Kaplan–Meier and log-rank method. Multivariate Cox analysis was utilized to further survival analysis. Finally, we have constructed the prediction model by nomogram.Results: A total of 150 N0 patients (19.8%) had mediastinal LN enlargement in our study. After multivariate logistic analysis, we found the LN enlargement was significantly correlated with age (p=0.001), pathology (p < 0.001) and tumor recurrence (p < 0.001). The patients with LN enlargement had a worse 5-year cancer-specific survival (75.3% vs 92.8%, p < 0.001) after Kaplan–Meier analysis. Patients with a larger volume had increased risk of tumor-associated death when compared with the normal group (p < 0.001) by multivariate Cox analyses.Conclusion: N0 patients with larger mediastinal LN had a worse 5-year cancer-specific survival and a higher risk of recurrence. The volume of LN was the most valuable prognostic factor in N0 patients.Keywords: mediastinal lymph nodes, enlarged, prognosis, computed tomography

Background Lung large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (L-LCNEC) is a rare and rapidly progressing lung cancer. We aimed to formulate a nomogram model to predict the survival of L-LCNEC patients. Methods Clinical data of patients with L-LCNEC, lung large cell cancer (L-LCC) and small cell lung cancer (SCLC) were derived from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. The characteristics and prognosis of L-LCNEC were investigated by comparing with that of L-LCC and SCLC, respectively. All L-LCNEC patients were randomly assigned into training group and validation group. A prognostic nomogram model was established for the overall survival (OS) in L-LCNEC patients. Furthermore, we enrolled 112 L-LCNEC patients from our department to validate the nomogram model. Result 3,076 L-LCNEC, 11,163 L-LCC, and 78,097 SCLC patients were collected and enrolled in our analyses. Compared with L-LCC and SCLC, differences were observed in L-LCNEC in age, sex, race, marital status, SEER registry, TNM stage, and treatment. Furthermore, higher proportions of L-LCNEC were located at the upper lobe and unilateral lung compared with SCLC. L-LCNEC has similar survival to L-LCC, but better than SCLC. We identified that the age, gender, T, N, and M classification, and treatment were the independent prognostic predictors. A nomogram model was formulated to predict the OS. Calibration curves were performed to show optimal coherence between predicted probability of survival and actual survival, with a concordance index of 0.775. The external cohort included 112 patients and all of them underwent surgical treatment. The external validation demonstrated the reliability of this model. Conclusions The nomogram demonstrated its discrimination capability to predict the OS for L-LCNEC patients.

BACKGROUND: Adenosquamous carcinoma (ASC) of the lung is an infrequent variant of lung cancer. This study aimed to identify independent risk factors and to develop a predictive model for the prognosis of ASC patients. METHODS: Patient data were extracted from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database (2004 to 2016) and database in our department (2010 to 2014). Overall survival (OS) was evaluated by the Kaplan-Meier method. Significant prognostic factors were identified by univariate analysis (UVA) and multivariate analysis (MVA) using the Cox proportional hazards regression. Competing risk model analyses were performed using cancer-specific survival outcomes. A nomogram was developed to predict patient 3-year and 5-year OS and was validated using data from the two databases. RESULTS: A total of 4,600 patients with ASC were included and divided into a training cohort (n=3,202) and two validation cohorts (n=1,372, n=26). Patients with ASC had significantly older age, lower grades of tumor differentiation or incidences of nodal, and distant invasions than adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the lung (P

Purpose: Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Although tumor cell-T cell interactions are known to play a fundamental role in promoting tumor progression, these interactions have not been explored in LUAD. Methods: The 10x genomics single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) and gene expression data of LUAD patients were obtained from ArrayExpress, TCGA, and GEO databases. scRNA-seq data were analyzed and infiltrating tumor cells, epithelial cells, and T cells were identified in the tumor microenvironment. Differentially expressed ligand-receptor pairs were identified in tumor cells/normal epithelial cells and tumor T cells/non-tumor T cells based on corresponding scRNA-seq and gene expression data, respectively. These important interactions inside/across cancer cells and T cells in LUAD were systematically analyzed. Furthermore, a valid prognostic machine-learning model based on ligand-receptor interactions was built to predict the prognosis of LUAD patients. Flow cytometry and qRT-PCR were performed to validate the significantly differently expressed ligand-receptor pairs. Results: Overall, 39,692 cells in scRNA-seq data were included in our study after quality filtering. A total of 65 ligand-receptor pairs (17 upregulated and 48 downregulated), including LAMB1-ITGB1, CD70-CD27, and HLA-B-LILRB2, and 96 ligand-receptor pairs (41 upregulated and 55 downregulated), including CCL5-CCR5, SELPLG-ITGB2, and CXCL13-CXCR5, were identified in LUAD cancer cells and T cells, respectively. To explore the crosstalk between cancer cells and T cells, 114 ligand-receptor pairs, including 11 ligand-receptor pair genes that could significantly affect survival outcomes, were identified in our research. A machine-learning model was established to accurately predict the prognosis of LUAD patients and ITGB4, CXCR5, and MET were found to play an important role in prognosis in our model. Flow cytometry and qRT-PCR analyses indicated the reliability of our study. Conclusion: Our study revealed functionally significant interactions within and between cancer cells and T cells. We believe these observations will improve our understanding of potential mechanisms of tumor microenvironment contributions to cancer progression and help identify potential targets for immunotherapy in the future.

Background This study used the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) data to investigate clinicopathological characteristics and prognoses of patients with esophageal cancer as a second primary cancer from 2000 to 2015. Methods Esophageal cancer as the second primary cancer (SEPC) patient information collected from the SEER database were extracted, evaluated, and compared with only primary esophageal cancer (OPEC) patient data. Overall survival (OS) was evaluated by the Kaplan-Meier method. Univariate analysis (UVA) and multivariate analysis (MVA) by the Cox proportional hazards regression identified risk factors that predicted OS and the results were used to construct a nomogram to predict OS in SEPC patients. Results A total of 7,161 esophageal cancer patients were identified from the SEER registry, which included 813 patients (11.4%) with SEPC in the patient history. The most common cancer for the first primary cancer prior to esophageal cancer (FPC) was genital system cancer (43.5%). The median OS was 7 (95% CI: 6.69–11.31) months and was not significantly different from that of patients with OPEC. The patients with SEPC appeared with unique clinical pathological features compared with OPEC, including older age, more squamous cell carcinoma, and early stage esophageal cancer, and less lower third of esophageal cancer (P

Compared with previous textiles possessing a hierarchical roughness structure for accelerating moisture evaporation, the use of Joule-heating to prepare heatable textiles is a more novel and useful way to achieve ultra-fast evaporation. Herein, we report an assembly strategy to create a functional non-woven (NW) fabric for directional moisture transportation and ultra-fast evaporation, ameliorating previous shortcomings. The resulting functional NW fabric reaches a sheet resistance of 1.116 Ω □−1, and the increased surface temperature (76.1 °C) induced by a low voltage (5 V) further results in an excellent ultra-fast evaporation rate (3.42 g h−1). Also, the moisture is transported to the outer surface of the designed fabric and spreads onto this surface. This desirable property can expand the contact area between sweat and the heatable fabric, further improving the evaporation efficiency, while maintaining the dry state of human skin. Generally, this functional textile with remarkable moisture management capabilities could be applied in winter outdoor sportswear to maintain human comfort.

Objectives To explore the clinical features, molecular characteristics, and immune landscape of lung adenocarcinoma patients with KEAP1/NFE2L2/CUL3 mutations. Methods The multi‐omics data from the GDC‐TCGA LUAD project of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database were downloaded from the Xena browser. The estimate of the immune infiltration was implemented by using the GSVA analysis and CIBERSORT. The status of KEAP1/NFE2L2/CUL3 mutation in 50 LUAD samples of our department was detected by using Sanger sequencing, following the relative expression level of differentially expressed genes (DEGs), miRNAs (DEmiRNAs), and lncRNAs (DElncRNAs) was validated by IHC and real‐time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT‐qPCR). Results The Kaplan–Meier and multivariable Cox regression analyses demonstrated that KEAP1/NFE2L2/CUL3 mutations had independent prognostic value for OS and PFS in LUAD patients. The differential analysis detected 207 upregulated genes (like GSR/UGT1A6) and 447 downregulated genes (such as PIGR). GO, KEGG, and GSEA analyses demonstrated that DEGs were enriched in glutamate metabolism and the immune response. The constructed ceRNA network shows the linkage of differential lncRNAs and mRNAs. Three hundred and nine somatic mutations were detected, alterations in immune infiltration DNA methylations and stemness scores were also founded between the two groups. Eight mutated LUAD patients were detected by Sanger DNA sequencing in 50 surgical patients. GSR and UGT1A6 were validated to express higher in the Mut group, whereas the expression of PIGR was restrained. Furthermore, the IHC staining conducted on paraffin‐embedded tissue emphasizes the consistency of our result. Conclusion This research implemented the comprehensive analysis of KEAP1/NFE2L2/CUL3 somatic mutations in the LUAD patients. Compared with the wild type of LUAD patients, the Mut group shows a large difference in clinical features, RNA sequence, DNA methylation, and immune infiltrations, indicating complex mechanism oncogenesis and also reveals potential therapeutic targets., For the first time, an integrated multi‐mics analysis of KEAP1/NFE2L2/CUL3 mutated LUAD patients was performed. Based on several independent database, we validated the clinical value of KEAP1/NFE2L2/CUL3 in univiarate and multiviarate analyses. Our research shed light on the significance of potential therapeutical target via bioinformatics analyses and experimental verification.

Metformin has been found to have inhibitory effects on a variety of tumors. However, its effects on non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remain unclear. We demonstrated that metformin could inhibit the proliferation of A549 and H1299 cells. RNA transcriptome sequencing revealed that PDL1 was significantly downregulated in both cell types following treatment with metformin (P 0.001). Jaspar analysis and chromatin immunoprecipitation showed that CEBPB could directly bind the promoter region of PDL1. Western blotting showed that protein expression of the isoforms CEBPB-LAP*, CEBPB-LAP, and CEBPB-LIP was significantly upregulated and the LIP/LAP ratio was increased. Gene chip analysis showed that PDL1 was significantly upregulated in A549-CEBPB-LAP cells and significantly downregulated in A549-CEBPB-LIP cells (P 0.05) compared with CEBPB-NC cells. Dual-luciferase reporter gene assay showed that CEBPB-LAP overexpression could promote transcription of PDL1 and CEBPB-LIP overexpression could inhibit the process. Functional assays showed that the changes in CEBPB isoforms affected the function of NSCLC cells. Western blotting showed that metformin could regulate the function of NSCLC cells via AMPK-CEBPB-PDL1 signaling. Animal experiments showed that tumor growth was significantly inhibited by metformin, and atezolizumab and metformin had a synergistic effect on tumor growth. A total of 1247 patients were retrospectively analyzed, including 166 and 1081 patients in metformin and control groups, respectively. The positive rate of PDL1 was lower than that of the control group (HR = 0.338, 95% CI = 0.235-0.487; P 0.001). In conclusion, metformin inhibited the proliferation of NSCLC cells and played an anti-tumor role in an AMPK-CEBPB-PDL1 signaling-dependent manner.

Background Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) patients with different American Joint Committee on Cancer stages have different overall 5‐year survival rates. The tumor microenvironment (TME) and intra‐tumor heterogeneity (ITH) have been shown to play a crucial role in the occurrence and development of tumors. However, the TME and ITH in different lesions of LUAD have not been extensively explored. Methods We present a 204,157‐cell catalog of the TME transcriptome in 29 lung samples to systematically explore the TME and ITH in the different stages of LUAD. Traditional RNA sequencing data and complete clinical information were downloaded from publicly available databases. Results Based on these high‐quality cells, we constructed a single‐cell network underlying cellular and molecular features of normal lung, early LUAD, and advanced LUAD cells. In contrast with early malignant cells, we noticed that advanced malignant cells had a remarkably more complex TME and higher ITH level. We also found that compared with other immune cells, more differences in CD8+/CTL T cells, regulatory T cells, and follicular B cells were evident between early and advanced LUAD. Additionally, cell‐cell communication analyses, revealed great diversity between different lesions of LUAD at the single‐cell level. Flow cytometry and qRT‐PCR were used to validate our results. Conclusion Our results revealed the cellular diversity and molecular complexity of cell lineages in different stages of LUAD. We believe our research, which serves as a basic framework and valuable resource, can facilitate exploration of the pathogenesis of LUAD and identify novel therapeutic targets in the future., Our study comprehensively studied the tumor microenvironment (TME)and intra‐tumor heterogeneity (ITH) in different stages of LUAD by both scRNA‐seq and bulk RNA‐seq analyses.Based on these high‐quality cells derived from different tissues, our results revealed the cellular diversity and molecular complexity of cell lineages in different stages of LUAD.This study, which serves as a basic framework and valuable resource, can facilitate exploration of the pathogenesis of LUAD and identify novel therapeutic targets in the future.

Aim. This study is aimed at building a risk model based on the genes that significantly altered the proliferation of lung adenocarcinoma cells and exploring the underlying mechanisms. Methods. The data of 60 lung adenocarcinoma cell lines in the Cancer Dependency Map (Depmap) were used to identify the genes whose knockout led to dramatical acceleration or deacceleration of cell proliferation. Then, univariate Cox regression was performed using the survival data of 497 patients with lung adenocarcinoma in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) model was used to construct a risk prediction score model. Patients with lung adenocarcinoma from TCGA were classified into high- or low-risk groups based on the scores. The differences in clinicopathologic, genomic, and immune characteristics between the two groups were analyzed. The prognosis of the genes in the model was verified with immunohistochemical staining in 100 samples from the Department of Thoracic Surgery, Zhongshan Hospital, and the alteration in the proliferation rate was checked after these genes were knocked down in lung adenocarcinoma cells (A549 and H358). Results. A total of 55 genes were found to be significantly related to survival by combined methods, which were crucial to tumor progression in functional enrichment analysis. A six-gene-based risk prediction score, including the proteasome subunit beta type-6 (PSMB6), the heat shock protein family A member 9 (HSPA9), the deoxyuridine triphosphatase (DUT), the cyclin-dependent kinase 7 (CDK7), the polo-like kinases 1 (PLK1), and the folate receptor beta 2 (FOLR2), was built using the LASSO method. The high-risk group classified with the score model was characterized by poor overall survival (OS), immune infiltration, and relatively higher mutation load. A total of 9864 differentially expressed genes and 138 differentially expressed miRNAs were found between the two groups. Also, a nomogram comparing score model, age, and the stage was built to predict OS for patients with lung adenocarcinoma. Using immunohistochemistry, the expression levels of PSMB6, HSPA9, DUT, CDK7, and PLK1 were found to be higher in lung adenocarcinoma tissues of patients, while the expression of FOLR2 was low, which was consistent with survival prediction. The knockdown of PSMB6 and HSPA9 by siRNA significantly downregulated the proliferation of A549 and H358 cells. Conclusion. The proposed score model may function as a promising risk prediction tool for patients with lung adenocarcinoma and provide insights into the molecular regulation mechanism of lung adenocarcinoma.

Additional file 1: Table S1. The major results, as well as corresponding data sources and analytical methods in each subsection. Table S2. Heuristic choices used for the criteria for common molecular alteration in different datatypes.

Background To compare the landscape of tumor microenvironment (TME) of lung squamous carcinoma (LUSC) in different immune pattern and explore potential factors on immune therapy and prognosis Method and Materials: We have obtained the LUSC data from TCGA, GEO, and our department and classified them into 2 TME clusters by random forest model based on the infiltration pattern of 24 immune cell populations. Then we systemically compared the genomic significance, clinical characteristic and immune infiltration pattern in 2 TME clusters. Results Samples were divided into 2 TME clusters based on the relative abundance of 24 immune cells and a random forest classifier model was constructed. TME cluster B was a higher immune infiltration group with lower mutation load, richer co-infiltrate immune cells, up-regulated immune-related cytokines including immune checkpoint molecules, and higher active immune cells. TME cluster was also an independent predictor in prognosis (B vs A, p

In this study, a novel electrospinning method and the related spinning device were developed to fabricate a new type of polysulfone amide yarn assembled with nanoscale fiber. The electrospun nanofibers extruded and stretched under the electric field force were assembled and twisted with a rotating receiver, so the freshly prepared nanofibers could be bundled into yarns continuously. The effects of solid concentration and the rotating speed of the collector on the yarn structures and properties were investigated systematically. The three-dimensional electric field was modeled and calculated theoretically to simulate the electric field distribution of the electrospinning system. The experimental results showed that the morphology, mechanical strength, and thermal and wicking properties were obviously affected by solid concentration and the rotating speed of the collector. It was found that the nanoyarn could achieve a better performance in morphology, strength, heat resistance, moisture absorption at 12 wt% and 40 r/min collector rotating speed. Therefore, the proposed advanced electrospinning technique in this paper could be used to produce multi-functional nanoyarns, which may be useful for the application of nanoyarns in various industrial fields.

Directional water transport in garment materials plays a pivotal role in maintaining human thermal and wet comfort. In the present work, a new type of multilayer fibrous mat with the specific function of directional water transport was prepared via the combination of melt-electrospinning and solution-electrospinning. The polypropylene (PP) fibrous layer prepared by melt-electrospinning technology was located in the inner layer (next to the skin), while the polyacrylonitrile-containing hydrophilic nano-silica particles (PAN-SiO2) layer with remarkable hydrophilicity was located in the outer layer, which could effectively transport water to the outer surface of the composites. Treatment of the as-prepared PAN-SiO2/PP with an alkaline aqueous solution of dopamine not only increased the wettability of the PP layer, but also further improved the hydrophilicity of PAN-SiO2. A layer of cotton woven mesh was added between the TPP layer and TPAN-SiO2 to form a sandwich structure in order to accelerate water transport in the bilayered fibrous mats. The directional water transport, mechanical flexibility, and permeability of the prepared multilayered superfine fibrous mat were characterized systematically. The experimental results exhibited that TPAN-SiO2/cotton mesh/TPP exhibited an excellent accumulative one-way transport index (AOTI, 1071%), remarkable overall moisture management capacity (OMMC, 0.88), and reasonably high water vapor transport rate (WVT, 11.6 kg d−1 m−2), indicating it is a promising candidate for the development of novel textile materials for use in the field of sportswear for fast sweat release applications.

Electric field plays a key role in producing required nanofibers in electrospinning. The applied voltage and working distance are the two main factors affects the electric field distribution during the electrospinning process. This work discussed the effects of these two parameters on the fiber fineness and performance in the electrospinning process, and also verified the results of numerical simulation through a series of experiments. The results showed that the larger the voltage applied to the spinneret is, the greater the electric force acting on the fibers is, which leads to a smaller fiber fineness and a preferable hydrophobic performance and strength. On the other hand, as the spinning distance increases, the smaller the force exerted on the fiber is, the larger the diameter is and the weaker hydrophobic performance is.

Background Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death, and countries all over the world have given considerable support to lung cancer research. However, analysis on the status of funding in the field of lung cancer is still lacking. Methods We visited the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) official websites to gather lung cancer research information between 2008 and 2020. RSTCM6 software was used to extract the keywords of funded projects which were then imported into CiteSpace software for visual analysis of word frequency. Results A total of 1,745 and 5,939 search results were finally obtained from the NSFC and NIH websites, respectively. The amount of NSFC funding for projects in the field of lung cancer increased steadily from 2008 to 2012, while the NIH funding for lung cancer was significantly higher in even years than in odd years between 2008 to 2018. The Shanghai Jiaotong University, Sun Yat-sen University, and Guangzhou Medical University were the top three research institutions that had received the most projects funded by the NSFC. Apoptosis, proliferation, invasion, metabolism, the pathogenesis of lung cancer, cell signal transduction, epithelial-mesenchymal transformation (EMT), and immune-related research were the most frequently funded research areas by the NSFC. Biomarkers, targeted therapy, signal pathway, genomics, and immune-related research were funded most the most frequently funded research areas by the NIH. Both the NIH and NSFC funding for lung cancer immune-related research has increased in recent years. Conclusions NIH funding in the United States is decreasing year by year, whereas NSFC funding is increasing in China. There are some differences in research focus in lung cancer research funding between China and the United States. However, both countries have increased the support for immune-related research in recent years.

In this study we investigated the effects of jet path on the morphology and mat size of synthetic polystyrene (PS) fibers during the electrospinning process. In addition, the mechanism of the fiber mats, which were prepared by varying the solution concentration, was evaluated. The straight jet length, envelope cone and whipping frequency of each electrospun jet were studied using images captured by a high-speed photography camera. The results showed that higher solution concentrations led to longer straight jet lengths, smaller envelope cones and lower whipping frequencies. The diameter and surface morphology of the PS fibers were also characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It was found that fibers spun with higher solution concentrations exhibited larger diameters and diameter distributions because of their jet path features. Furthermore, the electrospun jets with higher concentrations increased elongation and produced smaller fiber mats and higher breaking forces as a result of their different jet paths, which was a consequence of varying the solution concentration.

The electric field plays a key role in the electrospinning process. The electrospinning process is governed by the electric field caused by the applied voltage between the spinneret and the collector. In the present work, a comprehensive analysis was carried out to investigate the effect of the electric field on jet behavior in the multijet electrospinning process. Two multijet electrospinning systems were involved in this study. High-speed photography was adopted to capture the jet motion, and numerical simulation was used to understand the electric field distribution. The characteristics of jet behavior were described with five parameters: the straight jet length of the central jet, the straight jet length of the outer jet, the envelope cone of the central jet, the envelope cone of the outer jet, and the deviation angle of the outer jet. It was observed that all the parameters are influenced by the applied voltage and induced electric field distribution. It was found that the shape and strength of the electric field are the two factors responsible for the jet behavior in the multijet electrospinning system.

Electric field plays a key role in producing required nanofibers in electrospinning. This study aims to improve the electric field distribution of the multijet spinning system by designing the spinneret configuration. A novel 19-hole multistep electrospinning configuration is presented. The simulation results show that the electric field strength at the central position is intensified due to the protuberant step on the spinneret, and therefore more uniform electric field is obtained compared with the 19-hole flat spinneret. We demonstrate that the multistep spinneret configuration produces finer fibers and more continuous fiber mats compared with the flat spinneret configuration because of the improved electric field distribution. Jet repulsion in the multijet electrospinning process is studied. It is found that the electric field line distribution, which is determined by the spinneret configuration, plays a dominant role in influencing jet repulsion. Applied voltage is the main factor responsible for jet repulsion for a given spinneret configuration.

The electric field distribution, the jet motion, and the resultant fiber morphology are systematically studied for a single needle and a “hole” electrospinning system. The 3D electric fields and the jet bending processes of the two configurations are simulated. High-speed photography is adopted to capture the jet motion during electrospinning. Four parameters including the straight jet length, the amplitude and frequency of the whipping process, and the velocity of the bending jet are measured to characterize the development of the jet motion. The results show that the hole electrospinning setup produces shorter straight jet length, smaller envelope cone, but higher whipping frequency, and lower jet dropping velocity. These factors result in fine and uniform fibers produced from the “hole” electrospinning system.

In this study, we simulated the electric field distribution of side-by-side electrospinning by using the finite element method (FEM), and studied the effects of spinneret wall thickness, spinning voltage and receiving distance on the distribution of the electrostatic field. The receiving distance was selected as a variable in the experimental, a series of PAN/PSA composite nanofiber membranes were prepared by using a self-made side by side electrospinning device. The membranes were tested by Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TG), and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The prepared membranes were also treated by high-temperature treatment, and the change of fiber diameter and conductivity of the membrane before and after high-temperature treatment were studied. It was found that the PAN/PSA carbonized nanofibers could achieve a better performance in heat resistance and conductivity at 200 mm receiving distance.