Search

Background: Epigenetic mechanisms play vital roles in the activation, differentiation, and effector function of immune cells. The breast and kidney-expressed chemokine (CXCL14) mainly contributes to the regulation of immune cells. However, its role in shaping the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) is yet to be elucidated in renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Objectives: This study aimed to elucidate the role of CXCL14 in predicting the efficacy of immunotherapy in patients with RCC. Methods: CXCL14 expression and RNA-sequencing, single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq), and survival datasets of RCC from public databases were analyzed, and survival was compared between different CXCL14 levels. The correlation between CXCL14 and immune infiltration and human leukocyte antigen (HLA) gene expression was analyzed with TIMER2.0 and gene expression profiling interactive analysis. Institutional scRNA-seq and immunohistochemical staining analyses were used to verify the relationship between CXCL14 expression level and the efficacy of immunotherapy. Results: CXCL14 was expressed in fibroblast and malignant cells in RCC, and higher expression was associated with better survival. Enrichment analysis revealed that CXCL14 is involved in immune activation, primarily in antigen procession, antigen presentation, and major histocompatibility complex assemble. CXCL14 expression was positively correlated with T-cell infiltration as well as HLA-related gene expression. Among the RCC cohort receiving nivolumab in Checkmate 025, the patients with CXCL14 high expression had better overall survival than those with CXCL14 low expression after immunotherapy. scRNA-seq revealed a cluster of CXCL14+ fibroblast in immunotherapy responders. Immunohistochemistry analysis verified that the patients with high CXCL14 expression had an increased proportion of high CD8 expression simultaneously. The expression level of CXCL14 was associated with CXCR4 expression in RCC. Conclusion: CXCL14 expression is associated with immunotherapy response in RCC. It is a promising biomarker for immunotherapy response prediction and may be an effective epigenetic modulator in combination with immunotherapy approaches. Plain language summary: CXCL14 as potential predictor for immunotherapy response in kidney cancer Kidney-expressed chemokine (CXCL14) regulates immune cells. We studied how it affects the body's immune response to kidney cancer based on public and private database and staining. We found that higher levels of CXCL14 in kidney cancer were linked to better patient survival. CXCL14 seems to help activate the immune system. When patients with high CXCL14 levels received immunotherapy, they tended to survive longer than those with low levels. Fibroblasts with CXCL14 were present in patients responding to immunotherapy. Further tests confirmed that high CXCL14 levels were related to more immune cells. CXCR4 may be its receptor in kidney cancer. This suggests that measuring CXCL14 levels could help predict how well a patient might respond to immunotherapy for kidney cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pulmonary cystic echinococcosis remains a serious threat to public health. A standardized, imaging-based classification method for pulmonary echinococcosis has not yet been developed despite the existence of a standardized ultrasound classification method and treatment plan for hepatic cystic echinococcosis. Chest computed tomography (CT) images from 34 cases of pulmonary cystic echinococcosis with 46 lesions were used for classification based on the World Health Organization (WHO) standardized ultrasound classification of hepatic cystic echinococcosis. CT findings were compared with intraoperative observations and postoperative pathological results to assess accuracy. Pulmonary cystic echinococcosis was common in women (14/34, 41.2%) and children (14/34, 41.2%) with a single cyst (28/46, 60.9%). Most lesions were classified as cystic echinococcosis 1(CE1, 19/46) or cystic echinococcosis 3(CE3, 21/46). Blood leukocytosis was mostly observed in CE3 lesions (100%, 9/9) (p < 0.05). The preoperative CT diagnosis of pulmonary cystic echinococcosis had an accuracy rate of 100%. The preoperative CT typing, and postoperative pathological typing had a coincidence rate of 97.8% (45/46). Our study provided a classification method based on CT imaging for pulmonary cystic echinococcosis that can be used during pre-surgical planning to reduce patient's postoperative complications and mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a phase change material, ice slurry has been successfully applied in HVAC&R systems due to its high energy storage density. The heat exchangers are the key equipment realizing energy conversion of ice slurry. In HVAC&R systems, U-tubes are frequently used in shell and tube heat exchanger. However, there are few studies on thermo-fluidic characteristics of ice slurry in U-tubes. Therefore, the thermo-fluidic characteristics of ice slurry in U-tubes are numerically studied in this paper using Euler-Euler approach. The results indicated that as enlarging the inlet ice content and velocity, the ice concentration distribution becomes more uniform along in vertical profile. Due to the secondary flow in bend section, the ice concentration decreases in the inner wall and increases in the outer wall as the inlet velocity increases; At the high Reynolds number, the inlet ice content and ice particle diameter have a more significant fluence on pressure drop (Δ p). The local heat transfer coefficient (h lo) in bend section exhibits a tendency of first increasing and then decreasing, with the maximum value of h lo occurs at θ = 90° of the bend section. Finally, a correlation is suggested between the average resistance coefficient (f ave) and local Nusselt number (Nu lo). • The melting process of ice slurry in U-tubes is investigated. • The factors affecting thermo-fluidic behavior of ice slurry in U-tubes are discussed. • This peak value of h lo is located within the bending section at an angle of θ = 90°. • The correlation of f ave and Nu lo in U-tubes is obtained for ice slurry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This retrospective observational cohort study aimed to evaluate whether tenecteplase's use for acute ischemic stroke (AIS) has time management advantages and clinical benefits., Methods: 144 AIS patients treated with alteplase and 120 with tenecteplase were included. We compared baseline clinical characteristics, key reperfusion therapy time indices [onset-to-treatment time (OTT), door-to-needle time (DNT), and door-to-puncture time (DPT)] and clinical outcomes (24-h post-thrombolysis NIHSS improvement, and intracranial hemorrhage incidence) between the groups using univariate analysis. We assessed hospital stay durations and used binary logistic regression to examine tenecteplase's association with DNT and DPT target times, NIHSS improvement, and intracranial hemorrhage., Results: Baseline characteristics showed no significant differences except hyperlipidemia and atrial fibrillation. OTT (133 vs. 163.72, p  = 0.001), DNT (36.5 vs. 50, p  < 0.001) and DPT (117 vs. 193, p  = 0.002) were significantly faster in the tenecteplase group. The rates of DNT ≤ 45 min (65.83% vs. 40.44%, p  < 0.001) and DPT ≤ 120 min (59.09% vs. 13.79%, p  = 0.001) were significantly higher in the tenecteplase group. Tenecteplase was an independent predictor of achieving target DNT (OR 2.951, 95% CI 1.732-5.030; p  < 0.001) and DPT (OR 7.867, 95% CI 1.290-47.991; p  = 0.025). Clinically, the proportion NIHSS improvement 24 h post-thrombolysis was higher in the tenecteplase group (64.17% vs. 50%, p  = 0.024). No significant differences were observed in symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (sICH) or any intracranial hemorrhage (ICH). Patients receiving tenecteplase had shorter hospital stays (6 vs. 8 days, p  < 0.001). Tenecteplase was an independent predictor of NIHSS improvement at 24 h (OR 1.715, 95% CI 1.011-2.908; p  = 0.045). There was no significant association between thrombolytic choice and sICH or any ICH., Conclusion: Tenecteplase significantly reduced DNT and DPT. It was associated with early neurological function improvement (at 24 h), without compromising safety compared to alteplase. The findings support tenecteplase's application in AIS., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Yao, Wu, Zhang, Liu, Cai, Ying and Yang.)