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Background Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is the most common soft tissue sarcoma with poor prognosis in children. The 5-year survival rate for early RMS has improved, whereas it remains unsatisfactory for advanced patients. Urine can rapidly reflect changes in the body and identify low-abundance proteins. Early screening of tumor markers through urine in RMS allows for earlier treatment, which is associated with better outcomes. Methods RMS patients under 18 years old, including those newly diagnosed and after surgery, were enrolled. Urine samples were collected at the time points of admission and after four cycles of chemotherapy during follow-up. Then, a two-stage workflow was established. (1) In the discovery stage, differential proteins (DPs) were initially identified in 43 RMS patients and 12 healthy controls (HCs) using a data-independent acquisition method. (2) In the verification stage, DPs were further verified as biomarkers in 54 RMS patients and 25 HCs using parallel reaction monitoring analysis. Furthermore, a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to construct the protein panels for the diagnosis of RMS. Gene Ontology (GO) and Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) software were used to perform bioinformatics analysis. Results A total of 251 proteins were significantly altered in the discovery stage, most of which were enriched in the head, neck and urogenital tract, consistent with the most common sites of RMS. The most overrepresented biological processes from GO analysis included immunity, inflammation, tumor invasion and neuronal damage. Pathways engaging the identified proteins revealed 33 common pathways, including WNT/β-catenin signaling and PI3K/AKT signaling. Finally, 39 proteins were confirmed as urinary biomarkers for RMS, and a diagnostic panel composed of 5 candidate proteins (EPS8L2, SPARC, HLA-DRB1, ACAN, and CILP) was constructed for the early screening of RMS (AUC: 0.79, 95%CI = 0.66 ~ 0.92). Conclusions These findings provide novel biomarkers in urine that are easy to translate into clinical diagnosis of RMS and illustrate the value of global and targeted urine proteomics to identify and qualify candidate biomarkers for noninvasive molecular diagnosis.

Social production and life have become increasingly prominent. Cluster analysis is the basis for further processing of the data. The concept of data mining and the application of neural networks in data mining are introduced. According to the related technology of data mining, this article introduces in detail the two-layer perceptron, backpropagation (BP) neural network, RBF radial basis function network for processing classification problems, and self-organizing map (SOM) self-organizing neural network for unsupervised clustering problems. According to the characteristics of self-adaptive and self-organizing capabilities of these algorithms, we learn and design and implement data mining clustering optimization algorithms. In this paper, the neural network-based data mining process consists of three stages: data preparation, rule extraction, and rule evaluation. This paper studies the teaching-type and decomposition-type rule extraction algorithms. After analyzing the BP decomposition-type algorithm, the correlation method is used to calculate the correlation of the input and output neurons. After sorting by the degree of correlation, the RBF neural network is used for node selection. This can greatly reduce the number of input nodes of the neural network, simplify the network structure, reduce the number of recursive splits of the subnet, and improve calculation efficiency. Taking the model as an example, the training error is calculated through data mining technology and clustering algorithm. Data mining clustering optimization algorithm mainly improves the popular neural network from two aspects: finer model design and model pruning, and simulates model complexity, computational complexity, and errors through simulation experiments. The rate is measured, and finally, the simulation experiment is performed. The results show that the proposed algorithm for differential distributed data mining has higher accuracy and stronger convergence ability and overcomes the shortcomings and shortcomings of several original genetic algorithm optimization neural network data mining models; it can effectively improve the searchability and search accuracy of the algorithm and improve the efficiency of data mining. Accuracy and accuracy have a wide range of applications.

The association of polyelectrolytes (PEs) in solution affects a wealth of structural and dynamic behaviors, and is also fundamentally important for an understanding of protein association and aggregation. Here, we theoretically study the association of two PE chains by addressing the stability and morphology of the non-spherical associates. Our theory predicts that an elongated pearl-necklace (PN) associate can be stable at high salt concentrations due to the screened electrostatic repulsion. This contradicts the implication of scaling theory. In addition, there is no one-to-one correspondence between the morphology of the associate and its constituting unimers, which is demonstrated by the existence of different association modes.

Earth abundant metals are much less expensive, promising, valuable metals and could be served as catalysts for the borrowing hydrogen reaction, dehydrogenation and heterocycles synthesis, instead of noble metals. The uniformly dispersed zinc composites were designed, synthesized and carefully characterized by means of XPS, EDS, TEM and XRD. The resulting zinc composite showed good catalytic activity for the N-alkylation of amines with amines, ketones with alcohols in water under base-free conditions, while unsaturated carbonyl compounds could also be synthesized by tuning the reaction conditions. Importantly, it was the first time to realize the synthesis of 2-aryl-1H-benzo[d]imidazole derivatives by using this zinc composite under green conditions. Meanwhile, this zinc catalyst could be easily recovered and reused for at least five times.

Based on the hole-drilling strain sensing method, a ring Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) array is proposed to realize comprehensive and convenient measurement of residual stress for homogeneous or inhomogeneous materials. All FBG sensors are arranged tangentially along the edge of the ring. With the ring array around the drilled hole, more detailed information of the residual stress can be obtained such as the location and the degree of inhomogeneity. The tangential arrangement of FBG sensors can achieve comparable measurement results to the radial arrangement but it brings convenience for the drilling process without any overlap upon the hole position. This method promotes the application of the FBG sensors in the residual stress measurement field.

A porous copper–cobalt polymer was synthesized and achieved applications for the N-alkylation of sulfonamides with alcohols, and carboxamides with alcohols.

Owing to messenger RNA's unique biological advantages, it has received increasing attention to be used as a therapeutic, known as mRNA-based gene therapy. It is critical to have an ideal strategy of mRNA gene therapy for glioma, which grows in a special environment. In the present study, we screened out a safe and efficient transfection reagent for intracranial delivery of synthetic mRNA in mouse brain. First, in order to analyze the effect of different transfection reagents on the intracranial delivery of mRNA, the synthetic luciferase mRNA was wrapped with two different transfection reagents and microinjected into the brain at the fixed point. The expression status of delivered mRNA was monitored by a small animal imaging system. The possible reagent-induced biological toxicity was evaluated by behavioral and blood biochemical measurements. Then, to test the therapeutic effect of our intracranial delivery mRNA model on glioma, synthetic modified tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) mRNA was used as an example of therapeutic application. This model demonstrated that synthetic mRNA could be successfully delivered into the brain using commercially available transfection reagents, and TransIT-mRNA showed better results than in vivo-jetPEI kit. This model can be applied in precise targeting and personalized gene therapy of glioma., Graphical abstract, This study explores the TransIT-mRNA for intracranial transfection for the first time and provides an intracranial synthetic mRNA delivery model for preclinical studies of mRNA-based gene therapy.

Paired-like homeobox 2B (PHOX2B) is a highly sensitive and specific biomarker for diagnosing neuroblastoma, as well as detecting minimal residual disease in neuroblastoma. The clinical significance...

Rational design and fabrication of optimal reversible oxygen electrocatalysts are essential yet still remain great challenges for rechargeable metal-air batteries. Supramolecular coordination polymer-derived strategy for transition metal–nitrogen–doped carbon (M–N/C, M = Co, Fe, etc.) composites catalysts has been deemed promising in preserving rich M–Nx coordination modes and enhancing their intrinsic activities. However, the closely packed and nonporous characteristics of coordination polymer usually lead to the serious agglomeration of metallic nanoparticles and lack of porous channels after pyrolysis, impacting the abundance and accessibility of the exposed active sites during electrocatalysis. In this work, we put forward a new tactic to obtain ultra-small Co nanoparticles confined within N-doped carbon nanotubes grafted to reduced graphene oxide (Co/N-CNTs@rGO) through a coordination-driven in situ self-assembly approach followed by pyrolysis. The integration of high intrinsic activity, enhanced conductivity, populated and richly exposed active species throughout the laminated hierarchical composite structure endows Co/N-CNTs@rGO with appealing bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysis properties. Impressively, Co/N-CNTs@rGO was subsequently fabricated as the air electrode in a rechargeable Zn−air battery, and the device achieves a maximum power density of 168 mW cm−2, a large specific capacity of 765 mA h g−1 while maintaining satisfying cycling durability. This work may provide valuable insights in regulating the coordination polymer derivatives and bring new perspectives for future design of promising composites electrocatalysts for electrochemical conversions and energy storage technologies.

Chronic airway inflammation mediated by CD8+ T lymphocytes contributes to the pathogenesis of Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Deciphering the fingerprint of the chronic inflammation orchestrated by CD8+ T cells may allow the development of novel approaches to COPD management. Here, the expression of IL-27 and IFN-γ+ CD8+ Tc1 cells were evaluated in patients with COPD and in cigarette smoke-exposed mice. The production of IL-27 by marrow-derived dendritic cells (mDCs) in response to cigarette smoke extract (CSE) was assessed. The role of IL-27 in IFN-γ+ CD8+ Tc1 cells was explored. We demonstrated that elevated IL-27 was accompanied by an exaggerated IFN-γ+ CD8+ Tc1 response in a smoking mouse model of emphysema. We noted that lung dendritic cells were one of the main sources of IL-27 during chronic cigarette smoke exposure. Moreover, CSE directly induced the production of IL-27 by mDCs in vitro. IL-27 negatively regulated the differentiation of IFN-γ+ CD8+ Tc1 cells isolated from cigarette smoke-exposed mice in a STAT1- and STAT3-independent manner. Systemic administration of recombinant IL-27 attenuated IFN-γ+ CD8+ Tc1 response in the late phase of cigarette smoke exposure. Our results uncovered that IL-27 negatively regulates IFN-γ+ CD8+ Tc1 response in the late stage of chronic cigarette smoke exposure, which may provide a new strategy for the anti-inflammatory treatment of smoking-related COPD/emphysema.

Background: Overexpression of LSD1 is associated with the occurrence of many diseases, including cancers, which makes LSD1 a significant target for anticancer drug research. Methodology & Results: With the aid of 3D quantitative structure–activity relationship models established with 34 reported resveratrol derivative LSD1 inhibitors, derivatives 35–40 were designed. Absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion calculations showed that they may have good bioavailability and drug likeness. Additionally, 35 and 37 presented good antitumor effects in an in vitro antiproliferative assay. Molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation results indicated that 35 and 37 can establish extensive interactions with LSD1. Conclusion: The results of computational prediction and experimental validation suggest that 35 and 37 are effective antitumor inhibitors, which provides some ideas and directions for the development of new anticancer LSD1 inhibitors.

Improving the cellulose accessibility and reactivity in an efficient and convenient way has become the focused issue in the field of dissolving pulp manufacturing. We herein demonstrate a simple yet efficient strategy, namely a simultaneous microwave (MW)-assisted phosphotungstic acid (PTA) catalysis (MW-PTA

RNA N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modifications are essential in plants. Here, we show that transgenic expression of the human RNA demethylase FTO in rice caused a more than threefold increase in grain yield under greenhouse conditions. In field trials, transgenic expression of FTO in rice and potato caused ~50% increases in yield and biomass. We demonstrate that the presence of FTO stimulates root meristem cell proliferation and tiller bud formation and promotes photosynthetic efficiency and drought tolerance but has no effect on mature cell size, shoot meristem cell proliferation, root diameter, plant height or ploidy. FTO mediates substantial m6A demethylation (around 7% of demethylation in poly(A) RNA and around 35% decrease of m6A in non-ribosomal nuclear RNA) in plant RNA, inducing chromatin openness and transcriptional activation. Therefore, modulation of plant RNA m6A methylation is a promising strategy to dramatically improve plant growth and crop yield.

It is widely accepted that redox reprogramming participates in malignant transformation of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). However, the source of excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the downstream signaling regulatory mechanism are complicated and unintelligible. In the current study, we newly identified the aquaporin 3 (AQP3) as a LUAD oncogenic factor with capacity to transport exogenous hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and increase intracellular ROS levels. Subsequently, we demonstrated that AQP3 was necessary for the facilitated diffusion of exogenous H2O2 in LUAD cells and that the AQP3‐dependent transport of H2O2 accelerated cell growth and inhibited rapamycin‐induced autophagy. Mechanistically, AQP3‐mediated H2O2 uptake increased intracellular ROS levels to inactivate PTEN and activate the AKT/mTOR pathway to subsequently inhibit autophagy and promote proliferation in LUAD cells. Finally, we suggested that AQP3 depletion retarded subcutaneous tumorigenesis in vivo and simultaneously decreased ROS levels and promoted autophagy. These findings underscore the importance of AQP3‐induced oxidative stress in malignant transformation and suggest a therapeutic target for LUAD., Aquaporin 3 (AQP3) is a lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) oncogene with the capacity to transport exogenous hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and increase intracellular ROS levels. The devitalized oxidation of PTEN by AQP3‐transported H2O2 induces the hyperactivation of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway to subsequently inhibit autophagy and promote proliferation in LUAD cells.

Poor fracture toughness is a major limitation of SiC ceramics, which greatly affects their application range. Herein, a novel strategy is proposed to enhance the fracture toughness of SiC ceramics by cross-linking carbon nanotubes (CNTs) coated with polydopamine (PDA) to Ti3C2 modified with 3-glycidyloxypropyltrime-thoxysilane (KH560) (PDA-CNTs@f-Ti3C2). Then, PDA-CNTs@f-Ti3C2 was added to SiC powder to prepare the final composite. The influence of PDA-CNTs@f-Ti3C2 addition on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the SiC composite is discussed. The results showed that, compared with CNTs and Ti3C2, the PDA-CNTs@f-Ti3C2 composites exhibited better dispersibility in water. The flexural strength was significantly enhanced (~89%) in the SiC composite containing 3 wt% PDA-CNTs@f-Ti3C2, from 228.99 MPa to 433.55 MPa. The fracture toughness of the SiC composite containing 3 wt% PDA-CNTs@f-Ti3C2 improved by 62%, from 3.97 MPa/m1/2 to 6.44 MPa/m1/2.

Chemical investigation of Paxillus involutus (Batsch) Fr. led to the isolation of a pair of new enantiomers (E)-5-(4-methoxy-2-oxo-2H-pyran-6-yl)pent-4-en-1-yl 2-hydroxypropanoate (1a/1b) along wit...

This letter proposes a method for calculating the sensitivity of delay margin with respect to system parameters. According to the property that the delay margin is achieved when the rightmost eigenvalues of the close-loop system locate exactly on the imaginary axis, a characteristic equation with inclusion of the delay margin is established. By differentiating the characteristic equation and further introducing normalization condition for the eigenvector, the sensitivity of the delay margin with respect to any given parameters can be obtained by solving a set of sparse linear equations. Due to the general differential and algebraic equation used in the derivation, the proposed delay margin sensitivity analysis method applies to various power system models and control problems.

Laboratory-scale experiments were conducted to investigate the oxygen content of Si-deoxidized H13 die steel by ferrous oxide-containing slags at 1873 K. The calculation of thermodynamics and kinetics was performed to evaluate the oxygen level of molten steel through [Si]–[O] equilibrium and [Fe]–[O] equilibrium. The results show that as the FeO content in slag increases, the oxygen content with [Si]–[O] equilibrium (w([O])Si) has almost no change. When both the oxygen content with [Fe]–[O] equilibrium (w([O])Fe) and w([O])Si are less than the initial oxygen content in steel (w(TO)i), the oxygen content in steel (w([O])) depends on the higher value between w([O])Si and w([O])Fe. In the case of w([O])Fe > w(TO)i, the value of w([O]) is the difference between the sum of w(TO)i and w([O])Si and the value of w([O])Fe. The reaction rates of [Si]–[O] and [Fe]–[O] are equal, which are controlled by the mass transfer of oxygen in molten steel. The evaluation method is suitable to the whole smelting process of Si-deoxidized H13 die steel.

The ability to control network dynamics is essential for ensuring desirable functionality of many technological, biological, and social systems. Such systems often consist of a large number of network elements, and controlling large-scale networks remains challenging because the computation and communication requirements increase prohibitively fast with network size. Here, we introduce a notion of network locality that can be exploited to make the control of networks scalable even when the dynamics are nonlinear. We show that network locality is captured by an information metric and is almost universally observed across real and model networks. In localized networks, the optimal control actions and system responses are both shown to be necessarily concentrated in small neighborhoods induced by the information metric. This allows us to develop localized algorithms for determining network controllability and optimizing the placement of driver nodes. This also allows us to develop a localized algorithm for designing local feedback controllers that approach the performance of the corresponding best global controllers while incurring a computational cost orders-of-magnitude lower. We validate the locality, performance, and efficiency of the algorithms in Kuramoto oscillator networks as well as three large empirical networks: synchronization dynamics in the Eastern U.S. power grid, epidemic spreading mediated by the global air transportation network, and Alzheimer's disease dynamics in a human brain network. Taken together, our results establish that large networks can be controlled with computation and communication costs comparable to those for small networks., Comment: Codes are available on GitHub (https://github.com/cduan2020/LocalizedControl/)

Circular RNA (circRNAs) Fibronectin Type III Domain Containing 3B (FNDC3B) (circFNDC3B) has been revealed to be involved in the progression of oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Hence, the potential regulatory network of circFNDC3B in ESCC was further investigated. Levels of genes and proteins were examined by qRT-PCR and Western blot. In vitro assays were performed using colony formation assay, 5-Ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine (EdU) assay, flow cytometry, wound healing assay, and transwell assay. The target relationship between miR-214-3p and circFNDC3B or cell division cycle 25 homologue A (CDC25A) was verified by dual-luciferase reporter and RIP assays. In vivo assay was carried out using the xenograft nude mice model. CircFNDC3B was highly expressed in ESCC, and high circFNDC3B expression was tightly associated with poor prognosis in ESCC patients. Functionally, circFNDC3B knockdown not only suppressed ESCC cell growth, migration and invasion in vitro, but hindered ESCC tumour growth in vivo. Mechanistically, circFNDC3B acted as a sponge for miR-214-3p to up-regulate the expression of its target CDC25A. Rescue experiments showed that miR-214-3p inhibitor reversed the anticancer effects of circFNDC3B knockdown. Moreover, forced expression of miR-214-3p suppressed the malignant phenotypes mentioned above, while this condition was abolished by CDC25A overexpression. CircFNDC3B silencing restrains the tumorigenesis of oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma through miR-214-3p/CDC25A axis, which opens a new window to the development of novel therapeutic strategy for ESCC patients.

Single-atom catalysts (SACs) have opened up unprecedented possibilities for expediting oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) kinetics owing to their ultrahigh intrinsic activities. However, precisely controlling over the atomically dispersed metal-N

Laboratory-scale experiments were performed to investigate the deoxidation of H13 tool steel with CaF2-MgO-Al2O3-CaO-SiO2 slags at 1873 K. The calculation of thermodynamics and kinetics was also verified through the experimental results. The results show that [Si]-[O] reaction is the control reaction, and with the increase of basicity of slag, the limitation of deoxidation was decreased. The limitation of deoxidation is the lowest for the slag with basicity of 2.0. Under the conditions of the basicity of 2.0 and the content of CaF2 more than 50%, the limitation of deoxidation is less than 10 × 10−6, and it does not depend on the contents of Al2O3 and CaF2 in slags. The mass transport of oxygen in the metal phase is the rate-controlling step, and the slag composition has no effect on the equilibrium time of deoxidation. Based on this finding, the optimized slag composition is designed and it contains the following components: 51.5% CaF2 20.3% MgO, 16.2% Al2O3, 8.2% CaO and 3.8% SiO2. In the case of the optimized deoxidizing slag, the total oxygen content in H13 steel can be reduced from 25 × 10−6 to 6 × 10−6.

Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) with regional lymph node involvement has a high rate of distant metastases. Lung is the most common site, accounting for 70% of all metastases. The differential diagnosis of lung lesions due to an infectious aetiology versus metastases is usually evaluated by computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging. However, it is rare for patients of RMS to present with infectious nodules or masses in the lung during follow-up. More importantly, infections can mimic the imaging characteristics of metastatic RMS in CT. We report two such cases where children diagnosed with head and neck embryonal RMS with lymph node metastasis, presented with pulmonary masses 0.5 and 4 years after end of treatment, without the typical signs and symptoms suggestive of an infection. Chest CT suggested a provisional diagnosis of metastases and biopsies confirmed infectious aetiology (Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Cryptococcus).

We investigated the morphology formed in the binary blend of six-arm star-shaped (poly(methyl methacrylate)-block-polystyrene)6 copolymer [(PMMA-b-PS)6] and PMMA-b-PS linear diblock copolymer by va...

In this laboratory study, a hardwood bleached kraft pulp (HBKP) was converted to dissolving pulp by removing hemicellulose using organic electrolyte solutions (OES), consisting of ionic liquid (1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate (EminAc)) and a polar organic solvent γ-valerolactone (GVL). The molar ratio of GVL/EmimAc, and temperature have significant effect on the swelling of HBKP fibers, thus the hemicellulose dissolution/removal process. Under the optimal conditions of GVL/EmimAc molar ratio of 4 and 60 °C, hemicellulose was effectively removed, leading to the formation of a dissolving pulp with yield of 76%, cellulose content of 91%, Fock reactivity of 56.8% and viscosity of 723 mL/g. Furthermore, the potential of using EmimAc/GVL/water ternary system to selectively remove hemicelluloses from the same HBKP was studied. The GVL/EmimAc/water ratio of 2:1:1 at 60 °C showed promising results, with yield of 76.7%, and cellulose content of 94.8%.

The development of highly active and efficient ligands is recognized to be crucial for the catalytic applications of coordination polymers under specific conditions, such as solvent-free or in water. A new type of porous cross-linked polymer-containing triazole-skeleton was designed, and the resulting iridium and copper composites were synthesized, fully characterized and exhibited high catalytic activity in the synthesis of quinoxaline derivatives and functionalized ketones under solvent-free conditions. In this methodology, triazole played the special “X-factor” (the designed catalyst exhibits a higher stability for triazole molecule possessing nitrogen σ-donor and lower LUMO aromatic antibonding orbitals, and therefore enhances metal back-bonding of the catalysts) for the highly active iridium and copper composites. Moreover, porous cross-linked polymer-based composites could be recovered and reused for at least five times and mechanism investigations were also carried out to better study these transformations.

A chirp compensation method of fiber Bragg grating (FBG) is proposed to improve the residual stress measurement accuracy in the hole-drilling method. The effects of the radii of the hole, the distance between the FBG and the hole, the Young’s modulus of the material, and the residual stress on the FBG chirped spectra are analyzed. The relationship between radii of the hole, the distance between the FBG and the hole, the full-width at half maximum (FWHM), and the peak wavelength are established. The feasibility of the method is verified through experiments, which shows that the residual stress measurement error can be reduced by the compensation method.

These years, electronic devices and integrated circuits have a trend of miniaturization and integration with the rapid development of the information industry, higher requirements have been placed on the size, purity, and defect density of silicon wafers. More urgent demands have been placed on the mass production of electronic grade polysilicon. However, the research of electronic grade polysilicon in China is still in its infancy, it is far from meeting the requirements of mass production. This paper studies the influence of the single factor of reaction temperature on the yield of silicon, the surface morphology and power consumption of polysilicon under the certain conditions, which has some reference value for the production of electronic grade polysilicon.

This letter proposes an efficient method for com-puting the delay-margins of large-scale power systems with single constant delay. The method computes the margin by identifying the minimal delay under which some eigenvalues are about to cross the imaginary axis from the left to the right half complex plane. Based on the Rekasius substitution, a new characterization for the crossing points is developed, followed by a method for determining the delay margins. The method only involves eigen-value decomposition on a low-order matrix whose dimension is independent of the system scale. Further leveraging the sparsity of power systems makes it computationally very attractive for practical large-scale system applications.