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ObjectiveTo observe the dynamic changes of tumor-infiltrating immune cells in tumor-bearing mice during tumor development.MethodsMouse colon cancer MC38 cells were transplanted subcutaneously into 24 C57BL/6J mice, and the changes in body mass and tumor size of mice were recorded once a week after tumor-bearing, The levels of tumor-infiltrating immune cells, including CD45+ T cells, CD3+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, CD4+ T cells, natural killer (NK) cells, dendritic cells, macrophages, M1-type macrophages, M2-type macrophages, myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), mononuclear-like MDSCs (M-MDSCs), and granulocytic MDSCs (G-MDSCs) were detected by flow cytometry once a week for 4 weeks.ResultsAs the colon cancer tumor of the mouse grows, total CD45+ T cellular level decreased, and CD8+ T cellular level steadily decreased to an irreversible level, but CD4+ T cells proportion rapidly increased at the early stage of the tumor-bearing, quantity of infiltrating cells in the unit volume increased by 8 times, and T cells of tumor-infiltration almost were CD4+ phenotype. The nonspecific immune response level represented by NK cells continued to decline, but the dendritic cells continued to accumulate in the tumor. The immunosuppressive action was further enhanced through the activation of arginase-1 (ARG1) and inducible nitric oxide synthetase (iNOS). Macrophage infiltration levels showed no significant change, but the gliding speed for the quantity of infiltrating type-Ⅰ macrophages was obviously higher than that of type-Ⅱ macrophages. The proportion of MDSCs per unit volume showed no decreasing trend, and the cells continued to accumulate in the tumor. G-MDSC infiltration level showed a steady decrease, while M-MDSC infiltration level showed an increasing trend, the proportion of M-MDSCs were higher than that of G-MDSCs.ConclusionAfter transplanting MC38 colon cancer cells in mice, the level of immune cell infiltration in the tumor tissue declined, tumor immunology gradually became dominat, thus promoting the development of colon cancer. The Th1/Th2 drift occurred in the tumor. Specific and nonspecific immune response levels were significantly decreased on an average, and the infiltrating monocytes and granulocytes were mainly Ly6C+. Tumor-associated dendritic cells and macrophages play an important immunosuppressive role. CD4+T cells and M-MDSCs might be the key for promoting tumor immunity.

Sperm selection is an important step in preserving male fertility. Microfluidic technology integrates precision flow channels and anciilary systems on a small-area chip, which can simulate the interaction between sperm and female reproductive tracts and construct fluid sorting models to study the physiological characteristics of sperm and screen ideal sperm cells for fertility evaluation and preservation. This article reviews the latest research progress in microfluidic chips in the selection of sperm in recent years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cocatalysts play a key role in enhancing activity of photoelectrodes while the study of their interaction remains a challenge. Here, we decoupled the relationship between oxygen evolution reaction (OER) performance and photoelectrochemical (PEC) water oxidation performance by modifying an identical BiVO4 with different cobalt‐based OER catalysts including Co, CoO, Co3O4, and Co4N. The electrochemical OER activities of these cobalt specimens were quite similar. Their anodic photocurrent density followed an order of: Co4N>Co>Co3O4>CoO after loading on the BiVO4 electrode. The kinetics process and energy band diagram were analyzed, revealing that the interface between different cobalt specimens and BiVO4 electrode influenced the charge recombination and transfer. Accordingly, we propose a corresponding structural model, which shows that the cocatalysts consist of inner part for interface modulation and the outer layer for catalysis. The present work reveals the vital role of contact interface between cocatalysts and semiconductors, and more attention should be paid when selecting the cocatalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrochemical reduction of CO2 and nitrate offers a promising avenue to produce valuable chemicals through the using of greenhouse gas and nitrogen‐containing wastewater. However, the generally proposed reaction pathway of concurrent CO2 and nitrate reduction for urea synthesis requires the catalysts to be both efficient in both CO2 and nitrate reduction, thus narrowing the selection range of suitable catalysts. Herein, we demonstrate a distinct mechanism in urea synthesis, a tandem NO3− and CO2 reduction, in which the surface amino species generated by nitrate reduction play the role to capture free CO2 and subsequent initiate its activation. When using the TiO2 electrocatalyst derived from MIL‐125‐NH2, it intrinsically exhibits low activity in aqueous CO2 reduction, however, in the presence of both nitrate and CO2, this catalyst achieves an excellent urea yield rate of 43.37 mmol ⋅ g−1 ⋅ h−1 and a Faradaic efficiency of 48.88 % at −0.9 V vs. RHE in a flow cell. Even at a low CO2 level of 15 %, the Faradaic efficiency of urea synthesis remains robust at 42.33 %. The tandem reduction procedure was further confirmed by in situ spectroscopies and theoretical calculations. This research provides new insights into the selection and design of electrocatalysts for urea synthesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We compared the ability of a radiomics model, morphological imaging model, and clinicopathological risk model to predict 3-year overall survival (OS) in 206 patients with rectal cancer who underwent radical surgery and had magnetic resonance imaging, clinicopathological, and OS data available. The patients were randomized to a training cohort (n = 146) and a verification cohort (n = 60). Radiomics features were extracted from preoperative T2-weighted images, and a radiomics score model was constructed. Factors that were significant in the Cox multivariate analysis were used to construct the final morphological tumor model and clinicopathological model. A comprehensive model in the form of a line chart was established by combining the three models. Ten radiomics features significantly related to OS were selected to construct the radiomics feature model and calculate the radiomics score. In the morphological model, mesorectal extension depth and distance between the lower tumor margin and the anal margin were significant prognostic factors. N stage was the only significant clinicopathological factor. The comprehensive model combined with the above factors had the best prediction performance for OS. The C-index had a predictive performance of 0.872 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.832–0.912) in the training cohort and 0.944 (95% CI: 0.890–0.990) in the verification cohort, which was better than for any single model. The comprehensive model was divided into high-risk and low-risk groups. Kaplan-Meier curve analysis showed that all factors were significantly correlated with poor OS in the high-risk group. A comprehensive nomogram based on multi-model radiomics features can predict 3-year OS after rectal cancer surgery.