Search

The tumor microenvironment (TME), the "soil" on which tumor cells grow, has an important role in regulating the proliferation and metastasis of tumor cells as well as their response to treatment. Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), as the most abundant stromal cells of the TME, can not only directly alter the immunosuppressive effect of the TME through their own metabolism, but also influence the aggregation and function of immune cells by secreting a large number of cytokines and chemokines, reducing the body's immune surveillance of tumor cells and making them more prone to immune escape. Our study provides a comprehensive review of fibroblast chemotaxis, malignant transformation, metabolic characteristics, and interactions with immune cells. In addition, the current small molecule drugs targeting CAFs have been summarized, including both natural small molecules and targeted drugs for current clinical therapeutic applications. A complete review of the role of fibroblasts in TME from an immune perspective is presented, which has important implications in improving the efficiency of immunotherapy by targeting fibroblasts. [Display omitted] • Complex regulatory relationships between fibroblasts and immune cells during metabolism, chemotaxis, and malignant transformation. • Fibroblasts regulate immune cell activity in an environmentally dependent manner. • Natural small molecules targeting CAFs and targeted drugs for current clinical therapeutic applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The energy flow through the soil nematode food webs of four ecosystems was evaluated. • Carbon flux may be determined by resource quantity rather than disturbance intensity. • The total carbon flux of the soil food web was positively correlated with the structure index, maturity index and genus diversity of the soil food web. • The carbon flux through the plant-energy channel was unaffected by the food web structure. Energy flux in food webs is a fundamental feature of ecosystems and an important link between biodiversity and ecosystem function. Studies of energy flow through the soil nematode food web have emerged in recent year; however, it is not clear whether and how the nematode food web structure affects the energy flow. In this study, the structures and carbon flux of soil nematode food webs in four different ecosystems, namely, forageland, cropland, secondary forest, and grass-shrubland, were assessed. The food web structure was represented by nematode community indices such as maturity index, structure index, genus and trophic group diversity, and slope of size spectra. The results showed that carbon flux through the nematode food webs was the highest and lowest in the secondary forest and forageland, respectively. The total carbon flux of nematode food web was higher in the cropland than that in the grass-shrubland. The magnitudes of bacterial and fungal energy channels were basically equal in the forageland and secondary forest. The energy flow through the bacterial channel was greater than that through the fungal channel in the grass-shrubland, whereas the pattern was reversed in the cropland. The total carbon flux through the nematode food web, the carbon fluxes through the bacterial or fungal channel, and the energy flow uniformity were positively correlated with the nematode structure index, maturity index, and genus diversity index. The trophic group diversity and size spectra slope of nematode communities were not significantly correlated with the carbon flux. The results indicate that mature and complex soil communities support high energy flux across soil food webs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanoplastics and di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) are ubiquitous emerging contaminants that are transferred among organisms through food chain in the ecosystem. This study evaluated the trophic transfer of polystyrene nanoplastics (PSNPs) and DEHP in a food chain including Chlorella pyrenoidosa , Daphnia magna and Micropterus salmoides (algae-crustacean-fish) and lipid metabolism at a higher trophic level in fish. Our results showed that the PSNPs and DEHP accumulated in C. pyrenoidosa or D. magna were transferred to the M. salmoides , of which the DEHP were not biomagnified, while the PSNPs were trophically amplified by the food chain. It is suggested that more PSNPs might be accumulated by higher level consumers in a longer food chain. Additionally, the trophic transfer of PSNPs and DEHP resulted in antioxidant response and histopathological damage in M. salmoides. Moreover, the lipid biochemical parameters and lipid metabolism related genes (fasn , hsl , cpt1a , atgl , apob , fabp1 , lpl , cetp) of M. salmoides were significantly affected, which indicated disturbance of lipid metabolism. This study offers great insight into the transfer of contaminants by trophic transfer and their negative effects on organisms at higher trophic levels, which cause human exposure to MNPs and organic contaminants in the ecosystem. [Display omitted] • Trophic transfer of nanoplastics and di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate by food chain. • PSNPs were trophically amplified through trophic transfer. • Trophic transfer of PSNPs and DEHP caused oxidative stress and damage of fish. • Trophic transfer of PSNPs and DEHP disturbed the lipid metabolism of fish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current strategies for influenza virus vaccines primarily aim to elicit immune responses towards the globular head domain of the hemagglutinin (HA) protein so that binding of the virus to membrane receptors on the host cells is inhibited. In the present study, we show a novel strategy to generate immunity against the highly conserved region of the influenza virus. The globular head domain was replaced by different linkers to generate a headless HA (stalk domain) and then coexpressed with influenza M1 proteinin Tni insect cells. The expression was validated by western blot analysis, and stalk domain with peptides (GGGGS)4 linkers was identified to anchor in a stable way to the cell membrane. An immunoelectron microscope showed that stalk domain with (GGGGS)4 linkers were steadily incorporated to the surface of influenza virus-like particles (VLPs). Mice immunized with these VLPs exhibited enhanced systemic antibody responses with increased binding avidity and study found high titers of ADCC antibodies to the influenza virus, these VLPs also induced mucosal immune responses and produced antigen-specific IgG and IgA in nasal and lung washes. In addition, antigen-specific IgG antibody-secreting cells (ASCs) increased significantly in the spleen and lymph node. The results of this study suggest that the headless HA is a useful target in developing a universal vaccine against influenza virus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The widespread distribution of micro(nano)plastics (MNPs) and bisphenols (BPs) in the environment inevitably resulted in their multifaceted interactions and associated detrimental effects being largely uncharted yet. Hence, this review summarized available studies highlighting the environmental occurrence, sorption mechanisms, and eco-toxicological effects of MNPs and BPs. The existing data indicated that the environmental concentrations of the adsorbed bisphenol A (BPA) and bisphenol S (BPS) on MNPs were 9.52–4961 ng/g and 1.89–118 ng/g of plastic particles, respectively, while bisphenol F (BPF) was below the detection limit. Hydrophobic interaction force was predominantly observed as the main factor in maintaining the adsorption of MNPs and BPA/S, whereas electrostatic repulsion between MNPs and BPF inhibited the adsorption of BPF onto plastic particles. Moreover, co-exposure to MNPs and BPs posed immune responses, neurotoxicity, reproductive inhibition and even survival impairment in test organisms. This review implied that it would facilitate the evaluation of the ecological safety and environmental risks of MNPs and BPs as well as contribute to theoretical guidance for their pollution prevention and control. To better understanding the associated toxicological mechanisms, there is an urgent need to assess the combined toxicological effects of MNPs and BPs. [Display omitted] • Hydrophobic interaction forces primarily maintain the adsorption of BPs on MNPs. • BPA alternatives are not environmentally friendly, they exhibit toxic impacts. • MNPs increased the reproductive toxicity of BPA to the test organisms. • Toxicogenetic mechanisms of MNPs and BPs and the factors affecting them are further required to clarify. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The solid solution-aqueous solution (SSAS) equilibria in the KCl + RbCl + HO system were redetermined at 298.15 K. The experimental data for (K,Rb)Cl were consistent with the formation of a continuous solid solution without miscibility gaps. The Schreinemakers' wet residues method and an XRD quantitative analysis technique based on the Vegard approach were applied to determine the chemical composition of the solid solution phase of (K,Rb)Cl. The compositions of (K,Rb)Cl derived from the Vegard approach are in accordance with those from the wet residues method. The thermodynamic properties of mixing of the (K,Rb)Cl solid solution were theoretically predicted using atomistic simulations. From these simulations, a regular solution behavior is recognized that is consistent with the knowledge of the thermodynamic properties of mixing of (K,Rb)Cl obtained from SSAS equilibrium studies, but the predicted regular solution model parameter A is significantly larger than that regressed from the SSAS equilibrium data. Finally, a thermodynamic model was developed for representing the SSAS equilibria and element partitioning in the KCl + RbCl + HO system as a function of temperature that can be used for predicting the SSAS equilibria in the studied system over the temperature range 273.15-373.15 K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solubility of RbCl(cr) and CsCl(cr) in pure water were determined at subzero temperatures. The solubility of RbCl(cr) and CsCl(cr) decreased with temperature increment. Specific heat capacity of RbCl(aq) and CsCl(aq) solutions were determined at 298.15 K and concentration to near saturation. The specific heat capacity of RbCl(aq) and CsCl(aq) solutions decreased with concentration increment and for the same molality the specific heat capacity of CsCl(aq) is smaller than that of RbCl(aq). A temperature dependent thermodynamic model based on the Pitzer-Simonson-Clegg activity coefficient equations was used to represent the activity, thermal and solid-liquid equilibria properties of RbCl + H 2 O and CsCl + H 2 O systems. The obtained models can reproduce and predict the thermodynamic properties and phase diagram of the two binary systems well for the temperature range from 200 K to 370 K. The present models have an advantage especially at subzero temperatures due to the utilization of low temperature solubility experimental data in parameterization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deep convolutional neural networks significantly improve the performance of single image super-resolution (SISR). Generally, larger networks (i.e., deeper and wider) have better performance. However, larger networks require higher computing and storage costs, which limit their application on resource-constrained devices. Lightweight SISR networks with fewer parameters and smaller computational workloads are highly desirable. The key challenge is to obtain a better balance of model complexity and performance. In this paper, we propose a very lightweight and efficient SISR network. Our main contributions include: (1) Propose a frequency grouping fusion block (FGFB), which can better fuse high-/low-frequency feature information; (2) Propose a multi-way attention block (MWAB), which can exploit the multiple different clues of the feature information; (3) Propose a lightweight residual concatenation block (LRCB), which can combine the advantages of the residual connection and the channel concatenation; (4) Propose a lightweight convolutional block (LConv) for image super-resolution, which can significantly reduce the number of parameters; (5) Propose a progressive interactive group convolution (PIGC), which is more effective than the conventional group convolution. Extensive experimental results demonstrate that our method is significantly superior to other state-of-the-art methods currently available, with a better balance between model complexity and performance. • A very lightweight and efficient image super-resolution network has been proposed. • A high-/low-frequency feature grouping fusion block has been proposed. • A multi-way attention block has been proposed. • A lightweight residual concatenation block has been proposed. • A progressive interactive group convolution has been proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming to provide basic data support for the improvement of air quality in the study region, this study established the emission inventory and speciated emission inventory of PM 2.5 and VOCs in Henan Province, and further estimated the ozone formation potential (OFP) and secondary organic aerosols formation potential (SOAFP) of VOCs to identify key species, priority sources and typical cities. The 2017-based emissions of PM 2.5 and VOCs were 598 and 1079 kt, respectively. Industrial process, fugitive dust and biomass burning were the three major contributors to PM 2.5 , with a combined contribution of 79%, while industrial process, on-road mobile, solvent utilization and biomass burning were the four major contributors to VOCs emissions, with a combined contribution of 90%. Other unidentified species had the highest emissions, followed by carbonaceous components and inorganic elements and water-soluble ions. The total amount of OFP and SOAFP were 3482 and 81 kt. The species categories of VOCs that contributed large fractions to the emissions were alkanes, aromatic hydrocarbons and oxygenated VOCs, to the OFP were aromatic hydrocarbons, olefins, and oxygenated VOCs, and to the SOAFP were aromatic hydrocarbons and alkanes. Considering OFP and SOAFP together, industrial process, solvent utilization, on-road mobile and biomass burning are the key emission sources to control. The overall spatial distribution showed that PM 2.5 and VOCs emissions were relatively low in the southwest and southeast of Henan province, while emissions were high in densely populated, industrial, agricultural and transportation developed areas, and the spatial distribution characteristics of OFP and SOAFP were similar to those of VOCs emissions. [Display omitted] • A new 2017-based comprehensive emission inventory of PM 2.5 and VOCs in Central China was developed. • 47 subsectors speciation of PM 2.5 emissions and 168 subsectors speciation of VOCs emission were established. • OFP and SOAFP were estimated based on VOCs speciated emissions. • PM 2.5 and VOCs were concentrated in densely populated, industrial, agricultural and transportation developed areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]