Search

Chambersite (Mn3B7O13Cl) has excellent pyroelectric performance and promised to be a low-cost substitute for LiTaO3 and a non-toxic alternative to PbTiO3 in many application scenarios. However, the origin and mechanism of pyroelectricity in Mn3B7O13Cl at varying temperatures remain to be studied. In this work, we report the temperature-dependent crystal structure information via X-ray diffraction refinement, and based on this, we calculated the intrinsic electric dipole moments of the typical coordination polyhedral ([ClMn6]) in Mn3B7O13Cl unit cell along the c-axis at various temperature ranging from 300 to 400 K. The calculated pyroelectric coefficients based on the intrinsic electric dipole moments were in line with the experimental results, based on the above results, we can conclude that the origin of pyroelectricity in Mn3B7O13Cl is mainly the distortion of the ClMn6 polyhedron along the c-axis. Our work has understood the pyroelectric mechanism of Mn3B7O13Cl, and has played a positive role in promoting the modifications and applications for Mn3B7O13Cl and other boracite minerals.

The diagnosis of endometrial atypical hyperplasia/endometrioid intraepithelial neoplasia (AH/EIN) remains challenging and subjective in some cases, with variable histologic criteria and differences of opinion among gynecologic pathologists, potentially leading to under/overtreatment. There has been growing interest in the use of specific immunohistochemical markers as adjuncts in AH/EIN diagnosis. For example, the World Health Organization 2020 Classification specifies that loss of Pten, Pax2, or mismatch repair proteins are desirable diagnostic criteria. Other markers, most notably β-catenin and Arid1a, are also aberrantly expressed in some AH/EIN. However, the performance of some markers individually-and more importantly as a group-has not been rigorously explored, raising questions as to which marker(s) or combination(s) is the most effective in practice. Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue sections from AH/EIN cases (n=111) were analyzed by immunohistochemistry for 6 markers: Pax2, Pten, Mlh1, β-catenin, Arid1a, and p53. Aberrant expression was tabulated for each case and marker. An additional set of normal endometria (n=79) was also analyzed to define optimal diagnostic criteria for marker aberrance. The performance characteristics of each marker, the entire panel, and subsets thereof were quantitatively and statistically analyzed. In order of number of cases detected, the most frequently aberrant markers in AH/EIN were Pax2 (81.1% of cases), Pten (50.5%), β-catenin (47.7%), Arid1a (7.2%), Mlh1 (4.5%), and p53 (2.7%). The majority of cases showed aberrant expression of ≥2 markers. All 6 markers together identified 92.8% of cases. Arid1a, Mlh1, and p53 were robust and readily scored markers, but all cases showing aberrant expression of these 3 markers were also detected by Pax2, Pten, or β-catenin. A focused panel of only 3 markers (Pax2, Pten, and β-catenin) showed optimal performance characteristics as a diagnostic adjunct in the histopathologic diagnosis of AH/EIN. Use of this panel is practicable and robust, with at least 1 of the 3 markers being aberrant in 92.8% of AH/EIN.

Mismatch repair (MMR) is a replication-coupled DNA repair mechanism and plays multiple roles at the replication fork. The well-established MMR functions include correcting misincorporated nucleotides that have escaped the proofreading activity of DNA polymerases, recognizing nonmismatched DNA adducts, and triggering a DNA damage response. In an attempt to determine whether MMR regulates replication progression in cells expressing an ultramutable DNA polymerase ɛ (Polɛ), carrying a proline-to-arginine substitution at amino acid 286 (Polɛ-P286R), we identified an unusual MMR function in response to hydroxyurea (HU)-induced replication stress. Polɛ-P286R cells treated with hydroxyurea exhibit increased MRE11-catalyzed nascent strand degradation. This degradation by MRE11 depends on the mismatch recognition protein MutSα and its binding to stalled replication forks. Increased MutSα binding at replication forks is also associated with decreased loading of replication fork protection factors FANCD2 and BRCA1, suggesting blockage of these fork protection factors from loading to replication forks by MutSα. We find that the MutSα-dependent MRE11-catalyzed fork degradation induces DNA breaks and various chromosome abnormalities. Therefore, unlike the well-known MMR functions of ensuring replication fidelity, the newly identified MMR activity of promoting genome instability may also play a role in cancer avoidance by eliminating rogue cells.

Non-healing diabetic wounds (DW) are a serious clinical problem that remained poorly understood. We recently found that topical application of growth differentiation factor 11 (GDF11) accelerated skin wound healing in both Type 1 DM (T1DM) and genetically engineered Type 2 diabetic db/db (T2DM) mice. In the present study, we elucidated the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the action of GDF11 on healing of small skin wound. Single round-shape full-thickness wound of 5-mm diameter with muscle and bone exposed was made on mouse dorsum using a sterile punch biopsy 7 days following the onset of DM. Recombinant human GDF11 (rGDF11, 50 ng/mL, 10 μL) was topically applied onto the wound area twice a day until epidermal closure (maximum 14 days). Digital images of wound were obtained once a day from D0 to D14 post-wounding. We showed that topical application of GDF11 accelerated the healing of full-thickness skin wounds in both type 1 and type 2 diabetic mice, even after GDF8 (a muscle growth factor) had been silenced. At the cellular level, GDF11 significantly facilitated neovascularization to enhance regeneration of skin tissues by stimulating mobilization, migration and homing of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) to the wounded area. At the molecular level, GDF11 greatly increased HIF-1ɑ expression to enhance the activities of VEGF and SDF-1ɑ, thereby neovascularization. We found that endogenous GDF11 level was robustly decreased in skin tissue of diabetic wounds. The specific antibody against GDF11 or silence of GDF11 by siRNA in healthy mice mimicked the non-healing property of diabetic wound. Thus, we demonstrate that GDF11 promotes diabetic wound healing via stimulating endothelial progenitor cells mobilization and neovascularization mediated by HIF-1ɑ-VEGF/SDF-1ɑ pathway. Our results support the potential of GDF11 as a therapeutic agent for non-healing DW.

Endometrial polyps (EMPs) are common exophytic masses associated with abnormal uterine bleeding and infertility. Unlike normal endometrium, which is cyclically shed, EMPs persist over ovulatory cycles and after the menopause. Despite their usual classification as benign entities, EMPs are paradoxically associated with endometrial carcinomas of diverse histologic subtypes, which frequently arise within EMPs. The etiology and potential origins of EMPs as clonally-derived neoplasms are uncertain, but previous investigations suggested that EMPs are neoplasms of stromal origin driven by recurring chromosomal rearrangements. To better define benign EMPs at the molecular genetic level, we analyzed individual EMPs from 31 women who underwent hysterectomy for benign indications. The 31 EMPs were subjected to comprehensive genomic profiling by exome sequencing of a large panel of tumor-related genes including oncogenes, tumor suppressors, and chromosomal translocation partners. There were no recurring chromosomal rearrangements, and copy-number analyses did not reveal evidence of significant chromosome-level events. Surprisingly, there was a high incidence of single nucleotide variants corresponding to classic oncogenic drivers (i.e., definitive cancer drivers). The spectrum of known oncogenic driver events matched that of endometrial cancers more closely than any other common cancer. Further analyses including laser-capture microdissection showed that these mutations were present in the epithelial compartment at low allelic frequencies. These results establish a link between EMPs and the acquisition of endometrial cancer driver mutations. Based on these findings, we propose a model where the association between EMPs and endometrial cancer is explained by the age-related accumulation of endometrial cancer drivers in a protected environment that-unlike normal endometrium-is not subject to cyclical shedding.

Obesity, as one of the major public health problems in the world, has attracted more and more attention. Rb1 is the most abundant active component of Panax ginseng and it has been reported to have benefit effects on obesity and diabetes. But the mechanisms of Rb1 in regulation of obesity are not very clear. In this study, by use of obese mice, we found that Rb1 not only reduced body weight but also decreased myostain (MSTN) expression,which plays a vital part in the regulation of obesity. In vitro, we found that Rb1 treatment also decreased MSTN expression in differentiated C2C12 cells (Myoblast cells) and 3T3-L1 cells (adipocytes). Fndc5, as the downstream of MSTN, was increased after Rb1 treatment. Conclusions Our results showed that Rb1 may ameliorate obesity in part through MSTN/Fndc5 signaling pathway. Our study provides important experimental evidences for the treatment of obesity by Rb1.

Atherosclerosis (AS) is a chronic cardiovascular disease endangering human health and is one of the most common causes of myocardial infarction and stroke. Macrophage polarization plays a vital role in regulating plaque stability. As an important component of sunlight, ultraviolet B (UVB) has been proven to promote vitamin D and nitric oxide synthesis. This research used an AS model in ApoE−/− mice to study the effects of UVB on macrophage polarization and atherosclerotic plaque stability. In vitro, UVB irradiation increased arginase-I (Arg-I, M2 macrophage) and macrophage mannose receptor (CD206) expression, while the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) (M1 macrophage) and CD86 was decreased. UVB promoted Akt phosphorylation in vitro. In vivo, UVB irradiation promoted the stabilization of atherosclerotic lesion plaques, while the phenotype of M2 macrophages increased. Our research provides new evidence for UVB in preventing and treating atherosclerosis.

The endometrium is unique as an accessible anatomic location that can be repeatedly biopsied and where diagnostic biopsies do not extirpate neoplastic lesions. We exploited these features to retrospectively characterize serial genomic alterations along the precancer/cancer continuum in individual women. Cases were selected based on (1) endometrial cancer diagnosis/hysterectomy and (2) preceding serial endometrial biopsies including for some patients an early biopsy before a precancer histologic diagnosis. A comprehensive panel was designed for endometrial cancer genes. Formalin‐fixed, paraffin‐embedded specimens for each cancer, preceding biopsies, and matched germline samples were subjected to barcoded high‐throughput sequencing to identify mutations and track their origin and allelic frequency progression. In total, 92 samples from 21 patients were analyzed, providing an opportunity for new insights into early endometrial cancer progression. Definitive invasive endometrial cancers exhibited expected mutational spectra, and canonical driver mutations were detectable in preceding biopsies. Notably, ≥1 cancer mutations were detected prior to the histopathologic diagnosis of an endometrial precancer in the majority of patients. In 18/21 cases, ≥1 mutations were confirmed by abnormal protein levels or subcellular localization by immunohistochemistry, confirming genomic data and providing unique views of histologic correlates. In 19 control endometria, mutation counts were lower, with a lack of canonical endometrial cancer hotspot mutations. Our study documents the existence of endometrial lesions that are histologically indistinct but are bona fide endometrial cancer precursors. © 2021 The Authors. The Journal of Pathology published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. on behalf of The Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland.

In this paper, a frequency coding all-dielectric metasurface is proposed, which are achieved by simultaneously encoding dielectric unit cells with phase and frequency phase sensitivity information. The frequency phase sensitivity refers to the derivative of phase over working frequency band, which can be used to shape the phase distribution varying as desired by changing the frequency. A variety of tunable, high efficiency and versatile electromagnetic (EM) energy radiations can be realized in a dielectric coding metasurface without changing the coding distribution map and introducing any active devices. As proofs of concept, it has been demonstrated theoretically and numerically that the distinct functionalities are accomplished for the normal incidences of plane EM waves, including frequency controls of multibeam generation, anomalous deflection, vortex beam generation, and diffuse scattering. This work may be utilized in many application scenarios, such as 5G wireless communications and high quality of holograms.

Prostate cancer (PC) is the most common carcinoma among men worldwide which results in 26% of leading causes of cancer-related death. However, the ideal and effective molecular marker remains elusive. CircRNA, initially observed in plant-infected viruses and Sendai virus in 1979, is generated from pre-mRNA back-splicing and comes in to play by adequate expression. The differential expression in prostate tissues compared with the control reveals the promising capacity in modulating processes including carcinogenesis and metastasis. However, the biological mechanisms of regulatory network in PC needs to systemically concluded. In this review, we enlightened the comprehensive studies on the definite mechanisms of circRNAs affecting tumor progression and metastasis. What's more, we validated the potential clinical application of circRNAs serving as diagnostic and prognostic biomarker. The discussion and analysis in circRNAs will broaden our knowledge of the pathogenesis of PC and further optimize the current therapies against different condition.

Cancer is instigated by mutator phenotypes, including deficient mismatch repair and p53-associated chromosomal instability. More recently, a distinct class of cancers was identified with unusually high mutational loads due to heterozygous amino acid substitutions (most commonly P286R) in the proofreading domain of DNA polymerase ε, the leading strand replicase encoded by POLE. Immunotherapy has revolutionized cancer treatment, but new model systems are needed to recapitulate high mutational burdens characterizing human cancers and permit study of mechanisms underlying clinical responses. Here, we show that activation of a conditional LSL-Pole(P286R) allele in endometrium is sufficient to elicit in all animals endometrial cancers closely resembling their human counterparts, including very high mutational burden. Diverse investigations uncovered potentially novel aspects of Pole-driven tumorigenesis, including secondary p53 mutations associated with tetraploidy, and cooperation with defective mismatch repair through inactivation of Msh2. Most significantly, there were robust antitumor immune responses with increased T cell infiltrates, accelerated tumor growth following T cell depletion, and unfailing clinical regression following immune checkpoint therapy. This model predicts that human POLE-driven cancers will prove consistently responsive to immune checkpoint blockade. Furthermore, this is a robust and efficient approach to recapitulate in mice the high mutational burdens and immune responses characterizing human cancers.

Although the efficiency of metal halide perovskite light emitting diodes (PeLEDs) has been improved to an attractive level, the poor stability of perovskite emitting layers is a major concern for the application of PeLEDs. Herein, we report a facile ligand-assisted precipitation synthesis of stable dual-phase CsPbBr3–CsPb2Br5 nanocrystals (NCs) for improving the stability of PeLEDs. In our synthetic process, the bromide-rich circumstance is beneficial to generate high quality dual-phase perovskite NCs with PLQY as high as 92% and a narrow emission linewidth (19 nm). More importantly, as-synthesized dual phase perovskite NCs exhibit extremely high thermal stability in heating tests in air with a considerable humidity of 30%–55% in comparison with previously reported single phase CsPbBr3 NCs. The aforementioned advantages of our synthesized dual-phase CsPbBr3–CsPb2Br5 NCs allow for the fabrication of light emitting layers of PeLEDs under ambient conditions. The fabricated green PeLED based on CsPbBr3–CsPb2Br5 NCs shows a low turn-on voltage of 2.5 V and a high brightness of 8383 cd m−2 at 8 V. Owing to the high stability of dual-phase CsPbBr3–CsPb2Br5 NCs, the fabricated PeLED also exhibits better operational stability in comparison with those PeLEDs based on single phase CsPbBr3 NCs. Our work presents a new route to fabricate stable perovskite light-emitting diodes using room temperature precipitated dual-phase CsPbBr3–CsPb2Br5 NCs as emitting layer materials.

Potassium and nitrogen are essential macronutrients for plant growth and have a positive impact on crop yield. Previous studies have indicated that the absorption and translocation of K+ and NO3 2 are correlated with each other in plants; however, the molecular mechanism that coordinates K+ and NO3 2 transport remains unknown. In this study, using a forward genetic approach, we isolated a low-K+-sensitive Arabidopsis thaliana mutant, lks2, that showed a leaf chlorosis phenotype under low-K+ conditions. LKS2 encodes the transporter NRT1.5/NPF7.3, a member of the NRT1/PTR (Nitrate Transporter 1/Peptide Transporter) family. The lks2/nrt1.5 mutants exhibit a remarkable defect in both K+ and NO3 2 translocation from root to shoot, especially under low-K+ conditions. This study demonstrates that LKS2 (NRT1.5) functions as a proton-coupled H+/K+ antiporter. Proton gradient can promote NRT1.5-mediated K+ release out of root parenchyma cells and facilitate K+ loading into the xylem. This study reveals that NRT1.5 plays a crucial role in K+ translocation from root to shoot and is also involved in the coordination of K+/NO3 2 distribution in plants

Transmembrane protein 88 (TMEM88), a new protein of increasing concern existed in cell membrane, inhibits the typical Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway to play a regulatory role on cell proliferation by binding to Dishevelled-1. Until recently, the connection between TMEM88 and alcoholic liver disease is unknown. In this research, we explored the effect of TMEM88 on the secretion of inflammatory cytokines in ethanol (EtOH)-induced RAW264.7 cells, moreover, the function of YAP signaling pathway in EtOH-induced RAW264.7 cells were investigated. We administered TMEM88 adenovirus (ADV-TMEM88) by tail vein injection into C57BL/6J mice in vivo. In vitro, RAW264.7 murine macrophages were stimulated with EtOH and were transfected with pEGFP-C1-TMEM88 and TMEM88 siRNA, respectively, protein expression and mRNA expression of IL-6 and IL-1β were assessed by Western Blotting and RT-qPCR, respectively. Our group found that the overexpression of TMEM88 led to an up-regulation of IL-6 and IL-1β secretion, hinting that it had the possibility of linking with the initiation, the development, and the end of inflammation. In addition to that, TMEM88 silencing reduced the secretion of IL-6 and IL-1β in RAW264.7 cells. Moreover, we demonstrated that the YAP signaling pathway under the action of EtOH was activated by TMEM88. All in all, these experimental outcomes indicated that TMEM88 had an indispensable impact on EtOH-induced secretion of inflammatory cytokines (IL-6 and IL-1β) in RAW264.7 cells through YAP signaling pathway.

Zinc finger E-box binding homeobox 1 (ZEB1) (previously known as TCF8), a transcriptional repressor, is a member of the zinc-finger family of proteins. Numerous studies have demonstrated that abnormal expression of ZEB1 in many types of liver disease including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Liver fibrosis is the basis and central link in the progression of liver disease. Thereby, the function of ZEB1 in liver fibrosis has been investigated. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of ZEB1 in liver fibrosis and to elucidate the mechanism. In this study, we explored the effect of ZEB1 in hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) activation and the regulatory mechanism of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. Additionally, ZEB1 positively regulated the expression levels of α-SMA and Col.I in vivo and in vitro, which were correlated with the activated HSCs. Furthermore, overexpression of ZEB1 could inhibit HSCs apoptosis and promote IL-6 and TNF-α secretion in LX-2 cells. Conversely, ZEB1 silencing led to the promotion of cell proliferation and the reduction of IL-6 and TNF-α secretion in LX-2 cells. Mechanically, canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway could be regulated by ZEB1. Collectively, the data suggested that ZEB1 might play a significant role in the activation of LX-2 cells, and Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway might participate in this progression.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate multigene panel markers to predict long-term survival in patients with colon cancer. Methods and materials: GSE39582 was randomly divided into a training set and a validation set, while TCGA-COAD and GSE17536 were treated as two independent validation cohorts. Survival-associated genes were included in elastic net penalized Cox proportional hazards regression (ENCPH) model. Based on the results of the ENCPH, a multigene panel was constructed. We evaluated predictive performance of the multigene panel by univariate and multivariate survival analysis, and time-dependent ROC analysis. Results: A total of 1025 colon cancer patients were included in the study, and 94 genes were showed to be related with the overall survival of colon cancer patients, of which 7 genes were integrated to construct a multigene panel according to ENCPH model. The multigene panel could stratify colon cancer patients into notably different risk groups in the training set and three verification cohort. Results of multivariable CPH model suggested that the multigene panel was an independent prognostication factor. The multigene-containing nomogram showed reliable prediction ability on the 3- and 5-year survival of colon cancer patients with internally and externally validated C-indexes exceeded 0.7. Conclusion: The multigene panel we introduced showed considerable prognosis performance in colon cancer, and the multigene panel containing nomogram would help clinicians assess long-term survival probability.

The number of standard electric multiple units (EMUs) in China has increased from 1003 in 2013 to 3256 in 2018. For maintaining all EMUs in time, the high-speed rail system with the fast-developing number of EMUs is facing growing pressure. The maintenance and cleaning capacity of an EMU depot can be improved by a better shunting operation planning (SOP). This paper considers an SOP problem at EMU depots, which may have two types of yards, namely, stub-end and through. Every track at an EMU depot has two sections and can accommodate two short standard EMUs of 8 railcars or one long EMU of 16 railcars. As the SOP is currently handled manually by dispatchers, this paper proposes two integer linear programming models for two types of yards for daily planning and dispatching, which aim at minimizing the total delay time of all EMUs during the planning horizon. A Reduced Variable Neighborhood Search (RVNS) algorithm is designed to improve the solution efficiency. The results of the numerical experiment show that the RVNS algorithm can yield an optimal maintenance plan in a few seconds for depots of different layout types and can be applied to a computer-aided planning system. The track utilization rate of the maintenance yard with the stub-end type is higher than that of the through type. The stub-end type may be more suitable for the current schedule, as its total track utilization rate is much lower than the through type.

Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) was a global liver disease which divided into liver inflammation, fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis or cirrhosis. Abnormal expression levels of some microRNAs (miRNA) family members often lead to ALD and other liver diseases. MicroRNA-708 (miR-708) was known to suppress the proliferation and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but its role in the progression of ALD was not clear. In this study, the expression level of miR-708 was down-regulated in ethanol-induced L0-2 cells. ZEB1 could decrease the PPAR-α expression while increase the SREBP-1 expression. Meanwhile, the expression levels of TNF-α and IL-6 were up-regulated by ZEB1. Of note, ZEB1 aggravated the apoptotic rate of L0-2 cells induced by ethanol via inhibiting p-AKT and p-mTOR of AKT/mTOR signaling pathway. What's more, it was demonstrated that miR-708 family members particularly target ZEB1 3'-UTR regions and can down-regulate the expression level of ZEB1 in L0-2 cells. Sum up, these results indicated that miR-708 might inhibit the liver inflammation and lipid accumulation by targeting ZEB1 via regulating AKT/mTOR signaling pathway.

Cancer is characterized by increased mutation rate, and recent work has led to a deeper understanding of mutator phenotypes and underlying molecular mechanisms. Differences in the mutational landscape of individual cancers underlie key aspects of clinical behavior. For example, overall base substitution rate is the best predictor of immune therapy response. Most genetically engineered mouse models of cancer (GEMMs) reiterate a few driver events but fail to recapitulate the high mutational loads that are the ultimate cause of most human cancer, making GEMMs inadequate for many aspects of tumor behavior, such as immune responses. The highest base substitution rates in cancers (≥100/Mb) result from specific heterozygous single amino acid substitutions (usually P286R) in the proofreading domain of DNA polymerase epsilon (POLE), rendering POLE highly error prone. POLE mutations are most common in endometrial cancer but occur with lower incidence in a wide range of cancers. We hypothesized that GEMMs could be generated by recapitulating PoleP286R via conditional knockin. Previously, we showed that constitutive expression of PoleP286R throughout the body triggered malignancies of diverse lineages. Mice harboring LSL-PoleP286R and the endometrial BAC-Sprr2f-Cre developed endometrial cancers starting at 1 year. Endometrial cancers exhibited histologic features previously reported in human POLE tumors, and metastasized in all mice (p This abstract is also being presented as Poster A34. Citation Format: Hao-Dong Li, Changzheng Lu, He Zhang, Ileana C. Cuevas, Subhransu S. Sahoo, Yang-Xin Fu, Diego H. Castrillon. Polymerase-mediated ultramutagenesis: A new approach for modeling the high mutational load of human cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on the Evolving Landscape of Cancer Modeling; 2020 Mar 2-5; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(11 Suppl):Abstract nr PR13.

Although the efficiency of metal halide perovskite light emitting diodes (PeLEDs) has been improved to an attractive level, the poor stability of perovskite emitting layers is a major concern for the application of PeLEDs. Herein, we report a facile ligand-assisted precipitation synthesis of stable dual-phase CsPbBr

Mutations underlie all cancers, and their identification and study are the foundation of cancer biology. We describe what we believe to be a novel approach to mutagenesis and cancer studies based on the DNA polymerase e (POLE) ultramutator phenotype recently described in human cancers, in which a single amino acid substitution (most commonly P286R) in the proofreading domain results in error-prone DNA replication. We engineered a conditional PoleP286R allele in mice. PoleP286R/+ embryonic fibroblasts exhibited a striking mutator phenotype and immortalized more efficiently. PoleP286R/+ mice were born at Mendelian ratios but rapidly developed lethal cancers of diverse lineages, yielding the most cancer-prone monoallelic model described to date, to our knowledge. Comprehensive whole-genome sequencing analyses showed that the cancers were driven by high base substitution rates in the range of human cancers, overcoming a major limitation of previous murine cancer models. These data establish polymerase-mediated ultramutagenesis as an efficient in vivo approach for the generation of diverse animal cancer models that recapitulate the high mutational loads inherent to human cancers.

An operational process at train marshaling yard is considered in this study. The inbound trains are decoupled and disassembled into individual railcars, which are then moved to a series of classification tracks, forming outbound trains after being assembled and coupled. We focus on the allocation plan of the classification tracks. Given are the disassembling and assembling sequence, the railcars connection plan, and a number of classification tracks. Output is the assignment of the railcars to the classification tracks. An integer programming model is proposed, aimed at reducing the number of coupling operations, as well as the number of dirty tracks which is related to the rehumping operation, and the order of the railcars on the outbound train must satisfy the block sequence. Tabu algorithm is designed to solve the problem, and the model is also tested by CPLEX in comparison. A numerical experiment based on a real-world case is analyzed, and the result can be reached within a reasonable amount of time. We also discussed a number of factors that may affect the track assignment and gave suggestions for the real-world case.