Search

We aimed to assess the value of dose distribution-based dosiomics and planning computed tomography-based radiomics to predict radiation-induced temporal lobe injury (TLI) and guide individualized intensity modulated radiation therapy.A total of 5599 nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients were enrolled, including 2503, 1072, 988, and 1036 patients in the training, validation, prospective test, and external test cohorts, respectively. The concordance index (C-index) was used to compare the performance of the radiomics and dosiomics models with that of the quantitative analyses of normal tissue effects in the clinic and Wen's models. The predicted TLI-free survival rates of redesigned simulated plans with the same dose-volume histogram but different dose distributions for same patient in a cohort of 30 randomly selected patients were compared by the Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-rank test.The radiomics and dosiomics signatures were constructed based on 30 selected computed tomography features and 10 selected dose distribution features, respectively, which were important predictors of TLI-free survival (all P.001). However, the radiomics signature had a low C-index. The dosiomics risk model combining the dosiomics signature, DThe dosiomics risk model was superior to traditional models in predicting the risk of TLI. This is a promising approach to precisely predict radiation-induced toxicities and guide individualized intensity modulated radiation therapy.

The identification of drugs that promote autophagy and inhibits apoptosis in neurons is critical for improving patient outcomes following spinal cord injury (SCI). Here, we aimed to investigate the neuroprotective effects of oxymatrine (OMT) and the potential mechanism after SCI in rats. Female Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned to either a sham group, SCI group, OMT-treated group (40 mg/kg), and a group treated with both OMT and SIRT1 inhibitor EX527 (10 µg/kg). A modified compressive device (weight 35 g, time 5 min) was applied to induce moderate SCI in all groups except the sham group. After treatment with drugs or vehicle (saline), the neurological functions were evaluated using the Basso, Beattie, and Bresnahan (BBB) locomotor rating scale and footprint analysis. Morphological changes in the spinal cord were assessed using hematoxylin-eosin staining and the number of surviving and apoptotic neurons was determined using Nissl and TUNEL staining, respectively. Neuronal ultrastructures were observed using transmission electron microscope (TEM). Moreover, we investigated the gene and protein expression levels of relevant molecules involved in apoptosis and autophagy, such as SIRT1, AMPK, p62, Beclin-1, LC3B, Bcl-2, Bcl-xL, Bax, Bak and C-caspase-3 using qRT-PCR analysis, Western blotting, or immunofluorescence staining. Our results indicated that OMT treatment significantly reduced the lesion size, promoted survival of motor neurons, and subsequently attenuated motor dysfunction following SCI in rats. OMT significantly enhanced autophagy activity, inhibited apoptosis in neurons, and increased SIRT1 and p-AMPK expression levels. These effects of OMT on SCI were partially prevented by co-treatment with SIRT1 inhibitor EX527. Taken together, these data revealed that OMT exerts a neuroprotective role in functional recovery against SCI in rats, and these effects are potentially associated with OMT-induced activation of autophagy via the SIRT1/AMPK signaling pathway.

A “vacuum vapor migration strategy” is employed to successfully prepare a novel CoNi–N–C catalyst containing uniformly dispersed CoNi alloy nanoparticles as a conceptually solid–ligand coupling with atomic Co–Nx–C active sites.

Atomically dispersed Fe–N–C catalysts have been extensively deemed as appealing substitutes for Pt-series catalysts towards oxygen reduction reactions (ORRs). Nevertheless, most reported Fe–N–C materials suffer from inefficient Fe-based nanoparticles and low-density Fe–Nx sites. Herein, a Zn/g-C3N4-mediated dual-template strategy was employed to synthesize densely populated atomic Fe–Nx center-embedded N-doped carbon nanosheets (SAs-Fe/N-CNSs) with adjustable porous structures by the simple pyrolysis of D-glucosamine/FeZn/g-C3N4 complexes. g-C3N4 works as a structure-guiding 2D template and offers abundant coordination-N trapping sites for anchoring Fe atoms, simultaneously. ZnCl2 serves as a self-sacrificial template creating a hierarchical porous structure by its volatilization as well as hinders the agglomeration of Fe atoms by spatial segregation during pyrolysis. Due to the high-density atomic Fe–Nx moieties, unique 2D structure, hierarchical porosity, and large surface area, the optimal SAs-Fe/N-CNS catalyst exhibits satisfying ORR performance including excellent activity (E1/2 = 0.91 V) and desirable durability, surpassing the Pt/C catalyst. Additionally, the superb performance of SAs-Fe/N-CNS-based Zn–air batteries with a maximum power density of 157.03 mW cm−2 verifies their promising application in practical electrochemical systems.

Development of high-efficiency non-noble metal materials to substitute Pt-based catalysts for oxygen reduction reactions is crucial in the commercial viability of Zn-air batteries technology. Nitrogen doped carbons (NDCs) are highly appealing as promising candidates. This study reports a facile molten salt (MS) method to synthesize aerogel-like nitrogen doped carbon (NDC-MS). The eutectic mixture acting as combined solvent and porogen leads to the obtained porous materials with extremely large surface area (1548.6 m2 g−1) and relatively high pore volume. The unique aerogel-like structure with hierarchical structure, increased catalytic active sits, extended surface area and large pore volume is beneficial for enhancing oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) performance. The resultant NDC-MS displays a superb ORR catalytic activity with high half-wave potential of 0.88 V, which is one of the most effective figures in previous literature of metal-free catalysts. The superb ORR performance can also be evaluated by Zn–air batteries with satisfactory power density and long-term operation stability. Therefore, such an efficient and green synthetic strategy can open up a new avenue for a wide range of commercial application of heteroatom doped carbon materials in advanced energy technologies.

Noise is a significant part within a millimeter-wave molecular line datacube. Analyzing the noise improves our understanding of noise characteristics, and further contributes to scientific discoveries. We measure the noise level of a single datacube from MWISP and perform statistical analyses. We identified major factors which increase the noise level of a single datacube, including bad channels, edge effects, baseline distortion and line contamination. Cleaning algorithms are applied to remove or reduce these noise components. As a result, we obtained the cleaned datacube in which noise follows a positively skewed normal distribution. We further analyzed the noise structure distribution of a 3D mosaicked datacube in the range l = 40 ⋅ ° 7 to 43 ⋅ ° 3 and b = − 2 ⋅ ° 3 to 0 ⋅ ° 3 and found that noise in the final mosaicked datacube is mainly characterized by noise fluctuation among the cells.

The catalyst in the oxygen electrode is the core component of the aqueous metal-air battery, which plays a vital role in the determination of the open circuit potential, energy density, and cycle life of the battery. For rechargeable aqueous metal-air batteries, the catalyst should have both good oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalytic performance. Compared with precious metal catalysts, non-precious metal materials have more advantages in terms of abundant resource reserves and low prices. Over the past few years, great efforts have been made in the development of non-precious metal bifunctional catalysts. This review selectively evaluates the advantages, disadvantages and development status of recent advanced materials including pure carbon materials, carbon-based metal materials and carbon-free materials as bifunctional oxygen catalysts. Preliminary improvement strategies are formulated to make up for the deficiency of each material. The development prospects and challenges facing bifunctional catalysts in the future are also discussed.

Non-noble metal materials are regarded as the most promising catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) to overcome the inherent defects of Pt-based catalysts, like high cost, limited availability and insufficient stability. Here, we fabricate sandwich-like Co encapsulated nitrogen doped carbon polyhedron/graphene (s-Co@NCP/rGO) via a facile and scalable strategy by loading Co-based zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF-67) and graphene oxide (GO) layers individually on a polyurethane (PU) sponge template. The 3D sandwich structure is maintained with the assistance of the sponge template, which promotes the uniform dispersion of ZIF-67-derived Co embedded nitrogen doped carbon polyhedra (Co@NCP) and prevents the graphene plates from agglomerating during the annealing process. The final product demonstrates considerable catalytic performance for the ORR with a half-wave potential of 0.85 V, preferable stability and increased poisoning tolerance by comparison to 20 wt% Pt/C, which stems from the 3D sandwich-like structure, N/Co-doping effect, large accessible surface area and hierarchical porous structures. The excellent ORR performance of the catalysts means that they can be utilised in a Zn-air battery as cathode catalysts. During such a demonstration, s-Co@NCP/rGO shows a high open-circuit voltage of 1.466 V, remarkable long-term durability and an outstanding peak power density of 186 mV cm-2, which shows its high potential as a prospective alternative for widespread practical application in the field of non-noble metal ORR catalysts.

Nowadays, Zn-air batteries have been widely applied in miniature electronic devices and power stations. However, it is imperative but challenging to synthesize efficient non-precious metal electrocatalysts for popularizing application of Zn-air batteries. Herein, the three-dimensional porous Co@Co-NPC is prepared by doping P into flower-like Co/Zn-MOF-derived Co-N-C during the carbonization process. The obtained 3D-Co@Co-NPC possesses an excellent catalytic activity, showing a half-wave potential of 0.872 V for ORR and potential of 1.692 V at 10 mA cm−2 for OER. When employed as air-cathode catalyst in Zn-air battery, 3D-Co@Co-NPC shows a high power density of 182.5 mW cm−2 and a high capacity of 764 mAh g−1. Besides, it displays an excellent charging-discharging cycle stability (over 90 h). The outstanding ORR/OER performance of 3D-Co@Co-NPC are mainly attributed to the doping of P element, which can tune the electronic structure of Co-N-C matrix. The pickling experiment proves that Co nanoparticle can make contribution to ORR/OER activity.

Mn and N codoped carbon materials are proposed as one of the most promising catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) but still confront a lot of challenges to replace Pt. Herein, a novel gas-phase migration strategy is developed for the scale synthesis of atomically dispersed Mn and N codoped carbon materials (g-SA-Mn) as highly effective ORR catalysts. Porous zeolitic imidazolate frameworks serve as the appropriate support for the trapping and anchoring of Mn-containing gaseous species and the synchronous high-temperature pyrolysis process results in the generation of atomically dispersed Mn-N

Exploring the role of amygdala enlargement (AE) in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) without ipsilateral mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS) using comprehensive presurgical workup tools including traditional tools, automatically volumetric analysis, high-density EEG (HD-EEG) source imaging (HD-ESI), and stereoelectroencephalography (SEEG). Nine patients diagnosed with TLE-AE who underwent resective surgeries encompassing the amygdala were retrospectively studied. HD-ESI was obtained using 256-channel HD-EEG on the individualized head model. For automatic volumetric analysis, 48 matched controls were enrolled. Diagnosis and surgical strategies were based on a comprehensive workup following the anatomo-electro-clinical principle. At post-operative follow-up (average 30.9 months), eight patients had achieved Engel class I and one Engel class II recovery. HD-ESI yielded unifocal source estimates in anterior mesial temporal region in 85.7% of cases. Automatic volumetric analysis showed the AE sides were consistent with the values determined through other preoperative workup tools. Furthermore, the amygdala volume of the affected sides in AE was significantly greater than that of the larger sides in controls (p

A supramolecular polymerization-assisted approach is proposed for the preparation of 1D hollow nitrogen-doped carbon tubes (h-NCTs) as an advanced support material to immobilize metal nanoparticles...

Rational design and construction of highly efficient and durable non-noble-metal bifunctional catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is crucial to promote the widespread implementation of rechargeable Zn-air batteries. Herein, a bifunctional catalyst comprising Co nanoparticles uniformly embedded in hollow nitrogen doped carbon tubes (Co@hNCTs) is fabricated by a facile tube-directed templating strategy. In this strategy, surfactant-treated polypyrrole (PPy) nanotubes serve as the structure-guiding templates for efficient capture of Co2+, realizing the in-situ growth of zeolitic imidazolate frameworks-67 (ZIF-67) nanocrystals on PPy nanotubes. Sodium laurylsulfonate acts as anionic surfactant to endow PPy nanotubes with functional electronegative surface and strong anchoring effect toward ZIF-67, playing the pivotal role in binding of ZIF-67 nanocrystals with PPy nanotubes potently. Consequently, the developed catalyst presents a superior ORR activity with the half-wave potential of 0.87 V excellent durability with only a 7 mV loss of half-wave potential after 5000 cycles. The catalyst also exhibits superior catalytic performance for OER. When serving as an air electrode in Zn-air batteries, a large power density of 149 mW cm−2 and long-term cyclability for over 500 h are realized in ambient air, implying the great potential in practical application.

Summary Aims Recent evidence indicates that the increased expression of calpain small subunit 1 (Capn4) is associated with tumorigenesis. This study was designed to explore the role which Capn4 plays in human glioma. Methods We detected the expression of Capn4 by immunohistochemistry in tissue microarrays and tissue samples. Following the down-regulation of Capn4 in glioma cell lines by a specific short hairpin RNA, the function of Capn4 in invasion, migration, and proliferation was assessed. We then evaluated the prognostic role of Capn4 using univariate and multivariate analysis in 94 glioblastoma (GBM) patients. Results Glioma tissues exhibited notably higher expression of Capn4 compared with control brain tissues and was positively correlated with histological malignancy. The down-regulation of Capn4 in glioma cells led to a decrease in invasion and migration in vitro. Through univariate analysis, the prognosis of GBM patients with Capn4 overexpression was significantly poorer with respect to progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). Based on the results of the multivariate analysis, Capn4high was demonstrated to be a negative independent prognostic indicator for PFS and OS in GBM patients. Conclusion The overexpression of Capn4 is a novel negative prognostic marker, and Capn4 may be used as a new target in therapeutic strategies for human glioma.

Studies have showed the involvement of ubiquitin-like with PHD and RING finger domains 1 (UHRF1) in tumorigenesis and progression. This study focused on the relationships between UHRF1 and medulloblastoma (MB). Immunostaining and western blotting demonstrated differential expression of UHRF1 in MB tissues and no UHRF1 expression in normal cerebellum tissues. Univariate survival analysis revealed MB patients with high UHRF1 expression had significantly shorter OS and PFS than patients with low UHRF1 (OS p = 0.009, PFS p = 0.003). Multivariate analysis illustrated that UHRF1 expression level is an independent prognostic factor influencing the OS and PFS (OS p = 0.038, PFS p = 0.014). UHRF1 expression levels were significantly different among molecular subgroups of MB (p = 0.003). Down-regulation of UHRF1 by RNAi inhibited proliferation and clonogenic ability of MB cell lines with cell cycle arrest in G1/G2-phase. Meanwhile, cells transfected with lenti-shUHRF1 showed increased p16 expression and location shift of CDK4 in MB cells. These findings indicate UHRF1 may promote cell proliferation and be a potential biomarker that can be used as a prognostic parameter and a therapeutic target for MB.