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Background Squamous cell carcinoma of the lung (LUSC) is a malignant tumor with a high mortality rate and few treatment options. Methods This study explored novel biomarkers and the related mechanisms in LUSC development via integrated bioinformatics analysis based on multiple databases. TCGA-LUSC, GSE30219, and GSE37745 datasets were selected, and univariate Cox analysis was applied to each. The candidate prognostic genes were those survival hazardous genes that overlapped in the three datasets and were further applied in Kaplan-Meier log-rank test. Receiver-operating characteristics (ROC) curves were made to compare the candidate prognostic genes’ predictive accuracy and traditional clinicopathological parameters (CPPs). Moreover, fast preranked gene set enrichment analysis, single-sample gene set enrichment analysis, gene set variation analysis, and correlation analysis was sequentially performed to explore the candidate prognostic genes’ potential functions. Results Based on the data for stage I–III LUSC, aldehyde dehydrogenase 7 family member A1 (ALDH7A1), progestogen-associated endometrial protein (PAEP), and vav guanine nucleotide exchange factor 2 (VAV2) were identified as prognostic candidate biomarkers that could improve the accuracy of traditional CPPs for predicting overall survival (OS). Moreover, ALDH7A1, PAEP, and VAV2 were, respectively, correlated with the immune microenvironment and epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT), but not with tumor mutation burden, microsatellite instability, or CPPs. The EMT biomarker vimentin (but not E-cadherin) was consistent with ALDH7A1, PAEP, and VAV2. Conclusion This study elucidated the prognostic roles and potential functions of ALDH7A1, PAEP, and VAV2 in LUSC.

Balanced incomplete block design (BIBD) offers an important way to construct non-homogeneous quantum low-density-parity-check (LDPC) codes of Calderbank-Shor-Steane (CSS) type. However, the rates of the quantum codes based on this method are limited to be $1-2/m$ approximately, where $m$ , the number of base blocks chosen from the associated BIBD, is even. We overcome this limitation by providing a rate scalable way to construct non-homogeneous quantum LDPC codes of CSS type. With our method, the rates of the resultant quantum codes are $1-2/m'$ , where $m'=m/e$ and $e\in \{1, 2\}$ . Note that here $m'$ can be odd . Thus, we double the rate range of the codes yielded from the existing strategies. Moreover, one can switch codes between the two rates flexibly adapting to various application scenarios.

Flap endonuclease‑1 (FEN1), a structure‑specific nuclease participating in DNA replication and repair processes, has been confirmed to promote the proliferation and drug resistance of tumor cells. However, the biological functions of FEN1 in cancer cell migration and invasion have not been defined. In the present study, using online database analysis and immunohistochemistry of the specimens, it was found that FEN1 expression was associated with a highly invasive triple‑negative breast cancer (TNBC) subtype in both breast cancer samples from the Oncomine database and from patients recruited into the study. Furthermore, FEN1 was an important biomarker of lymph node metastasis and poor prognosis in patients with TNBC. FEN1 promoted migration of TNBC cell lines and FEN1 knockdown reduced the number of spontaneous lung metastasis in vivo. Ingenuity Pathway Analysis of FEN1‑related transcripts in 198 patients with TNBC demonstrated that the polo‑like kinase family may be the downstream target of FEN1. PLK4 was further identified as a critical target of FEN1 mediating TNBC cell migration, by regulating actin cytoskeleton rearrangement. The results of the present study validate FEN1 as a therapeutic target in patients with TNBC and revealed a new role for FEN1 in regulating TNBC invasion and metastasis.

Hormone receptor-positive breast cancer accounts for around 75% of breast cancers. The estrogen receptor pathway promotes tumor progression and endocrine resistance. Recently, the cross-talk between the ER signaling pathway and cell cycle regulation has been identified. It is necessary to determine the underlying molecular mechanisms involved in the ER signaling pathway and find new target genes for prognosis and drug resistance in ER+ breast cancer. In this study, lncRNA MAFG-AS1 was shown to be up-regulated and associated with poor prognosis in ER+ breast cancer. Functionally, down-regulation of MAFG-AS1 could inhibit cell proliferation and promote apoptosis. In addition, MAFG-AS1 which contained an estrogen-responsive element could promote CDK2 expression by sponging miR-339-5p. Subsequently, MAFG-AS1 and CDK2 were found to be up-regulated in tamoxifen-resistant MCF-7 cells. Cross-talk between the ER signaling pathway and cell cycle conducted by MAFG-AS1 and CDK2 could promote tamoxifen resistance. In conclusion, our study indicated that estrogen-responsive lncRNA MAFG-AS1 up-regulated CDK2 by sponging miR-339-5p, which promoted ER+ breast cancer proliferation. Cross-talk between the ER signaling pathway and cell cycle suggested that lncRNA MAFG-AS1 is a potential biomarker and therapeutic target in ER+ breast cancer. CDK2 inhibitors may be applied to endocrine resistance therapy.

Ammopiptanthus mongolicus is an evergreen broad-leaved shrub living in plateau cold desert ecosystem, which with remarkable tolerance to diverse abiotic stresses. We measured the photosynthetic physiological indexes of A. mongolicus. under extreme seasonal climate in the field, and analyzed the transcriptome of its leaves. We found that the photosynthetic physiological indexes and gene expression at transcriptome level have significant characteristics when temperature changes. Under the low temperature condition, A. mongolicus. consumes excess light energy by increasing PSII non-regulatory energy dissipation Y (NO) at the physiological level. At the molecular level, it resists low temperature stress by changing photosynthesis, circadian rhythm and synthesis of unsaturated fatty acids, but its photosynthetic machinery is still damaged and photosynthesis is blocked. At the physiological level, A. mongolicus. regulates its own water content and improves the regulation of the PSII regulatory energy dissipation Y(NPQ) to consumes excess light energy and to adapt to high temperature stress. At the molecular level, A. mongolicus. protects itself from high temperature and strong light by using the LHCII of PSII to consume excess energy, continuously assembling and maintaining PSII, and changing the production of antioxidants and so on.

Background: The prediction of RNA secondary structure using optimization algorithms is key to understand the real structure of an RNA. Evolutionary algorithms (EAs) are popular strategies for RNA secondary structure prediction. However, compared to most state-of-the-art software based on DPAs, the performances of EAs are a bit far from satisfactory. Objective: Therefore, a more powerful strategy is required to improve the performances of EAs when applied to the prediciton of RNA secondary structures. Methods: The idea of quantum computing is introduced here yielding a new strategy to find all possible legal paired-bases with the constraint of minimum free energy. The sate of a stem pool with size N is encoded as a population of QGA, which is represented by N quantum bits but not classical bits. The updating of populations is accomplished by so-called quantum crossover operations, quantum mutation operations and quantum rotation operations. Results: The numerical results show that the performances of traditional EAs are significantly improved by using QGA with regard to not only prediction accuracy and sensitivity but also complexity. Moreover, for RNA sequences with middle-short length, QGA even improves the state-of-art software based on DPAs in terms of both prediction accuracy and sensitivity. Conclusion: This work sheds an interesting light on the applications of quantum computing on RNA structure prediction.

The deterioration of soil salinization has caused great harm to modern agricultural production in the world. Sorghum is not only one of five main crops, but also an outstanding salt tolerant crop. The screening and identification of sorghum salt toletion of sorghum salt tolerance will be very important to the development and utilization of salinized land, increasing grain yield and maintaining sustainable agricultural development. In this experiment, 110 sorghum landraces were selected to test salt tolerance at germination (200 mmol L-1 NaCl treated) and seedling stages (100 mmol L-1 NaCl treated). The two germination indicators including the germination potential and the germination rate, as well as seven seedling indicators, including the relative chlorophyll content (SPAD), seedling length, root length, seedling fresh weight, seedling dry weight, root fresh weight, root dry weight were measured. The relative values of various indicators under salt stress were calculated, showing that the relative germination potential and relative germination rate of 110 sorghum landraces were 0 – 98.89% and 23.65 %– 101.79%, and The seven seedling indicators were 59.53% – 99.91%, 52.47% – 95.23%, 47.87% – 100.14%, 27.43% – 95.28%, 30.48% – 98.26%, 21.62% – 100.34%, 31.46% – 102.13%, respectively. Combined the membership function value analysis, principal component analysis with cluster analysis, the salt tolephyll content (SPAD), seedling length, root length, seedling fresh weight, seedling dry weight, root fresh weight, root dry weight were measured. The relative values of various indicators under salt stress were calculated, showing that the relative germination potential and relative germination rate of 110 sorghum landraces were 0 – 98.89% and 23.65 %– 101.79%, and The seven seedling indicators were 59.53% – 99.91%, 52.47% – 95.23%, 47.87% – 100.14%, 27.43% – 95.28%, 30.48% – 98.26%, 21.62% – 100.34%, 31.46% – 102.13%, respectively. Combined the membership function value analysis, principal component analysis with cluster analysis, the salt tolerance ability of the 110 landraces at germination stage and seedling stage was comprehensively evaluated and the 110 landraces were clustered into four groups. A batch of sorghum landraces with salt tolerance at germination and seedling stages were identified, especially ten landraces, including Chaoyangbangchui (00003011) from Inner Mongolia and the Baidazimao (00001081) from Beijing showed high salt tolerance, which can be used in further research. There was no significant correlation in salt toleghum landraces with salt tolerance at germination and seedling stages were identified, especially ten landraces, including Chaoyangbangchui (00003011) from Inner Mongolia and the Baidazimao (00001081) from Beijing showed high salt tolerance, which can be used in further research. There was no significant correlation in salt tolerance between the germination stage and the seedling stage. Principal component analysis results indicated that seedling dry weight and root fresh weight can be used as indicators for the evaluation of salt tolerance of a large number of sorghum landraces at seedling stage.

Background: Breast cancer is one of the most frequent malignant tumors worldwide, with 1.67 million newly-diagnosed cases and 522,000 deaths each year. Therefore, seeking the novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets that contribute to postoperative recurrence and metastasis in patients with breast cancer is emerging and facilitates the development of innovative therapeutics. Methods: Retrieving the dataset of patients with hormone receptor (HR)-positive breast cancers from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) and collecting the data from the patients with HR-positive breast cancers enrolled in the First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University are so as to identify the miRNAs associated with metastasis and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS). Then MTT and Transwell migration assays were used to validate the effect of miRNAs on cell proliferation and migration of estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer T47D and MCF7 cells in vitro, respectively. Results: From GSE59829 dataset, the miRNA expression levels of miR-891a-5p, miR-383-5p and miR-1295a were significantly downregulated while the levels of miR-128-3p, miR-661 and miR-296-3p were significantly upregulated in breast cancers from patients with metastasis as compared to the matched non-metastatic group. Moreover, low expression levels of miR-891a-5p, miR-383-5p and miR-1295a or high expression levels of miR-128-3p, miR-661 and miR-296-3p were respectively associated with low DMFS in patients with breast cancer. Our clinical cohort study supported that the levels of miR-891a-5p, miR-383-5p and miR-1295a were significantly lower in breast cancers from the metastasis group when compared with non-metastatic group. However, there is no significant difference with regard to the levels of miR-128-3p, miR-661 and miR-296-3p in breast cancer between these two groups. Moreover, low expression levels of miR-891a-5p and miR-383-5p but not miR-1295a in breast cancer were significantly associated with low DMFS in patients, implying that the expression of miR-891a-5p and miR-383-5p were the potential prognosis markers for metastatic human breast cancers. Further investigation disclosed that miR-891a-5p but not miR-383-5p restrained both proliferation and migration of T47D and MCF7 cells. In silico analysis of miRNAs target gene through online computational algorithms revealed that A Disintegrin and metalloproteinase domain-containing protein 10 (ADAM10) is the downstream target for miR-891a-5p. Further study confirmed that miR-891a-5p impeded ADAM10 expression by directly binding to its 3'UTR, leading to the inhibition of breast cancer cells proliferation and migration. Moreover, silencing ADAM10 inhibited T47D and MCF7 cells growth and migration. Conclusion: miR-891a-5p is the vital prognostic marker for HR-positive breast cancer. In addition, miR-891a-5p and miR-383-5p are the potential targets for HR-positive breast cancer therapeutics.

Purpose: At the first time of metastatic breast cancer recurrence, conversion of the receptors status may occur between primary lesions and metastatic lesions, including the estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). Whether the decision of the treatment regimen is based on the primary receptor status or that of metastatic lesions is still unclear. Methods: This study enrolled 411 female patients with a diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer at the first time of recurrence to explore the influence of receptor conversion on prognosis prediction and treatment regimen of patients with metastatic breast cancer. Results: ER and PR changes from negative to positive are both prognostic factors for patients with breast cancer. Patients receiving endocrine therapy showed a better survival after recurrence than those using chemotherapy alone in the ER or PR Prim– Met+ subgroup. Patients in the HER2 Prim– Met+ subgroup using HER2-targeted therapy in multilines showed a post-recurrence survival advantage. In the bone re-biopsy subgroup, the PR change from positive to negative appeared to be more frequent than at other re-biopsy sites. Conclusions: Patients with metastatic breast cancer should perform re-biopsy to clarify the receptor status of the first metastatic lesions, which may provide clinicians valuable evidence to conduct treatments with higher precision.

Nationwide prospective surveillance of all-age patients with acute respiratory infections was conducted in China between 2009‒2019. Here we report the etiological and epidemiological features of the 231,107 eligible patients enrolled in this analysis. Children, China operates a national surveillance program for acute respiratory infections and sampled over 200,000 patients between 2009–2019. Here, the authors present results from this program and describe patterns by age, pathogen type, presence of pneumonia, and season.

Background Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) might be associated with oxidative stress, and antioxidants are commonly used in the treatment of young people with ASD. However, the evidence about the effectiveness of these interventions remains debatable. We performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the effect of antioxidants on the symptoms of patients with autism. Methods Data sources: PubMed and Web of Science databases. Study selection: We selected placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomized clinical trials published until February 2021 to evaluate the efficacy of antioxidant interventions on ASD. Data analysis: Aberrant Behavior Checklist (ABC), Repetitive Behavior Scale-Revised (RBS), Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS), Developmental Behavior Checklist (DBC) and Clinical Global Impressions Severity scale (CGI S) were used to evaluate the 22 different symptom outcomes. The Hedges-adjusted g value was used to estimate the effect of each dietary intervention relative to the placebo. Results In this meta-analysis, we examined 13 double-blind randomized clinical trials, comprising a total of 570 patients with ASD: 293 in the intervention group and 277 in the placebo group. Antioxidants (N-acetylcysteine (NAC), other antioxidants) are more effective than placebos in improving the irritability among symptoms in the ABC and communication disturbance symptoms in the DBC. There was a good trend of improvement in the stereotypic behavior symptoms in the ABC. Treatment with NAC antioxidants showed a good trend of improvement in irritability in the ABC and symptoms of hyperactivity. The effect size was small, and there was a low risk of statistical heterogeneity and publication bias. Limitations: The number of studies in this meta-analysis was small and the sample size was small. Conclusion This meta-analysis suggests that antioxidant intervention has a potential role in the management of some symptoms in patients with ASD, and indicates the feasibility of using antioxidants to treat autism in the future.

National-based prospective surveillance of all-age patients with acute diarrhea was conducted in China between 2009‒2018. Here we report the etiological, epidemiological, and clinical features of the 152,792 eligible patients enrolled in this analysis. Rotavirus A and norovirus are the two leading viral pathogens detected in the patients, followed by adenovirus and astrovirus. Diarrheagenic Escherichia coli and nontyphoidal Salmonella are the two leading bacterial pathogens, followed by Shigella and Vibrio parahaemolyticus. Patients aged, Diarrhoea is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in China. Here, the authors present results from a large sentinel surveillance scheme from 217 hospitals in all 31 provinces in mainland China, including ~150,000 patients with acute diarrhoea and covering years 2009-2018.

So far, all existing quantum oblivious transfer protocols focused on realization of the oblivious transfer of a classical bit or classical bit-string. In this paper, p-Rabin quantum oblivious transfer of a qubit protocol is achieved by using a probabilistic teleportation protocol. As the probabilistic teleportation protocol is able to transfer an (un)known pure state with a certain probability, this feature makes the probabilistic teleportation protocol well fit for Rabin oblivious transfer. Here, this is the first time that the concept of qubit oblivious transfer is presented. Furthermore, p-Rabin quantum oblivious transfer of a qubit protocol can also be used for oblivious of a bit by encoding classical bit with two pre-agreed orthogonal states. Finally, security analysis shows that the protocol satisfies the security requirements of oblivious transfer, and what’s more, the discussion of relationship with no-go theorem demonstrates that the probabilistic teleportation protocol is able to evade the no-go theorem.

The first transcriptome analyses of Tetraena mongolica provided 224,618 Unigenes and identified the genes that were differentially expressed under salt and drought conditions, giving some insights into the unique adaptive capacity of this relic plant. Tetraena mongolica Maxim, the only member of the Tetraena genus in the Zygophyllaceae, is endemic to the northwest of China. As one of the relic shrubs of the Paleo-Mediterranean flora, T. mongolica plays a key role in preserving the local ecological environment. To investigate its good adaptability in desert, we studied the transcriptome of T. mongolica under NaCl and PEG6000 stresses. Three libraries were constructed from a mixture of seedlings and mature plants of T. mongolica, and the de novo transcriptome was sequenced using an Illumina HiSeq 4000. Approximately 218.15 million clean reads were assembled de novo into 383,612 transcripts, and 116,027 All-Unigenes were identified. By aligning All-Unigene sequences against the NR database, we found that most of the All-Unigenes had very low matches with the sequences from other plants. A total of 21,112 SSRs and 6 types of SNP variants were identified. The RNA-Seq data revealed 60 transcription factor (TF) families with 3163 genes in total. Six libraries were constructed from the separate control or stressed seedlings, and the transcriptome was sequenced using a BGISEQ-500 platform. There are 1105 and 1383 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) with 42 and 54 TFs under NaCl and PEG6000 treatment, respectively. The genes that were putatively involved in salt and osmotic stresses were searched and analyzed. Quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) showed that DEG expression profiles were consistent with those from RNA-seq (RNA sequencing). Overall, this study provides new insights into the molecular mechanisms that control salt and drought stress responses in T. mongolica.

Flap endonuclease 1 (FEN1) is recognized as a pivotal factor in DNA replication, long-patch excision repair, and telomere maintenance. Excessive FEN1 expression has been reported to be closely associated with cancer progression, but the specific mechanism has not yet been explored. In the present study, we demonstrated that FEN1 promoted breast cancer cell proliferation via an epigenetic mechanism of FEN1-mediated up-regulation of DNA methyltransferase (DNMT)1 and DNMT3a. FEN1 was proved to interact with DNMT3a through proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) to suppress microRNA (miR)-200a-5p expression mediated by methylation. Furthermore, miR-200a-5p was identified to repress breast cancer cell proliferation by inhibiting the expression of its target genes, hepatocyte growth factor (MET), and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). Overall, our data surprisingly demonstrate that FEN1 promotes breast cancer cell growth via the formation of FEN1/PCNA/DNMT3a complex to inhibit miR-200a expression by DNMT-mediated methylation and to recover the target genes expression of miR-200a, MET, and EGFR. The novel epigenetic mechanism of FEN1 on proliferation promotion provides a significant clue that FEN1 might serve as a predictive biomarker and therapeutic target for breast cancer.-Zeng, X., Qu, X., Zhao, C., Xu, L., Hou, K., Liu, Y., Zhang, N., Feng, J., Shi, S., Zhang, L., Xiao, J., Guo, Z., Teng, Y., Che, X. FEN1 mediates miR-200a methylation and promotes breast cancer cell growth via MET and EGFR signaling.

Quantum-inspired genetic algorithms (QGAs) were recently introduced for the prediction of RNA secondary structures, and they showed some superiority over the existing popular strategies. In this paper, for RNA secondary structure prediction, we introduce a new QGA named multi-population assisted quantum genetic algorithm (MAQGA). In contrast to the existing QGAs, our strategy involves multi-populations which evolve together in a cooperative way in each iteration, and the genetic exchange between various populations is performed by an operator transfer operation. The numerical results show that the performances of existing genetic algorithms (evolutionary algorithms [EAs]), including traditional EAs and QGAs, can be significantly improved by using our approach. Moreover, for RNA sequences with middle-short length, the MAQGA improves even this state-of-the-art software in terms of both prediction accuracy and sensitivity.