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Background: Gliotoxin, a secondary metabolite isolated from marine-derived Aspergillus fumigatus, has demonstrated anti-tumor properties in several cancers. Ferroptosis, a recently discovered type of programmed cell death that depends on the accumulation of iron and lipid peroxides, participates in the occurrence and development of various diseases, including cancer. A recent patent, US20200383943, has suggested that the promotion of ferroptosis is a method of cancer treatment. Therefore, the development of drugs that induce ferroptosis in cancer cells would constitute a novel therapeutic approach. Objective: Gliotoxin is a natural compound which has exhibited anti-tumor properties in multiple cancers, however, studies of the effect of gliotoxin on esophageal cancer are lacking. Although cancer treatment has shown great progress, including traditional surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and immunotherapy, the prognosis of esophageal cancer is still poor. Therefore, the development of new treatment approaches for esophageal cancer is necessary. Methods: The effects of gliotoxin on esophageal cancer cells were determined by functional assays, such as CCK-8, wound healing and transwell assays. We used online tools to predict the target genes of gliotoxin, followed by further verification using Western blotting assays. To assess the role of gliotxin in inducing ferroptosis in esophageal cancer, we detected characteristics associated with ferroptosis including ROS, MDA, GSH and Fe2+. Results: Using online tools SEA and SwissTargetPrediction, we predicted that SUV39H1 was the gliotoxin target gene. Furthermore, in esophageal cancer tissues, SUV39H1 was expressed at higher levels than in normal tissues, while in patients with Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma (ESCC), high expression levels of SUV39H1 indicated a poor prognosis. In vitro, we observed that gliotoxin increased ESCC cell death and inhibited cell migration. We treated ESCC cells with pan-caspase inhibitor Z-VAD-FMK or ferroptosis inhibitors, including Fer-1 and DFO. Our results showed that Fer-1 and DFO reduced the toxic effects of gliotoxin, while Z-VAD-FMK did not. Furthermore, gliotoxin treatment reduced tumor weight and volume in the xenograft tumor mouse model. Conclusion: In summary, our findings indicate that gliotoxin downregulated SUV39H1 expression in ESCC cells and induced ferroptosis, suggesting a novel natural therapy for ESSC.

Lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles (Ln-UCNPs) are a new type of nanomaterials with excellent fluorescence properties, which are well applied in fluorescent biosensing. Herein we developed a multifunctional probe based on the surface engineering of core-shell structure UCNPs with polyacrylic acid (PAA). The developed PAA/UCNPs probe could be highly selective to detect and respond to Cu2+ at different pH. Cu2+ could easily combine with the carboxylate anion of PAA to quench the fluorescence of UCNPs. Therefore, we creatively proposed a fluorescent array sensor (PAA/UCNPs-Cu2+), in which the same material acted as the sensing element by coupled with pH regulation for pattern recognition of 5 thiols. It could also easily identify the chiral enantiomer of cystine (L-Cys and D-Cys), and distinguish their mixed samples with different concentrations, and more importantly, it could be combined with urine samples to detect actual level of homocysteine (Hcys) to provide a new solution for judging whether the human body suffers from homocystinuria.

For interpretation of China’s economy, total factor productivity is considered as one of the crucial aspects which is generally dependent on innovation in technologies especially those driven by both scientific research and efficiency of the methodology or process which is dedicated for the allocation of numerous resources available, among enterprises. It is important to note that various factors, which are either directly or indirectly involved, to cause misallocation of the resources to the enterprises, are overly complex. Therefore, an affective mechanism is needed to be realized which is capable of resolving these issues with the available resources and infrastructures. In this paper, we have focused on the construction or development of an artificial neutral network (ANN) based evaluation model to study the impact of resource misallocation on total factor productivity. Likewise, we have conducted a counterfactual experiment, i.e., simulation only, to thoroughly examine the relationship between two very important factors, that is, (i) resource misallocation and (ii) total factor productivity. To do this, we are aiming at investigating the growth potential of total factor productivity when there is no resource misallocation. After comparing 8 industries in different regions, we conclude that the contribution of capital and labor distortion to total factor productivity is the highest in the eastern region of China with −0.036 and 0.065, respectively, followed by the northeast, central, and western regions. In the experiment, China’s total factor productivity growth potential could reach 1.1296, if there is no resource misallocation. The results in this paper would shed some lights on the paths to improve resource allocation efficiency and total factor productivity.

It is widely accepted that the consumption of ω-3 and ω-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids has beneficial effects on human health. For this paper, the content and composition of fatty acids in fourteen macroalgal species from Nao Zhou Island were analyzed. The modified Bligh and Dyer method was used to extract fat-soluble components from seaweeds. After extraction, impurity removal, methylation, and separation, the total fatty acids and components of each species were separated and identified by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry and quantified. The results showed that the contents of saturated and unsaturated fatty acid contents in Phaeophyta were relatively high, but their distribution was uneven. Compared with other algae, Phaeophyta contained more polyunsaturated fatty acids, which are beneficial to human health. Moreover, Agarophyton tenuistipitatum in Rhodophyta and Valonia aegagropila in Chlorophyta also had relatively high contents of unsaturated fatty acids, higher than that of Phaeophyta. Hence, algae with high contents of unsaturated fatty acids in Phaeophyta, Agarophyton tenuistipitatum in Rhodophyta, and Valonia aegagropila in Chlorophyta have the potential to be used for medical purposes and as a base for health products and other biological agents.

We developed a predictive model associated with ferroptosis to provide a more comprehensive view of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) immunotherapy. Gene expression data and corresponding clinical outcomes were obtained from the GEO and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) databases, and a ferroptosis-related gene set was obtained from the FerrDb database. We identified 45 ferroptosis-related genes that were differentially expressed, including enrichment in genes involved in the immune system process. We established a ferroptosis-related gene-based prognostic model based on the results of univariate Cox regression and multivariate Cox regression analyses, with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.76 (3 years). We found that the patients with low-risk scores showed a higher proportion of CD8+ T cells, CD4+ memory activated T cells, etc. Finally, a predictive ferroptosis-related prognostic nomogram, which included the predictive values of age, gender, grade, TNM stage, and risk score, was established to predict overall survival. In sum, we developed a ferroptosis-related gene-based prognostic model that provides novel insights into the prediction of ESCC prognosis and identifies the relevance of the immune microenvironment for patient outcomes., Graphical Abstract, Lu et al. developed a ferroptosis-related gene-based prognostic model that provides novel insights into the prediction of ESCC prognosis and identifies the relevance of the immune microenvironment for patient outcomes.

Glucosamine-phosphate N-acetyltransferase 1 (GNPNAT1) is a key enzyme associated with glucose metabolism and uridine diphosphate-N-acetylglucosamine biosynthesis. Abnormal GNPNAT1 expression might be associated with carcinogenesis. We analyzed multiple lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) gene expression databases and verified GNPNAT1 higher expression in LUAD tumor tissues than in normal tissues. Moreover, we analyzed the survival relationship between LUAD patients’ clinical status and GNPNAT1 expression, and found higher GNPNAT1 expression in LUAD patients with unfavorable prognosis. We built GNPNAT1 gene co-expression networks and further annotated the co-expressed genes’ Gene Ontology (GO) terms, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways, and various associated regulatory factors. These co-expression genes’ functional networks mainly participate in chromosome segregation, RNA metabolic process, and RNA transport. We analyzed GNPNAT1 genetic alterations and co-occurrence networks, and the functional networks of these genes showed that GNPNAT1 participates in multiple steps of cell cycle transition and in the development of some cancers. We assessed the correlation between GNPNAT1 expression and cancer immune infiltrates and showed that GNPNAT1 expression is correlated with several immune cells, chemokines, and immunomodulators in LUAD. We found that GNPNAT1 correlates with LUAD development and prognosis, laying a foundation for further research, especially in immunotherapy.

Bimetallic SbSn alloy stands out among the anode materials for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) because of its high theoretical specific capacity (752 mAh g

Dysregulated genetic factors correlate with carcinoma progression. However, the hub miRNAs-mRNAs related to biochemical recurrence in prostate cancer remain unclear. We aim to identify potential miRNA-mRNA regulatory network and hub genes in prostate cancer.Datasets of gene expression microarray were downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database for Robust Rank Aggregation (RRA), targeted gene prediction, gene function and signal pathway enrichment analyses, miRNA-mRNA regulatory network construction, core network screening, as well as validation and survival analysis were carried out by using exogenous data.Prostate cancer-related differentially expressed genes were mostly related to actin filament regulation. Moreover, the cGMP-PKG signaling pathway might play a role in prostate cancer progression. As the core of microRNAs, hsa-miR-106b-5p, hsa-miR-17-5p and hsa-miR-183-5p were matched to hub genes (such asHub genes were closely related to prostate cancer development and progression, which might become biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis. This novel nomogram established could be applied to clinical prediction.

Amplitude-variation-with-offset (AVO) technique is one of the primary quantitative hydrocarbon discrimination methods with prestack seismic data. However, the prestack seismic data are usually have low data quality, such as nonflat gathers and nonpreserved amplitude due to absorption, attenuation, and/or many other reasons, which usually lead to a wrong AVO response. The Neogene formations in the Huanghekou area of the Bohai Bay Basin are unconsolidated clastics with a high average porosity, and we find that the attenuation on seismic signal is very strong, which causes an inconsistency of AVO responses between seismic gathers and its corresponding synthetics. Our research results indicate that the synthetic AVO response can match the field seismic gathers in the low-frequency end, but not in the high-frequency components. Thus, we have developed an AVO response correction method based on high-resolution complex spectral decomposition and low-frequency constraint. This method can help to achieve a correct high-resolution AVO response. Its application in Bohai oil fields reveals that it is an efficient way to identify hydrocarbons in rocks, which provides an important technique for support in oil and gas exploration and production in this area.

Increasing concern over endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in environmental and food samples has created the demand for rapid and high throughput screening methods to evaluate their estrogenic effects. In this study, a sensitive assay based on estrogen receptor α (ERα) and gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) was established to screen EDCs and confirm the binding affinities of EDCs with ERα. ERα protein can prevent the salt-induced aggregation of AuNPs by recruiting Na+ from AuNPs. When there are EDCs as targets in the sample, the specific binding of ERα and EDCs via hydrogen bonding results in a reduction in the binding between Na+ and ERα, and then most Na+ ions bind to the AuNPs and induce their aggregation. Nine kinds of estrogen-agonist compound, 17β-estradiol (17β-E2), diethylstilbestrol (DES), hexoestrolum (HES), 17α-estradiol (17α-E2), estrone (E1), 2,2-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)-1,1,1-trichloroethane (HPTE), genistein, bisphenol A (BPA) and bisphenol B (BPB), were chosen as representative targets for the validation of this method. The ranking order of estrogenic potency determined by this method was DES > 17β-E2 > HES > 17α-E2 > E1 > HPTE > genistein > BPA > BPB, which was consistent with the published results. Moreover, the recoveries of the nine kinds of EDCs spiked in tap water and milk samples were all between 80.0% and 120.0%, which proved that this method can be used for the high throughput screening of these EDCs in environmental and food samples.

This paper reveals the coupling mechanism of government support, financial support, and innovation. Using panel data from 28 provinces in China from 2007 to 2016 as a research sample, the coupling coordination degree model is used to measure the coupling coordination degree of government support, financial support, and innovation, and the empirical analysis of its relationship with economic development is conducted through projection pursuit model, static panel data model and dynamic panel data model. The main results show that: (1) The coupling coordination degree of government support, financial support, and innovation in the eastern, central, and western region is on the rise, but there are large differences between regions. (2) The coupling coordination degree of government support, financial support, and innovation has a significant positive impact on economic development, and there are regional differences in its role in promoting economic development. That is, the coupling coordination degree of government support, financial support, and innovation has significantly promoted the economic development of the eastern region, but has no significant impact on the economic development of the central and western region.

Background: The benign cardiac tumor is a common disease. We often completely removed it by operation. However, the characteristic of the tumor is not studied deeply. Here, we used the technique of single-cell RNA sequencing to analyze cell composition and growth patterns in a giant cardiac tumor. Case presentation: A 65-year-old woman presented to our hospital with 5 day of chest tightness, dyspnea, lower abdominal distension. Echocardiography revealed a mass in the right atrium. An emergency operation was carried out to prevent tumor shedding. The single-cell RNA sequencing was applied to analysis the nature of the tumor.Conclusion: Single-cell RNA sequencing is a good manner to analyze the growth pattern and search for therapeutic targets. Based on the result of single-cell RNA sequencing, it is helpful to reduce the recurrence of the tumor and benefit the quality of life of patients.

Background. Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the highest frequent malignant tumors with very complicated pathogenesis. Genes of neurodegenerative diseases can influence tumor progression. But its role in the progression of PCa remains unclear. The purpose of the present academic work was to identify significant genes with poor outcome and their underlying mechanism. Methods. The GSE70768, GSE88808, and GSE134051 datasets were downloaded to screen the differentially expressed genes (DEGs). The DEG screening criteria were as follows: P < 0.05 and differential fold change logFC ≥ 1 . The common DEGs (co-DEGs) of the three datasets were obtained by the Robust Rank Aggregation (RRA) method. Gene Ontology (GO) function annotation and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genome (KEGG) pathway analysis were performed using R software. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis was performed for co-DEGs using STRING to screen critical genes. Differential expression and prognosis of key genes were analyzed by the online tool Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis 2 (GEPIA2). The intersection gene between key genes and neurodegenerative genes was identified by constructing a Venn diagram. Results. A total of 263 co-DEGs were identified from the three datasets. GO analysis showed that co-DEGs were mainly involved in muscle contraction and blood circulation regulation. The top ten key genes were ACTG2, APOE, F5, CALD1, MYH11, MYL9, MYLK, TPM1, TPM2, and CALM1. GEPIA2 analysis showed that APOE, MYH11, and MYLK differ dramatically between tumor and normal tissues. These key genes are related to disease-free survival (DFS) in PCa. APOE was the intersection gene between key genes and Alzheimer-related genes. Conclusion. The neurodegenerative gene APOE may be a potential prognostic and diagnostic biomarker for PCa.

As countries worldwide are pursuing green development, assessing whether the digital economy as a new economic engine can help us achieve new breakthroughs is of great research value. China, being the largest resource consumer in the world but with a rapidly developing digital economy, can offer us a special view on this question. Using China’s provincial panel data from 2010 to 2020, this study comprehensively measures the development of the digital economy from four dimensions and empirically examines the impact of digital economy development on the green economy based on the super efficiency SBM-GML model. The results show that: first, digital economy development has a significant positive effect on promoting a green economy; second, there are regional differences in both the digital economy and the green economy in China, with the development in the southern region better than that in the northern region; third, the environmental regulation has a double-threshold effect on the relationship that we assessed. The findings in this study highlight the importance of digital economic development in driving the growth of the real economy and are of value to the development of a green economy in the new period.

ObjectiveThe purpose of this paper is to predict the following items. preoperative baseline monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio (MLR)、neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) Platura-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and dimeric fibrin fragment D (D-dimer) associated with clinical outcome in patients with Early Lung Cancer (LC).MethodsWe performed a retrospective analysis of 376 patients with LC. Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were assessed by Kaplan-Meier, and univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were performed to identify prognostic factors. Finally, multivariate Cox regression analysis was used to evaluate the influence of favorable factors on patients’ OS and PFS combined with the basic clinical characteristics of the patient ResultsAmong the variables screened by univariate Cox regression, MLR < 0.22, NLR < 1.99, PLR < 130.55 and D-Dimer < 70.5 (ng/ml) were significantly associated with both better OS and PFS. In multivariate Cox regression analysis, it was determined that MLR and D-Dimer had a better independent correlation with OS (p = 0.009, p = 0.05, respectively), while MLR was only better independently associated with PFS (P = 0.005). Furthermore, according to the number of favorable factors, patients with none of these factors had a significantly worse prognosis than patients with at least one of these factors.Conclusion Baseline characteristics of low MLR, low NLR, low PLR and low D-dimer were associated with better outcomes.

Silicon, as an anode candidate with great promise for next-generation lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), has drawn massive attention. However, the deficiencyies of tremendous volume change and intrinsic low electron/ion conductivity will hinder its further development. To cope with these bottlenecks, from the aspect of dimension design concept, the diverse dimensionality of microaggregates derived from cogenetic Si/C nano-building blocks was explored rather than the conventional strategies such as morphology control, structure design, and composition adjustment of Si/C. Herein, constructing silicon-carbon hybrid materials considering component dimensional variation and dimensional hybridization is beneficial to enhance lithium storage performance. Initiating from 0D silicon nanodots evenly immersed in the interior and skeleton of a hollow carbon shell (SHC) nanosphere, the 1D SHC nanospheres interconnected with nitrogen doping carbon necklace fiber, a 2D SHC nanospheres directional arranged plane, and a 3D SHC nanospheres self-aggregated microsphere will be elaborately and favorably designed and composed. Then, three different as-prepared dimensional materials deliver their inherent superiority in chemical, physical, and electronic properties containing 1D high aspect ratio, 2D fast electron/ion diffusion kinetics, and 3D efficient conductive networks, yielding effectively enhanced electrochemical performance, respectively.