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Coastal cities are increasingly vulnerable to urban storm surge hazards and the secondary hazards they cause (e.g., coastal flooding). Accurate representation of the spatio-temporal process of hazard event development is essential for effective emergency response. However, current knowledge graph representations face the challenge of integrating multi-source information with various spatial and temporal scales. To address this challenge, we propose a new information model for storm surge hazard events, involving a two-step process. First, a hazard event ontology is designed to model the components and hierarchical relationships of hazard event information. Second, we utilize multi-scale time segment integer coding and geographical coordinate subdividing grid coding to create a spatio-temporal framework, for modeling spatio-temporal features and spatio-temporal relationships. Using the 2018 typhoon Mangkhut storm surge event in Shenzhen as a case study and the hazard event information model as a schema layer, a storm surge event knowledge graph is constructed, demonstrating the integration and formal representation of heterogeneous hazard event information and enabling the fast retrieval of disasters in a given spatial or temporal range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brain diseases remain a significant global healthcare burden. Conventional pharmacological therapy for brain diseases encounters huge challenges because of the blood–brain barrier (BBB) limiting the delivery of therapeutics into the brain parenchyma. To address this issue, researchers have explored various types of drug delivery systems. Cells and cell derivatives have attracted increasing interest as "Trojan horse" delivery systems for brain diseases, owing to their superior biocompatibility, low immunogenicity, and BBB penetration properties. This review provided an overview of recent advancements in cell- and cell-derivative-based delivery systems for the diagnosis and treatment of brain diseases. Additionally, it discussed the challenges and potential solutions for clinical translation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Petroleum industry has started to embrace the advanced petroleum cyber-physical system (CPS) technologies. Offshore petroleum CPS is particularly hard to build, mainly due to the difficulty in detecting and preventing offshore oil leaking. During the oil exploration and transportation process, the remote multi-sensing technology is typically employed for emerging service. It can be utilized for leak detection by enabling the underwater modeling of an offshore petroleum CPS. However, such a technology suffers from insufficient remote sensing resources and expensive computational overhead. In this work, a cross-entropy based leak detection technique is proposed to detect the oil leak, which facilitates the understanding of the oil leak induced marine pollution. Furthermore, a hierarchical parallel approach is proposed on the super computer Tianhe-2 to improve the efficiency of the proposed leak detection technique. Experimental results on Penglai oil spill events demonstrate that the proposed method can effectively identify the sources of oil spilling with accuracy up to 100 % . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism experiences bring about physical or psychological feelings in tourists, which can not only leave tourists with deep memories, but also affect their behavioral intentions. Tourism experiences are meaningful only if they can be remembered and influence word of mouth and decision making. A better understanding of what influences tourism experience memory will help optimize the supply and further development of tourism destinations. This study explores the antecedents of rural tourism experience memory from the tourism supply perspective, revealing the mechanism of effect of these antecedents on tourists' tourism experience memory formation through a questionnaire-based survey of 556 participants in Xidi Village, China, and correlation and multiple regression analyses. The results show that perceptions about the supply of rural tourism destinations trigger positive emotions that, in turn, affect the formation of rural tourism experience memory. Through the mediating role of positive emotions, there is a significant correlation between perception of rural tourism destination supply and the formation of rural tourism experience memories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The substitution of C for N in graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) can promote π-electron availability and increase photocatalytic activity, but the low specific surface area still limits its performance. Herein, porous C-doped g-C3N4 was prepared by the uracil-mediated supramolecular assembly of melamine and cyanuric acid. The as-prepared catalyst exhibited a high photocatalytic hydrogen evolution rate of 2352 μmol g−1 h−1 under visible light irradiation (λ ≥ 420 nm), which was 28 times that of g-C3N4 (83 μmol g−1 h−1), due to the porous architecture and C-doping effect. The porous architecture endowed the catalyst with a large specific surface area (79.4 m2 g−1) and great light utilization efficiency in the visible light region between 500 and 750 nm. In addition, C-doping modified the energy band structure of g-C3N4 to a narrow band gap (from 2.92 eV to 2.78 eV) and enhanced the separation efficiency of photogenerated carriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the spatial structure of regional tourism cooperation networks among 27 cities in the Yangtze River Delta from the perspective of supply and demand. Data from the supply network were collected from official news released by the Chinese government and quotations for tour routes published by travel agencies. Travel notes published on tourists' blog community platforms about their travel experiences were used as source data for the demand network. The degree of cooperation between the cities was analyzed based on the frequency of occurrence and co-occurrence of information on tourist attractions or cities in the Yangtze River Delta region in tourist notes, tourist route quotes, and official news. This study divides 27 cities in the Yangtze River Delta region into three categories: those where supply matches demand (e.g., Shanghai and Nanjing), nine cities where there is a demand lag (e.g., Zhenjiang), and 16 cities where there is a supply lag (e.g., Wuxi). Investigating the differences between the supply and demand networks is helpful to understand the effectiveness of regional tourism cooperation mechanisms and government policies, which is crucial for the sustainability and good governance of regional tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early diagnosis of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in the pre-leukemic stage remains a clinical challenge, as pre-leukemic patients show no symptoms, lacking any known morphological or numerical abnormalities in blood cells. Here, we demonstrate that platelets with structurally abnormal mitochondria emerge at the pre-leukemic phase of AML, preceding detectable changes in blood cell counts or detection of leukemic blasts in blood. We visualized frozen-hydrated platelets from mice at different time points during AML development in situ using electron cryo-tomography (cryo-ET) and identified intracellular organelles through an unbiased semi-automatic process followed by quantitative measurement. A large proportion of platelets exhibited changes in the overall shape and depletion of organelles in AML. Notably, 23% of platelets in pre-leukemic cells exhibit abnormal, round mitochondria with unfolded cristae, accompanied by a significant drop in ATP levels and altered expression of metabolism-related gene signatures. Our study demonstrates that detectable structural changes in pre-leukemic platelets may serve as a biomarker for the early diagnosis of AML. Wang et al characterise platelets in a mouse model of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) using Cryo-electron tomography (Cryo-ET) and find that 23% of platelets in pre-leukemic cells exhibit abnormal, round mitochondria with unfolded cristae. They also detect reduced ATP levels and altered expression of metabolism-related genes, altogether suggesting that platelet alterations may serve as a biomarker for AML. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques leverage the justice system in terms of effectiveness and efficiency. AI-empowered multi-label crime classification can facilitate the precise and expedient categorization of various legal documents. Multi-label classification within the justice system has an indispensable role in achieving accurate legal categorization that invigorates case analysis, optimizes resource distribution and refines the contours of legal processes. To support this critical function, this paper proposes a temporal convolutional network (TCN)-bidirectional encoder representations from transformers (BERT)-coupled model for multi-label crime classification. The proposed method fuses the temporal formation and semantic information in the model to obtain a high-quality result. The experimental results show that the proposed method achieved the best accuracy in comparison to existing methods on a public dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims Anaplastic lymphoma kinase ( ALK)-rearranged renal cell carcinoma ( RCC) is a rare subtype of RCC reported in recent years, with eight cases so far. The aims of the present study were to screen ALK-rearranged cases from a large cohort of RCCs in China to determine the frequency of ALK rearrangement and investigate the clinicopathological features and outcomes. Methods and results Tissues from a total of 477 RCC patients in China were embedded into tissue microarrays for immunostaining. Fluorescence in-situ hybridization ( FISH) and fluorescence quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction ( RT- PCR) were applied to identify and confirm the rearrangement of ALK, and to identify the genes fused with ALK. ALK expression was identified in two of 477 RCCs. By FISH analysis, the two tumours showed either a 1R1G1F or a 2R2G signal pattern, indicating rearrangement involving ALK. Fluorescence quantitative RT- PCR detected the TPM3- ALK fusion and EML4- ALK fusion transcripts in the two tumours, respectively. Follow-up data were analyzed for the two cases and eight other ALK-rearranged RCCs reported in the literature. Two patients died from RCCs, on the 16th month and 48th month after surgery, respectively. The 5-year cancer-specific survival rate of patients with the 10 ALK-rearranged RCCs was lower than that of patients with International Society of Urological Pathology (ISUP) G1, G2 and G3 clear cell RCC ( CCRCC) and papillary RCC ( PRCC), but higher than that of patients with G4 CCRCC and PRCC. Conclusions ALK-rearranged RCC is a rare subtype of adult RCC and is associated with distinct histological features and a poor prognosis. Identification of ALK-rearranged RCC has important clinical significance, because patients might benefit from ALK inhibitor therapy as used in lung adenocarcinoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Location recommendation is at the core of location-based service, while recommendation based on graph neural networks (GNNs) has recently flourished, and for location recommendation tasks, GNN-based approaches are equally applicable. To provide fair location recommendation services for multi-users, correlation information between non-adjacent locations and non-consecutive visits is essential information in understanding user behavior. The key to GNN-based location recommendation is how to use GNNs to learn embedding representations for users and locations according to their neighbors. Existing approaches usually focus on how to aggregate information from the perspective of spatial structural information, but temporal information about neighboring nodes in the graph has not been fully exploited. In this paper, a GNN location recommendation model, STAGNN, is proposed to incorporate spatio-temporal information to support fairness-driven location-based service. STAGNN facilitates the progression from spatial to spatio-temporal by generating spatio-temporal embeddings from the perspective of spatial structural information and temporal information. STAGNN also explicitly uses spatio-temporal information of all check-ins through an extended attention layer, an improvement that incorporates non-adjacent locations and non-consecutive visits between point-to-point interactions into the learning of user/location embedding representations with significant spatio-temporal effects. STAGNN also employs a multi-head attention mechanism. Experimental results demonstrate that STAGNN brings a good improvement in GNN-based location recommendation, outperforming the optimal baseline by 6%-11% on the three datasets under the HR@20 evaluation metric. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Xp11.2 translocation/ TFE3 rearrangement-associated renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and Xp11 translocation renal mesenchymal tumor are distinct tumor entity. To broaden the spectrum of Xp11 neoplasms, we investigated a novel tumor exhibiting morphologies overlapping Xp11.2 translocation/ TFE3 rearrangement-associated RCC and the mesenchymal counterpart with melanocytic differentiation by immunohistochemistry, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and RNA sequencing, as well as literature review. Histologically, the tumor was composed of three different types of tumor cells, including a large proportion of clear cells, small round cells, and a few spindle cells, presenting a relatively clear border in the majority area. The nuclei of all tumor cells showed extensively and strong positive expressions of TFE3. Whereas, the clear cells positively expressed the RCC-related markers including PAX8, RCC marker and CD10, and negatively expressed HMB45; On the contrary, the small round cells and spindle cells positively expressed melanocytic marker HMB45, and negatively expressed PAX8, RCC marker and CD10. The ki67 index was higher in the small round cells and spindle cells than that in the clear cells. FISH revealed the rearrangement of TFE3 gene in all the three types of cells. The NONO-TFE3 fusion gene was detected in all tumor cells by RNA sequencing. This unique Xp11 translocation-associated neoplasm might represent a distinct entity overlapping Xp11 translocation RCC and the mesenchymal counterpart with melanocytic differentiation, broadening the spectrum of Xp11 neoplasms. The patient died of tumor recurrence and lung metastasis after seven months after the surgery suggesting those tumors have an unfavorable prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oxygen is an important parameter for organic-waste composting, and continuous control of the oxygen in a composting pile may be beneficial. The oxygen consumption rate can be used to measure the degree of biological oxidation and decomposition of organic matter. However, without having a real-time online device to monitor oxygen levels in the composting pile, the adjustment and optimization of the composting process cannot be directly implemented. In the present study, we researched and developed such a system, and then tested its stability, reliability, and characteristics. The test results showed that the equipment was accurate and stable, and produced good responses with good repeatability. The equilibrium time required to detect oxygen concentration in the composting pile was 50 s, and the response time for oxygen detection was less than 2 s. The equipment could monitor oxygen concentration online and in real time to optimize the aeration strategy for the compost depending on the concentration indicated by the oxygen-measuring equipment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to limited resources and environmental pollution, monitoring the geological environment has become essential for many countries' sustainable development. As various high-resolution remote-sensing (RS) imaging platforms are continuously available, the remote sensing of the geological environment (GERS) provides a fine-grain, all-weather, and low-cost method for identifying geological elements. Mainstream machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) methods can extract high-level high-dimensional semantic information and thus supply an efficient tool for high-precision classification and recognition in many fields. Therefore, the integration of advanced methods and multi-source RS images for GERS interpretation has achieved remarkable breakthroughs during the past decades. However, to the best of our knowledge, a systematic survey of the advances of GERS interpretation regarding ML and DL methods is still lacking. Through the collection of extensive published research in this area, this survey outlines and analyzes the challenges, progress, and promising directions of GERS interpretation. Specifically, the main challenges and difficulties in identifying GERS elements are first summarized in four aspects: sufficient element characteristics and variations, complex context disturbance, RS image quality and types, and other limitations in GERS interpretation. Second, we systematically introduce various RS imaging platforms and advanced ML and DL methods for GERS interpretation. Third, the research status and trends of several GERS applications, including their use for lithology, soil, water, rock glacier, and geological disaster, are ultimately collected and compared. Finally, potential opportunities for future research are discussed. After the systematic and comprehensive review, the conclusive findings suggest that longtime large-scale GERS interpretation and corresponding change pattern analysis will be a significant future direction to meet the needs of environment improvement and sustainable development. To complete the above goals, a fusion of satellite, airplane, environmental monitoring, geological survey, and other types of data will provide enough discriminative information, and expert knowledge, GIS, and high-performance computing techniques will be helpful to improve the efficiency and generalizability of ML and DL methods for processing the multi-platform RS data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lactate is abundant in cancer tissues due to active glycolysis (aka Warburg effect) and mediates crosstalk between tumor cells and the immune microenvironment (TIME) to promote the progression of breast cancer. Quercetin (QU) is a potent monocarboxylate transporters (MCT) inhibitor, which can reduce lactate production and secretion of tumor cells. Doxorubicin (DOX) can induce immunogenic cell death (ICD), which promotes tumor-specific immune activation. Thus, we propose a combination therapy of QU&DOX to inhibit lactate metabolism and stimulate anti-tumor immunity. To enhance tumor-targeting efficiency, we developed a legumain-activatable liposome system (KC26-Lipo) with modification of KC26 peptide for co-delivery of QU&DOX for modulation of tumor metabolism and TIME in breast cancer. The KC26 peptide is a legumain-responsive, hairpin-structured cell-penetrating peptide (polyarginine) derivative. Legumain is a protease overexpressed in breast tumors, allowing selective activation of the KC26-Lipo to subsequently facilitate intra-tumoral and intracellular penetration. The KC26-Lipo effectively inhibited 4T1 breast cancer tumor growth through chemotherapy and anti-tumor immunity. Besides, inhibition of lactate metabolism suppressed the HIF-1α/VEGF pathway and angiogenesis and repolarized the tumor-associated macrophages (TAM). This work provides a promising breast cancer therapy strategy by regulating lactate metabolism and TIME. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Curcumin has been reported as a radiosensitizer in prostate cancer. But the underlying mechanism is not well understood. In this study, we firstly assessed how curcumin affects the expression of miR-143/miR-145 cluster. Then, we investigated whether miR-143 is involved in regulation of radiosensitivity and its association with autophagy in prostate cancer cells. Our data showed that PC3, DU145 and LNCaP cells treated with curcumin had significantly restored miR-143 and miR-145 expression. Curcumin showed similar effect as 5-AZA-dC on reducing methylation of CpG dinucleotides in miR-143 promoter. In addition, curcumin treatment reduced the expression of DNMT1 and DNMT3B, which contribute to promoter hypermethylation of the miR-143/miR-145 cluster. Therefore, we infer that curcumin can restore miR-143 and miR-145 expression via hypomethylation. MiR-143 overexpression and curcumin pretreatment enhanced radiation induced cancer cell growth inhibition and apoptosis. MiR-143 and curcumin remarkably reduced radiation-induced autophagy in PC3 and DU145 cells. MiR-143 overexpression alone also reduced the basal level of autophagy in DU145 cells. Mechanistically, miR-143 can suppress autophagy in prostate cancer cells at least via downregulating ATG2B. Based on these findings, we infer that curcumin sensitizes prostate cancer cells to radiation partly via epigenetic activation of miR-143 and miR-143 mediated autophagy inhibition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Primary pleomorphic malignant fibrous histiocytoma of the heart is rare. The present study was performed to study the clinical and pathological features of the disease. We describe two rare cases of primary cardiac malignant fibrous histiocytoma and review the published individual data of the patients. Both patients complained of dyspnea, and underwent palliative tumor resection. However, they died several months after surgery. A thorough literature review with clinical presentations, diagnostic features, treatment, and outcomes was done. We have for the first time analyzed the factors related to the survival of malignant fibrous histiocytoma. It is usually difficult to make an appropriate preoperative diagnosis. Despite complete surgical resection and aggressive chemotherapy and radiotherapy, the prognosis is still poor. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Triclocarban (TCC) has a high detection frequency in soil, rivers, sediments, and organisms, and its ecological risks have attracted substantial attention. In this study, we analyzed the fate of TCC in four wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in Zhengzhou, China, the biodegradation characteristics during the composting process, and the ecological risks of TCC when entering different environmental compartments. The concentration of TCC in the influent was 731.1–812.4 ng/L. More than 53.4% of TCC was biodegraded during the wastewater treatment process, and less than 2.5% was retained in the effluent. TCC was effectively removed through microbial degradation and sewage sludge absorption, and there were only minor differences in the different wastewater treatment processes. It is worth noting that more than 38% of TCC was enriched in sewage sludge (1430.1–1663.8 ng/g). The corresponding biodegradation rates of TCC were 65.7% and 82.8% in sewage sludge after 17 days of composting treatment with sawdust and straw as bulking agents, respectively. The estimated results showed that effluent discharge into the city rivers was safe. Composting could effectively degrade TCC and decrease the ecological risk of TCC when applied to sewage sludge. [Display omitted] • More than 97% of TCC in wastewater is reduced after treatment. • More than 38% of TCC in wastewater is transferred into sewage sludge. • Composting is an effective way to degrade TCC in sewage sludge. • The risk of TCC is predicted in aquatic and terrestrial environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Composting has been globally applied as an effective and cost-efficient process to manage and reuse sewage sludge. In the present study, four different phosphates as well as a mixture of ferrous sulfate and monopotassium phosphate were used in sewage sludge composting. The results showed that these phosphate amendments promoted an increase in temperature and the degradation of organic matter as well as reduction on nitrogen loss during 18 days of composting. In addition, ferrous sulfate and phosphate had a synergistic effect on reducing nitrogen loss. The contents of total phosphorus and available phosphorus in the compost with addition of 1% phosphate were 40.9% and 66.1% higher than the compost with control treatment. Using the BCR (Community Bureau of Reference) sequential extraction procedure, the addition of calcium magnesium phosphate significantly reduced the mobility factor of Cd, Zn and Cu by 24.2%, 1.7% and 18.8%, respectively. The mobility factors of Pb were increased in all samples, but the monopotassium phosphate treated sample exhibited the greatest Pb passivation ability with the lowest mobility factor increase (1.8%) among all treatments. The X-ray diffraction patterns of compost samples indicated that the passivation mechanism of Cu and Zn may be the forming CuFeS 2 and ZnCu(P 2 O 7) crystals during sewage sludge composting. The germination index showed that the compost of all treatments was safe for agricultural application; the germination index of the calcium magnesium phosphate treatment was 99.9 ± 11.8%, which was the highest among all treatments. Graphical abstract Image 1 Highlights • Phosphate promoted temperature rise and organic matter degradation during composting. • Ferrous sulfate and phosphate had synergistic effect on reducing nitrogen loss. • Total P and available P content increased 40.9% and 66.1% by adding 1% phosphate. • Heavy metals were passivated with the addition of phosphate amendments. • All compost products in this study were safe for land application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are the major components of the odor emitted from sewage sludge composting plants and are generally associated with odorous nuisances and health risks. However, few studies have considered the potential ozone generation caused by VOCs emitted from sewage sludge composting plants. This study investigated the VOC emissions from a full-scale composting plant. Five major treatment units of the composting plant were chosen as the monitoring locations, including the dewatered room, dewatered sludge, blender room, fermentation workshop, and product units. The fermentation workshop units displayed the highest concentration of VOC emissions at 2595.7 ± 1367.3 μg.m−3, followed by the blender room, product, dewatered sludge, and dewatered room units, whose emissions ranged from 142.2 ± 86.8 μg.m−3 to 2107.6 ± 1045.6 μg.m−3. The detected VOC families included oxygenated compounds, alkanes, alkenes, sulfide compounds, halogenated compounds, and aromatic compounds. Oxygenated compounds, particularly acetone, were the most abundant compounds in all samples. Principal component analysis revealed that the dewatered room and dewatered sludge units clustered closely, as indicated by their similar component emissions. The product units differed from the other sampling units, as their typical compounds were methanethiol, styrene, carbon disulfide, and hexane, all of which were the products of the latter stages of composting. Among the treatment units, the fermentation workshop units had the highest propylene equivalent (propy-equiv) concentration. Dimethyl disulfide and limonene were the major contributors. Limonene had the highest propy-equiv concentration, which contributed to the increased atmospheric reactivity and ozone formation potential in the surrounding air. To control the secondary environmental pollution caused by the VOC emissions during sewage sludge composting, the emission of limonene and dimethyl disulfide must be controlled from the blender room and fermentation workshop units. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image Highlights • VOCs released from different units of a full-scale composting plant were evaluated. • The potential ozone formation of VOCs was analyzed during the summer. • Oxygenated compounds had the highest concentration and acetone was the major species. • Propy-equiv concentration was used to weigh the atmospheric reactivity of the VOCs. • DMDS and limonene were the major contributors to potential ozone formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Composting is a major sludge-treatment method and bulking agents are very important in sludge composting. In this study, ceramsite and activated alumina balls were chosen as recyclable bulking agents for sludge composting. Variations in the temperature, pH, electrical conductivity, organic matter, dissolved organic carbon, moisture content, and heavy metals were detected during composting with different bulking-agent treatments as well as differences in the germination index values. The results showed that both bulking agents could ensure the maturity of the compost; further, ceramsite treatment resulted in the best water removal efficiency. According to the sequential extraction procedure, both ceramsite and activated alumina balls could stabilize Cd but they also increased the mobility of Zn. After comparing the effects of different particle sizes of ceramsite on composting, 20 mm was determined to be the most optimal value. Additionally, the recovery rates of ceramsite and activated alumina balls were 96.9% and 99.9%, respectively. Graphical abstract Image 1 Highlights • Ceramsite and AAB were chosen as recyclable bulking agents for composting. • Ceramsite improved organic matter degradation and water removal during composting. • Both ceramsite and AAB stabilised Cd in sludge by compost treatment. • Optimal particle size of ceramsite for use as a composting bulking agent was 20 mm. • Both ceramsite and AAB had good recycling potential as bulking agents for composting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• An optical non-invasive method has been used to rabbit pregnancy diagnosis. • The tissue phantom was applied to the performance test of diagnostic device. • The density of rabbit hair has a negative effect on the pregnancy diagnosis device. • Wearable devices have the advantages of application in production practice. Pregnancy diagnosis is essential for rabbits' reproductive management, which allows for re-insemination, and reduces the laboring interval in commercial operations. This study aimed to develop a wearable, non-invasive pregnancy identification device for rabbits. A sensing probe contained three LEDs (Light wavelength is 660 nm, 850 nm, and 930 nm respectively), two Si-based photodiodes, and a host with signal processing was developed. Room-temperature-vulcanized (RTV) silicone rubber, aluminum oxide powder, and dyes of different colors were used to make the abdominal tissue phantom of pregnant female rabbits (PRs) and non-pregnant female rabbits (NPRs) to test the sampling stability of the developed device. The results showed that the variation coefficient of the sampling data of the device was<0.013, and the stability met the use requirements. Sampling data from 419 female rabbits were used to build partial least squares discrimination analysis (PLS-DA) and support vector machine (SVM) models of different abdominal hair densities, including dense hair, sparse hair, hair removal, and hair mixing. The classification results of the two models showed that SVM had the best performance, the Ac , Re , Pre , and F-score are more than 80%, respectively. Then, the trained SVM model was then used as the identification model and downloaded to the developed device. Another 218 rabbits were used to verify the performance of the developed device, and the prediction performance was the best among the hair removal rabbits, with Ac , Re , Pre , and F-socre of 83.94%, 83.67%, 81.19%, and 82.41% respectively. The results show that the wearable device developed in this study has a good prediction performance for rabbits with abdominal hair removal, and provides a new idea for pregnancy diagnosis of rabbits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethnopharmacological relevance Qishen Yiqi is a widely used Chinese herbal medicine formula with “qi invigorating and blood activating” property. Its dripping pill preparation (QSYQ) is a commercial herbal medicine approved by the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) in 2003 and is extensively used clinically to treat cardiovascular diseases, such as ischemic heart failure and angina pectoris, as well as for the secondary prevention of myocardial infarction. However, the bioactive ingredients of QSYQ remain unclear. As QSYQ is a compound herbal formula, it is of great importance to elucidate its pharmacologically active ingredients and underlying synergetic effects. Aim of the study This experimental study was conducted to comprehensively determine the combinatorial bioactive ingredients (CBIs) in QSYQ and to elucidate their potential synergetic effects. The established strategy may shed new light on how to rapidly determine CBIs in complex herbal formulas with holistic properties. Materials and methods An integrated evidence-based targeting strategy was introduced and validated to determine CBIs in QSYQ. The strategy included the following steps: (1) Chemical ingredients in QSYQ were analyzed via UPLC-Q-TOF/MS in the negative and positive modes and were identified by comparison with standard compounds and previously reported data. Their potential therapeutic activities were predicted based on the ChEMBL database to preliminarily search for candidate bioactive ingredients, and their combination was defined as the CBIs. (2) The CBIs were directly trapped and prepared from QSYQ with a two-dimensional chromatographic separation system, and the remaining part was defined as the rest ingredients (RIs). (3) As animal and cell models, left anterior descending coronary artery ligation (LAD)-induced heart failure in rats and hypoxia-induced cardiac myocyte injury in H9c2 cells were applied to compare the potency of QSYQ, CBIs and RIs. (4) The synergetic effects on cardiac myocyte protection of multiple ingredients in CBIs were examined in this cell model. Results (1) Forty-three ingredients in QSYQ were identified via UPLC-Q-TOF/MS. Based on evidence-based screening using the ChEMBL database, 24 ingredients were predicted to be bioactive ingredients, and their combination was considered the CBIs. (2) The CBIs and RIs were successfully prepared according to a two-dimensional chromatographic system. The CBIs were directly trapped and knocked out from QSYQ by hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography coupled with reverse-phase liquid chromatography. The remaining part was used as RIs. (3) The results from pharmacological evaluation revealed that CBIs and QSYQ, but not RIs, significantly prevented myocardium injury; improved the ejection fraction (EF) and fractional shortening (FS); decreased the release of cardiac enzymes, including CK, CK-MB, and LDH; alleviated mitochondrial dysfunction; and protected the cell nucleus number and mitochondrial mass. Furthermore, QSYQ and CBIs possessed similar potency. (4) In hypoxia-stimulated H9c2 cells, CBIs showed far greater potency regarding the protection of cardiac myocyte injury than the individual ingredients in QSYQ, exhibiting obvious synergetic effects. Conclusions An integrated evidence-based targeting strategy was successfully established and validated to determine CBIs from QSYQ with excellent efficiency. Importantly, the holistic property of QSYQ was retained in the CBIs. Hence, this study may shed new light on how to rapidly reveal combinatorial bioactive ingredients from complex prescriptions and will be greatly helpful in the establishment of an appropriate approach to quality control for herbal medicines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) with sarcomatoid differentiation is a relatively rare tumor containing both carcinoma and sarcomatoid components. However, there has not been a systemic study on immunophenotypes of renal cell carcinoma with sarcomatoid differentiation, especially using some renal specific immunohistochemical markers. In this study, we aimed to comprehensively investigate the distinct immunophenotypes of RCC with sarcomatoid differentiation to analyze the pathogenesis of sarcomatoid differentiation and identify new prognostic factors in RCC with sarcomatoid differentiation.Methods: A total of 42 cases of RCCs with sarcomatoid differentiation were enrolled into the study. Immunohistochemistry study was performed on tissue microarrays to evaluate the expressions of 19 immunohistochemical markers including a series of epithelial, mesenchymal markers and RCC specific markers. Kaplan-Meier method was applied to assess the prognostic values of CD10, CAIX, p53 and Bcl-2.Results: Histologically, 42 cases of RCCs with sarcomatoid differentiation presented with different proportions of carcinoma and sarcomatoid components. The cohort contained 35 cases of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (CCRCC) and 7 cases of chromophobe renal cell carcinoma (ChRCC) based on the carcinoma components. Immunohistochemically, all cases were positive for vimentin, and 80% of cases showed immunostaining for at least one epithelial marker, such as CK, EMA, CK7 and CK18. Notably, the expression rates of CAIX, CD10 and PAX8 in sarcomatoid cells were 76%, 76% and 64%, respectively. The carcinoma component of the tumors showed differentient labeling for CAIX, CD10, vimentin, CK7 and CD117 in CCRCC vs ChRCC, but the sarcomatoid component lost the specificity for these markers ( p < 0.05). Patients with positive expressions of CAIX, p53 and Bcl-2 had a poor prognosis.Conclusions: The sarcomatoid cells in RCC with sarcomatoid differentiation express both epithelial and mesenchymal markers, supporting their epithelial origin. PAX8, CAIX and CD10 could be used as the reliable and useful markers to determine the renal origin of sarcomatoid cells such as in fine needle aspiration cases and metastatic RCC with sarcomatoid differentiation. CAIX, p53 and Bcl-2 might play important roles in the transformation from renal cell carcinoma to high malignant sarcomatoid differentiation, and these three immunohistochemical markers are adverse prognostic factors for the survival of patients with RCC with sarcomatoid differentiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), the most extensively used phthalate acid esters (PAEs), poses a potential risk to human and environment. A novel bacterial strain, Rhodococcus sp. LW-XY12, with efficient PAE-degrading capability, was isolated from activated sludge. Strain LW-XY12 could degrade 96.91 ± 0.68% of DEHP (500 mg L−1) within 32 h. The degradation curves of DEHP (50–1500 mg L−1) and PAE mixture (500 mg L−1 each) fitted well with the modified Gomperz kinetics model. DEHP metabolic pathway was reconstructed by using genome annotation and metabolic intermediate analyses. The DEHP metabolic pathway might comprise de-esterification and β-oxidation. Homologous modeling and molecular docking analysis revealed that DEHP and MEHP (mono-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate) could be bound to putative carboxylesterase (KXC42_04905) via hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interaction. A conserved catalytic triad (Ser195-Glu319-His412) might act as an active protein pocket and catalyze the hydrolysis of DEHP. Carboxylesterase (KXC42_04905) could hydrolyze ester bond and a possible mechanism underlying ester bond hydrolysis catalyzed by the carboxylesterase was proposed. Protocatechuate 3,4-dioxygenase, 3-oxoadipate CoA-transferase, benzoate 1,2-dioxygenase, catechol 1,2-dioxygenase, and catechol 2,3-dioxygenase transcripts were detected and significantly up-regulated under DEHP induction. This study sheds light on the functional genes associated with DEHP degradation and metabolic mechanism in this versatile bacterium for degradation of PAEs. [Display omitted] • Strain Rhodococcus sp. LW-XY12 degraded DEHP and other PAE homologs efficiently. • DEHP and PAE mixture degradation curves fitted well with the modified Gompertz model. • Interactions between a carboxylesterase and DEHP and underlying mechanism were explored. • Strain LW-XY12 may degrade catechol through ortho- and/or meta-cleavage pathways. • DEHP metabolism pathway was reconstructed by metabolite analyses and genomic annotation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Papillary renal cell carcinoma (PRCC) includes two different morphological subtypes. The differences of genetics and ultrastructure of the two subtypes have been rarely reported. Also, new biomarkers related to the diagnosis and prognosis of PRCC have still not been well elucidated. Immunohistochemistry, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and transmission electron microscopy were used systematically to determine the characteristics of 56 cases of PRCC and to reveal new diagnostic and prognostic information. Type 1 PRCC presented higher expression rates of EMA and CK7, whereas type 2 presented a higher expression rate of CD10. New immunohistochemical markers, including: p504s, PAX-2, PAX-8 and CA-IX showed extensive immunostaining in PRCC. We first revealed a distinct immunostaining pattern of CA-IX, which was located in multiple foci in PRCC. All tumors had at least one chromosomal aberration including loss of Y, gains of 7 or 17. Gain of chromosome 17 was common in type 1; losses of chromosome 18, 11 and 8 appeared in type 2. Ultrastructurally, glycogen granules and secondary lysosomes were seen in type 1, mitochondria and smooth endoplasmic reticulum were scattered in type 2. Tumor subtype, nuclear grade, TNM stage, clear cell renal cell carcinoma (CCRCC) component and sarcomatoid elements, metastasis, CAIX expression, losses of chromosome 18 and 8 were related to poor outcome of PRCC. We conclude that the two subtypes of PRCC originate from different renal cells, and arise from partially common genetic pathways. EMA, CK7, CD10, p504s, PAX-2, PAX-8 and CA-IX are helpful markers in the differential diagnosis of PRCC. CA-IX expression, losses of chromosome 18 and 8 are new prognostic factors of PRCC. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The aim of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the mortality, amputation and complication rates in patients with peripheral lower limb arterial disease undergoing bypass surgery with or without a prior history of endovascular operation. A systematic literature screen was performed according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines on four academic databases, Medline, Scopus, Embase and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. Out of 1,072 records, six articles involving 11,420 patients (mean age, 68.1±2.0 years) met the inclusion criteria. The findings presented a 2b level of evidence (i.e. overall evidence represents data from individual cohort study or low quality randomized controlled trials) and suggested lower mortality, amputation and complication rates for patients undergoing bypass surgery without any history of endovascular operation, compared with those with a history of prior endovascular operation. Moreover, a random-effect meta-analysis suggested a small, positive reduction in mortality (Hedge's g=0.08), amputation (Hedge's g=0.18) and complication rates (Hedge's g=0.05) for patients undergoing bypass surgery without any history of endovascular operation. Nevertheless, owing to the scarcity of high-quality data, further studies and randomized clinical trials are needed to confirm these effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]