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Amolops putaoensis is a recently described torrent frog species from A. monticola group that is known only from its type locality, northern Myanmar. We compared morphology and mitochondrial DNA sequence data from ten recently collected adult male specimens from the upper Dulong River System in Gongshan County, Yunnan Province, China, to the original description of A. putaoensis. Both datasets strongly supported referring the Chinese specimens to A. putaoensis, extending the known range of this species by approximately 133.7 km distance into China. Molecular phylogenetic analyses recovered A. putaoensis to be closely related to A. aniqiaoensis, A. kohimaensis, A. monticola, and A. adicola. We use the newly collected Chinese specimens to expand the morphological description of the species.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

Early diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) lacks highly sensitive and specific protein biomarkers. Proteomics-driven discovery of tumor biomarkers is an important direction for omics study. Here, we described a staged mass spectrometry (MS)-based discovery-verification-validation proteomics workflow to explore serum proteomic biomarkers for HCC early diagnosis in 662 individuals (373 HCC patients and 289 non-HCC patients). Our workflow reproducibly quantified 451serum proteins using a data independent acquisition mass spectrometry (DIA-MS) strategy from discovery cohort, and proteins with significantly altered abundance in HCC were validated as candidates in an independent validation cohort using targeted proteomics based on parallel reaction monitoring (PRM). Machine learning models determined as P4 serum protein-panels (two serum proteomics biomarkers: HABP2, CD163 and two clinical used serum biomarkers: AFP, PIVKA-II) could clearly distinguish HCC patients from LC patients in an independent validation cohort (AUC 0.979, sensitivity 0.925, specificity 0.915), outperforming existing clinical prediction strategies (p

The N6-methyladenosine (m6A) RNA methyltransferase METTL16 is an emerging player in RNA modification landscape and responsible for the deposition of m6A in a few transcripts. AURKA (aurora kinase A) has been confirmed as an oncogene in cancer development including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Nevertheless, it remains unclear whether METTL16 mediated m6A modification of lncRNAs can regulate AURKA activation in cancer progression. Here we aimed to investigate the functional links between lncRNAs and the m6A modification in AURKA signaling and HCC progression. Here we show that LncRNA TIALD (transcript that induced AURKA Lysosomal degradation) was down-regulated in HCC tissues by METTL16 mediated m6A methylation to facilitate its RNA degradation, and correlates with poor prognosis. Functional assays reveal that TIALD inhibits HCC metastasis both in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, TIALD directly interacts with AURKA and facilitate its degradation through the lysosomal pathway to inhibited EMT and metastasis of HCC. AURKA’s specific inhibitor alisertib exerts effective therapeutic effect on liver cancer with low TIALD expression, which mightprovide a new insight into HCC therapy. Our study uncovers a negative functional loop of METTL16-TIALD-AURKA axis, and identifies a new mechanism for METTL16 mediated m6A-induced decay of TIALD on AURKA signaling in HCC progression, which may provide potential prognostic and therapeutic targets for HCC.

Acute alcoholic liver injury is an important health problem worldwide. Apples are rich in many nutrients and have a variety of biological activities, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-tumor, and therefore have the potential to be a natural protective agent against acute alcoholic liver injury. This study evaluated the protective effect of apples (Malus pumila Mill) on acute alcoholic liver injury in rats. Male Wistar rats were randomly assigned to four groups: a control group (C), a control group that was fed fresh apples (CA), an ethanol-treated group (E), and an ethanol-treated group that was fed fresh apples (EA). Rats were treated with continuous forced gavage with 40° ethanol (4 mL/kg) for one week to simulate human alcoholism. Liver injury was assessed based on changes in the serum levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST), as well as histological analysis. The protective effect of apples on alcoholic liver injury was assessed in terms of alcohol metabolism, oxidative stress, inflammation, lipid synthesis, and tissue fibrosis. The results showed that apple consumption protected against alcoholic liver injury, as indicated by the decreased serum ALT and AST levels, reduced liver lipid peroxidation, and improved liver histopathology. Moreover, apple consumption increased antioxidant enzyme activity and reduced inflammatory cytokine levels in the liver. These findings suggest that apple consumption may have a protective effect against acute ethanol-induced liver injury in rats, possibly through its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

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Purpose:Intratumoral hepatitis B virus (HBV) integrations and mutations are related to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) progression. Circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) has shown itself as a powerful noninvasive biomarker for cancer. However, the HBV integration and mutation landscape on cfDNA remains unclear.Experimental Design:A cSMART (Circulating Single-Molecule Amplification and Resequencing Technology)-based method (SIM) was developed to simultaneously investigate HBV integration and mutation landscapes on cfDNA with HBV-specific primers covering the whole HBV genome. Patients with HCC (n = 481) and liver cirrhosis (LC; n = 517) were recruited in the study.Results:A total of 6,861 integration breakpoints including TERT and KMT2B were discovered in HCC cfDNA, more than in LC. The concentration of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) was positively correlated with the detection rate of these integration hotspots and total HBV integration events in cfDNA. To track the origin of HBV integrations in cfDNA, whole-genome sequencing (WGS) was performed on their paired tumor tissues. The paired comparison of WGS data from tumor tissues and SIM data from cfDNA confirmed most recurrent integration events in cfDNA originated from tumor tissue. The mutational landscape across the whole HBV genome was first generated for both HBV genotype C and B. A region from nt1100 to nt1500 containing multiple HCC risk mutation sites (OR > 1) was identified as a potential HCC-related mutational hot zone.Conclusions:Our study provides an in-depth delineation of HBV integration/mutation landscapes at cfDNA level and did a comparative analysis with their paired tissues. These findings shed light on the possibilities of noninvasive detection of virus insertion/mutation.

UNSTRUCTURED The release of a dialogue-based artificial intelligence language model called chatGPT (https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt/) has garnered global attention. An exploratory study published by The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) demonstrated the potential of interactive AI to assist clinical workflows by augmenting patient education and patient-clinician communication. Our study was conducted in February 2023, and we formulated 37 questions that focused on perioperative patient education in the context of thoracic surgery. We made two inquiries to chatGPT for each question, one in English and the other in Chinese, and evaluated the appropriateness and comprehensiveness of the responses separately in both languages. Experienced thoracic surgical clinicians assessed the responses. Thirty-four (91.9%) responses were qualified both in English and Chinese contexts, demonstrating the potential feasibility for perioperative patient education in thoracic surgery.

N and Se co-hyperdoped silicon (Si:N/Se) is prepared using deposited Se films on Si followed by femtosecond (fs)-laser irradiation in the atmosphere of NF3. The optical and crystallinity characteristics of the Si:N/Se are determined by the precursor Se film and laser fluence. The photodetector fabricated from the Si:N/Se shows remarkable responsivity of 24.8 and 19.8 A/W at the wavelength of 840 and 1060 nm, respectively, outperforming the photodetectors fabricated from Si:N, Si:S and Si:S/Se (the latter two are fabricated in SF6). The better photoelectric characteristics of Si:N/Se further facilitate the application of the co-hyperdoping method in optoelectronic devices.

Background Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) generally arises from a background of liver cirrhosis (LC). Patients with cirrhosis and suspected HCC are recommended to undergo serum biomarker tests and imaging diagnostic evaluation. However, the performance of routine diagnostic methods in detecting early HCC remains unpromising. Methods Here, we conducted a large-scale, multicenter study of 1675 participants including 490 healthy controls, 577 LC patients, and 608 HCC patients from nine clinical centers across nine provinces of China, profiled gene mutation signatures of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) using Circulating Single-Molecule Amplification and Resequencing Technology (cSMART) through detecting 931 mutation sites across 21 genes. Results An integrated diagnostic model called “Combined method” was developed by combining three mutation sites and three serum biomarkers. Combined method outperformed AFP in the diagnosis of HCC, especially early HCC, with sensitivities of 81.25% for all stages and 66.67% for early HCC, respectively. Importantly, the integrated model exhibited high accuracy in differentiating AFP-negative, AFP-L3-negative, and PIVKA-II-negative HCCs from LCs.

Background In insects, the chemosensory system is crucial in guiding their behaviors for survival. Plagiodera versicolora (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), is a worldwide leaf-eating forest pest in salicaceous trees. There is little known about the chemosensory genes in P. versicolora. Here, we conducted a transcriptome analysis of larvae heads in P. versicolora. Results In this study, 29 odorant binding proteins (OBPs), 6 chemosensory proteins (CSPs), 14 odorant receptors (ORs), 13 gustatory receptors (GRs), 8 ionotropic receptors (IRs) and 4 sensory neuron membrane proteins (SNMPs) were identified by transcriptome analysis. Compared to the previous antennae and foreleg transcriptome data in adults, 12 OBPs, 2 CSPs, 5 ORs, 4 IRs, and 7 GRs were newly identified in the larvae. Phylogenetic analyses were conducted and found a new candidate CO2 receptor (PverGR18) and a new sugar receptor (PverGR23) in the tree of GRs. Subsequently, the dynamic expression profiles of various genes were analyzed by quantitative real-time PCR. The results showed that PverOBP31, OBP34, OBP35, OBP38, and OBP40 were highly expressed in larvae, PverOBP33 and OBP37 were highly expressed in pupae, and PverCSP13 was highly expressed in eggs, respectively. Conclusions We identified a total of 74 putative chemosensory genes based on a transcriptome analysis of larvae heads in P. versicolora. This work provides new information for functional studies on the chemoreception mechanism in P. versicolora.

Background There is no criterion on the length of the uniportal video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (UVATS) incision when performing lobectomy. We aimed to develop a nomogram to assist surgeons in designing incision length for different individuals. Methods A cohort consisting of 290 patients were enrolled for nomogram development. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to identify candidate variables among perioperative characteristics. C-index and calibration curves were utilized for evaluating the performance of the nomogram. Short-term outcomes of nomogram-predicted high-risk patients were compared between long incision group and conventional incision group. Results Of 290 patients, 150 cases (51.7%) were performed incision extension during the surgery. Age, tumor size, and tumor location were identified as candidate variables related with intraoperative incision extension and were incorporated into the nomogram. C-index of the nomogram was 0.75 (95% confidence interval: 0.6961–0.8064), indicating the good predictive performance. Calibration curves presented good consistency between the nomogram prediction and actual observation. Of high-risk patients identified by the nomogram, the long incision group (n = 47) presented shorter duration of operation (p = 0.03), lower incidence of total complications (p = 0.01), and lower incidence of prolonged air leak (p = 0.03) compared with the conventional incision group (n = 55). Conclusion We developed a novel nomogram for predicting the risk of intraoperative incision extension when performing uniportal video-assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy. This model has the potential to assist clinicians in designing the incision length preoperatively to ensure both safety and minimal invasiveness.

To investigate the effects of Pien Tze Huang (PZH) on the migration and invasion of HCC cells and underlying molecular mechanism.Cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) was applied to evaluate the cell viabilities of SMMC-7721, SK-Hep-1, C3A and HL-7702 (6 × 10PZH treatment significantly inhibited the migration, invasion, proliferation and promoted the apoptosis of HCC cells in vitro and in vivo (P0.01). Transcriptome analysis indicated that Hippo signaling pathway was associated with anti-metastasis function of PZH. Mechanical study showed PZH significantly inhibited the expressions of platelet derived growth factor receptor beta (PDGFRB), YAP, connective tissue growth factor (CCN2), N-cadherin, vimentin and matrix metallopeptidase 2 (MMP2, P0.01). Meanwhile, the phosphorylation of YAP was also enhanced by PZH treatment in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, PZH played roles in inhibiting the transcriptional activity of YAP.PZH restrained migration, invasion and epithelial-mesenchymal transition of HCC cells through repressing PDGFRB/YAP/CCN2 axis.

The increase of affected river reaches by reservoirs has drastically disturbed the original hydrological conditions, and subsequently influenced the nutrient biogeochemistry in the aquatic system, particularly in the cascade reservoir system. To understand the seasonal variation of nitrogen (N) behaviors in cascade reservoirs, hydrochemistry and nitrate dual isotopes (δ15N-NO3- and δ18O-NO3-) were conducted in a karst watershed (Wujiang River) in southwest China. The results showed that NO3--N accounted for almost 90% of the total dissolved nitrogen (TDN) concentration with high average concentration 3.8 ± 0.4 mg/L among four cascade reservoirs. Higher N concentration (4.0 ± 0.8 mg/L) and larger longitudinal variation were observed in summer than in other seasons. The relationship between the variation of NO3--N and dual isotopes in the profiles demonstrated that nitrification was dominated transformation, while assimilation contributed significantly in the epilimnion during spring and summer. The high dissolved oxygen concentration in the present cascade reservoirs system prevented the occurrence of N depletion processes in most of the reservoirs. Denitrification occurred in the oldest reservoir during winter with a rate ranging from 18 to 28%. The long-term record of surface water TDN concentration in reservoirs demonstrated an increase from 2.0 to 3.6 mg/L during the past two decades (~ 0.1 mg/L per year). The seasonal nitrate isotopic signature and continuously increased fertilizer application demonstrated that chemical fertilizer contribution significantly influenced NO3--N concentration in the karst cascade reservoirs. The research highlighted that the notable N increase in karst cascade reservoirs could influence the aquatic health in the region and further investigations were required.

Two types of high power alternating current (AC) locomotive in China are prone to serious high-order polygonal wear, which has significant negative effects on the operation of locomotives. This study investigates factors influencing polygonal wear in locomotive wheels and determines methods of minimizing operation damage. We designed experiments to analyze the process of polygonization formation of wheels to identify the key influencing factors, finding that natural vibration of wheelsets is the central inherent factor of wheel polygonization and that these vibrations can be easily stimulated by wheel or rail irregularities. We found that poor re-profiling quality is the key external factor in these irregularities. The wheelset bending resonance is activated when the remaining wheel polygonal wear has a wavelength of 200 mm in the 1/3 octave band, in turn leading to significant increases of wheel polygonal wear. In this study, we review a new wheelset design that can mitigate and/or eliminate the polygonal wheel wear due to increased stiffness in wheel bending. We evaluate the potential capacity of the newly designed wheelset and propose two proven effective measures to further improve the wheel re-profiling quality for polygonal wear.

Inactivating mutations in the liver kinase B1 (LKB1) tumor suppressor gene underlie Peutz-Jeghers syndrome (PJS) and occur frequently in various human cancers. We previously showed that LKB1 regulates centrosome duplication via PLK1. Here, we report that LKB1 further helps to maintain genomic stability through negative regulation of survivin, a member of the chromosomal passenger complex (CPC) that mediates CPC targeting to the centromere. We found that loss of LKB1 led to accumulation of misaligned and lagging chromosomes at metaphase and anaphase and increased the appearance of multi- and micro-nucleated cells. Ectopic LKB1 expression reduced these features and improved mitotic fidelity in LKB1-deficient cells. Through pharmacological and genetic manipulations, we showed that LKB1-mediated repression of survivin is independent of AMPK, but requires p53. Consistent with the key influence of LKB1 on survivin expression, immunohistochemical analysis indicated that survivin is highly expressed in intestinal polyps from a PJS patient. Lastly, we reaffirm a potential therapeutic avenue to treat LKB1-mutated tumors by demonstrating the increased sensitivity to survivin inhibitors of LKB1-deficient cells.

Insect gustatory system plays important roles in multiple behaviors including feeding, mating, and oviposition. Gustatory receptors (GRs), located on the dendritic membrane of gustatory sensory neurons (GSNs), are crucial in peripheral coding of non-volatile compounds. However, GRs and their detailed functions remain poorly understood in lepidopteran pests. In the present work, focusing on GR genes of Plutella xylostella, an important worldwide crop pest, we cloned a candidate fructose GR gene that has two spliced variants (PxylGR43a-1 and PxylGR43a-2), and determined the tissue expression profiles by semi-quantitative reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR). It revealed that both GR variants were highly expressed in antennae and less highly in heads of adults, while PxylGR43a-2 was also weakly expressed in other tested tissues. Functional analyses were further conducted using the Xenopus oocyte system. PxylGR43a-1 and PxylGR43a-2 both responded specifically to the d-fructose among the 12 tested sugar compounds, but PxylGR43a-2 showed much higher current response than PxylGR43a-1. In addition, the proboscis extension reflex (PER) assay was conducted, demonstrating that female moths could respond to d-fructose following stimulation of antenna. Taken together, our study contributes to elucidation of the molecular mechanisms of fructose reception and provides a potential target for development of GR based pest control techniques.

Strong adsorption and catalysis for lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) are critical toward the electrochemical stability of Li-S batteries. Herein, a hollow sandwiched nanoparticle is put forward to enhance the adsorption-catalysis-conversion dynamic of sulfur species. The outer ultrathin Ni(OH)