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Preoperative labeling of gastric cancer is an important means to determine the surgical margin. At present, there are many commonly used labeling methods. However, which is more accurate and has fewer complications remains to be studied. Through animal experiments, this study explored the feasibility, accuracy, and safety of a magnetic detector combined with magnetic beads for the preoperative labeling of gastric cancer.A total of 10 beagle dogs were included in the study. Each dog was randomly labeled with magnetic beads in the gastric body and antrum. After labeling, the magnetic detector was used to explore the gastric serosa surface, and the positioning titanium clip was released at the detected magnetic bead. The main monitoring index was to measure the distance between the labeled magnetic beads and the positioning titanium clamped. The secondary indexes were detection time, magnetic induction intensity, magnetic bead shedding rate, mucosal injury rate, bleeding, and leukocyte and C-reactive protein levels before and 24 hours after the operation.All 10 beagle dogs completed the marking and exploration successfully. The average distance between the magnetic beads and the positioning titanium clip in 20 cases was 5.90±2.36 mm. The average detection time was 1.60±0.69 min, and the average magnetic induction intensity was 3.76±1.11 mT. No magnetic beads were found to fall off, 1 case had a mild mucosal injury, and 2 cases had a small amount of bleeding when releasing the positioning titanium clip. The white blood cells before and 24 hours after the operation were 7.43±0.94(×109/L) versus 7.79±0.67(×109/L) (P=0.34). The C-reactive protein before and 24 hours after the operation were 5.24±0.97 µg/mL versus 5.95±1.02 µg/mL (P=0.13).A magnetic detector combined with magnetic beads for gastric cancer labeling is feasible, accurate, and safe. It is expected to be further applied in the clinic.

In this paper, we extend the Bernardi-Raugel element [1] to convex polygonal meshes by using the generalized barycentric coordinates. Comparing to traditional discretizations defined on triangular and rectangular meshes, polygonal meshes can be more flexible when dealing with complicated domains or domains with curved boundaries. Theoretical analysis of the new element follows the standard mixed finite element theory for Stokes equations, i.e., we shall prove the discrete inf-sup condition (LBB condition) by constructing a Fortin operator. Because there is no scaling argument on polygonal meshes and the generalized barycentric coordinates are in general not polynomials, special treatments are required in the analysis. We prove that the extended Bernardi-Raugel element has optimal convergence rates. Supporting numerical results are also presented.

The increasing demands for space-based data transmission pose a great challenge to task scheduling of tracking and data relay satellites (TDRSs). In order to improve the working efficiency and task completion rate of the data relay satellite network (DRSN), for the first time, we propose a novel application mode for DRSN, in which data breakpoint transmission is considered. In the mode of data breakpoint transmission, a single task can be reasonably split into multiple subtasks and thus scheduled in multiple time windows. At first, the task scheduling model of DRSN considering breakpoint transmission is defined. In addition, a two-stage method is designed to generate a high-quality initial solution. Moreover, we propose an adaptive variable neighborhood descent combined with a tabu list (AVND-TL) to iteratively improve the initial solution. In AVND-TL, two task reallocation neighborhood structures are incorporated and adaptively selected during the solution search process, which effectively prevent the algorithm from falling into local optimum. Finally, extensive experiments are carried out to verify that the proposed breakpoint transmission mode and AVND-TL together can significantly improve the task completion rate and resource utilization rate.

Objective: Infiltrating immune and stromal cells are essential for osteosarcoma progression. This study set out to analyze immune–stromal score-based gene signature and molecular subtypes in osteosarcoma.Methods: The immune and stromal scores of osteosarcoma specimens from the TARGET cohort were determined by the ESTIMATE algorithm. Then, immune-stromal score-based differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were screened, followed by univariate Cox regression analysis. A LASSO regression analysis was applied for establishing a prognostic model. The predictive efficacy was verified in the GSE21257 dataset. Associations between the risk scores and chemotherapy drug sensitivity, immune/stromal scores, PD-1/PD-L1 expression, immune cell infiltrations were assessed in the TARGET cohort. NMF clustering analysis was employed for characterizing distinct molecular subtypes based on immune-stromal score-based DEGs.Results: High immune/stromal scores exhibited the prolonged survival duration of osteosarcoma patients. Based on 85 prognosis-related stromal–immune score-based DEGs, a nine-gene signature was established. High-risk scores indicated undesirable prognosis of osteosarcoma patients. The AUCs of overall survival were 0.881 and 0.849 in the TARGET cohort and GSE21257 dataset, confirming the well predictive performance of this signature. High-risk patients were more sensitive to doxorubicin and low-risk patients exhibited higher immune/stromal scores, PD-L1 expression, and immune cell infiltrations. Three molecular subtypes were characterized, with distinct clinical outcomes and tumor immune microenvironment.Conclusion: This study developed a robust prognostic gene signature as a risk stratification tool and characterized three distinct molecular subtypes for osteosarcoma patients based on immune–stromal score-based DEGs, which may assist decision-making concerning individualized therapy and follow-up project.

Osteosarcoma is the second leading cause of cancer-associated mortality worldwide in children and adolescents. ZC3H12D has been shown to negatively regulate Toll-like receptor signaling and serves as a possible tumor suppressor gene. MicroRNAs (miRNAs/miRs) are known to play an important role in the proliferation of human osteosarcoma cells. However, whether miRNAs can affect tumor development by regulating the expression of ZC3H12D has not yet been investigated. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of miR128-3p in regulating ZC3H12D expression, as well as its function in tumor cell proliferation, apoptosis, and metastasis. Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR, western blotting and dual luciferase reporter assays were performed to analyze the regulation of ZC3H12D expression by miR-128-3p. MTT, colony formation and flow cytometry assays were also used to analyze the effect of miR-128-3p on cell proliferation and apoptosis. A wound healing assay was performed to investigate the cell migration ability. The results demonstrated that miR-128-3p directly targeted ZC3H12D and downregulated its expression, thereby promoting cell proliferation and migration. miR-128-3p overexpression also improved resistance to cisplatin in MG-63 and 143B cell lines, supporting the hypothesis that miR-128-3p may function as an oncogene in osteosarcoma cells. The potential clinical significance of miR-128-3p as a biomarker and therapeutic target provides rationale for further investigation into the miR-128-3p-mediated molecular pathway and how it is associated with osteosarcoma development.

A one-pot and readily practical approach is described for the preparation of superstrong, ultrathin, free-standing single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) films. The SWNT films, with controlled thicknesses of tens to hundreds of nanometers, are prepared from commonly commercialized SWNTs via a wet process. The SWNTs could be easily transferred onto any substrates after self-releasing from filter membranes without further treatment. The obtained films exhibit excellent performances with sheet resistance of 223 O sq-1 and a transparency of 90% at 550 nm was obtained. Most important is that the as-prepared free-standing SWNT ultrathin films showed extremely high tensile strength up to 850 MPa for only about a 20-nm thick film, which has great significance for practical applications, for example, as flexible electrode materials. The SWNT film is used to construct a capacitive touch-screen prototype, which has a highly sensitive and quick signal touch response.

We report that the addition of amino acids to the amyloid peptide dramatically affected the structure and the rate of formation of amyloid fibrils. The attachment of three lysines to Aβ(10-35) gave the formation of remarkably long fibrils, while three glutamates resulted in a faster formation rate of the fibrils.

Vinyl polymer/montmorillonite nanocomposite (VP/O-MMT) is prepared by the solution exfoliation—adsorption method. The results of XRD, DSC, and TEM show that ion exchange has been successful between cetyl trimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and montmorillonite (MMT) galleries, and the distance between the galleries of MMT has been increased from 1.0 to 1.9 nm, after exfoliation—adsorption by vinyl polymer. The distance can be increased to infinity. The glass transition temperature can be enhanced greatly and the melting peak is transferred to high temperatures; the thermal endurance of VP/O-MMT is also increased. An exfoliated structure is also formed. The TEM result of VP/O-MMT shows that MMT has been exfoliated by vinyl polymer matrix.

We report on the use of ultra-thin cross-linked polymer films to coat carbon nanotubes (CNTs). When n -dodecyl glyceryl itaconate, an amphiphilic monomer, and N,N' -methylenebis(acrylamide), a cross-linker, were mixed with CNTs, an ultra-thin cross-linked DGI polymer film formed on the surface of the individual CNTs by self-assembly polymerization. The CNTs modified with the cross-linked DGI polymer film are highly soluble in water with a multi-walled CNT concentration of up to 1 wt.%, providing an attractive approach for preparing stable, mono-dispersed CNT solutions.

We report that the addition of amino acids to the amyloid peptide dramatically affected the structure and the rate of formation of amyloid fibrils. The attachment of three lysines to Abeta(10-35) gave the formation of remarkably long fibrils, while three glutamates resulted in a faster formation rate of the fibrils.

A nonionic surfactant, n-dodecyl glyceryl itaconate (DGI), self-assembles into bilayer membranes in water having a spacing distance of sub-micrometer in the presence of small amounts of ionic surfactants, and shows beautiful iridescent color. Ionic surfactants have strong effects on this iridescent system. We have interestingly found that the iridescent color changes with time after mixing DGI and ionic surfactants and the color in equilibrium state changes greatly with concentration of the ionic surfactants. The time-dependent color change results from the transformation of DGI aggregate structure after being mixed with ionic surfactant. It is first found that the iridescent color of this nonionic system can be changed from red to deep blue by altering the concentration of ionic surfactants added even though the total concentration of surfactant is almost constant. Such large blue shift of the iridescent color in equilibrium state cannot be fully explained by the ordinary undulation theory applied so far for this phenomenon. The flat lamellar sheets tend to curve by increasing the concentration of ionic surfactants to form separated onion-like and/or myelin-like structures. These separated structures of lamellar system result in the decrease of spacing distance between bilayer membranes because some vacant spaces necessarily appear among these structures.

Myelin-like instabilities usually form from the interface of amphiphilic lamellar phases and solvent, and resemble the neuron-like structures in nerve systems. However, these myelin structures are thermodynamically unstable. We herein present our first success in synthesizing stable myelin figures separated organized-polymerization. Myelin figures formed with a polymerizable nonionic surfactant have been immobilized in polymer gels. The results obtained from confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM), small angle X-ray scattering (SASX) and freeze fracture transmission electron microscopy (FF-TEM) clearly prove that the myelin structures have been well immobilized without any structural change. The immobilized myelin structures in polymer gels were kept for 6 months and no obvious change was observed in their structures and/or shapes. The success in stabilizing these unstable myelin structures provides some potential for applications, such as anisotropic gels, electrophoresis mediums for the separation of hydrophobic materials and so on.