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The existing large inflatable membrane structure is complex in structure and takes a long time to be extended. In this paper, an air-ribbed skeleton membrane structure is proposed to meet the requirement of camp and emergency tents needing to be set up quickly and easily. Ten single-arch air ribs are arranged side by side to support the tarpaulin, and wind ropes are added to the end and side faces of the tarpaulin to remain stable. The finite element model of the air-ribbed skeleton membrane structure is established to analyze the stress and the displacement of the membrane structure under combined wind and snow loads. The maximum displacement (439.4 mm) and maximum stress (29.94 MPa) are both within the safe standard. The stress and the displacement of the membrane structure in the wind load case is affected by the angle of the wind. The value of maximum stress and displacement at the wind angle of 90° are both lower than those at 0° and 45° in the wind load case. It is advisable to align the site layout of the membrane structure at the wind angle of 90°. The effect of the angle of wind ropes on the stress and displacement of the membrane structure is also studied. The maximum stress and displacement in the case when the angle of wind rope is 30° is smaller than those in the case when the angle of wind ropes is 45°. It is recommended that the wind rope should be laid at 30° to reinforce the membrane structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Suppressor of cytokine signaling 1 (SOCS1) protein can inhibit the signal transduction triggered by some cytokines or hormones and thus are important in many physiological/pathological processes, including innate and adaptive immunity, inflammation, and development in mammals. However, there is sparse information about their structure, tissue expression, in birds, where their biological functions remain unknown. In this study, we cloned and characterized two SOCS1 genes (named cSOCS1a and cSOCS1b) from chickens. SOCS1a is predicted to encode a 207-amino acid protein, which shares high amino acid sequence identity (64%–67%) with human and mouse SOCS1. Besides SOCS1a, a novel SOCS1b gene was also identified in chickens and other non-mammalian vertebrates including Xenopus tropicalis. Chicken SOCS1b is predicted to encode a 212-amino acid protein, which shares only 30%–32% amino acid sequence identity with human SOCS1 and cSOCS1a. RT-PCR assay revealed that both cSOCS1a and cSOCS1b are widely expressed in all chicken tissues. Using a luciferase reporter assay system, we further demonstrated that transient expression of cSOCS1a and cSOCS1b can significantly inhibit chicken growth hormone (GH)- or prolactin (PRL)-induced luciferase activities of Hep G2 cells expressing cGH receptor (or cPRL receptor), indicating that SOCS1a and SOCS1b proteins can negatively regulate GH/PRL signaling. Taken together, these data suggest that both cSOCS1a and cSOCS1b may function as negative regulators of cytokine/hormone actions, such as modulation of GH/PRL actions in chickens.

Background: It is widely acknowledged that the molecular biological characteristics of diffuse-type gastric cancer are different from intestinal-type gastric cancer. Notwithstanding that significant progress in high-throughput sequencing technology has been made, there is a paucity of effective prognostic biomarkers for diffuse gastric cancer for clinical practice. Methods: We downloaded four GEO datasets (GSE22377, GSE38749, GSE47007 and GSE62254) to establish and validate a prognostic two-gene signature for diffuse gastric cancer. The TGCA-STAD dataset was used for external validation. The optimal gene signature was established by using Cox regression analysis. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) methodology was used to find the best prognostic model. Gene set enrichment analysis was used to analyze the possible signaling pathways of the two genes (MEF2C and TRIM15). Results: A total of four differently expressed genes (DEGs) (two upregulated and two downregulated) were identified. After a comprehensive analysis, two DEGs (MEF2C and TRIM15) were utilized to construct a prognostic model. A prognostic prediction model was constructed according to T stage, N stage, M stage and the expression of MEF2C and TRIM15. The area under the time-dependent receiver operator characteristic was used to evaluate the performance of the prognosis model in the GSE62254 dataset. Conclusions: We demonstrated that MEF2C and TRIM15 might be key genes. We also established a prognostic nomogram based on the two-gene signature that yielded a good performance for predicting overall survival in diffuse-type gastric cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) show high efficiency in a small fraction of advanced gastric cancer (GC). However, personalized immune subtypes have not been developed for the prediction of ICI efficiency in GC. Herein, we identified Pan-Immune Activation Module (PIAM), a curated gene expression profile (GEP) representing the co-infiltration of multiple immune cell types in tumor microenvironment of GC, which was associated with high expression of immunosuppressive molecules such as PD-1 and CTLA-4. We also identified Pan-Immune Dysfunction Genes (PIDG), a conservative PIAM-derivated GEP indicating the dysfunction of immune cell cooperation, which was associated with upregulation of metastatic programs (extracellular matrix receptor interaction, TGF-β signaling, epithelial-mesenchymal transition and calcium signaling) but downregulation of proliferative signalings (MYC targets, E2F targets, mTORC1 signaling, and DNA replication and repair). Moreover, we developed 'GSClassifier', an ensemble toolkit based on top scoring pairs and extreme gradient boosting, for population-based modeling and personalized identification of GEP subtypes. With PIAM and PIDG, we developed four Pan-immune Activation and Dysfunction (PAD) subtypes and a GSClassifier model 'PAD for individual' with high accuracy in predicting response to pembrolizumab (anti-PD-1) in advance GC (AUC = 0.833). Intriguingly, PAD-II (PIAMhighPIDGlow) displayed the highest objective response rate (60.0%) compared with other subtypes (PAD-I, PIAMhighPIDGhigh, 0%; PAD-III, PIAMlowPIDGhigh, 0%; PAD-IV, PIAMlowPIDGlow, 17.6%; P = 0.003), which was further validated in the metastatic urothelial cancer cohort treated with atezolizumab (anti-PD-L1) (P = 0.018). In all, we provided 'GSClassifier' as a refined computational framework for GEP-based stratification and PAD subtypes as a promising strategy for exploring ICI responders in GC. Metastatic pathways could be potential targets for GC patients with high immune infiltration but resistance to ICI therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are nanosized particles that are released by various cell types and play vital roles in intercellular communication. They carry biological molecules reflecting the physiological and pathological states of their source cells and tissues, showing potential as biomarkers. However, the impact of demographic factors like age and sex on the properties of blood plasma EVs remains underexplored. This study aims to fill this gap by evaluating how these factors influence the particle count and proteomic profiles of plasma EV preparations and corresponding protein fractions. Plasma samples from 120 healthy volunteers were collected and pooled into six groups: young males (age: 27.6 ± 4.0), young females (27.4 ± 3.8), middle‐aged males (48.8 ± 3.8), middle‐aged females (48.9 ± 3.9), old males (69.3 ± 3.9), and old females (69.4 ± 4.3). EV‐ and protein‐enriched fractions were separated by size‐exclusion chromatography (SEC). Fractions were characterized for particle number concentration and protein composition to identify characteristics affected by age and biological sex. Plasma EVs and corresponding protein fractions exhibited distinct characteristics, with differential enrichment of markers related to EVs and other blood components, including lipoproteins. Proteomic profiles of both EVs and protein fractions displayed sex‐ and age‐dependent differences. Differentially abundant proteins displayed functions previously identified in the context of aging and sex differences, highlighting their utility as biomarkers. Age and sex significantly affect the characteristics of plasma EVs and proteins, potentially influencing their efficacy and interpretation as biomarkers in clinical applications. This study lays the groundwork for detailed mechanistic research to understand how EVs mediate age‐ and sex‐related effects in health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]