Novel Lignin-Functionalized Waterborne Epoxy Composite Coatings with Excellent Anti-Aging, UV Resistance, and Interfacial Anti-Corrosion Performance

Developing high-performance lignin anti-corrosive waterborne epoxy (WEP) coatings is conducive to the advancement of environmentally friendly coatings and the value-added utilization of lignin. In this work, a functionalized biomass waterborne epoxy composite coating is prepared using quaternized sodium lignosulfonate (QLS) as a functional nanofiller for mild carbon steel protection. The results showed that QLS has excellent dispersion and interface compatibility within WEP, and its abundant phenolic hydroxyl, sulfonate, quaternary ammonium groups, and nanoparticle structure endowed the coating with excellent corrosion inhibition and superior barrier properties. The corrosion inhibition efficiency of 100 mg L-1 QLS in carbon steel immersed in a 3.5 wt% NaCl solution reached 95.76%. Furthermore, the coating maintained an impedance modulus of 2.29 × 106  Ω cm2 (|Z|0.01 Hz ) after being immersed for 51 days in the high-salt system. In addition, QLS imparted UV-blocking properties and thermal-oxygen aging resistance to the coating, as evidenced by a |Z|0.01 Hz of 1.04 × 107  Ω cm2 after seven days of UV aging while still maintaining a similar magnitude as before aging. The green lignin/WEP functional coatings effectively withstand the challenging outdoor environment characterized by high salt concentration and intense UV radiation, thereby demonstrating promising prospects for application in metal protection.

Mask refinement network for tooth segmentation on panoramic radiographs

OBJECTIVES

Instance-level tooth segmentation extracts abundant localization and shape information from panoramic radiographs (PRs). The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of a mask refinement network that extracts precise tooth edges.

METHODS

A public dataset which consists of 543 PRs and 16211 labelled teeth was utilized. The structure of a typical Mask Region-based Convolutional Neural Network (Mask RCNN) was used as the baseline. A novel loss function was designed focus on producing accurate mask edges. In addition to our proposed method, 3 existing tooth segmentation methods were also implemented on the dataset for comparative analysis. The average precisions (APs), mean intersection over union (mIoU), and mean Hausdorff distance (mHAU) were exploited to evaluate the performance of the network.

RESULTS

A novel mask refinement region-based convolutional neural network was designed based on Mask RCNN architecture to extract refined masks for individual tooth on PRs. A total of 3311 teeth were correctly detected from 3382 tested teeth in 111 PRs. The AP, precision, and recall were 0.686, 0.979, and 0.952, respectively. Moreover, the mIoU and mHAU achieved 0.941 and 9.7, respectively, which are significantly better than the other existing segmentation methods.

CONCLUSIONS

This study proposed an efficient deep learning algorithm for accurately extracting the mask of any individual tooth from PRs. Precise tooth masks can provide valuable reference for clinical diagnosis and treatment. This algorithm is a fundamental basis for further automated processing applications.

Hybrid Piezoelectric/Triboelectric Wearable Nanogenerator Based on Stretchable PVDF-PDMS Composite Films

Hybrid piezoelectric/triboelectric nanogenerators combine the merits of piezoelectric nanogenerators (PENGs) and triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs), possessing enhanced electrical output and sensitivity. However, the structures of the majority of hybrid nanogenerators are rather complex in integrating both functions, limiting their practical application in wearable electronics. Herein, we propose to construct a piezoelectric/triboelectric hybrid nanogenerator (PT-NG) with a simple structure based on a composite film to simultaneously achieve the coupling of piezoelectric charge generation and triboelectrification with improved energy conversion efficiency. The composite film consists of electrospun PVDF nanofibers embedded in the surface of the PDMS film, which not only forms a rough nanomorphology on the surface of PDMS but also provides structural protection to the PVDF nanofibers by PDMS during compressive deformation. The results have shown that the PT-NG can generate much higher electrical outputs than individual TENG and PENG devices. The PT-NG devices exhibit a high level of mechanical-to-electrical energy conversion efficiency with superior performance in charging capacitors and functioning as self-powered wearable sensors for the detection of different signals from finger movement, the recognition of various gestures, and the monitoring of respiration. More importantly, the composite device possesses an impressive structure durability, maintaining its layered structure over 5000 testing cycles without noticing any obvious damage on the nanofibers or detachment between the layers. Our results have demonstrated that the combining of piezoelectric nanofibers and triboelectric substrate is an efficient way to fabricate highly efficient energy harvesting devices for intelligent identification and health monitoring.

Ternary composite degradable plastics based on Alpinia galanga essential oil Pickering emulsion templates: A potential multifunctional active packaging

To reduce the use of petroleum-based plastics and explore multifunctional plastics, this study was conducted to prepare ternary composite plastics by doping Pickering emulsions containing Alpinia galanga essential oil into a polymer network consisting of poly(vinyl alcohol)-acetylated pullulan polysaccharides. Scanning electron microscopy results showed that although incompatible components were present in the composite plastic, compatibility improved with the addition of pullulan polysaccharides, resulting in smooth surfaces and cross-sections, which was consistent with the observation of continuous dark zones and low relative roughness (Ra = 5.51) in Atomic force microscopy. Further, Fourier transform spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction characterization revealed that the composite plastic disrupted the molecular and crystalline structures of the pure PVA, causing the stretching vibration of -OH and the decrease of relative crystallinity. Moreover, this plastic performed optimally at a PVA to pullulan polysaccharide ratio of 75:25, exhibiting good thermal (13.12 J/g) and mechanical properties, low water absorption (70.71 %) and water vapor transmission (1.80 × 10-3 g/m2 s), as well as excellent degradability. In addition, Alpinia galanga essential oil components in the composite plastic provided favorable antioxidant scavenging of DPPH and ABTS and inhibitory effects against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Chicken meat packaging revealed that the plastic maintained sensory parameters such as pH and color by inhibiting the oxidation of proteins and lipids during shelf-life. The findings provide insights into developing innovative, green, multifunctional packaging and broaden the in-depth application of Alpinia galanga essential oil.

Sustainable inflammatory activation following spinal cord injury is driven by thrombin-mediated dynamic expression of astrocytic chemokines

Acute spinal cord injury (SCI) always results in sustainable recruitment of inflammatory cells driven by sequentially generated chemokines, thereby eliciting excessive neuroinflammation. However, the underlying mechanism of temporally produced chemokines remains elusive. Reactive astrocytes are known to be the main sources of chemokines at the lesion site, which can be immediately activated by thrombin following SCI. In the present study, SCI was shown to induce a sequential production of chemokines CCL2 and CCL5 from astrocytes, which were associated with a persistent infiltration of macrophages/microglia. The rapidly induced CCL2 and later induced CCL5 from astrocytes were regulated by thrombin at the damaged tissues. Investigation of the regulatory mechanism revealed that thrombin facilitated astrocytic CCL2 production through activation of ERK/JNK/NFκB pathway, whereas promoted CCL5 production through PLCβ3/NFκB and ERK/JNK/NFκB signal pathway. Inhibition of thrombin activity significantly decreased production of astrocytic CCL2 and CCL5, and reduced the accumulation of macrophages/microglia at the lesion site. Accordingly, the locomotor function of rats was remarkably improved. The present study has provided a new regulatory mechanism on thrombin-mediated sequential production of astrocytic chemokines, which might be beneficial for clinical therapy of CNS neuroinflammation.

Contents of ɑ-dicarbonyl compounds in commercial black tea and affected by the processing

The species and contents of ɑ-dicarbonyls in commercial black tea were examined, along with the effects of the manufacturing process and drying temperature on the formation of ɑ-dicarbonyls. Ten ɑ-dicarbonyls were quantified in commercial and in-process black tea samples by using UPLC-MS/MS and their derived quinoxalines. The ɑ-dicarbonyls content in commercial black tea decreased significantly (p < 0.05) in the following order: 3-deoxyglucosone > glucosone > 3-deoxypentosone = threosone > galactosone ≥ methylglyoxal = glyoxal ≥ 3-deoxygalactosone = 3-deoxythreosone = diacetyl. Except for 3-deoxyglucosone and 3-deoxygalactosone, a further eight ɑ-dicarbonyls were identified in all manufacturing steps of black tea. Except for the drying step, the rolling and fermenting played important roles in the formation of ɑ-dicarbonyls. The total contents of ɑ-dicarbonyls in black tea infusion ranged from 16.48 to 75.32 μg/g based on our detected ten ɑ-dicarbonyls.

Risk factors for postoperative recurrence of pT2-3N0M0 esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and patterns of its recurrence

This study aimed to explore the patterns of postoperative recurrence in patients with pT2-3N0M0 esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and to identify the risk factors for the recurrence. Patients with pT2-3N0M0 ESCC who were treated at our hospital from January 2010 to August 2019 were divided into three categories: those with anastomotic recurrence, those with lymph node recurrence, and those with hematogenous metastasis. The sites of initial recurrence and metastasis were counted and potential risk factors were analyzed using univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression. Four hundred and eighty-five patients with pT2-3N0M0 ESCC were ultimately included, 176 (36.29%) of whom experienced tumor recurrence or metastasis. Cox multivariate analysis revealed that the postoperative T-stage, procedure, tumor location, and degree of differentiation were independent risk factors for postoperative recurrence (P < 0.05). The median time of recurrence was 38 months, and the most common site of recurrence was the lymph nodes in 126 patients (71.59%), followed by hematogenous metastasis in 73 patients (41.47%), and anastomotic recurrence in 21 patients (11.93%). 119 patients (67.61%) experienced recurrence within 36 months, with a probability of recurrence of 84.09% within 5 years, and recurrence remained relatively unchanged after 5 years. The proportion of postoperative lymph node recurrence and hematogenous metastasis in patients with pT3N0M0 ESCC was significantly higher than that in patients with pT2N0M0 ESCC (P < 0.05). At higher tumor locations in the body, the proportion of lymph node recurrence increased (P < 0.05). In conclusion, postoperative T-stage, procedure, tumor location, and degree of differentiation were independent risk factors for postoperative recurrence in pT2-3N0M0 ESCC, with regional lymph node recurrence being the most common pattern, emphasizing the importance of regional lymph nodes in this context.

Visualized test of environmental water pollution and meat freshness: Design of Au NCs-CDs-test paper/PVA film for ratiometric fluorescent sensing of sulfide

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is an environmental pollutant, and also the major released gas during the decay of meat products. To protect the ecological environment and human health, the establishment of a swift, convenient, and accurate detection method for H2S becomes essential. However, existing methods are still suffering from complex synthesis, high toxicity, poor visualization, and high detection limit. Herein, Au NCs-CDs nanocomposite-based test paper and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) film are combined with a smartphone for sensitive and specific sulfide visualized monitoring. After the addition of sulfide, the fluorescence color changes from orange to green, achieving a quantitative linearity towards sulfide from 5 nM to 30 μM, with a low detection limit of 4.20 nM. The proposed method shows practicability in natural water samples. Furthermore, distinct fluorescence color variation is shown towards H2S originating from spoiled meat, showing the potential application prospect of Au NCs-CDs-PVA film as a meat freshness detector.

Carbon fiber-based multichannel solid-contact potentiometric ion sensors for real-time sweat electrolyte monitoring

Solid-contact ion-selective electrodes (SC-ISEs) feature miniaturization and integration that have gained extensive attention in non-invasive wearable sweat electrolyte sensors. The state-of-the-art wearable SC-ISEs mainly use polyethylene terephthalate, gold and carbon nanotube fibers as flexible substrates but suffer from uncomfortableness, high cost and biotoxicity. Herein, we report carbon fiber-based SC-ISEs to construct a four-channel wearable potentiometric sensor for sweat electrolytes monitoring (Na+/K+/pH/Cl-). The carbon fibers were extracted from commercial cloth, of which the starting point is addressing the cost and reproducibility issues for flexible SC-ISEs. The bare carbon fiber electrodes exhibited reversible voltammetric and stable impedance performances. Further fabricated SC-ISEs based on corresponding ion-selective membranes disclosed Nernstian sensitivity and anti-interface ability toward both ions and organic species in sweat. Significantly, these carbon fiber-based SC-ISEs revealed high reproducibility of standard potentials between normal and bending states. Finally, a textile-based sensor was integrated with a solid-contact reference electrode, which realized on-body sweat electrolytes analysis. The results displayed high accuracy compared with ex-situ tests by ion chromatography. This work highlights carbon fiber-based multichannel wearable potentiometric ion sensors with low cost, biocompatibility and reproducibility.

Meso-aryltellurium-BODIPY-based fluorescence turn-on probe for selective, sensitive and fast glutathione sensing in HepG2 cells

Glutathione (GSH) as one most abundant thiol, acts as important roles in regulating cellular redox activities, and various diseases are closely related with its abnormal levels. Thus, monitoring intracellular GSH levels is essential for understanding cellular metabolism of many related diseases. In this work, we firstly reported a new fluorescence turn-on sensor, which was capable of selectively, sensitively and rapid sensing GSH over other thiols, especially cysteine and homocysteine in solutions and living cells. A meso-aryltellurium boron dipyrromethene (BODIPY) was firstly designed and synthesized, which showed silenced emission due to an efficient photoinduced electron transfer (PET) process from electron-rich Te to BODIPY, and then upon exposure to GSH, the meso-Te-C bond could be rapidly cleaved by the thiol group of GSH, thus resulting in an obvious fluorescence "turn-on" phenomenon through inhibition of the PET effect. This probe exhibited excellent selectivity and sensitivity towards GSH with a short response time of 2 min, showing a remarkable fluorescence enhancement observed at 541 nm with a large fluorescence quantum yield increase from nearly 0 to 0.73 upon excitation at 500 nm in PBS/CH3CN (9/1, v/v). The detection limit towards GSH was further calculated to be 1.7 nM by the linear fluorescence change at 541 nm in the GSH-concentration ranging from 0 to 4 μM. Furthermore, its sensing mechanism was validated by using mass spectrometry, confirming the rapid cleavage of the Te-C bond by GSH. Finally, cell imaging experiments demonstrated that this probe could successfully detect GSH in living cells, highlighting its potential for rapid and sensitive detection of intracellular GSH level changes. Therefore, a new meso-aryltellurium-BODIPY fluorescence turn-on sensor was firstly developed, which could selectively, sensitively and fast detect cellular GSH over other thiols based on the rapid cleavage of the meso Te-C bond.

Natural Enzyme-Inspired Design of the Single-Atom Cu Nanozyme as Dual-Enzyme Mimics for Distinguishing Total Antioxidant Capacity and the Ascorbic Acid Level

Although various oxidase mimetic or peroxidase (POD) mimetic nanozymes have been extensively studied, their poor substrate selectivity significantly inhibits their practical applications. Nanozymes with specific biomolecules as substrates, especially ascorbic acid oxidase (AAO) mimetic nanozymes with ascorbic acid (AA) as a substrate, have scarcely been studied. Herein, inspired by the multi-Cu atom sites and the redox electron transfer pathway of Cu2+/Cu+ in the natural AAO, atomically dispersed Cu sites immobilized on N-doped porous carbon (Cu-N/C) are artificially designed to simulate the function of natural AAO. Compared with their natural counterparts, the Cu-N/C catalysts exhibited higher catalytic efficiency and superior stability. Combined theoretical calculation and experimental characterizations reveal that the Cu-N/C nanozymes could catalyze the AA oxidation through a 2e- oxygen reduction pathway with H2O2 as the product. Moreover, the Cu-N/C nanozymes also possess high POD activity. As a proof-of-concept application, Cu-N/C can simultaneously realize AA detection in fluorescent mode based on its AAO activity and total antioxidant capacity detection in colorimetric mode utilizing its POD activity.

A novel gene signature related to focal adhesions for distinguishing and predicting the prognosis of lung squamous cell carcinoma

Background

Lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC) is a devastating and difficult-to-treat type of lung cancer, and the prognosis of LUSC is the worst. The functional roles of focal adhesion-related genes were explored in LUSC based on data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA).

Methods

RNA sequencing data and clinical characteristics of LUSC patients in TCGA-LUSC were obtained from the TCGA database. Through systematic analysis, we screened the prognostic genes and determined the focal adhesion-related pathways closely associated with LUSC.

Results

We identified 444 prognostic genes and focal adhesion-related pathways intimately associated with LUSC. According to the focal adhesion-related genes, TCGA-LUSC patients were well divided into two groups: the low-risk group (G1) and the high-risk group (G2). A differential expression analysis identified 44 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) upregulated in the low-risk G1 group and 379 DEGs upregulated in the high-risk G2 group. The upregulated DEGs in the G1 group were primarily related to tyrosine metabolism, steroid hormone biosynthesis, retinol metabolism, platinum drug resistance, pentose and glucuronate interconversions, and metabolism of xenobiotics by cytochrome P450, while the downregulated DEGs in the G1 group were primarily related to ECM-receptor interaction, focal adhesion, proteoglycans in cancer, small cell lung cancer, cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, and TGF-beta signaling pathway. The immune activity of the G1 group was lower than that of the G2 group, and the half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of five chemotherapy drugs (i.e., gemcitabine, methotrexate, vinorelbine, paclitaxel, and cisplatin) was significantly different between the G1 and G2 groups. Furthermore, a 10-gene prognostic model was constructed to predict the prognosis for LUSC patients: ITGA3, VAV2, FLNC, FLT4, HGF, MYL2, ITGB1, PDGFRA, CCND2, and PPP1CB.

Conclusion

The status of focal adhesion-related genes has a close relationship with tumor classification and immunity in LUSC patients. A novel focal adhesion-related signature had good prognostic and predictive performance for LUSC. Our findings may provide new insight into the diagnosis and treatment of LUSC.

In-Situ Construction of Anti-Aggregation Tellurium Nanorods/Reduced Graphene Oxide Composite to Enable Fast Sodium Storage

Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) as a replaceable energy storage technology have attracted extensive attention in recent years. The design and preparation of advanced anode materials with high capacity and excellent cycling performance for SIBs still face enormous challenges. Herein, a solution method is developed for in situ synthesis of anti-aggregation tellurium nanorods/reduced graphene oxide (Te NR/rGO) composite. The material working as the sodium-ion battery (SIB) anode achieves a high reversible capacity of 338 mAh g-1 at 5 A g-1 and exhibits up to 93.4% capacity retention after 500 cycles. This work demonstrates an effective preparation method of nano-Te-based composites for SIBs.

Solvent-Free Ultrafast Construction of Se-Deficient Heterojunctions of Bimetallic Selenides toward Flexible Sodium-Ion Full Batteries

Flexible quasi-solid-state sodium ion batteries featuring their low-cost, high safety and excellent mechanical strength have attracted widespread interest in the field of wearable electronic devices. However, the development of such batteries faces great challenges including the construction of interfacial compatible flexible electrode materials and addressing the high safety demands of electrolyte. Here selenium-vacancies regulated bimetallic selenide heterojunctions anchored on waste cotton cloth-derived flexible carbon cloth (FCC) with robust interfacial C-Se-Co/Fe chemical bonds as a flexible anode material (CCFSF) is proposed by ultrafast microwave pyrolysis method. Rich selenium vacancies and CoSe2 /FeSe2-x heterostructures are synchronously formed that can significantly improve ionic and electronic diffusion kinetics. Additionally, a uniform carbon layer coating on the surface of Se-deficient heterostructures endows it with outstanding structural stability. The flexible cathode (PB@FCC) is also fabricated by directly growing Prussian blue nanoparticles on the FCC. Furthermore, an advanced flexible quasi-solid-state Na-ion pouch cell is assembled by coupling CCFSF anode, PB@FCC cathode with P(VDF-HFP)-based gel polymer electrolyte. The full cell not only demonstrates excellent energy storage performance but also robust mechanical flexibility and safety. The present work offers an effective avenue to achieve high safety flexible energy storage device, promoting the development of flexible wearable electronic devices.

Bio-Based Alkali Lignin Cooperative Systems for Improving the Flame Retardant and Mechanical Properties of Rigid Polyurethane Foam

Lignin was utilized as an environmentally friendly synergistic agent to augment the fire resistance and mechanical characteristics of rigid polyurethane foam (PUF)/melamine-formaldehyde resin ammonium polyphosphate (MFAPP). The incorporation of lignin significantly enhanced the charring capability and flame retardancy of PUF/MFAPP. Specifically, PUF/MFAPP12/A-lignin3 exhibited a charring residue of 23.1% at 800 °C, accompanied by an increase in the limiting oxygen index (LOI) to 23.1%, resulting in a UL-94 V-0 rating. The cone calorimeter test (CCT) revealed that the peak heat release rate (PHRR), total heat release (THR), smoke production rate (SPR), and total smoke production (TSP) values of PUF/MFAPP12/A-lignin3 were all lower than for pure PUF. MFAPP and alkali lignin exerted a noticeable influence on the physical and mechanical properties, leading to increases in density (35.4 kg/m3), thermal conductivity (32.68 mW/(m·K)), and compressive strength (160.5 kPa). Observations of the morphology and elemental composition of char residues after combustion indicated the formation of an intact, thick, and continuous char layer enriched with nitrogen and phosphorus elements, which acted as a protective shield for the underlying foam.

HIF-1α promotes astrocytic production of macrophage migration inhibitory factor following spinal cord injury

BACKGROUND

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is an important mediator of neuropathology in various central nervous system (CNS) diseases. However, little is known about its inducers for production from the nerve cells, as well as the underlying regulatory mechanism. Injury-induced HIF-1α has been shown to exacerbate neuroinflammation by activating multiple downstream target molecules. It is postulated that HIF-1α is involved in the regulation of MIF following spinal cord injury (SCI).

METHODS

SCI model of Sprague-Dawley rats was established by cord contusion at T8-T10. The dynamic changes of HIF-1α and MIF protein levels at lesion site of rat spinal cord were determined by Western blot. The specific cell types of HIF-1α and MIF expression were examined by immunostaining. Primary astrocytes were isolated from the spinal cord, cultured and stimulated with various agonist or inhibitor of HIF-1α for analysis of HIF-1α-mediated expression of MIF. Luciferase report assay was used to determine the relationship between HIF-1α and MIF. The Basso, Beattie, and Bresnahan (BBB) locomotor scale was used to assess the locomotor function following SCI.

RESULTS

The protein levels of HIF-1α and MIF at lesion site were significantly elevated by SCI. Immunofluorescence demonstrated that both HIF-1α and MIF were abundantly expressed in the astrocytes of the spinal cord. By using various agonists or inhibitors of HIF-1α, it was shown that HIF-1α sufficiently induced astrocytic production of MIF. Mechanistically, HIF-1α promoted MIF expression through interaction with MIF promoter. Inhibition of HIF-1α activity using specific inhibitor markedly reduced the protein levels of MIF at lesion site following SCI, which in turn favored for the functional recovery.

CONCLUSION

SCI-induced activation of HIF-1α is able to promote MIF production from astrocytes. Our results have provided new clues for SCI-induced production of DAMPs, which may be helpful for clinical treatment of neuroinflammation.

Utilizing residential histories to assess environmental exposure and socioeconomic status over the life course among mesothelioma patients

Background

Exposure misclassification based solely on the address at cancer diagnosis has been widely recognized though not commonly assessed.

Methods

We linked 1,015 mesothelioma cases diagnosed during 2011-2015 from the New York State Cancer Registry to inpatient claims and LexisNexis administrative data and constructed residential histories. Percentile ranking of exposure to ambient air toxics and socioeconomic status (SES) were based on the National Air Toxic Assessment and United States Census data, respectively. To facilitate comparisons over time, relative exposures (REs) were calculated by dividing the percentile ranking at individual census tract by the state-level average and subtracting one. We used generalized linear regression models to compare the RE in the past with that at cancer diagnosis, adjusting for patient-level characteristics.

Results

Approximately 43.7% of patients had residential information available for up to 30 years, and 96.0% up to 5 years. The median number of unique places lived was 4 [interquartile range (IQR), 2-6]. The time-weighted-average RE from all addresses available had a median of -0.11 (IQR, -0.50 to 0.30) for air toxics and -0.28 (IQR, -0.65 to 0.25) for SES. RE associated with air toxics (but not SES) was significantly higher for earlier addresses than addresses at cancer diagnosis for the 5-year [annual increase =1.24%; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.71-1.77%; n=974] and 30-year (annual increase =0.36%; 95% CI: 0.25-0.48%; n=444) look-back windows, respectively.

Conclusions

Environmental exposure to non-asbestos air toxics among mesothelioma patients may be underestimated if based solely on the address at diagnosis. With geospatial data becoming more readily available, incorporating cancer patients' residential history would lead to reduced exposure misclassification and accurate health risk estimates.

Fabrication of water-floating litchi-like polystyrene-sphere-supported TiO2/Bi2O3 S-scheme heterojunction for efficient photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline

The exploration of advanced photocatalysts for antibiotic degradation is critical, but it remains a challenge due to the lack of rational structural design and in-depth insights into molecular oxygen activation. Water-floating photocatalysts could be one of the best choices owing to their technical features in terms of reasonability and efficiency involving a high oxygenation of photocatalyst surface, fully solar irradiation, and simple recycling and reuse. Herein, a floatable litchi-like architecture of a polystyrene-sphere-supported TiO2/Bi2O3 (PS@TiO2/Bi2O3) S-scheme heterojunction was skillfully constructed and evaluated for photodegradation of model tetracycline (TC) antibiotics. By integrating the advantages of floatability and S-scheme, the TC removal rate of the optimal PS@TiO2/Bi2O3-0.4 catalyst can reach 88.4% under 1 h illumination, which is higher than that of pristine Bi2O3 (60.8%) and PS@TiO2 (40.1%). Moreover, PS@TiO2/Bi2O3-0.4 exhibits high recyclability and stability, and there is no significant loss of activity after five cycles of repeated use. With the aid of liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis and density functional theory calculations, a reasonable degradation pathway for TC was proposed. The present work provides a recyclable and efficient approach for the photodegradation of TC, expecting to guide the innovative exploitation of other environmental systems.

Copy number variants landscape of multiple cancers and clinical applications based on NGS gene panel

BACKGROUND

The rapid adoption of next-generation sequencing in clinical oncology has enabled detection of molecular biomarkers which are shared between multiple tumour types. Intra-tumour heterogeneity is a mechanism of therapeutic resistance and therefore an important clinical challenge. However, the tumour-related copy number variants (CNVs), as key regulators of cancer origination, development, and progression, across various types of cancers are poorly understood.

METHODS

We performed pan-cancer CNV analysis of cancer-related genes in 15 types of cancers including 1438 cancerous patients by next-generation sequencing using a commercially available pan-cancer panel (Onco PanScan™). Downstream bioinformatics analysis was performed in order to detect CNVs, cluster analysis of the found CNVs, and comparison of the frequency of gained CNVs between different types of cancers. LASSO analysis was used for identification of the most important CNVs.

RESULTS

We also identified 523 CNVs among which 16 CNVs were common while 22 CNVs were caner-specific CNVs. Meanwhile, FAM58A was most commonly found in all studied cancers in this study and significant differences were found in FAM58A between female and male patients (p = .001). Common CNVs, such as FOXA1, NFKBIA, HEY1, MECOM, CHD7, AGO2, were mutated in 6.79%, 8.45%, 7.51%, 6.43%, 7.59%, 8.16% of tumours, while most of these mutations have proven roles in positive regulation of transcription from RNA polymerase II promoter. 11 features including sex, DIS3, EPHB1, ERBB2, FLT1, HCK, KEAP1, MYD88, PARP3, TBX3, and TOP2A were found as the key features for classification of cancers using CNVs.

CONCLUSION

The 16 common CNVs between cancers can be used to identify the target of pan-cancer drug design and targeted therapies. Additionally, 22 caner-specific CNVs can be used as unique diagnostic markers for each cancer type.

Temporal and Spatial Variation Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Bacterial Community in Urban Landscape Lakes

Urban landscape lakes are closely related to human activity, but there are limited studies on their bacterial community characteristics and risks to human health. In this study, four different types of urban landscape lakes in Xi'an were selected, and the bacterial community structures in different seasons were analyzed by Illumina Nova high-throughput sequencing technology. Seasonal variations in bacterial communities were analyzed by linear discriminant analysis, STAMP difference analysis, and nonmetric multidimensional scaling. Redundancy analysis was used to investigate the influencing factors. Furthermore, the metabolic functions of bacterial communities were predicted by Tax4Fun. There were clear seasonal differences in the α-diversity of bacteria, with bacterial diversity being higher in winter than in summer in the four urban landscape lakes, and the diversity of different water sources was different; the distributions of Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Chloroflexi, and Verrucomicrobia had significant seasonal differences; and the dominant bacteria at the genus level had obvious temporal and spatial differences. Furthermore, a variety of environmental factors had an impact on bacterial communities, and temperature, DO, and nitrogen were the primary factors affecting the seasonal variation in bacteria. There are also significant seasonal differences in the metabolic functions of bacterial communities. These results are helpful for understanding the current status of bacteria in the aquatic environments of such urban landscape lakes.

Photocatalytic Co-Reduction of N2 and CO2 with CeO2 Catalyst for Urea Synthesis

The effective conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2 ) and nitrogen (N2 ) into urea by photocatalytic reaction under mild conditions is considered to be a more environmentally friendly and promising alternative strategies. However, the weak adsorption and activation ability of inert gas on photocatalysts has become the main challenge that hinder the advancement of this technique. Herein, we have successfully established mesoporous CeO2-x nanorods with adjustable oxygen vacancy concentration by heat treatment in Ar/H2 (90 % : 10 %) atmosphere, enhancing the targeted adsorption and activation of N2 and CO2 by introducing oxygen vacancies. Particularly, CeO2 -500 (CeO2 nanorods heated treatment at 500 °C) revealed high photocatalytic activity toward the C-N coupling reaction for urea synthesis with a remarkable urea yield rate of 15.5 μg/h. Besides, both aberration corrected transmission electron microscopy (AC-TEM) and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy were used to research the atomic surface structure of CeO2 -500 at high resolution and to monitor the key intermediate precursors generated. The reaction mechanism of photocatalytic C-N coupling was studied in detail by combining Density Functional Theory (DFT) with specific experiments. We hope this work provides important inspiration and guiding significance towards highly efficient photocatalytic synthesis of urea.

Isomerized Green Solid Additive Engineering for Thermally Stable and Eco-Friendly All-Polymer Solar Cells with Approaching 19% Efficiency

Laboratory-scale all-polymer solar cells (all-PSCs) have exhibited remarkable power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) exceeding 19%. However, the utilization of hazardous solvents and nonvolatile liquid additives poses challenges for eco-friendly commercialization, resulting in the trade-off between device efficiency and operation stability. Herein, an innovative approach based on isomerized solid additive engineering is proposed, employing volatile dithienothiophene (DTT) isomers to modulate intermolecular interactions and facilitate molecular stacking within the photoactive layers. Through elucidating the underlying principles of the DTT-induced polymer assembly on molecular level, a PCE of 18.72% is achieved for devices processed with environmentally benign solvents, ranking it among the highest record values for eco-friendly all-PSCs. Significantly, such superiorities of the DTT-isomerized strategy afford excellent compatibility with large-area blade-coating techniques, offering a promising pathway for industrial-scale manufacturing of all-PSCs. Moreover, these devices demonstrate enhanced thermal stability with a promising extrapolated T80 lifetime of 14 000 h, further bolstering their potential for sustainable technological advancement.

The Increased TIGIT-Expressing CD3+CD56+ Cells Are Associated with Coronary Artery Disease and Its Inflammatory Environment

We aimed to examine the correlation of T-cell immunoglobulin and ITIM domain (TIGIT)-expressing CD3 + CD56 + cells (TNKS) with coronary artery disease (CAD), atherosclerotic lesion progression, and inflammatory environment. A total of 199 subjects, including 98 patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS), 52 patients with chronic coronary syndrome (CCS), and 49 control subjects, were recruited in the study. The TIGIT-expressing TNKS were quantified by flow cytometric analysis; the severity of coronary artery lesions was evaluated by the Gensini score. Whole blood cells were stimulated with interleukin-2 (IL-2), interleukin-7 (IL-7), and interleukin-15 (IL-15) in presence or absence of STAT, PI3K, and P38 MAPK inhibitors, respectively. The TIGIT-expressing TNKS was significantly increased in patients with CAD, ACS, and CCS compared to the control group (P < 0.05). The TIGIT-expressing TNKS were independent predictors of CAD, ACS and CCS (P < 0.05). The TIGIT-expressing TNKS were positively associated with Gensini score (P < 0.05). The TIGIT-expressing TNKS was positively correlated with age, and being male (P < 0.05). The inflammatory microenviroment with increased IL-2, IL-7, and IL-15 contributed to upregulation of TIGIT expression in TNKS. PI3K and P38 MAPK inhibitors could inhibit the upregulation of TIGIT expression in TNKS induced by IL-2, IL-7, and IL-15. The TIGIT-expressing TNKS may be involved in common pathogenesis of ACS and CCS, and atherosclerotic lesion progression. Meanwhile, the increased TIGIT-expressing TNKS might be associated with a proatherogenic microenvironment or inflammatory microenvironment. PI3K and P38 MAPK signaling pathways were involved in the regulation of TIGIT expression.

Associations between subjective social status and psychological well-being among college students

Background: Higher subjective social status (SSS) is associated with better mental health among youth; however, few studies have examined youth's perceptions of past (childhood) or future (adulthood) SSS. Methods: Utilizing latent profile analysis, we examined unique profiles of past, present, and future SSS among 401 college students in the United States and tested associations between these profiles and psychological well-being (ie, depressive symptoms, negative affect, positive affect, and flourishing), controlling for family socioeconomic status (SES). Results: Results revealed four profiles: Low SSS (8%), Upward SSS (18%), Moderate SSS (43%), and High SSS (31%). Youth in the High SSS profile had the best psychological well-being, and those in the Low SSS profile had the worst. While the Upward SSS profile was associated with depressive symptoms and negative affect, it was protective in terms of positive affect. Discussion: Findings highlight unique effects of upward SSS mobility.Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2021.1954010.

From Pixel to Patch: Synthesize Context-Aware Features for Zero-Shot Semantic Segmentation

Zero-shot learning (ZSL) has been actively studied for image classification tasks to relieve the burden of annotating image labels. Interestingly, the semantic segmentation task requires more labor-intensive pixel-wise annotation, but zero-shot semantic segmentation has not attracted extensive research interest. Thus, we focus on zero-shot semantic segmentation that aims to segment unseen objects with only category-level semantic representations provided for unseen categories. In this article, we propose a novel context-aware feature generation network (CaGNet) that can synthesize context-aware pixel-wise visual features for unseen categories based on category-level semantic representations and pixel-wise contextual information. The synthesized features are used to fine-tune the classifier to enable segmenting of unseen objects. Furthermore, we extend pixel-wise feature generation and fine-tuning to patch-wise feature generation and fine-tuning, which additionally considers the interpixel relationship. Experimental results on Pascal-VOC, Pascal-context, and COCO-stuff show that our method significantly outperforms the existing zero-shot semantic segmentation methods.