Relationship between astrocyte damage and different levels of cerebrospinal fluid markers and prognosis in patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage

INTRODUCTION

The aim of the study was to explore the relationship between astrocyte damage and different levels of cerebrospinal fluid markers and prognosis in patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH).

MATERIAL AND METHODS

A total of 168 SAH patients diagnosed and treated in the emergency department of our hospital during the period October 2019 to February 2022 were randomly selected as the study subjects. The severity of these patients' condition was evaluated by Hunt-Hess grading and these subjects were graded as the low-level group (78 patients) and high-level group (90 patients) according to the evaluation results. The Extended Disability Status Scale (EDSS) score was employed to evaluate the astrocyte damage. The content of atypical chemokine receptor 3 (ACKR3), Connexin 43 (Cx43), oxygenated hemoglobin (HbO 2 ), and endothelin (ET) in cerebrospinal fluid was measured. The relationship between the content of ACKR3, Cx43, HbO 2 , and ET in cerebrospinal fluid with EDSS score was analyzed through Pearson correlation analysis. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was adopted to analyze the risk factors.

RESULTS

ACKR3 was mainly expressed in the cytoplasm of cerebrospinal fluid monocytes, and Cx43 was mainly expressed in the cell membrane and cytoplasm. Patients in the high-level group had markedly higher expression rates of ACKR3 and Cx43 positive cells in cerebrospinal fluid than those in the low-level group ( p < 0.05). Patients in the high-level group had higher content of HbO 2 and ET in cerebrospinal fluid and EDSS score than patients in the low-level group ( p < 0.05). The content of ACKR3, Cx43, HbO 2 , and ET in cerebrospinal fluid of SAH patients was positively correlated with EDSS scores ( p < 0.05). Systolic blood pressure, Hunt-Hess grade, rebleeding, emotional control, EDSS score, ACKR3, Cx43 positive cell rate, and HbO 2 and ET expression levels were independent risk factors for the prognosis of SAH patients ( p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Astrocyte damage in SAH patients was positively correlated with the content of ACKR3, Cx43, HbO 2 , and ET in cerebrospinal fluid. These indicators increased significantly with the increasing severity of the disease, and had certain value in reflecting the patient's condition. Astrocyte damage combined with cerebrospinal fluid markers had potential value in evaluating the severity and prognosis of patients.

2D van der Waals Vertical Heterojunction Transistors for Ternary Neural Networks

Compared with binary systems, ternary computing systems can utilize fewer devices to realize the same information density. However, most ternary computing systems based on binary CMOS circuits require additional devices to bridge binary processing and ternary computing. Exploring new device architectures for direct ternary processing and computing becomes the key to promoting ternary computing systems. Here, we demonstrated a 2D van der Waals vertical heterojunction transistor (V-HTR) with three flat conductance states, which can be the basic cell in ternary circuits to perform ternary processing and computing, without additional devices. A ternary neural network (TNN) and a ternary inverter were demonstrated based on the V-HTRs. The TNN can eliminate fuzzy data and output only clear data by building a ternary quantization function. By demonstrating both ternary logic and a TNN on the same device architecture, the 2D V-HTR shows potential as a basic hardware unit for future ternary computing systems.

Using a cyclocarbon additive as a cyclone separator to achieve fast lithiation and delithiation without dendrite growth in lithium-ion batteries

Carbon materials are widely used for reversible lithium uptake in the anode of lithium-ion batteries. Nevertheless, the challenge of uncontrollable dendrite deposition during fast charge-discharge cycles remains a grand hurdle. Various strategies have been explored to prevent detrimental heterogeneous dendrite metal deposits, such as interface engineering and electrolyte modification, but they often compromise the reverse diffusion freedom of Li+ ions during discharging and are incompatible with the most mainstream use of graphite as an anode material. Here, we propose the incorporation of a novel carbon allotrope of cyclocarbon as a potential additive in the anode. In contrast to conventional carbon materials, density functional theory calculations reveal that cyclocarbon has a much higher affinity for Li atoms than Li+ ions, even surpassing the inherent cohesion of Li atoms, due to the charge transfer from the 2s orbital of Li atoms to the unique in-plane π orbital of cyclocarbon. Furthermore, ab initio molecular dynamics simulations show that Li+ ions can shuttle freely back and forth across cyclocarbon, whereas the lithiation process for Li atoms occurs rapidly within picoseconds. The delithiation of Li atoms within cyclocarbon follows a voltage-gated mechanism that is effectively controlled by an external electric field of 3 V nm-1. Remarkably, cyclocarbon exhibits potential compatibility with commercialized graphite electrodes via the π-π interaction and also can be extended to sodium-ion and potassium-ion batteries. These distinct compatibility, scalability and electrochemical properties of cyclocarbon provide a new avenue to realize both safety and ultrafast rechargeable performance of ion batteries.

Seven oxidative stress-related genes predict the prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma

Predicting the prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a major medical challenge and of guiding significance for treatment. This study explored the actual relevance of RNA expression in predicting HCC prognosis. Cox's multiple regression was used to establish a risk score staging classification and to predict the HCC patients' prognosis on the basis of data in the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). We screened seven gene biomarkers related to the prognosis of HCC from the perspective of oxidative stress, including Alpha-Enolase 1(ENO1), N-myc downstream-regulated gene 1 (NDRG1), nucleophosmin (NPM1), metallothionein-3, H2A histone family member X, Thioredoxin reductase 1 (TXNRD1) and interleukin 33 (IL-33). Among them we measured the expression of ENO1, NGDP1, NPM1, TXNRD1 and IL-33 to investigate the reliability of the multi-index prediction. The first four markers' expressions increased successively in the paracellular tissues, the hepatocellular carcinoma samples (from patients with better prognosis) and the hepatocellular carcinoma samples (from patients with poor prognosis), while IL-33 showed the opposite trend. The seven genes increased the sensitivity and specificity of the predictive model, resulting in a significant increase in overall confidence. Compared with the patients with higher-risk scores, the survival rates with lower-risk scores are significantly increased. Risk score is more accurate in predicting the prognosis HCC patients than other clinical factors. In conclusion, we use the Cox regression model to identify seven oxidative stress-related genes, investigate the reliability of the multi-index prediction, and develop a risk staging model for predicting the prognosis of HCC patients and guiding precise treatment strategy.

Single-cell landscape of immune cells during the progression from HBV infection to HBV cirrhosis and HBV-associated hepatocellular carcinoma

Introduction

Immune cells play crucial roles in the development of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, leading to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, their functions at different disease stages are not fully understood.

Methods

In this study, we used single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) to characterize the human liver immune microenvironment at different disease stages. We analyzed scRNA-seq data from 118,455 immune cells obtained from livers of six healthy individuals, four patients with HBV infection, five patients with HBV cirrhosis, and three patients with HBV-associated HCC.

Results

Our results showed an accumulation of scar-associated macrophages during disease progression, and we identified two relevant immune subsets, Macrophage-CD9/IL18 and macrophage-CD9/IFI6. Macrophage-CD9/IL18 expanded from HBV infection to cirrhosis, while macrophage-CD9/IFI6 expanded from cirrhosis to HCC. We verified the existence of Macrophage-CD9/IFI6 using multiplex immunofluorescence staining. We also found an increase in cytotoxic NK Cell-GNLY during progression from cirrhosis to HCC. Additionally, the proportion of CD4 T cell-TNFAIP3, CD8 T cell-TNF (effector CD8 T cells), and CD8 T cell-CD53 increased, while the proportion of Treg cells decreased from HBV infection to cirrhosis. The proportion of Treg and CD8 T cell-LAG3 (Exhausted CD8 T cell) enhanced, while the proportion of CD8 T cell-TNF (effector CD8 T cells) decreased from cirrhosis to HCC. Furthermore, GSEA enrichment analyses revealed that MAPK, ERBB, and P53 signaling pathways in myeloid cells were gradually inhibited from HBV infection to cirrhosis and HCC.

Discussion

Our study provides important insights into changes in the hepatic immune environment during the progression of HBV-related liver disease, which may help improve the management of HBV-infected liver diseases.

Isorhamnetin inhibits inflammatory response to alleviate DHEA-induced polycystic ovary syndrome in rats

OBJECTIVE

To explore the role of isorhamnetin on polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in rats.

METHODS

Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were subcutaneously injected with dehydroepiandrosteron (DHEA) to establish PCOS model. Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining and TdT-mediated dUTP Nick-End Labeling (TUNEL) were used to measure histological changes and apoptosis of ovary tissues. The levels of serum hormones and inflammatory factors in ovary tissues were measured by enzyme-linked immuno sorbent assay (ELISA).

RESULTS

In DHEA-induced PCOS rats, the levels of serum glucose, insulin, testosterone and luteinizing hormone (LH) were enhanced, estradiol (E2), sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) levels were decreased, inflammatory levels and apoptosis of ovary tissues were increased. Additionally, DHEA increased the body weight, ovary weight, and ovary volume, cystic follicles, and decreased corpus luteum. Moreover, the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) signaling pathway was activated in PCOS rats. The levels of TNF receptor superfamily member 1 A (TNFR1), TNF-α, and fas cell surface death feceptor (FAS) were enhanced in ovary tissues of DHEA induced PCOS rats. Isorhamnetin (ISO) treatment after DHEA modeling markedly reduced serum levels of glucose, insulin, testosterone and LH, increased E2, SHBG, FSH level, decreased inflammatory levels, and inhibited apoptosis and decreased body weight, ovary weight, and ovary volume. The levels of TNFR1, TNF-α, and FAS were markedly decreased after ISO treatment in PCOS rats. Additionally, ISO alone had no significant effect on rats.

CONCLUSION

Isorhamnetin inhibits inflammatory response to alleviate DHEA-induced PCOS in rats by inactivating the TNF signaling pathway.

The adsorption of biogenetic odorants onto activated carbon: Adsorption characteristics and impacts of algal organic matter

Powdered activated carbon (PAC) adsorption is regarded as an efficient method for removing odorants from drinking water. However, in eutrophic aquatic environments, the presence of algal organic matter (AOM) produced by cyanobacteria considerably impedes the adsorption of odorous compounds by activated carbon. This study focused on investigating the adsorption characteristics of three representative odorants: 2-methylisoborneol (2-MIB), β-cyclocitral (β-cyclo), and butyl sulfide (BS) by PAC and the effects of AOM on the PAC adsorption of odorants. The removal of the three odorants reached 83.5-97.5% at a PAC dosage of 10 mg/L after 12 h of exposure in a competition-free scenario. The adsorption kinetics demonstrated higher conformity (R2 > 0.9) with the pseudo-second-order model, whereas the adsorption capacity exhibited stronger conformity (R2 > 0.9) with the Freundlich model. The presence of AOM resulted in varying levels of competition for PAC for the adsorption of the three odorants. As the concentration of AOM increased from 0 to 5 mg C/L, the removal of 2-MIB was the most affected (from 83.5% to 10.0%), followed by β-cyclo (from 86.6% to 55.0%), and BS (from 97.5% to 92.0%). The competitive adsorption of AOM at the molecular level was studied using density functional theory (DFT). The DFT results suggested that odorants with higher and more uniformly distributed electrostatic potentials exhibited a heightened affinity for PAC adsorption and a diminished susceptibility to disruption caused by AOM. This study provides valuable insights into the mitigation of odorous compounds during drinking water purification.

Long-term stability and toxicity effects of three-dimensional electrokinetic remediation on chromium-contaminated soils

The three-dimensional electrokinetic remediation (3D EKR) achieved efficient removal of chromium (Cr) from the soil through mechanisms including electromigration, electroosmosis, and redox reactions. In this study, the long-term stability, leaching toxicity, bioavailability, and phytotoxicity of Cr in remediated soils were systematically analyzed to comprehensively evaluate the effectiveness of the 3D EKR method. The results showed that the concentration of hexavalent chromium (Cr (VI)) in the leachate of the 3D EKR system with sulfidated nano-scale zerovalent iron (S-nZVI) was more than 40% lower than those of the other 3D electrode groups, and the time required to reach the level III standard of groundwater quality criterion in China (0.05 mg/L, GB/T 14848-2017) was significantly shortened. The stabilization of Cr(VI) in contaminated soil after 3D EKR was maintained for 300 pore volumes (PVs), indicating that the treated Cr(VI) had good long-term stability. The leaching toxicity and bioaccessibility of Cr were assessed by the synthetic precipitation leaching procedure (SPLP), the toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP), and the physiologically based extraction test (PBET). The concentration of Cr(VI) in the SPLP, TCLP, and PBET leachates of the S-nZVI group decreased by more than 25% compared to the other 3D electrode groups, corresponding to the decrease in leaching toxicity and bioavailability of the treated Cr during the 15-day remediation period. In addition, the germination rate of wheat seeds and the average biomass of wheat seedlings in the S-nZVI group under alkaline conditions (EE) were higher than those in the non-polluting group (Blank-OH), indicating that the remediated soil had no obvious toxicity to wheat. In summary, 3D EKR achieved a satisfactory and stable remediation effect on Cr-contaminated soil, especially when using S-nZVI as the 3D electrode.

Deep Learning with Geometry-Enhanced Molecular Representation for Augmentation of Large-Scale Docking-Based Virtual Screening

Structure-based virtual screening has been a crucial tool in drug discovery for decades. However, as the chemical space expands, the existing structure-based virtual screening techniques based on molecular docking and scoring struggle to handle billion-entry ultralarge libraries due to the high computational cost. To address this challenge, people have resorted to machine learning techniques to enhance structure-based virtual screening for efficiently exploring the vast chemical space. In those cases, compounds are usually treated as sequential strings or two-dimensional topology graphs, limiting their ability to incorporate three-dimensional structural information for downstream tasks. We herein propose a novel deep learning protocol, GEM-Screen, which utilizes the geometry-enhanced molecular representation of the compounds docking to a specific target and is trained on docking scores of a small fraction of a library through an active learning strategy to approximate the docking outcome for yet nontraining entries. This protocol is applied to virtual screening campaigns against the AmpC and D4 targets, demonstrating that GEM-Screen enriches more than 90% of the hit scaffolds for AmpC in the top 4% of model predictions and more than 80% of the hit scaffolds for D4 in the same top-ranking size of library. GEM-Screen can be used in conjunction with traditional docking programs for docking of only the top-ranked compounds to avoid the exhaustive docking of the whole library, thus allowing for discovering top-scoring compounds from billion-entry libraries in a rapid yet accurate fashion.

MgCl2 Attenuates ox-LDL-Induced Vascular Smooth Muscle-Derived Foam Cells Pyroptosis by Downregulating the TLR4/NF-κB Signaling Pathway

Pyroptosis is a type of programmed cell death that is generally upregulated during atherosclerosis (AS). Magnesium, an important cation in the body, has exhibited an antiatherosclerotic effect. We collected AS model datasets from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) and explored the correlation between pyroptosis and AS through a series of bioinformatics methods. We next investigated the impact of oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) on primary cultured vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) foaminess and pyroptosis. Finally, foam cells were preconditioned with different concentrations of MgCl2 to explore its influence on ox-LDL-induced VSMCs pyroptosis. NLRP3-mediated pyroptosis plays a core role in regulating AS progression as shown by bioinformatic analysis. Ox-LDL (50/75/100 mg/L) increased CE/TE ratio (> 50%) in VSMCs and prompted VSMC-derived foam cell formation, and (75/100 mg/L) ox-LDL-induced pyroptosis. Compared to 1 mmol/L MgCl2, 10 mmol/L MgCl2 significantly downregulated the expression of pyroptosis related molecules in VSMCs induced by 75 mg/L ox-LDL, including NLRP3, ASC, caspase-1, and GSDMD. The secretion of IL-1β, IL-18, and LDH was also inhibited by MgCl2. According to CCK-8 and Hoechst 33,342/PI staining, the damage to VSMCs viability induced by ox-LDL was ameliorated by MgCl2. In addition, MgCl2 attenuated the upregulation of TLR4, IKKβ, and p65 and the downregulation of IκBα in VSMCs induced by ox-LDL. The present study demonstrated that pyroptosis-related genes were the core genes in AS. We also revealed the effect and underlying mechanism of MgCl2 on ox-LDL-induced VSMCs pyroptosis, suggesting that MgCl2 has promising clinical applications for AS pyroptosis prevention and treatment.

Single-cell landscape of immune cells in human livers affected by HBV-related cirrhosis

Background & Aims

HBV infection is one of the leading causes of liver cirrhosis. However, the immune microenvironment in patients with HBV cirrhosis remains elusive.

Methods

Single-cell RNA sequencing was used to analyse the transcriptomes of 76,210 immune cells in the livers of six healthy individuals and in five patients with HBV cirrhosis.

Results

Patients with HBV cirrhosis have a unique immune ecosystem characterised by an accumulation of macrophage-CD9/IL18, macrophage-C1QA, NK Cell-JUNB, CD4+ T cell-IL7R, and a loss of B cell-IGLC1 clusters. Furthermore, our analysis predicted enhanced cell communication between myeloid cells and all immune cells in patients with HBV-related cirrhosis. Pseudo-time analysis of myeloid cells, natural killer (NK) cells, and B cells demonstrated a significant accumulation of mature cells and a depletion of naive cells in HBV cirrhosis. In addition, we observed an increase in antigen processing and presentation capacities in myeloid cells in patients with HBV cirrhosis, whereas NK cell-mediated cytotoxicity was substantially reduced.

Conclusions

Our results provide valuable insight into the immune landscape of HBV cirrhosis, suggesting that HBV cirrhosis is associated with the accumulation of activated myeloid cells and impaired cytotoxicity in NK cells.

Impact and implications

The absence of single-cell transcriptome profiling of immune cells in HBV cirrhosis hinders our understanding of the underlying mechanisms driving disease progression. To address this knowledge gap, our study unveils a distinctive immune ecosystem in HBV cirrhosis and represents a crucial advancement in elucidating the impact of the immune milieu on the development of this condition. These findings constitute significant strides towards the identification of more effective therapeutic approaches for HBV cirrhosis and are relevant for healthcare professionals, researchers, and pharmaceutical developers dedicated to combating this disease.

Fine-Tuning Electrolyte Concentration and Metal-Organic Framework Surface toward Actuating Fast Zn2+ Dehydration for Aqueous Zn-Ion Batteries

Functional porous coating on zinc electrode is emerging as a powerful ionic sieve to suppress dendrite growth and side reactions, thereby improving highly reversible aqueous zinc ion batteries. However, the ultrafast charge rate is limited by the substantial cation transmission strongly associated with dehydration efficiency. Here, we unveil the entire dynamic process of solvated Zn2+ ions' continuous dehydration from electrolyte across the MOF-electrolyte interface into channels with the aid of molecular simulations, taking zeolitic imidazolate framework ZIF-7 as proof-of-concept. The moderate concentration of 2 M ZnSO4 electrolyte being advantageous over other concentrations possesses the homogeneous water-mediated ion pairing distribution, resulting in the lowest dehydration energy, which elucidates the molecular mechanism underlying such concentration adopted by numerous experimental studies. Furthermore, we show that modifying linkers on the ZIF-7 surface with hydrophilic groups such as -OH or -NH2 can weaken the solvation shell of Zn2+ ions to lower the dehydration free energy by approximately 1 eV, and may improve the electrical conductivity of MOF. These results shed light on the ions delivery mechanism and pave way to achieve long-term stable zinc anodes at high capacities through atomic-scale modification of functional porous materials.

Automated Fragmentation Quantum Mechanical Calculation of 15N and 13C Chemical Shifts in a Membrane Protein

In this work, we developed an accurate and cost-effective automated fragmentation quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (AF-QM/MM) method to calculate the chemical shifts of 15N and 13C of membrane proteins. The convergence of the AF-QM/MM method was tested using Krokinobacter eikastus rhodopsin 2 as a test case. When the distance threshold of the QM region is equal to or larger than 4.0 Å, the results of the AF-QM/MM calculations are close to convergence. In addition, the effects of selected density functionals, basis sets, and local chemical environment of target atoms on the chemical shift calculations were systematically investigated. Our results demonstrate that the predicted chemical shifts are more accurate when important environmental factors including cross-protomer interactions, lipid molecules, and solvent molecules are taken into consideration, especially for the 15N chemical shift prediction. Furthermore, with the presence of sodium ions in the environment, the chemical shift of residues, retinal, and retinal Schiff base are affected, which is consistent with the results of the solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiment. Upon comparing the performance of various density functionals (namely, B3LYP, B3PW91, M06-2X, M06-L, mPW1PW91, OB95, and OPBE), the results show that mPW1PW91 is a suitable functional for the 15N and 13C chemical shift prediction of the membrane proteins. Meanwhile, we find that the improved accuracy of the 13Cβ chemical shift calculations can be achieved by the employment of the triple-ζ basis set. However, the employment of the triple-ζ basis set does not improve the accuracy of the 15N and 13Cα chemical shift calculations nor does the addition of a diffuse function improve the overall prediction accuracy of the chemical shifts. Our study also underscores that the AF-QM/MM method has significant advantages in predicting the chemical shifts of key ligands and nonstandard residues in membrane proteins than most widely used empirical models; therefore, it could be an accurate computational tool for chemical shift calculations on various types of biological systems.

Dysfunction of CD169+ macrophages and blockage of erythrocyte maturation as a mechanism of anemia in Plasmodium yoelii infection

Plasmodium parasites cause malaria with disease outcomes ranging from mild illness to deadly complications such as severe malarial anemia (SMA), pulmonary edema, acute renal failure, and cerebral malaria. In young children, SMA often requires blood transfusion and is a major cause of hospitalization. Malaria parasite infection leads to the destruction of infected and noninfected erythrocytes as well as dyserythropoiesis; however, the mechanism of dyserythropoiesis accompanied by splenomegaly is not completely understood. Using Plasmodium yoelii yoelii 17XNL as a model, we show that both a defect in erythroblastic island (EBI) macrophages in supporting red blood cell (RBC) maturation and the destruction of reticulocytes/RBCs by the parasites contribute to SMA and splenomegaly. After malaria parasite infection, the destruction of both infected and noninfected RBCs stimulates extramedullary erythropoiesis in mice. The continuous decline of RBCs stimulates active erythropoiesis and drives the expansion of EBIs in the spleen, contributing to splenomegaly. Phagocytosis of malaria parasites by macrophages in the bone marrow and spleen may alter their functional properties and abilities to support erythropoiesis, including reduced expression of the adherence molecule CD169 and inability to support erythroblast differentiation, particularly RBC maturation in vitro and in vivo. Therefore, macrophage dysfunction is a key mechanism contributing to SMA. Mitigating and/or alleviating the inhibition of RBC maturation may provide a treatment strategy for SMA.

Induction Chemotherapy and Toripalimab for Larynx Preservation in Resectable Locally Advanced Laryngeal/Hypopharyngeal Carcinoma: Preliminary Results of INSIGHT Study

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE(S)

Previous studies have demonstrated excellent pathological response of induction PD-1 inhibitor with chemotherapy for locally advanced head and neck cancer. To our knowledge, there is scarce evidence on induction chemotherapy (ICT) and PD-1 inhibitor in organ preservation for patients (pts) with laryngeal/hypopharyngeal carcinoma. Hence, the aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and toxicities of ICT and PD-1inhibitor (Toripalimab) followed by radiotherapy or surgery, for pts with resectable locally advanced laryngeal/hypopharyngeal carcinoma.

MATERIALS/METHODS

This isa single-arm phase II study. Pts with histopathologic confirmed, resectable locally advanced laryngeal/hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma and ECOG PS 0-1 were eligible. Three cycles of ICT (paclitaxel 175 mg/m d1, cisplatin 25 mg/m d1-3) combined with PD-1 inhibitor (Toripalimab 240 mg d0) were given. Response assessment (RECIST 1.1) was performed post-ICT. Patients with complete response (CR)/partial response (PR) of primary tumor received concurrent chemoradiation, followed by maintenance therapy of Toripalimab for eight cycles. Otherwise, patients were referred to surgery, followed by adjuvant radiation (RT)/chemoradiation (CRT), and then maintenance therapy of Toripalimab. The primary endpoint is larynx-preservation (LP) rate at 3 months post-RT. Forty-two patients were planned. Based on a two-stage Fleming design (one-sided α:10%, power: 80%), if at least 22 patients attained LP of the first 27 patients in stage I or at least thirty-two pts attained LP of the 42 patients at the end of stage II, the null hypothesis would be rejected. The cohort would enroll 15 more pts in stage II if 19-21 pts in stage I observed LP, and the study would be terminated if the number of pts with LP were less than 18 in stage I.

RESULTS

A total of 27 pts were enrolled. By the cut-off date Feb 8, 2023, all reached at least 3 months of follow-up post-RT. Median age was 63 (53-74) years with 92.6% male. Hypopharyngeal cancer accounted for 66.7%. There were 74.1% who were T3 to T4, and 77.7% were N2 to N3. Six cases had primary invasion of esophagus and five pts underwent pretreatment tracheostomy. ORR of ICT was 85.2%. Afterward, 21 pts were treated with concurrent CRT, while 6 pts received surgery of primary tumor. At 3 months post-RT, 23 pts attained organ preservation and the LP rate was 85.2%. With a median follow-up of 13.5 months, 1-year OS rate, PFS rate and LP survival rate was 83.1%, 79.5% and 79.4%, respectively. During ICT, 22.2% of pts experienced grade 3-4 treatment-related AEs (TRAEs). The most common grade 3-4 TRAEs were nausea and neutrophil count decreased.

CONCLUSION

The primary endpoint LP rate was met. In this cohort of extensive locally advanced laryngeal/hypopharyngeal carcinoma, ICT and Toripalimab followed by radiotherapy or surgery resulted in satisfactory short-term LP rate and encouraging survival.

A global bibliometric and visualized analysis of the status and trends of bone metastasis in breast cancer research from 2002 to 2021

Bone metastasis of breast cancer considerably reduces not only overall survival but also health-related quality of life due to pain, fatigue, and skeletal-related events.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to analyze the research hotspots and trends of global research on bone metastasis of breast cancer in the past 20 years to provide a reference for relevant personnel in this field to carry out academic research.

METHODS

The literature related to bone metastasis of breast cancer from 2002 to 2021 was retrieved from the Web of Science. The bibliometric research method and VOSviewer and CiteSpace were used to analyze the publications, and the research status and development direction in the last 20 years were visualized.

RESULTS

A total of 7381 articles were included. The number of global publications is increasing every year. The United States contributes the most to global research, with the most citations and the highest H-index. The journal Cancer Research published the most articles on this issue. "Macrophage" and "skeletal related event" will receive more attention and be the next popular hotspot in the future.

CONCLUSION

There will be an increasing number of publications on bone metastasis of breast cancer based on current global trends. The United States made the largest contribution to this field. More focus will be placed on the mechanisms of metastasis research, which may be the next popular topic in bone metastasis of breast cancer.

An Online Active Broad Learning Approach for Real-Time Safety Assessment of Dynamic Systems in Nonstationary Environments

Real-time safety assessment of the complex dynamic systems in nonstationary environments is of great significance for avoiding the potential hazards. In this case, the update procedure with high assessment accuracy and training speed is crucial and meaningful in the dynamic streaming setting. Generally, the performance of most online learning approaches will be negatively affected by limited annotated samples in such a setting. Moreover, the time cost of advanced conventional methods with retaining procedures is relatively high, constraining their practicality. In this article, a novel online active broad learning approach, termed OABL, is proposed. In detail, the effectiveness of the broad learning system in the framework of online active learning is first revealed and verified. A reasonable dynamic asymmetric query strategy is then designed with a limited annotation budget to actively annotate the relatively valuable samples, which is beneficial to mitigating the negative effects of class imbalance. In this context, the advantage of the human-in-the-loop characteristic is also effectively used to control the evolution direction of the learner during the incremental update, which makes it better able to adapt to complex and nonstationary environments. Several related experiments are conducted with the realistic data of JiaoLong deep-sea manned submersible. Results show the effectiveness and practicality of the proposal compared with the existing advanced approaches.

Cross-domain policy adaptation with dynamics alignment

The implementation of robotic reinforcement learning is hampered by problems such as an unspecified reward function and high training costs. Many previous works have used cross-domain policy transfer to obtain the policy of the problem domain. However, these researches require paired and aligned dynamics trajectories or other interactions with the environment. We propose a cross-domain dynamics alignment framework for the problem domain policy acquisition that can transfer the policy trained in the source domain to the problem domain. Our framework aims to learn dynamics alignment across two domains that differ in agents' physical parameters (armature, rotation range, or torso mass) or agents' morphologies (limbs). Most importantly, we learn dynamics alignment between two domains using unpaired and unaligned dynamics trajectories. For these two scenarios, we propose a cross-physics-domain policy adaptation algorithm (CPD) and a cross-morphology-domain policy adaptation algorithm (CMD) based on our cross-domain dynamics alignment framework. In order to improve the performance of policy in the source domain so that a better policy can be transferred to the problem domain, we propose the Boltzmann TD3 (BTD3) algorithm. We conduct diverse experiments on agent continuous control domains to demonstrate the performance of our approaches. Experimental results show that our approaches can obtain better policies and higher rewards for the agents in the problem domains even when the dataset of the problem domain is small.

The radiomic biomarker in non-small cell lung cancer: 18F-FDG PET/CT characterisation of programmed death-ligand 1 status

AIM

To present an integrated 2-[18F]-fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose (18F-FDG) positron-emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) radiomic characterisation of programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) status in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In this retrospective study, 18F-FDG PET/CT images and clinical data of 394 eligible patients were divided into training (n=275) and test sets (n=119). Next, the corresponding nodule of interest was segmented manually on the axial CT images by radiologists. After which, the spatial position matching method was used to match the image positions of CT and PET, and radiomic features of the CT and PET images were extracted. Radiomic models were built using five different machine-learning classifiers and the performance of the radiomic models were further evaluated. Finally, a radiomic signature was established to predict the PD-L1 status in patients with NSCLC using the features in the best performing radiomic model.

RESULTS

The radiomic model based on the PET intranodular region determined using the logistic regression classifier preformed best, yielding an area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUC) of 0.813 (95% CI: 0.812, 0.821) on the test set. The clinical features did not improve the test set AUC (0.806, 95% CI: 0.801, 0.810). The final radiomic signature for PD-L1 status was consisted of three PET radiomic features.

CONCLUSION

This study showed that an 18F-FDG PET/CT-based radiomic signature could be used as a non-invasive biomarker to discriminate PD-L1-positive from PD-L1-negative in patients with NSCLC.

[Surveillance on dengue vector Aedes albopictus in Ningbo City in 2021]

OBJECTIVE

To analyze the density, distribution and insecticide resistance of Aedes albopictus in Ningbo City in 2021, so as to provide insights into formulation of dengue fever control strategies.

METHODS

Four administrative villages were randomly selected from each county (district) in Ningbo City from April to November, 2021, to investigate the indoor population density of Aedes larvae, and the Breteau index (BI) was calculated. The population density of adult mosquitoes was investigated in residential areas, parks/bamboo forests, waste tire stacking sites/waste stations/construction sites in each county (district). On June 2021, larvae of the natural strain A. albopictus were collected from epidemic sites of dengue fever in Ningbo City in 2018, and raised in laboratory. Then, larvae and female mosquitoes without blood feeding were selected for insecticide resistance bioassays, while insecticide-sensitive strains of A. albopictus served as controls. The resistance of A. albopictus larvae to deltamethrin, beta-cypermethrin, propoxur, temephos and dichlorvos using the impregnation method, and the medium lethal concentration (LC50) and resistance ratio (RR) were calculated. The resistance of adult A. albopictus to beta-cypermethrin, permethrin, deltamethrin, propoxur and malathion was determined using the tube bioassay, and the mosquito mortality was calculated.

RESULTS

A total of 10 072 small water containers from 9 935 households were investigated in Ningbo City in 2021, and there were 1 276 containers with Aedes larvae detected, with an average BI of 12.89. Totally 1 422 mosquito nets were allocated and 954 female A. albopictus were captured, with an average net trapping index of 1.34 mosquitoes/(net·hour). Both larval and adult A. albopictus mosquitoes were found from April to November, and the density of larval A. albopictus peaked in September (BI = 21.21), while the density of adult A. albopictus peaked in August, with a net trapping index of 2.38 mosquitoes/(net·hour). The LC50 values of delta-methrin, beta-cypermethrin, propoxur, temephos and dichlorvos were 0.017 4, 0.000 9, 0.364 1, 0.038 1 mg/L and 0.001 6 mg/L against larvae of natural strains of A. albopicchus, with RRs of 49.66, 25.53, 9.65, 2.24 and 6.06, and the mortality rates of adult mosquitoes were 66.00% (66/100), 69.39% (68/98), 25.00% (25/100), 98.97% (96/97) and 100.00% (98/98) 24 hours post-treatment with 0.08% beta-cypermethrin, 0.03% deltamethrin, 0.4% permethrin, 0.05% propoxur, and 0.5% malathion for 24 h, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

A. albopictus is widely distributed in Ningbo City, with a high population density and presents high-level resistance to common pyrethroid insecticides. The population density and insecticide resistance of A. albopictus requires to be reinforced.

Characterizing polyproline II conformational change of collagen superhelix unit on adsorption on gold surface

The dynamic process of protein binding onto a metal surface is a frequent occurrence as gold nanoparticles are increasingly being used in biomedical applications, including wound treatment and drug transport. Collagen, as a major component of the extracellular matrix, has potentially advantageous biomedical applications, due to its excellent biocompatibility and elasticity properties. Therefore, a mechanistic comprehension of how and which species in collagen interact with gold nanoparticles is a prerequisite for collagen-gold complexes in clinical application. However, the dynamic behavior of collagen with the polyproline II (PPII) conformation on gold sheets at the molecular level is too complex to capture under current experimental conditions. Here, using molecular dynamics simulations, we investigate the adsorption process and conformational behavior of the tripeptide Gly-Pro-Hyp with the repetitive unit of the collagen superhelix on the gold surface as a function of number of repeating units from 1 to 10. The different numbers of repeating units all prefer to approach the gold surface and adsorb via charged residues at the C-terminal or N-terminal ends, tending to form arch structures on the gold surface. Compared with the various tripeptide units in solution still retaining the native PPII conformation, the presence of the gold surface affects the formation of hydrogen bonds between the protein and water molecules, thus disrupting the PPII conformation of collagen. Specifically, the interaction between the gold surface and HYP limits the rotation of the dihedral angle of collagen, resulting in a tendency for the PPII conformation of the gold surface to transform to the β-sheet conformation. The results provide an indication of how to improve the interaction between the terminal groups and the gold surface for the design of a bioavailable protein-gold material for medicinal purposes.

δ-Tocotrienol preconditioning improves the capability of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells in promoting wound healing by inhibiting BACH1-related ferroptosis

Wound healing is a complex physiological process for maintaining skin integrity after a wound. Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) are excellent cellular candidates for wound healing, which could be enhanced by exogenous stimulation. We aimed to explore the role of δ-Tocotrienol (δ-TT) in BMSC ability of wound healing. Firstly, transcriptome and single-cell analysis were used to explore the genes and pathways related to ferroptosis in wound tissues. In vitro, cell proliferation, migration, and angiogenesis of δ-TT-BMSCs were detected. In addition, qRT-PCR and immunofluorescence (IF) were applied for observing the promoting wound healing ability of δ-TT-BMSC conditioned medium (CM) on NIH-3T3 and PAM-212 cells. The level of ferroptosis was determined by the mitochondrial membrane potential and total/lipid reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the cells and the morphological changes of mitochondria were observed by transmission electron microscope. The BTB and CNC homology 1 (BACH1) expression and activation of the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway were detected by IF and western blot (WB). The effect of δ-TT-BMSCs on wound healing was observed in vivo. The regulatory mechanism of δ-TT-BMSCs on ferroptosis was verified by IHC and IF staining. In vitro, δ-TT-BMSCs declined the level of lipid ROS in NIH-3T3 and PAM-212 cells and enhanced mitochondrial membrane potential. In vivo, δ-TT-BMSCs promoted wound healing in mice by decreasing ferroptosis. In terms of mechanism, δ-TT-BMSCs inhibited the expression of BACH1 and activated PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. This study demonstrated the ability of δ-TT-BMSCs to promote wound healing by inhibiting BACH1-related ferroptosis. In addition, PI3K/AKT signaling pathway was activated by δ-TT-BMSCs and could be involved in wound healing. δ-TT-BMSCs might be a promising strategy for treating wounds.

Plasmon-Induced Charge Transfer-Enhanced Raman Scattering on a Semiconductor: Toward Amplification-Free Quantification of SARS-CoV-2

Semiconductors demonstrate great potentials as chemical mechanism-based surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates in determination of biological species in complex living systems with high selectivity. However, low sensitivity is the bottleneck for their practical applications, compared with that of noble metal-based Raman enhancement ascribed to electromagnetic mechanism. Herein, a novel Cu2 O nanoarray with free carrier density of 1.78×1021  cm-3 comparable to that of noble metals was self-assembled, creating a record in enhancement factor (EF) of 3.19×1010 among semiconductor substrates. The significant EF was mainly attributed to plasmon-induced hot electron transfer (PIHET) in semiconductor which was never reported before. This Cu2 O nanoarray was subsequently developed as a highly sensitive and selective SERS chip for non-enzyme and amplification-free SARS-CoV-2 RNA quantification with a detection limit down to 60 copies/mL within 5 min. This unique Cu2 O nanoarray demonstrated the significant Raman enhancement through PIHET process, enabling rapid and sensitive point-of-care testing of emerging virus variants.

Nuclear erythroid 2-related factor 2 protects against reactive oxygen species -induced preterm premature rupture of membranes through regulation of mitochondria†

Preterm premature rupture of membranes (pPROM) is a major cause of preterm birth and neonatal mortality. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) have been identified as a critical factor in the development of pPROM. Mitochondria are known to be the primary source of ROS and play a vital role in maintaining cellular function. The Nuclear erythroid 2-related factor 2 (NRF2) has been demonstrated to play a crucial role in regulating mitochondrial function. However, research exploring the impact of NRF2-regulated mitochondria on pPROM is limited. Therefore, we collected fetal membrane tissues from pPROM and spontaneous preterm labor (sPTL) puerpera, measured the expression level of NRF2, and evaluated the degree of mitochondrial damage in both groups. In addition, we isolated human amniotic epithelial cells (hAECs) from the fetal membranes and used small interfering RNA (siRNA) to suppress NRF2 expression, enabling us to evaluate the impact of NRF2 on mitochondrial damage and ROS production. Our findings indicated that the expression level of NRF2 in pPROM fetal membranes was significantly lower than in sPTL fetal membranes, accompanied by increased mitochondrial damage. Furthermore, after the inhibition of NRF2 in hAECs, the degree of mitochondrial damage was significantly exacerbated, along with a marked increase in both cellular and mitochondrial ROS levels. The regulation of the mitochondrial metabolic process via NRF2 in fetal membranes has the potential to influence ROS production.

Interaction of Cerium Oxide Nanoparticles and Ionic Cerium with Duckweed (Lemna minor L.): Uptake, Distribution, and Phytotoxicity

As one of the most widely used nanomaterials, CeO2 nanoparticles (NPs) might be released into the aquatic environment. In this paper, the interaction of CeO2 NPs and Ce3+ ions (0~10 mg/L) with duckweed (Lemna minor L.) was investigated. CeO2 NPs significantly inhibited the root elongation of duckweed at concentrations higher than 0.1 mg/L, while the inhibition threshold of Ce3+ ions was 0.02 mg/L. At high doses, both reduced photosynthetic pigment contents led to cell death and induced stomatal deformation, but the toxicity of Ce3+ ions was greater than that of CeO2 NPs at the same concentration. According to the in situ distribution of Ce in plant tissues by μ-XRF, the intensity of Ce signal was in the order of root > old frond > new frond, suggesting that roots play a major role in the uptake of Ce. The result of XANES showed that 27.6% of Ce(IV) was reduced to Ce(III) in duckweed treated with CeO2 NPs. We speculated that the toxicity of CeO2 NPs to duckweed was mainly due to its high sensitivity to the released Ce3+ ions. To our knowledge, this is the first study on the toxicity of CeO2 NPs to an aquatic higher plant.