Intelligent Devices Harnessing Underwater Superoleophobic and Underoil Superhydrophobic Quartz Sands for the Separation of Diverse Stratified and Emulsified Water-Oil Mixtures

To achieve the green, sustainable, and controllable recovery of oil-water resources and to address the limited functionality of single superwet materials in oil-water separation, this study reports a multifunctional oil-water separation strategy by compositing the underwater superoleophobic and underoil superhydrophobic materials (HS). The underwater superoleophobic quartz sands with an oil contact angle of 152.68° were prepared by adjusting the particle size. This material demonstrated a water flux of 4688 L m-2 h-1 and a low-density oil and water mixture separation efficiency of 98.6%, which remained above 97.9% over 50 cycles. It was effective in separating oil-in-water emulsions with a separation efficiency of >99%. For HS, quartz sands were modified with dodecyltrimethoxysilane. The optimized HS-4 exhibited superhydrophobic properties with a water contact angle of 157.06°. It achieved an oil flux of 5775 L m-2 h-1 and a water and dichloromethane mixture separation efficiency of 98.4%. Additionally, they exhibited significant potential in the separation of water-in-oil emulsions. Furthermore, by placing the underwater superoleophobic and underoil superhydrophobic units at the bottom of the filter, we achieved cyclic separation of high-density oil and water mixtures, low-density oil and water mixtures, water-in-oil emulsions, and oil-in-water emulsions. The separation efficiency consistently exceeded 96.5% over 10 cycles. In addition, the oil-water separation mechanism of underwater oleophobic and underoil hydrophobic materials was demonstrated by the relative concentration distribution of water and oil with molecular dynamics simulations. This intelligent oil-water separation method marks a significant advancement in the sustainable separation of diverse oil-water mixtures.

Aging related obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus suppress neuromuscular communication and aggravate skeletal muscle dysfunction in rhesus monkeys

Age-related functional deterioration in skeletal muscle raises the risk for falls, disability, and mortality in the elderly, particularly in obese people or those with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D). However, the response of the skeletal muscle to transitioning from obesity to diabetes remains poorly defined, despite that obesity is classified as a stage of pre-diabetes. We screened and selected spontaneously obese and diabetic rhesus monkeys and examined altered protein expression in skeletal muscle of healthy aging (CON), obesity aging (OB), and type 2 diabetes mellitus aging (T2D) rhesus monkeys using Tandem Mass Tags (TMT)-based quantitative proteomic analysis. In total, we identified 142 differentially expressed proteins. Muscle-nerve communication proteins were firstly suppressed at obese-stage. With the disintegration of skeletal muscle, mitochondrial complex I and other energy homeostasis relate proteins were significantly disordered at T2D stage. Indicating that aging related obesity suppressed muscle-nerve communication and contribute to T2D related functional deterioration of skeletal muscles in elderly rhesus monkeys. Some alterations of muscular functional regulator are detected in both obesity and T2D samples, suggesting some T2D related skeletal muscular hypofunctions are occurring at obesity or pre-obesity stage. Muscle-nerve communication proteins and muscular function related proteins could be potential therapy target or early diagnose marker of for skeletal muscular hypofunctions in aging obesity populations.

A dual-responsive microemulsion with macroscale superlubricity and largely switchable friction

Although stimuli-responsive microemulsions (MEMs) consisting of water, oil and surfactants have found extensive potential applications in industrial fields, a responsive MEM exhibiting either macroscale superlubricity or two friction states where its coefficient of friction (CoF) can be switched by more than one order of magnitude has not yet been reported. Moreover, although traditional liquid superlubricants can provide ultralow friction and wear, effective control over the friction between two contacting surfaces is crucial for both achieving accurate control of the operation of an instrument and fabricating smart devices. Here we create a thermo- and magneto-responsive MEM capable of providing superlubrication for metallic materials in a broad temperature range from -30 to 20 °C using n-hexane, water, surfactant DDACe ((C12H25)2N+(CH3)2[CeCl4]-) and ethylene glycol. The MEM can abruptly and dramatically switch its CoF by approximately 25 fold based on a thermally reversible MEM-emulsion (EM) transition. Its anti-freezing performance allows it to provide effective lubrication even when the surrounding temperature attains as low as -60 °C. Together with its facile preparation, ultrahigh colloidal stability and magnetically controlled migration, such a novel smart MEM is envisioned to find widespread applications in materials science.

Insights into the Efficient Release of the Polyacrylamide Drag Reducer via a pH-Responsive Inverse Polymer Emulsion

The enormous demand for petroleum consumption has resulted in the shortage of fossil resources, prompting the need to explore unconventional reservoirs. Polyacrylamide emulsion drag reducers are capable of inhibiting the turbulence of fracturing fluids for enhancing the reservoir stimulation results, but the poor dissolution efficiency of polyacrylamide emulsion drag reducers is the primary limitation to their large-scale application. Here, a pH-responsive ionic liquid surfactant, oleic acid/cyclohexanediamine (HOA/HMDA), is synthesized by using oleic acid (HOA) and cyclohexanediamine (HMDA). HOA/HMDA shows a remarkable pH-responsive behavior due to the pH-induced deconstruction of the HOA/HMDA structure. Interestingly, the HOA/HMDA-stabilized monomer emulsion exhibits an obvious pH-induced emulsion structure transformation behavior. In addition, the HOA/HMDA-stabilized monomer emulsion possesses excellent dynamic and storage stability, supporting the inverse emulsion polymerization of the polymer P(AM/AMPS/AA). The obtained P(AM/AMPS/AA) polymer inverse emulsions maintained stability for 30 days. Our finding proposes that the structure of the P(AM/AMPS/AA) polymer inverse emulsions changes with pH stimulation, which is capable of facilitating the release of polymers. P(AM/AMPS/AA) is released from the P(AM/AMPS/AA) polymer inverse emulsions within 30 s at a pH value of 12.06, along with a drag reduction rate of 62.54%. Obviously, the HOA/HMDA-stabilized P(AM/AMPS/AA) polymer inverse emulsions eliminate the contradiction between the stability and release of polyacrylamide emulsion drag reducers, which is promising for meeting the demands of reservoir stimulation.

Identifying key mental health and improvement factors in hospital administrators working from home using a DEMATEL-based network analysis model

Purpose

To identify the key mental health and improvement factors in hospital administrators working from home during COVID-19 normalization prevention and control.

Methods

The survey was conducted from May to June 2023, and the practical experiences of 33 hospital administrators were collected using purposive sampling. The study examined a set of mental health factor systems. The relationship structure between the factors was constructed using the Decision-making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method. Finally, the structure was transformed using the influence weight of each factor via the DEMATEL-based Analytic Network Process.

Results

Regarding influence weight, the key mental health factors of hospital administrators are mainly "lack of coordination," "time management issues," and "work-life imbalances." The influential network relation map shows that improvements can be made by addressing "improper guidelines," "laziness due to being at home," and "job insecurity" because they are the main sources of influence. The reliability level of the results for the network structure and weight was 98.79% (i.e., the gap was 1.12% < 5%).

Conclusion

The network analysis model based on DEMATEL proposed in this study can evaluate the mental health factors of hospital administrators during the pandemic period from a multidimensional and multidirectional perspective and may help improve mental health problems and provide suggestions for hospital administrators.

Alkane-Strengthened Viscoelasticity in Micellar Solutions of Surface-Active Ionic Liquids and Their Potential Application in Enhanced Oil Recovery

Wormlike micelles (WLMs) are highly sensitive to alkanes, resulting in structural destruction and loss of viscosity. Therefore, the study of WLMs against alkanes holds great significant importance. Surface-active ionic liquids have shown increasing promise for different situations for customizing molecular structures with the specialty of flexible functional assembly. In this paper, we found that WLMs constructed from the long-chain fatty acid surface-active ionic liquid (N,N-dimethylbenzylamine-oleic acid, abbreviated as BD-OA) exhibit strengthened viscoelasticity with the introduction of alkanes, expanding the resistance range to alkane damage. Here, the rheological behavior, microstructure, and dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) simulations of BD-OA WLMs were investigated at macro-, micro-, and mesoscopic scales, before (and after) the introduction of alkane. Our findings confirm the structural transformation of the micellar system from WLMs to lamellar micelles with higher viscoelasticity after alkane induction. The rearrangement of the micelle configuration may be attributed to the infiltration of alkane molecules into the fence layer formed by the BD-OA WLMs, leading to an increase in the boundary accumulation parameter and ultimately resulting in the formation of lower curvature lamellar micelles. More importantly, the against alkanes BD-OA WLMs have exhibited excellent in enhanced oil recovery, which has a promise for substituting common oil-displacing agents in tertiary oil recovery processes.

Synthesizing Benzotriazole Group-Terminated Carbon Dots as Multifunctional Additives of Poly(ethylene glycol)

Long running-in period and corrosion problems have greatly hindered the practical applications of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) lubricants. In this work, benzotriazole group-terminated carbon dots (BT-CDs) were specifically synthesized through a facile solvothermal method. The benzotriazole groups on BT-CD surfaces not only imparted them excellent dispersibility in the PEG base oil but also brought in outstanding anticorrosion ability for BT-CDs. With the aid of the coordination effects between benzotriazole groups and metal atoms, the BT-CDs could quickly and solidly adsorb onto the steel surface to form a dense adsorption layer, which resulted in an amazing phenomenon, i.e., the disappearance of the running-in period for the friction test. Adding 5.0 wt % BT-CDs reduced the friction and wear of PEG200 by 49.16 and 49.52%, respectively. When the duration was prolonged from 20 to 120 min, these values were further enlarged to 53.77 and 60.71%. The worn surface characterization demonstrated that the BT-CDs induced the generation of robust lubricating films on the frictional interfaces, accounting for their distinguished tribological performance. Considering the superior anticorrosion ability and the potential possibility of avoiding the running-in period, the BT-CDs are expected to be developed as particularly promising additives toward PEG.

Carboxymethyl cellulose-based supramolecular hydrogel with thermo-responsive gel-sol transition for temporary plugging of oil pipeline in hot work

Temporary plugging of the pipeline is necessary for safety in the hot work process of a flame-cutting pipeline. Chemical hydrogel plugging materials may block valves or sensors in the pipeline due to incomplete breakage. Herein, we prepared a carboxymethyl cellulose-based supramolecular hydrogel with thermo-responsive gel-sol transition, crosslinked by hydrogen bonding and π-π stacking between melamine (MEL) and 6-aminouracil modified carboxymethyl cellulose (AUCMC). The supramolecular hydrogel exhibits tunable mechanical properties and good self-recovery. Furthermore, the result of rheo-kinetics suggests a rapid gel-sol transition of the hydrogel with thermal stimulus due to the hydrogen bonding. The pressure resistance test indicates that the hydrogel has a good plugging effect in the simulated pipeline, and the great flame retardancy of the hydrogel can ensure the safety of operation. The residual hydrogel was completely broken and the simulated pipeline with the plugging length of 10 cm was dredged within 21 min by flushing hot water above 70 °C. The supramolecular hydrogel, as the plugging materials for hot work of oil pipeline, exhibits obvious advantages such as ensuring the safety of hot work, simplifying the operation process, and avoiding secondary damage to the pipeline, which further widens the application field of CMC.

Lattice Defects and Electronic Modulation of Flower-Like Zn3 In2 S6 Promote Photocatalytic Degradation of Multiple Antibiotics

Photocatalysis is an effective technique to remove antibiotic residues from aquatic environments. Typical metal sulfides like Zn3 In2 S6 have been applied to a wide range of photocatalytic applications. However, there are currently no readily accessible methods to increase its antibiotic-degrading activity. Here, a facile hydrothermal approach is developed for the preparation of flower-like Zn3 In2 S6 with tunable sulfur lattice defects. Photogenerated carriers can be separated and transferred more easily when there is an adequate amount of lattice defects. Moreover, lattice defect-induced electronic modulation enhances light utilization and adsorption properties. The modified Zn3 In2 S6 demonstrates outstanding photocatalytic degradation activity for levofloxacin, ofloxacin, and tetracycline. This work sheds light on exploring metal sulfides with sulfur lattice defects for enhancing photocatalytic activity.

Detecting ferroptosis and immune infiltration profiles in multiple system atrophy using postmortem brain tissue

Background

The importance of ferroptosis and the immune system has been mentioned in the pathogenesis of α-synucleinopathy. The α-synuclein-immunoreactive inclusions that primarily affect oligodendrocytes are the hallmark of multiple system atrophy (MSA). Limited evidence implicates that iron and immune responses are involved in the pathogenesis of MSA, which is associated with neurodegeneration and α-synuclein aggregation.

Methods

The RNA sequencing data were collected from the Gene Expression Omnibus database. MSA-C-related module genes were identified through weighted gene co-expression network analysis. Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analyses were performed to predict the potential molecular functions. The candidate ferroptosis-related genes associated with MSA-C were obtained using a machine-learning algorithm. CIBERSORT was used to estimate the compositional patterns of the 22 types of immune cells.

Results

The tissues for sequencing were extracted from postmortem cerebellar white matter tissues of 11 MSA-C patients and 47 healthy controls. The diagnostic ability of the six MSA-C-related ferroptosis-related genes in discriminating MSA-C from the healthy controls demonstrated a favorable diagnostic value, with the AUC ranging from 0.662 to 0.791. The proportion of CD8+ T cells in MSA-C was significantly higher than in the controls (P = 0.02). The proportion of NK cells resting in MSA-C was significantly higher than in the controls (P = 0.011).

Conclusion

Ferroptosis and T-cell infiltration may be important pathways of disease development in MSA-C, and targeting therapies for these pathways may be disease-modifying.

Biomarker Discovery for Early Diagnosis of Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma Using High-Throughput Enhanced Quantitative Plasma Proteomics

The incidence of thyroid cancer (TC) has been increasing over the last 50 years worldwide. A higher rate of overdiagnosis in indolent thyroid lesions has resulted in unnecessary treatment. An accurate detection of TC at an early stage is highly demanded. We aim to develop an enhanced isobaric labeling-based high-throughput plasma quantitative proteomics to identify biomarkers in a discovery cohort. Selected candidates were tested by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in the training cohort and validation cohort. In total, 1063 proteins were quantified, and 129 proteins were differentially expressed between patients and healthy subjects. Serum levels of ISG15 and PLXNB2 were significantly elevated in patients with papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) or thyroid adenoma, compared to healthy subjects (p < 0.001) and patients with nodular goiter (p < 0.001). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis of combined markers (ISG15 and PLXNB2) significantly distinguished PTC from healthy control (HC) subjects. Similar differentiations were also found between thyroid adenoma and HC subjects. Notably, this combined marker could distinguish stage-I PTC from HC subjects (area under the curve (AUC) = 0.872). Our results revealed that ISG15 and PLXNB2 are independent diagnostic biomarkers for PTC and thyroid adenoma, showing a promising value for the early detection of PTC.

pH-Switchable W/O Polymer Emulsion: A Promising Strategy for Rapid Dissolution of Drag Reducers

Additional hydrophilic surfactants are generally introduced into W/O emulsion drag reducer systems to enhance the dissolution capacity of polymers. The hydrophilic surfactants may decrease the stability of W/O emulsion, which leads to deterioration of polymer emulsions in the storage and transport process instead. Herein, a pH-switchable surfactant, N-(2-morpholinoethyl) oleamide (NMEO) was designed for stabilizing a W/O emulsion drag reducer. The surface activity and solubility changes occurring at pH < 6 of NMEO guaranteed the phase inversion from W/O to O/W of emulsions upon pH stimulation. Based on optimal conditions (oil-water ratio of 0.429, NMEO concentration of 3 wt%, and pH of 6.5), the inverse emulsion polymerization of poly(acrylamide-co-acrylic acid-co-2-acrylamide-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid) was proceeded to obtain a W/O polymer emulsion with the pH-switchable behavior. It was demonstrated that the polymer emulsions were provided with prolonged storage stability by NMEO and could be stored for at least 30 days due to the absence of hydrophilic surfactants. The polymers were released and completely dissolved within 2.5 min by pH stimulation, compared with traditional emulsion polymers and powder polymers that require 4 and 17 min, respectively. In addition, the emulsion drag reducer prepared by NMEO provided drag-reduction performance of 64.67% at 0.021 wt% concentration. The pH-switchable behavior of NMEO promotes the validity of W/O polymer emulsions along with the capacity of rapid release and solubilization, which eliminates the imbalance between the long-term storage stability and rapid solubility of traditional drag reducers. Thus, NMEO-stabilized emulsion drag reducers are expected to be a promising alternative for traditional products.

BreastDM: A DCE-MRI dataset for breast tumor image segmentation and classification

Dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) has shown high sensitivity to diagnose breast cancer. However, few computer-aided algorithms focus on employing DCE-MR images for breast cancer diagnosis due to the lack of publicly available DCE-MRI datasets. To address this issue, our work releases a new DCE-MRI dataset called BreastDM for breast tumor segmentation and classification. In particular, a dataset of 232 patients selected with DCE-MR images for benign and malignant cases is established. Each case consists of three types of sequences: pre-contrast, post-contrast, and subtraction sequences. To show the difficulty of breast DCE-MRI tumor image segmentation and classification tasks, benchmarks are achieved by state-of-the-art image segmentation and classification algorithms, including conventional hand-crafted based methods and recently-emerged deep learning-based methods. More importantly, a local-global cross attention fusion network (LG-CAFN) is proposed to further improve the performance of breast tumor images classification. Specifically, LG-CAFN achieved the highest accuracy (88.20%, 83.93%) and AUC value (0.9154,0.8826) in both groups of experiments. Extensive experiments are conducted to present strong baselines based on various typical image segmentation and classification algorithms. Experiment results also demonstrate the superiority of the proposed LG-CAFN to other breast tumor images classification methods. The related dataset and evaluation codes are publicly available at smallboy-code/Breast-cancer-dataset.

Identification of novel candidate biomarkers for acute myocardial infarction by the Olink proteomics platform

BACKGROUND

Both pathological and normal processes depend on proteins. In this study, plasma protein profiles were analyzed by a novel proximity extension assay (PEA) to identify potential pathogenic mechanisms and diagnostic biomarkers in patients diagnosed with acute myocardial infarction (AMI).

METHODS

In this study, we identified a total of 92 plasma proteins using the Olink Target 96 Cardiovascular III panel in a cohort consisting of 30 healthy controls (HC), 28 patients with unstable angina (UA) and 30 patients with AMI. Subsequently, we conducted a differential expression analysis to identify protein molecules that were specifically expressed in patients with AMI. To gain insights into the potential functional mechanisms of these differentially expressed molecules, we performed Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analyses. Following that, the utilization of least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression facilitated the identification of potential protein biomarkers, enabling the differentiation between AMI and UA. A diagnostic model was subsequently developed through logistic regression, and the effectiveness of these markers was assessed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Ultimately, the diagnostic capabilities of these potential biomarkers were validated in an independent validation cohort consisting of 30 UA cases and 30 AMI cases.

RESULTS

In this study, a comprehensive analysis of plasma proteins identified a total of 92 proteins. Further analysis using analysis of variance revealed that 25 proteins exhibited specific expression in the AMI group compared to the HC and UA groups. Additionally, KEGG enrichment analysis indicated that these differentially expressed proteins were primarily associated with the activation of cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, and GnRH signaling pathway. AGRP, TGM2, IL6, GH1, and CA5A were identified through LASSO regression as prospective protein biomarkers for distinguishing between UA and AMI. The diagnostic model comprising these five proteins exhibited exceptional performance in both the discovery and validation datasets, surpassing AUC values of 0.9.

CONCLUSION

The findings of our study provide additional insights into the involvement of the inflammatory response and AKT cascade response in the development of AMI. Moreover, we have identified potential protein markers that could be utilized for the accurate diagnosis of AMI. These results offer a fresh perspective for clinical decision-making in the context of AMI.

Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Droplet Impact on a Hydrophobic 3D Elastic Surface

The phenomenon of droplets impacting elastic surfaces is common in nature and in many engineering applications. It has been shown that droplet impact on an elastic surface drastically reduces droplet contact time and hinders droplet spreading. However, most of the current studies are based on experiments, and the analysis of the influence mechanism of the elastic substrate on the dynamic behavior of droplets is not complete. In addition, the simulations of droplet impact on elastic substrates are mainly focused on 2D elastic films or vibrating rigid substrates, ignoring the effect of 3D elastic substrate deformation on the droplet dynamic behavior. Therefore, in this paper, we propose to model the droplet impact on a 3D hydrophobic elastic substrate using the molecular dynamics method. We find that droplet pancake rebound can substantially reduce the droplet contact time. Moreover, we record the conditions required for the pancake rebound of the droplet. Furthermore, we investigated the effects of the elastic modulus of the substrate and the initial velocity of the droplet on the droplet contact time, contact area, and spreading factor. This study further elucidates the influence mechanism of the elastic substrate on the dynamic behavior of the droplet and provides theoretical guidance for regulating the dynamic behavior of the droplet in related fields.

Multiple-Stimuli-Responsive Surfactant-Free Microemulsions Based on Hydrophobic Deep Eutectic Solvents

Hydrophobic deep eutectic solvents (HDESs) have been applied to colloidal systems such as microemulsions, despite the development of stimulus-responsive HDESs still being in a preliminary stage. Here, menthol and indole were hydrogen bonded to form CO₂-responsiveness HDES. A surfactant-free microemulsion constituted of HDES (menthol-indole) as the hydrophobic phase, water as the hydrophilic phase, and ethanol as the double solvent was demonstrated to be CO₂- and temperature-responsive. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) proved the single-phase region of the phase diagram, while conductivity and polarity probing techniques confirmed the kind of microemulsion. The ternary phase diagram and DLS methods were used to investigate the responsiveness of CO₂ and effect temperature on the microemulsion drop size and behavior of the phase of the HDES/water/ethanol microemulsion. The findings revealed that when temperature increased, the homogeneous phase region increased. The droplet size in the homogeneous phase region of the associated microemulsion may be reversibly and accurately adjusted by adjusting the temperature. Surprisingly, a slight temperature change can cause a significant phase inversion. Furthermore, in the system, there was no demulsification in time for the CO₂/N₂ responsiveness process but rather the production of a homogeneous and pellucid aqueous solution.

CO2-Repurification Microemulsion Detergent for Oil-Based Slurry Cleaning

In order to solve problems such as environmental pollution and pipeline blockage caused by oily wastewater after washing, N,N-dimethylcyclohexylamine (DMCHA) with CO₂ response was selected as the oil phase, and an O/W microemulsion wellbore cleaning fluid with CO₂ switching characteristics was successfully prepared with erucamide propyl betaine (EAB-40), sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDBS), n-butanol, silicone defoamer, and water. The water content of the microemulsion was 89.99%, and it had good stability at 40 and -5 °C. The emulsion was rapidly demulsified after being injected with CO₂ in the CO₂-repurification microemulsion detergent, and CO₂ was removed with a N₂ detergent. The emulsion was restored to its original state, which demonstrated the CO₂/N₂ switching properties of the emulsion. It is proven that the switching microemulsion has a good wetting transformation ability by cleaning the steel sheet and quartz sheet contaminated by oil-based slurry. The switching microemulsion system can clean the simulated wellbore contaminated by oil-based slurry, and the cleaning efficiency is above 99%. CO₂ can be used at room temperature to separate oil and water from oily wastewater after cleaning.

Digital health interventions for non-communicable disease management in primary health care in low-and middle-income countries

Current evidence on digital health interventions is disproportionately concerned with high-income countries and hospital settings. This scoping review evaluates the extent of use and effectiveness of digital health interventions for non-communicable disease (NCD) management in primary healthcare settings of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and identifies factors influencing digital health interventions' uptake. We use PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science search results from January 2010 to 2021. Of 8866 results, 52 met eligibility criteria (31 reviews, 21 trials). Benchmarked against World Health Organization's digital health classifications, only 14 out of 28 digital health intervention categories are found, suggesting critical under-use and lagging innovation. Digital health interventions' effectiveness vary across outcomes: clinical (mixed), behavioral (positively inclined), and service implementation outcomes (clear effectiveness). We further identify multiple factors influencing digital health intervention uptake, including political commitment, interactivity, user-centered design, and integration with existing systems, which points to future research and practices to invigorate digital health interventions for NCD management in primary health care of LMICs.

CO2-Responsive Hydrophobic Deep Eutectic Solvent Based on Surfactant-Free Microemulsion-Mediated Synthesis of BaF2 Nanoparticles

A new form of surfactant-free microemulsion (SFME) including hydrophobic deep eutectic solvent (HDES)/ethanol/water was constructed based on its CO2 response, and three regions, that is, HDES-in-water (HDES/W), bicontinuous (B.C.), and water-in-HDES (W/HDES) regions, were recognized. It is anticipated that SFMEs with tunable microstructures have outstanding applications as nanoreactors in reaction processes. The feasibility of preparing nanoparticles from HDES/ethanol/water SFME using barium fluoride (BaF2) as a model nanoparticle was investigated. HDES-based microemulsions benefit from HDES's excellent properties (novel, low toxicity, CO2-responsive, easy availability) and have potential in universal reactions, drug delivery, advanced material fabrication, etc. In this research, HDES-based microemulsions were prepared using HDES as the oil phase. Phase equilibria and microstructure were investigated using a ternary phase diagram, UV spectrophotometry, and the conductivity method. The CO2 switchable characteristics of the HDES-based microemulsions were investigated. HDES-based microemulsions were proposed as nanoreactors for the synthesis of barium fluoride nanomaterials. The microemulsion structure can modulate the size, morphology, and physicochemical properties of the nanoparticles through the CO2 switchable properties. It is argued that nanoreactors constructed with versatile HDES will offer a new direction for creation of cutting-edge scientific applications.

Stretchable Semi-Interpenetrating Carboxymethyl Guar Gum-Based Composite Hydrogel for Moisture-Proof Wearable Strain Sensor

Wearable strain sensors of conductive hydrogels have very broad application prospects in electronic skins and human-machine interfaces. However, conductive hydrogels suffer from unstable signal transmission due to environmental humidity and inherent shortcomings of their materials. Herein, we introduce a novel moisture-proof conductive hydrogel with high toughness (2.89 MJ m-3), mechanical strength (1.00 MPa), and high moisture-proof sensing performance by using dopamine-functionalized gold nanoparticles as conductive fillers into carboxymethyl guar gum and acrylamide. Moreover, the hydrogel can realize real-time monitoring of major and subtle human movements with good sensitivity and repeatability. In addition, the hydrogel-assembled strain sensor exhibits stable sensing signals after being left for 1 h, and the relative resistance change rate under different strains (25-300%) shows no obvious noise signal up to 99% relative humidity. Notably, the wearable strain sensing is suitable for wearable sensor devices with high relative humidity.

Integrating audio and visual modalities for multimodal personality trait recognition via hybrid deep learning

Recently, personality trait recognition, which aims to identify people's first impression behavior data and analyze people's psychological characteristics, has been an interesting and active topic in psychology, affective neuroscience and artificial intelligence. To effectively take advantage of spatio-temporal cues in audio-visual modalities, this paper proposes a new method of multimodal personality trait recognition integrating audio-visual modalities based on a hybrid deep learning framework, which is comprised of convolutional neural networks (CNN), bi-directional long short-term memory network (Bi-LSTM), and the Transformer network. In particular, a pre-trained deep audio CNN model is used to learn high-level segment-level audio features. A pre-trained deep face CNN model is leveraged to separately learn high-level frame-level global scene features and local face features from each frame in dynamic video sequences. Then, these extracted deep audio-visual features are fed into a Bi-LSTM and a Transformer network to individually capture long-term temporal dependency, thereby producing the final global audio and visual features for downstream tasks. Finally, a linear regression method is employed to conduct the single audio-based and visual-based personality trait recognition tasks, followed by a decision-level fusion strategy used for producing the final Big-Five personality scores and interview scores. Experimental results on the public ChaLearn First Impression-V2 personality dataset show the effectiveness of our method, outperforming other used methods.

Corrosion inhibition mechanism of imidazole ionic liquids with high temperature in 20% HCl solution

BACKGROUND

This paper focuses on the chemical and physical adsorption of 1-hexyl-2,3-dimethyl imidazolium bromide (HDMIMBr), 1-decyl-2,3-dimethyl imidazolium bromide (DDMIMBr), and 1-hexadecyl-2,3-dimethyl imidazolium bromide (C16DMIMBr) on the surface of mild steel at high temperature in order to explore the mechanism of a corrosion inhibitor in a complex environment.

METHODS

Gravimetric, scanning electron microscope, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and electrochemical tests explored the corrosion inhibition performance from the experimental level. Quantum chemical calculations and molecular dynamics simulations reveal the corrosion inhibition mechanism from the molecular scale.

RESULTS

The results show that the longer the alkyl chain of the three corrosion inhibitors studied, the better the corrosion inhibition performance. This is due to the hydrophobic effect of the long alkyl chain, which has its own synergistic effect and then self-assembles to form an adsorption film with a multilayer structure.

CONCLUSION

This dense adsorption film makes corrosion inhibitors a good application prospect in complex corrosive environments.

Synthesis of Eco-Friendly Carbon Dots as Self-Repairing Additives of Polyalphaolefin by Means of a Green Solvation Effect

The eco-friendly menthol-modified carbon dots (CDs-Menth) were synthesized for the first time and exhibited the particularly promising application potential as additives of polyalphaolefin (PAO4). On the one hand, the CDs-Menth could be well dispersed into PAO4 with excellent and long-term dispersion stability via a convenient and green mean, that is, the solvation effect of petroleum ether. This mean was far more advanced to current strategies such as chemical modifications and adding dispersants. On the other hand, the CDs-Menth as additives possessed not only the duty-bound merits such as the distinguished friction-reducing, anti-wear, and load-carrying functions, but also an amazing ability of self-repairing effect. The repairing rate of lower disc in the ball-on-disc friction pair lubricated with CDs-Menth/PAO4 lubricant (2.5 wt %) was about 19.3% if the friction duration was prolonged from 20 to 120 min. Meanwhile, the wear volume reduction for PAO4 caused by CDs-Menth remarkably increased from 43.5 to 74.6%. By virtue of the self-repairing effect, the CDs-Menth could form the tough and tensile boundary lubrication films on the rubbing surfaces, not only tremendously reducing the friction and wear of friction pair, but also hopefully protecting the friction interfaces from the potential oxidation and corrosion.

The role of pyroptosis and its crosstalk with immune therapy in breast cancer

Pyroptosis is a brand-new category of programmed cell death (PCD) that is brought on by multitudinous inflammasomes, which can recognize several stimuli to pilot the cleavage of and activate inflammatory cytokines like IL-18 and IL-1β is believed to have dual effects on the development of multiple cancers including breast cancer. However, pyroptosis has different effects on cancers depending on the type of tissues and their distinct heredity. Recently, the association between pyroptosis and breast cancer has received more and more attention, and it is thought that inducing pyroptosis could be used as a cancer treatment option. In addition, a great deal of evidence accumulating over the past decades has evinced the crosstalk between pyroptosis and tumor immunological therapy. Thus, a comprehensive summary combining the function of pyroptosis in breast cancer and antitumor immunity is imperative. We portray the prevalent knowledge of the multidimensional roles of pyroptosis in cancer and summarize the pyroptosis in breast cancer principally. Moreover, we elucidate the influence of inflammasomes and pyroptosis-produced cytokines on the tumor microenvironment (TME) of breast cancer. Taken together, we aim to provide a clue to harness pyroptosis rationally and apply it to augment immunotherapy efficiency for breast cancer.

Carboxylate Group-Based Phase-Selective Organogelators with a pH-Triggered Recyclable Property

Phase-selective organogelators (PSOGs) have recently attracted more attention because of their advantages in handling oil spills and leaked organic solvents. However, it is difficult to separate and recover the organic phase and PSOGs from organic gels due to the strong interaction between them. Aiming to enhance the separation and recovery performance of the organic phase and PSOGs, we synthesized a series of pH-responsive PSOGs by using itaconic anhydride and fatty amines with carbon chain lengths of C₁₂-C₁₈. Here, PSOGs have an excellent gelation ability in that amounts of organic solvents and fuel oil can be solidified at a low concentration (<3 wt %). It is worth noting that these gels are stronger, which is more convenient for removal by a salvage operation. More importantly, compared with traditional organogelators, pH-responsive PSOGs can easily recover the organic phase and fuel oil with an adjustment of the pH without extraction or distillation. Because of the transformation between the hydrophilicity and hydrophobicity of PSOGs by pH stimulation, 83.15% PSOGs are recovered in three-cycle experiments. In addition, the recycled PSOGs can be used to realize the removal of the organic phase again. Herein, we find that pH-responsive PSOGs could be used as promising and sustainable materials for separating and recovering organic solvents/oils and PSOGs.

Timely Estimates of 5-Year Relative Survival for Patients With Cervical Cancer: A Period Analysis Using Cancer Registry Data From Taizhou, Eastern China

Objectives

While timely assessment of long-term survival for patients with cervical cancer is essential for the evaluation of early detection and screening programs for cervical cancer, those data are extremely scarce in China. We aimed to timely and accurately assess long-term survival for patients with cervical cancer in eastern China, using cancer registry data from Taizhou, eastern China.

Methods

Patients diagnosed with cervical cancer during 2004–2018 from four cancer registries with high-quality data from Taizhou, eastern China were included. A period analysis was used to calculate the 5-year relative survival (RS) overall and on stratification by sex, age at diagnosis, and region. Additionally, the projected 5-year relative survival (RS) of patients with cervical cancer during 2019–2023 was evaluated, using a model-based period analysis.

Results

Overall 5-year RS for patients with cervical cancer during 2014–2018 reached 90.9%. When stratified by age at diagnosis, we found a clear age gradient for 5-year RS, declining from 95.6% for age <45 years to 68.7% for age >74 years, while urban areas had higher 5-year RS compared to rural areas (92.9 vs. 88.6%). We found a clear increasing trend of 5-year RS during 2004–2018 overall and on stratification by region and age at diagnosis. The projected overall 5-year RS is expected to reach 94.2% for the period 2019–2023.

Conclusions

We found that, for the first time in China, using period analysis, the most up-to-date (during 2014–2018) 5-year RS for patients with cervical cancer reached 90.9%. Our data have important implications for the timely evaluation of early detection and screening programs for patients with cervical cancer in eastern China.

pH-Induced reversible conversion between non-Pickering and Pickering high internal phase emulsion

Solid-stabilized high internal phase emulsions have received extensive attention. Many previous studies have confirmed that solid emulsifiers in high internal phase Pickering emulsions (HIPPEs) provide a great interface mechanical barrier. With the development of research, novel solid-stabilized emulsions have emerged. These emulsions are stabilized by the electrostatic repulsion between the surfactants and hydrophilic solid particles. They are distinct from Pickering emulsions in that the solid particles do not exist at the oil-water interface, but are dispersed in the continuous phase, so it is called a non-Pickering emulsion. However, high internal phase non-Pickering emulsions (HIPNPEs) are rarely reported. Herein, HIPNPEs that are synergistically stabilized by anionic surfactants with dynamic covalent bonds and negatively charged nano-SiO₂ particles were prepared. In the presence of dodecylamine, the acidity causes the dynamic covalent bonds to break and the surfactant to be inactivated. Additionally, the long-chain amine is protonated and adsorbed on nano-SiO₂ particles to form a new surfactant for stabilizing HIPPEs. However, alkalinity causes the HIPNPEs to form again. In addition, rheological tests confirmed that the HIPNPEs and HIPPEs had similar rheological behaviors, which were typical gel-like fluids. The emulsion can quickly respond to realize the conversion between the different types of high internal phase emulsion by simple stimulation, which provides a new direction for stimulus-responsive high internal phase emulsions.

pH-Responsive Regulation of a Surfactant-Free Microemulsion Based on Hydrophobic Deep Eutectic Solvents

Microemulsions containing a responsive hydrophobic deep eutectic solvent (HDES) as the oil phase that can replace conventional organic solvents are considered to be a green strategy. It is anticipated that a pH-responsive HDES is synthesized to prepare rapid responsive surfactant-free microemulsions (SFMEs), which enable the transition from SFMEs to nanoemulsions. Menthol and n-octanoic acid (OA) were assembled into HDES by hydrogen bonding at a molar ratio of 1:2. The pH-responsive HDES as the oil phase and isopropyl alcohol (IPA) as the double solvent could form HDES/IPA/water SFMEs, which have unique responsiveness. Specifically, from the nuclear magnetic resonance hydrogen spectrum, pH, thermogravimetry, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy investigations, the excellent switchability and stability of menthol-OA were demonstrated. On the basis of these complexes, microemulsions were successfully prepared. Electrical conductivity and pH measurements were used to determine the structures of microemulsions and the phase inversion process. The effects of the contents of water and HDES, NaCl concentration, and pH of the system were investigated. Nanoemulsions were successfully prepared on the basis of the pH response of the microemulsions. In addition, the prepared nanoemulsion has a unique pH-responsive behavior that can be controllably regulated among nanoemulsions, microemulsions, and phase separation systems.

A Predictive Model for Prognosis and Therapeutic Response in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Based on a Panel of Three MED8-Related Immunomodulators

The current tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) system is limited in predicting the survival and guiding the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients since the TNM system only focuses on the anatomical factors, regardless of the intratumoral molecule heterogeneity. Besides, the landscape of intratumoral immune genes has emerged as a prognostic indicator. The mediator complex subunit 8 (MED8) is a major polymerase regulator and has been described as an oncogene in renal cell carcinoma, but its pathophysiological significance of HCC and its contribution to the prognosis of HCC remain unclear. Here, we aimed to discuss the expression profile and clinical correlation of MED8 in HCC and construct a predictive model based on MED8-related immunomodulators as a supplement to the TNM system. According to our analyses, MED8 was overexpressed in HCC tissues and increased expression of MED8 was an indicator of poor outcome in HCC. The knockdown of MED8 weakened the proliferation, colony forming, and migration of HepG2 and Huh7 cells. Subsequently, a predictive model was identified based on a panel of three MED8-related immunomodulators using The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and further validated in International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) database. The combination of the predictive model and the TNM system could improve the performance in predicting the survival of HCC patients. High-risk patients had poor overall survival in TCGA and ICGC databases, as well as in subgroup analysis with early clinicopathology classification. It was also found that high-risk patients had a higher probability of recurrence in TCGA cohort. Furthermore, low-risk score indicated a better response to immunotherapy and drug therapy. This predictive model can be served as a supplement to the TNM system and may have implications in prognosis stratification and therapeutic guidance for HCC.

TGF-β1 Promotes Autophagy and Inhibits Apoptosis in Breast Cancer by Targeting TP63

Background

Breast cancer (BC) is a prevalent female cancer, which has high morbidity and mortality. However, the pathogenesis of BC has not been fully elucidated. Studies have shown that TGF-β1 plays an important role in regulating the balance between autophagy and apoptosis of tumor. We aim to clarify the specific mechanism of autophagy and apoptosis in breast cancer maintaining the tumor microenvironment.

Methods

The clinical characteristics of 850 BC patients were retrieved from the TCGA database. Differentially expressed autophagy-related genes (DEARGs) between tumor and normal tissues were obtained by the Wilcox test. Through Cox proportional hazard regression analysis, the prognostic risk model was constructed and verified by the ROC curve. We used MDC staining, colony formation assay, CCK-8, flow cytometric analysis to confirm the importance of TGF-β1 on the autophagy and apoptosis of breast cancer cells. Furthermore, western blot was performed to determine the relative expression of protein. The Kaplan-Meier Plotter database was utilized to identify the prognostic value of TP63.

Results

We successfully constructed a prognostic risk model of breast cancer and screened out an autophagy-related prognostic gene -TP63. We predicted that TGF-β1 and TP63 have a binding site in the JASPAR database as expected. Additionally, TGF-β1 promoted autophagy and inhibited apoptosis of breast cancer cells by inhibiting the expression of TP63.

Conclusion

Our study demonstrated that the molecular mechanism of TGF-β/TP63 signaling in regulating autophagy and apoptosis of breast cancer and provided a potential prognostic marker in breast cancer.

A label-free amperometric immunosensor with improved electrocatalytic 3D braided AuPtCu-SWCNTs@MoS2-rGO for human growth differentiation factor-15 detection

Growth differentiation factor-15 (GDF-15) is a member of the transforming growth factor-β family. GDF-15 is overexpressed in cardiovascular diseases and has become a novel biomarker for these diseases. In this study, we fabricated a label-free electrochemical immunosensor for sensitive detection of GDF-15. Briefly, a three-dimensional braided composite of AuPtCu-SWCNTs@MoS₂-rGO (denoted A@M), which served as a label-free immunosensor platform, was obtained by wrapping single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) with trimetallic nanoflowers (AuPtCu NFs) woven on a three-dimensional network nanostructure composed of Molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanosheets. This optimization improved the ability of the platform to immobilize antibodies, accelerated the reduction of hydrogen peroxide, and promoted the migration rate of electrons on the electrode surface, thereby further amplifying the electrical signal and improving the sensitivity. The constructed sensor exhibited high sensitivity over a wide linear range from 1 pg mL^-1 to 50 ng mL^-1, with a low detection limit of 0.825 pg mL^-1 for GDF-15. The fabricated label-free immunosensor exhibits satisfactory reproducibility, selectivity, and stability. The detection of actual samples was successful, enabling a broad scope of application in the early diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of cardiovascular diseases.

Association of Polymorphisms in Inflammation Genes With the Prognosis of Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients Receiving Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors

Background

Inflammation is not only involved in the development and progression of cancer but also affects the response to therapy. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in inflammation genes with the prognosis of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients treated with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs).

Methods

Forty-seven SNPs were genotyped in 318 advanced NSCLC patients receiving EGFR-TKIs. Of 318 patients, 182 (57.2%) patients died during follow-up period. We assessed the association of SNPs with the progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) as well as calculated the weighted genetic risk score (GRS). We also explored the expression levels and prognostic values of inflammation genes in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) in Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA) and using UCSC Xena, respectively. The relationship between the expression levels of IL15, IL17RA, AGER, MIF, and TNFRSF1A and EGFR mutation status was analyzed using UCSC Xena.

Results

In single variant analyses, 3 SNPs (rs10519613, rs4819554, and rs4149570) were significantly associated with worse PFS. Five SNPs (rs10519613, rs4819554, rs2070600, rs755622, and rs4149570) were significantly with worse OS. In addition, high and intermediate GRSs (based on rs10519613, rs4819554, and rs4149570) were associated with worse PFS than those with low GRS. For OS, patients with high GRSs (based on rs10519613, rs4819554, rs2070600, rs755622, and rs4149570) had shorter survival time than those with low GRS. Furthermore, IL15, IL17RA, AGER, MIF, and TNFRSF1A were dysregulated in LUAD. There was difference in the expression level of TNFRSF1A between EGFR wildtype and EGFR-mutant LUAD. Both low AGER expression and high TNFRSF1A expression were significantly associated with worse PFS in LUAD. In addition, low IL17RA and AGER expression, high MIF and TNFRSF1A expression were significantly associated with worse OS in LUAD.

Conclusion

SNPs in inflammation genes could serve as prognostic biomarkers for NSCLC patients treated with EGFR-TKIs.

Unsupervised Deep Anomaly Detection for Medical Images Using an Improved Adversarial Autoencoder

Anomaly detection has been applied in the various disease of medical practice, such as breast cancer, retinal, lung lesion, and skin disease. However, in real-world anomaly detection, there exist a large number of healthy samples, and but very few sick samples. To alleviate the problem of data imbalance in anomaly detection, this paper proposes an unsupervised learning method for deep anomaly detection based on an improved adversarial autoencoder, in which a module called chain of convolutional block (CCB) is employed instead of the conventional skip-connections used in adversarial autoencoder. Such CCB connections provide considerable advantages via direct connections, not only preserving both global and local information but also alleviating the problem of semantic disparity between the encoding features and the corresponding decoding features. The proposed method is thus able to capture the distribution of normal samples within both image space and latent vector space. By means of minimizing the reconstruction error within both spaces during training phase, higher reconstruction error during test phase is indicative of an anomaly. Our method is trained only on the healthy persons in order to learn the distribution of normal samples and can detect sick samples based on high deviation from the distribution of normality in an unsupervised way. Experimental results for multiple datasets from different fields demonstrate that the proposed method yields superior performance to state-of-the-art methods.

Crucial Roles of LncRNAs-Mediated Autophagy in Breast Cancer

Breast cancer remains a worldwide public health issue. LncRNA and autophagy respectively or simultaneously, get involved in cellular and molecular processes of many different cancers, including genesis, metastasis, and deterioration of breast cancer and other malignant tumors. In this review, relevant studies have been summarized, and we have found that lncRNA-mediated autophagy in luminal A breast cancer, luminal B breast cancer, HER-2 positive breast cancer, and basal-like breast cancer may play an important role in mediating drug resistance sensitivity. LncRNAs target genes and affect different signaling pathways to a complex network, which attenuates the occurrence and development of primary breast cancer by coordinating autophagy. Abnormal expression of LncRNA may lead to dysregulation of autophagy, resulting in tumor genesis, expansion, and resistance to anti-tumor therapy. Targeting specific lncRNAs for autophagy regulation may conduct as a bio-marker for reliable diagnosis and prognosis treatment of breast cancer or provide a promising therapeutic strategy.

A pH-sensitive W/O emulsion for the preparation and rapid dissolution of polyacrylamide-based friction reducer

The pH-sensitive modified-polyacrylamide emulsion shows a fast dissolution rate with a dissolution time of about 1 min and long storage stability.

Primary female genital system lymphoma complicated by a recurrent mucinous borderline ovarian tumor: a case report and review of the literature

Background

Primary female genital system lymphoma (PFGSL) is an infrequent entity. All genital organs may be affected, and most PFGSLs are localized to the cervix, uterine body, and ovaries. The clinical manifestations are nonspecific, which complicates a timely diagnosis. We report an unexpected case of PFGSL and discuss the disease characteristics by reviewing the literature.

Case presentation

A 48-year-old G3/P2 woman presented to the Department of Gynecology with a physical examination. Ultrasound examination and CT revealed pelvic masses. The woman underwent surgical treatment because of the pelvic masses and underwent a hysterectomy for a recurrent mucinous borderline ovarian tumor. However, the results of the postoperative pathological examination showed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma of the endometrium. After four courses of chemotherapy, the woman was in good condition. The clinical manifestations were nonspecific, which made a timely diagnosis complex.

Conclusion

This case highlights the importance of the difficulty in detecting early PFGSL early and how easily nonspecific manifestations can be ignored. It may lead to missing the best time for early treatment.

T cell exhaustion is associated with the risk of papillary thyroid carcinoma and can be a predictive and sensitive biomarker for diagnosis

Background

The incidence of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) has been steadily increasing over the past decades. Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT) is the most common autoimmune disease, and is related to the pathogenesis of PTC. Programmed death-1 (PD-1) is currently used for the treatment of PTC, but there are very few studies on the clinical value of PD-1 in the diagnosis and targeted therapy of PTC.

Methods

The expression of T, B, NK cells and PD-1 in the peripheral blood of 132 patients with PTC (PTC group), 48 patients with nodular goiter (NG group) and 63 healthy subjects (HP group) were detected by flow cytometry. The expression of plasma T3, T4, FT3, FT4, TSH, TGAb and TPO was detected by chemiluminescence immunoassay. Among 132 PTC, 49 PTC&HT and 83 PTC&noHT were included. Among 48 NG, 10 NG&HT and 38 NG&noHT were included. The expressions of programmed death- ligand1(PD-L1) in tumor tissues of PTC group and thyroid tissues of NG group, PD-1 and CD3 in tumor infiltration lymphocyte (TIL) were detected by immunohistochemistry.

Results

The expression of FT3, TGAb, CD3⁺PD-1⁺, CD3⁺CD4⁺PD-1⁺ and CD3⁺CD8⁺PD-1⁺ in PTC and NG was significantly higher than that in the HP group. Moreover, CD3⁺PD-1⁺, CD3⁺CD4⁺PD-1⁺ and CD3⁺CD8⁺PD-1⁺ expression had significant differences between the PTC group and the NG group. In addition, the expression of TGAb, TPO, CD3⁺PD-1⁺, CD3⁺CD4⁺PD-1⁺ and CD3⁺CD8⁺PD-1⁺ in PTC&HT group was significantly higher than that in the PTC&noHT group. While, the expression of B cells, CD3⁺PD-1⁺, CD3⁺CD4⁺PD-1⁺ and CD3⁺CD8⁺PD-1⁺ in PTC&HT group was higher than that in NG&HT group. PD-1 showed a significant correlation with PTC lymph node metastasis. CD3⁺PD-1⁺ and CD3⁺CD4⁺PD-1⁺ was higher in N1 stage than in N0 stage. Immunohistochemical results showed that the expression of PD-1, CD3 and PD-L1 in PTC was significantly higher than that in NG.

Conclusions

T cell exhaustion might act as a biomarker for the differential diagnosis of PTC and NG. Patients with PTC&HT have obvious T cell exhaustion and increased expression of PD-1, PD-L1.Targeting the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway could be a new approach to prevent malignant transformation from HT to PTC&HT in the future.

Gelator-Enhanced Organohydrogels with Switchable Mechanics and High-Strain Shape-Memory Capacity

Hydrogels and organogels, as two crucial representatives of soft materials, have attracted immense interest. However, they develop independently along two parallel lines, and these gels with single networks have their inherent drawbacks. For example, hydrogels tend to freeze, and organogels are usually brittle. Herein, organogels were incorporated into a hydrogel matrix for the synthesis of organohydrogels GOHs through polymerization in Pickering emulsion. The rigid organogel domains contribute to enhancing the strength of organohydrogels. Besides this, the organogels derived from 12-HAS self-assembly behavior exhibit a gel-sol transition when the temperature reaches 70 °C, thus leading to a thermo-softening behavior in the GOHs. Due to the phase transition of organogel domains and the elastic hydrogel network, the resultant organohydrogels demonstrate high-strain shape-memory performance (over 1000%) which could help achieve full recovery in seconds. Consequently, GOHs are endowed with the potential of practical application in soft robots, wearable devices, and biological materials.

pH-Switchable Latexes Based on the Nonionic Amphiphilic Diblock Copolymer with a Chargeable End-Group on the Core-Forming Block

Reversible addition-fragmentation transfer (RAFT) dispersion polymerization of styrene was performed in an ethanol-water mixture using a Z-group carboxylated poly(N-acryloylmorpholine) (PNAM) macro-RAFT agent, and dialysis was performed against water to produce the PNAM_x-PS_y-COOH (PS = polystyrene) diblock copolymer latexes. This new formula is developed for the fabrication of pH-switchable copolymer latexes through an end-group response approach. The PNAM₄₄-PS₁₃₄-COOH latex is unstable at suitably low pH values (pH ≤ 4), and these aggregated spherical nanoparticles are redispersed successfully by adding base as determined by analysis of their dynamic light scattering (DLS) diameters and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) data. Negative zeta potential (-19.4 mV at 0.02% w/w) of the original latex indicated that carboxylic acid end-groups were anchored on the surface of the PS core via the polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA) process and exposed to the solvent. Protonation of carboxylate groups reduces the degree of hydration of the PS core with a great impact on the free energy of the core/solvent interface, inducing the aggregation of PNAM₄₄-PS₁₃₄-COOH latex particles. A comparative experiment where the carboxylic acid end-group is designed on the PNAM stabilizer block proves that no pH-switchable behavior occurs in this case. Moreover, the vesicle-like nanoparticles composed of PNAM₄₄-PS₄₂₈-COOH copolymers have an apparently anionic character (zeta potential ≈ -33.5 mV at 0.02% w/w) and are still pH-switchable with a lower critical flocculation point (pH 2-3). More importantly, the latex composed of PNAM₁₁₈-PS₁₅₁-COOH diblock copolymers is insensitive to the solution pH.

A Pedigree Analysis and Clonal Correlations of the Coexistence of B-Cell Lymphoma and Histiocytic/Dendritic Cell Tumor

Histiocytic/dendritic cell tumors are rare in clinical practice. It is postulated that they originate from bone marrow stem cells. Accumulating evidence has established the existence of immunoglobulin gene and T-cell receptor gene rearrangements in these tumors. Cases of transdifferentiation across lineages from follicular lymphoma to histiocytic/dendritic cell tumors have also been reported. Herein, we report 2 adult males with histiocytic neoplasms coexisting with B-cell lymphoma. Laser capture microdissection and capillary electrophoresis polymerase chain reaction analysis revealed comparable immunoglobulin gene rearrangement in both patients. In one case, chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL), Langerhans cell sarcoma, and histiocytic sarcoma coexisted in the lymph nodes. 11q22 deletion often present in CLL/SLL and expression of the BRAF V600E gene was detected in all the 3 components. In the other case, there diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and histiocytic sarcoma coexisted in the spleen. Forty-seven mutated genes commonly found in B-cell lymphoma were detected by next-generation sequencing. In the same line, DTX1, IRF8, KMT2D, MAP2K1, and TET2 genes were found to have similar mutation sites. The results of this study will contribute in providing new ideas for targeted treatment of these diseases.

[Auxiliary pathological diagnosis algorithm based on color moments for frozen-section of thyroid cancer]

Objective: To develop a color-moment based model for frozen-section diagnosis of thyroid lesions, and to evaluate the model's value in the frozen-section diagnosis of thyroid cancer. Methods: In this study, 550 frozen thyroid pathological slides, including malignant and non-malignant cases, were collected from Taizhou Central Hospital (Taizhou University Hospital), China, between June 2018 and January 2020. The 550 digitalized frozen-section slides of thyroid were divided into training set (190 slides), validation set (48 slides), test set A (60 slides) and test set B (252 slides). The tumor regions on the slides of malignant cases in the training and validation sets were labeled by pathologists. The labeling information was then used to train the thyroid frozen-section diagnosis models based on the voting method and those based on the color moment. Finally, the performance of two pathological slide diagnosis models was evaluated using the test set A and test set B, respectively. Result: The classification accuracy of the thyroid frozen-section diagnosis model based on the voting method was 90.0% and 83.7%, using test sets A and B, respectively, while that based on color moments was 91.6% and 90.9%, respectively. For actual frozen-section diagnosis of thyroid cancer, the model developed in this study had higher accuracy and stability. Conclusion: This study proposes a color-moment based frozen-section diagnosis model, which is more accurate than other classification models for frozen-section diagnoses of thyroid cancer.