Insights into the fish protein degradation induced by the fish-borne spoiler Pseudomonas psychrophila and Shewanella putrefaciens: From whole genome sequencing to quality changes

The aim of this study is evaluating the protein degradation capacity of specific spoilage organisms (SSOs) Pseudomonas psychrophila and Shewanella putrefaciens in fish flesh during chilled storage and revealing the underlying genes by whole-genome sequencing (WGS). Biochemical and physical tests were performed on fish flesh inoculated with P. psychrophila and S. putrefaciens individually, including textural properties, myofibrillar fragmentation index, sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) profiles, free amino acid composition, total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N), trichloroacetic acid (TCA) soluble peptides, and muscle microstructure. Results showed that P. psychrophila and S. putrefaciens exhibited a strong capacity for decomposing the fish protein, and the deterioration of fish flesh texture was primarily attributed to P. psychrophila. The genes from SSOs associated with the production of proteases were identified by whole genome sequencing and serine protease may be the primary enzyme secreted by SSOs involved in the degradation of fish protein. Therefore, the present study has shed light on the mechanisms of protein degradation induced by SSOs, thereby offering valuable insights for the development of effective quality control strategies.

Robust Thiazole-Linked Covalent Organic Frameworks for Water Sensing with High Selectivity and Sensitivity

The rational design of covalent organic frameworks (COFs) with hydrochromic properties is of significant value because of the facile and rapid detection of water in diverse fields. In this report, we present a thiazole-linked COF (TZ-COF-6) sensor with a large surface area, ultrahigh stability, and excellent crystallinity. The sensor was synthesized through a simple three-component reaction involving amine, aldehyde, and sulfur. The thiazole and methoxy groups confer strong basicity to TZ-COF-6 at the nitrogen sites, making them easily protonated reversibly by water. Therefore, TZ-COF-6 displayed color change visible to the naked eye from yellow to red when protonated, along with a red shift in absorption in the ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance spectra (UV-vis DRS) when exposed to water. Importantly, the water-sensing process was not affected by polar organic solvents, demonstrating greater selectivity and sensitivity compared to other COF sensors. Therefore, TZ-COF-6 was used to detect trace amounts of water in organic solvents. In strong polar solvents, such as N,N-dimethyl formamide (DMF) and ethanol (EtOH), the limit of detection (LOD) for water was as low as 0.06% and 0.53%, respectively. Even after 8 months of storage and 15 cycles, TZ-COF-6 retained its original crystallinity and detection efficiency, displaying high stability and excellent cycle performance.

Genome-wide 5-hydroxymethylcytosines in circulating cell-free DNA as noninvasive diagnostic markers for gastric cancer

BACKGROUND

5-Hydroxymethylcytosine-enriched gene profiles and regions show tissue-specific and tumor specific. There is a potential value to explore cell-free DNA 5-hydroxymethylcytosine feature biomarkers for early gastric cancer detection.

METHODS

A matched case‒control study design with 50 gastric cancer patients and 50 controls was performed to sequence the different 5-hydroxymethylcytosine modification features of cell free DNA. Significantly differential 5-hydroxymethylcytosine modification genes were identified to construct a gastric cancer diagnostic model. Data set from GEO was used as an external testing set to test the robustness of the diagnostic model.

RESULTS

Accounting for more than 90% of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine peaks were distributed in the gene body in both the gastric cancer and control groups. The diagnostic model was developed based on five different 5-hydroxymethylcytosine modification genes, FBXL7, PDE3A, TPO, SNTG2 and STXBP5. The model could effectively distinguish gastric cancer patients from controls in the training (AUC = 0.95, sensitivity = 88.6%, specificity = 94.3%), validation (AUC = 0.87, sensitivity = 73.3%, specificity = 93.3%) and testing (AUC = 0.90, sensitivity = 81.9%, specificity = 90.2%) sets. The risk scores of the controls from the model were significantly lower than those of gastric cancer patients in both our own data (P < 0.001) and GEO external testing data (P < 0.001), and no significant difference between different TNM stage patients (P = 0.09 and 0.66). Furthermore, there was no significant difference between the healthy control and benign gastric disease patients in the testing set from GEO (P = 0.10).

CONCLUSIONS

The characteristics of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine in cell free DNA are specific to gastric cancer patients, and the diagnostic model constructed by five genes' 5-hydroxymethylcytosine features could effectively identify gastric cancer patients.

Study of High-Transverse-Momentum Higgs Boson Production in Association with a Vector Boson in the qqbb Final State with the ATLAS Detector

This Letter presents the first study of Higgs boson production in association with a vector boson (V=W or Z) in the fully hadronic qqbb final state using data recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC in proton-proton collisions at sqrt[s]=13  TeV and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 137  fb^{-1}. The vector bosons and Higgs bosons are each reconstructed as large-radius jets and tagged using jet substructure techniques. Dedicated tagging algorithms exploiting b-tagging properties are used to identify jets consistent with Higgs bosons decaying into bb[over ¯]. Dominant backgrounds from multijet production are determined directly from the data, and a likelihood fit to the jet mass distribution of Higgs boson candidates is used to extract the number of signal events. The VH production cross section is measured inclusively and differentially in several ranges of Higgs boson transverse momentum: 250-450, 450-650, and greater than 650 GeV. The inclusive signal yield relative to the standard model expectation is observed to be μ=1.4_{-0.9}^{+1.0} and the corresponding cross section is 3.1±1.3(stat)_{-1.4}^{+1.8}(syst)  pb.

Measurement of the Centrality Dependence of the Dijet Yield in p+Pb Collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=8.16 TeV with the ATLAS Detector

ATLAS measured the centrality dependence of the dijet yield using 165  nb^{-1} of p+Pb data collected at sqrt[s_{NN}]=8.16  TeV in 2016. The event centrality, which reflects the p+Pb impact parameter, is characterized by the total transverse energy registered in the Pb-going side of the forward calorimeter. The central-to-peripheral ratio of the scaled dijet yields, R_{CP}, is evaluated, and the results are presented as a function of variables that reflect the kinematics of the initial hard parton scattering process. The R_{CP} shows a scaling with the Bjorken x of the parton originating from the proton, x_{p}, while no such trend is observed as a function of x_{Pb}. This analysis provides unique input to understanding the role of small proton spatial configurations in p+Pb collisions by covering parton momentum fractions from the valence region down to x_{p}∼10^{-3} and x_{Pb}∼4×10^{-4}.

Appraising associations between signature lipidomic biomarkers and digestive system cancer risk: novel evidences from a prospective cohort study of UK Biobank and Mendelian randomization analyses

BACKGROUND

The roles of serum lipids on digestive system cancer (DSC) risk were still inconclusive. In this study, we systematically assessed indicative effects of signature lipidomic biomarkers (high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and triglycerides (TG)) on DSC (oesophagus, stomach, colorectal, liver, gallbladder, and pancreas cancers) risk.

METHODS

HDL-C, LDL-C, and TG concentration measurements were respectively analyzed with enzyme immunoinhibition, enzymatic selective protection, and GPO-POD methods in AU5800 supplied from Beckman Coulter. The diagnoses of DSCs were coded using International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes updated until October 2022 in the UK Biobank (UKB). In this study, we assessed phenotypic association patterns between signature lipidomic biomarkers and DSC risk using restricted cubic splines (RCSs) in multivariable-adjusted Cox proportional hazards regression models. Moreover, linear and nonlinear causal association patterns of signature lipidomic biomarkers with DSC risk were determined by linear and nonlinear Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses.

RESULTS

A median follow-up time of 11.8 years was recorded for 319,568 participants including 6916 DSC cases. A suggestive independent nonlinear phenotypic association was observed between LDL-C concentration and stomach cancer risk (Pnonlinearity < 0.05, Poverall < 0.05). Meanwhile, a remarkable independent linear negative phenotypic association was demonstrated between HDL-C concentration and stomach cancer risk (Pnonlinearity > 0.05, Poverall < 0.008 (0.05/6 outcomes, Bonferroni-adjusted P)), and suggestive independent linear positive associations were observed between HDL-C concentration and colorectal cancer risk, and between TG concentration and gallbladder cancer risk (Pnonlinearity > 0.05, Poverall < 0.05). Furthermore, based on nonlinear and linear MR-based evidences, we observed an suggestive independent negative causal association (hazard ratio (HR) per 1 mmol/L increase: 0.340 (0.137-0.843), P = 0.020) between LDL-C and stomach cancer risk without a nonlinear pattern (Quadratic P = 0.901, Cochran Q P = 0.434). Meanwhile, subgroup and stratified MR analyses both supported the category of LDL-C ≥ 4.1 mmol/L was suggestively protective against stomach cancer risk, especially among female participants (HR: 0.789 (0.637-0.977), P = 0.030) and participants aged 60 years or older (HR: 0.786 (0.638-0.969), P = 0.024), and the category of TG ≥ 2.2 mmol/L concluded to be a suggestive risk factor for gallbladder cancer risk in male participants (HR: 1.447 (1.020-2.052), P = 0.038) and participants aged 60 years or older (HR: 1.264 (1.003-1.593), P = 0.047).

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings confirmed indicative roles of signature lipidomic biomarkers on DSC risk, notably detecting suggestive evidences for a protective effect of high LDL-C concentration on stomach cancer risk, and a detrimental effect of high TG concentration on gallbladder cancer risk among given participants.

Search for New Phenomena in Two-Body Invariant Mass Distributions Using Unsupervised Machine Learning for Anomaly Detection at sqrt[s]=13 TeV with the ATLAS Detector

Searches for new resonances are performed using an unsupervised anomaly-detection technique. Events with at least one electron or muon are selected from 140  fb^{-1} of pp collisions at sqrt[s]=13  TeV recorded by ATLAS at the Large Hadron Collider. The approach involves training an autoencoder on data, and subsequently defining anomalous regions based on the reconstruction loss of the decoder. Studies focus on nine invariant mass spectra that contain pairs of objects consisting of one light jet or b jet and either one lepton (e,μ), photon, or second light jet or b jet in the anomalous regions. No significant deviations from the background hypotheses are observed. Limits on contributions from generic Gaussian signals with various widths of the resonance mass are obtained for nine invariant masses in the anomalous regions.

Synthesis, biological activity evaluation and mechanism of action of novel bis-isatin derivatives as potential anti-liver cancer agents

A series of bis-isatin conjugates with lysine linker were synthesized with the aim of probing their antiproliferative potential. All the newly synthesized derivatives (0-100 μM) were first screened against liver cancer cell lines(Huh1, H22, Huh7, Hepa1-6, HepG2, Huh6 and 97H) using CCK-8 assay. Results indicated that the derivative 4d exhibited the most potent activity against Huh1 (IC50 = 17.13 µM) and Huh7(IC50 = 8.265 µM). In vivo anti-tumor study showed that compound 4d effectively inhibited tumor growth in Huh1-induced xenograft mouse model; the anti-tumor effect of compound 4d (15 mg/kg) was comparable with sorafenib (20 mg/kg). H&E staining analysis and routine blood test and blood serum biochemistry examination was performed to confirm the safety of compound 4d in xenograft models. The mechanism of action of 4d on tumor growth inhibition was further investigated by RNA-Seq analysis, which indicates a positive regulation of autophagy signaling pathway, which was further confirmed with key biomarker expression of autophagy after 4d treatment. Our results suggest that the bis-isatin conjugate compound 4d is a promising tumor inhibitory agent for some liver cancer.

Observation of WZγ Production in pp Collisions at sqrt[s]=13 TeV with the ATLAS Detector

This Letter reports the observation of WZγ production and a measurement of its cross section using 140.1±1.2  fb^{-1} of proton-proton collision data recorded at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The WZγ production cross section, with both the W and Z bosons decaying leptonically, pp→WZγ→ℓ^{'}^{±}νℓ^{+}ℓ^{-}γ (ℓ^{(^{'})}=e, μ), is measured in a fiducial phase-space region defined such that the leptons and the photon have high transverse momentum and the photon is isolated. The cross section is found to be 2.01±0.30(stat)±0.16(syst)  fb. The corresponding standard model predicted cross section calculated at next-to-leading order in perturbative quantum chromodynamics and at leading order in the electroweak coupling constant is 1.50±0.06  fb. The observed significance of the WZγ signal is 6.3σ, compared with an expected significance of 5.0σ.

Combined Measurement of the Higgs Boson Mass from the H→γγ and H→ZZ^{*}→4ℓ Decay Channels with the ATLAS Detector Using sqrt[s]=7, 8, and 13 TeV pp Collision Data

A measurement of the mass of the Higgs boson combining the H→ZZ^{*}→4ℓ and H→γγ decay channels is presented. The result is based on 140  fb^{-1} of proton-proton collision data collected by the ATLAS detector during LHC run 2 at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV combined with the run 1 ATLAS mass measurement, performed at center-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV, yielding a Higgs boson mass of 125.11±0.09(stat)±0.06(syst)=125.11±0.11  GeV. This corresponds to a 0.09% precision achieved on this fundamental parameter of the Standard Model of particle physics.

Search for Dark Photons in Rare Z Boson Decays with the ATLAS Detector

A search for events with a dark photon produced in association with a dark Higgs boson via rare decays of the standard model Z boson is presented, using 139  fb^{-1} of sqrt[s]=13  TeV proton-proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The dark boson decays into a pair of dark photons, and at least two of the three dark photons must each decay into a pair of electrons or muons, resulting in at least two same-flavor opposite-charge lepton pairs in the final state. The data are found to be consistent with the background prediction, and upper limits are set on the dark photon's coupling to the dark Higgs boson times the kinetic mixing between the standard model photon and the dark photon, α_{D}ϵ^{2}, in the dark photon mass range of [5, 40] GeV except for the ϒ mass window [8.8, 11.1] GeV. This search explores new parameter space not previously excluded by other experiments.

Observation of Single-Top-Quark Production in Association with a Photon Using the ATLAS Detector

This Letter reports the observation of single top quarks produced together with a photon, which directly probes the electroweak coupling of the top quark. The analysis uses 139  fb^{-1} of 13 TeV proton-proton collision data collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Requiring a photon with transverse momentum larger than 20 GeV and within the detector acceptance, the fiducial cross section is measured to be 688±23(stat) _{-71}^{+75}(syst)  fb, to be compared with the standard model prediction of 515_{-42}^{+36}  fb at next-to-leading order in QCD.

Risk-stratified approach by aMAP score for community population infected with hepatitis B and C to guide subsequent liver cancer screening practice: A cohort study with 10-year follow-up

The aim of this study was to determine whether the age-Male-ALBI-Platelet (aMAP) score is applicable in community settings and how to maximise its role in risk stratification. A total of thousand five hundred and three participants had an aMAP score calculated at baseline and were followed up for about 10 years to obtain information on liver cancer incidence and death. After assessing the ability of aMAP to predict liver cancer incidence and death in terms of differentiation and calibration, the optimal risk stratification threshold of the aMAP score was explored, based on absolute and relative risks. The aMAP score achieved higher area under curves (AUCs) (almost all above 0.8) within 10 years and exhibited a better calibration within 5 years. Regarding absolute risk, the risk of incidence of and death from liver cancer showed a rapid increase after an aMAP score of 55. The cumulative incidence (5-year: 8.3% vs. 1.3% and 10-year: 20.9% vs. 3.6%) and mortality (5-year: 6.7% vs. 1.1% and 10-year: 17.5% vs. 3.1%) of liver cancer in individuals with an aMAP score of ≥55 were significantly higher than in those with a score of <55 (Grey's test p  < .001). In terms of relative risk, the risk of death from liver cancer surpassed that from other causes after an aMAP score of ≥55 [HR = 1.38(1.02-1.87)]. Notably, the two types of death risk had opposite trends between the subpopulation with an aMAP score of ≥55 and < 55. To conclude, this study showed the value of the aMAP score in community settings and recommends using 55 as a new risk stratification threshold to guide subsequent liver cancer screening.

Measurement of Suppression of Large-Radius Jets and Its Dependence on Substructure in Pb+Pb Collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=5.02 TeV with the ATLAS Detector

This letter presents a measurement of the nuclear modification factor of large-radius jets in sqrt[s_{NN}]=5.02  TeV Pb+Pb collisions by the ATLAS experiment. The measurement is performed using 1.72  nb^{-1} and 257  pb^{-1} of Pb+Pb and pp data, respectively. The large-radius jets are reconstructed with the anti-k_{t} algorithm using a radius parameter of R=1.0, by reclustering anti-k_{t} R=0.2 jets, and are measured over the transverse momentum (p_{T}) kinematic range of 158 Collapse

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Measurement of the Sensitivity of Two-Particle Correlations in pp Collisions to the Presence of Hard Scatterings

A key open question in the study of multiparticle production in high-energy pp collisions is the relationship between the "ridge"-i.e., the observed azimuthal correlations between particles in the underlying event that extend over all rapidities-and hard or semihard scattering processes. In particular, it is not known whether jets or their soft fragments are correlated with particles in the underlying event. To address this question, two-particle correlations are measured in pp collisions at sqrt[s]=13  TeV using data collected by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC, with an integrated luminosity of 15.8  pb^{-1}, in two different configurations. In the first case, charged particles associated with jets are excluded from the correlation analysis, while in the second case, correlations are measured between particles within jets and charged particles from the underlying event. Second-order flow coefficients, v_{2}, are presented as a function of event multiplicity and transverse momentum. These measurements show that excluding particles associated with jets does not affect the measured correlations. Moreover, particles associated with jets do not exhibit any significant azimuthal correlations with the underlying event, ruling out hard processes contributing to the ridge.

Observation of an Excess of Dicharmonium Events in the Four-Muon Final State with the ATLAS Detector

A search is made for potential ccc[over ¯]c[over ¯] tetraquarks decaying into a pair of charmonium states in the four muon final state using proton-proton collision data at sqrt[s]=13  TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 140  fb^{-1} recorded by the ATLAS experiment at LHC. Two decay channels, J/ψ+J/ψ→4μ and J/ψ+ψ(2S)→4μ, are studied. Backgrounds are estimated based on a hybrid approach involving Monte Carlo simulations and data-driven methods. Statistically significant excesses with respect to backgrounds dominated by the single parton scattering are seen in the di-J/ψ channel consistent with a narrow resonance at 6.9 GeV and a broader structure at lower mass. A statistically significant excess is also seen in the J/ψ+ψ(2S) channel. The fitted masses and decay widths of the structures are reported.

Observation of the γγ→ττ Process in Pb+Pb Collisions and Constraints on the τ-Lepton Anomalous Magnetic Moment with the ATLAS Detector

This Letter reports the observation of τ-lepton-pair production in ultraperipheral lead-lead collisions Pb+Pb→Pb(γγ→ττ)Pb and constraints on the τ-lepton anomalous magnetic moment a_{τ}. The dataset corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 1.44  nb^{-1} of LHC Pb+Pb collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=5.02  TeV recorded by the ATLAS experiment in 2018. Selected events contain one muon from a τ-lepton decay, an electron or charged-particle track(s) from the other τ-lepton decay, little additional central-detector activity, and no forward neutrons. The γγ→ττ process is observed in Pb+Pb collisions with a significance exceeding 5 standard deviations and a signal strength of μ_{ττ}=1.03_{-0.05}^{+0.06} assuming the standard model value for a_{τ}. To measure a_{τ}, a template fit to the muon transverse-momentum distribution from τ-lepton candidates is performed, using a dimuon (γγ→μμ) control sample to constrain systematic uncertainties. The observed 95% confidence-level interval for a_{τ} is -0.057 Collapse

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Risk factors for bloodstream infection in paediatric haematopoietic stem cell transplantation: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), a standard treatment for paediatric haematological diseases, is highly associated with bloodstream infection (BSI), which may increase mortality.

AIM

To explore the risk factors for BSI in paediatric HSCT recipients.

METHODS

Three English databases and four Chinese databases were searched from inception to March 17th, 2022. Eligible studies included randomized controlled trials, cohort studies, and case-control studies that enrolled HSCT recipients aged ≤18 years and reported BSI risk factors. Two reviewers independently screened studies, extracted data, and assessed the risk of bias. Using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE), certainty of body of evidence was assessed.

FINDINGS

Fourteen studies involving 4602 persons were included. The incidences of BSI and associated mortality in paediatric HSCT recipients were approximately 10-50% and 5-15%, respectively. Meta-analysis of all studies revealed that previous BSI before HSCT (relative effect (RE): 2.28; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.19-4.34, moderate certainty) and receiving an umbilical cord blood transplant (RE: 1.55; 95% CI: 1.22-1.97, moderate certainty) were probably associated with an increased risk of BSI. Meta-analysis of studies with low risk of bias reassured that previous BSI before HSCT probably increased the risk of BSI (RE: 2.28; 95% CI: 1.19-4.34, moderate certainty), and revealed that steroid use (RE: 2.72; 95% CI: 1.31-5.64, moderate certainty) was likely a risk factor whereas autologous HSCT was probably a protective factor of BSI (RE: 0.65; 95% CI: 0.45-0.94, moderate certainty).

CONCLUSION

These findings could inform the management of paediatric HSCT recipients, helping identify who may benefit from prophylactic antibiotics.

Strong Constraints on Jet Quenching in Centrality-Dependent p+Pb Collisions at 5.02 TeV from ATLAS

Jet quenching is the process of color-charged partons losing energy via interactions with quark-gluon plasma droplets created in heavy-ion collisions. The collective expansion of such droplets is well described by viscous hydrodynamics. Similar evidence of collectivity is consistently observed in smaller collision systems, including pp and p+Pb collisions. In contrast, while jet quenching is observed in Pb+Pb collisions, no evidence has been found in these small systems to date, raising fundamental questions about the nature of the system created in these collisions. The ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider has measured the yield of charged hadrons correlated with reconstructed jets in 0.36  nb^{-1} of p+Pb and 3.6  pb^{-1} of pp collisions at 5.02 TeV. The yields of charged hadrons with p_{T}^{ch}>0.5  GeV near and opposite in azimuth to jets with p_{T}^{jet}>30 or 60 GeV, and the ratios of these yields between p+Pb and pp collisions, I_{pPb}, are reported. The collision centrality of p+Pb events is categorized by the energy deposited by forward neutrons from the struck nucleus. The I_{pPb} values are consistent with unity within a few percent for hadrons with p_{T}^{ch}>4  GeV at all centralities. These data provide new, strong constraints that preclude almost any parton energy loss in central p+Pb collisions.

Search for Heavy Neutral Leptons in Decays of W Bosons Using a Dilepton Displaced Vertex in sqrt[s]=13 TeV pp Collisions with the ATLAS Detector

A search for a long-lived, heavy neutral lepton (N) in 139  fb^{-1} of sqrt[s]=13  TeV pp collision data collected by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider is reported. The N is produced via W→Nμ or W→Ne and decays into two charged leptons and a neutrino, forming a displaced vertex. The N mass is used to discriminate between signal and background. No signal is observed, and limits are set on the squared mixing parameters of the N with the left-handed neutrino states for the N mass range 3  GeV Collapse

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Test of CP Invariance in Higgs Boson Vector-Boson-Fusion Production Using the H→γγ Channel with the ATLAS Detector

A test of CP invariance in Higgs boson production via vector-boson fusion has been performed in the H→γγ channel using 139  fb^{-1} of proton-proton collision data at sqrt[s]=13  TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The optimal observable method is used to probe the CP structure of interactions between the Higgs boson and electroweak gauge bosons, as described by an effective field theory. No sign of CP violation is observed in the data. Constraints are set on the parameters describing the strength of the CP-odd component in the coupling between the Higgs boson and the electroweak gauge bosons in two effective field theory bases: d[over ˜] in the HISZ basis and c_{HW[over ˜]} in the Warsaw basis. The results presented are the most stringent constraints on CP violation in the coupling between Higgs and weak bosons. The 95% C.L. constraint on d[over ˜] is derived for the first time and the 95% C.L. constraint on c_{HW[over ˜]} has been improved by a factor of 5 compared to the previous measurement.

Comparative effectiveness and safety of antibiotic prophylaxis during induction chemotherapy in children with acute leukaemia: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Bacterial infections are common during induction therapy in children and adolescents with acute leukaemia and may cause infection-related mortality.

AIM

To determine the efficacy and safety of prophylactic antibiotics in paediatric patients with acute leukaemia receiving induction chemotherapy.

METHODS

From three English databases and four Chinese databases, we searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and cohort studies that compared prophylactic antibiotics to placebo, no prophylaxis, or that compared one antibiotic versus another in paediatric patients with acute leukaemia undergoing induction chemotherapy. Two reviewers independently screened the studies, extracted data, and assessed the risk of bias using Cochrane Risk of Bias 2 tool and Newcastle-Ottawa Scale, and the certainty of evidence using Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE).

FINDINGS

Two RCTs and ten cohort studies were finally included. For children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, antibiotic prophylaxis, including levofloxacin, sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim, or other antibiotics, probably reduced bacteraemia (risk ratio (RR): 0.44; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.33-0.60; moderate certainty) without significantly increasing Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) or invasive fungal infection. Levofloxacin reduced the CDI rate (RR: 0.08; 95% CI: 0.01-0.62; high certainty). Ciprofloxacin prophylaxis probably reduced infection-related mortality (RR: 0.12; 95% CI: 0.01-0.97; moderate certainty). In children with acute myeloid leukaemia, ciprofloxacin plus vancomycin may reduce febrile neutropenia (RR: 0.79; 95% CI: 0.66-0.94; low certainty). Individual studies indicated that prophylaxis increased antibiotic exposure but reduced non-preventive antibiotic exposure.

CONCLUSION

In children with acute leukaemia undergoing induction therapy, antibiotic prophylaxis may improve the bacterial infection and mortality.

Elder and booster vaccination associates with decreased risk of serious clinical outcomes in comparison of Omicron and Delta variant: A meta-analysis of SARS-CoV-2 infection

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic brings great pressure to the public health systems. This meta-analysis aimed to compare the clinical outcomes among different virus variants, to clarify their impact on medical resources and to provide evidence for the formulation of epidemic prevention policies.

Methods

A systematic literature search was performed in the PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases using the key words "Omicron" and "Delta." The adjusted Risk ratios (RRs), Odds ratios (ORs) and Hazard ratios (HRs) were extracted, and RRs and Rate difference % (RD%) were used to interpret the risk estimates of the outcomes ultimately.

Results

Forty-three studies were included, with 3,812,681 and 14,926,841 individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 Delta and Omicron variant, respectively. The relative risks of hospitalization, death, ICU admission, and mechanical ventilation use after infection with the Omicron variant were all significantly reduced compared those after infection with the Delta variant (RRhospitalization = 0.45, 95%CI: 0.40-0.52; RRdeath = 0.37, 95%CI: 0.30-0.45; RRICU = 0.35, 95%CI: 0.29-0.42; RRmechanical ventilation = 0.33, 95%CI: 0.25-0.44). The change of both absolute and relative risks for hospitalization was more evident (RR = 0.47, 95%CI: 0.42-0.53；RD% =10.61, 95%CI: 8.64-12.59) and a significant increase was observed for the absolute differences in death in the elderly (RD% = 5.60, 95CI%: 4.65-6.55); the change of the absolute differences in the risk of hospitalization and death were most markedly observed in the patients with booster vaccination (RD%hospitalization = 8.60, 95CI%: 5.95-11.24; RD%death = 3.70, 95CI%: 0.34-7.06).

Conclusion

The ability of the Omicron variant to cause severe clinical events has decreased significantly, as compared with the Delta variant, but vulnerable populations still need to be vigilant. There was no interaction between the vaccination doses and different variants.

Probing the Cr3+ luminescence sensitization in β-Ga2O3 with ion-beam-induced luminescence and thermoluminescence

Ion-beam-induced luminescence (IBIL) measurements were performed in Cr-doped β-Ga₂O₃ using both protons and helium ions, showing a strong enhancement of the Cr³⁺ luminescence upon ion irradiation. Theoretical modelling of the IBIL intensity curves as a function of the fluence allowed estimating the effective cross-sections associated with the defect-induced IBIL enhancement and quenching processes. The results suggest that sensitizing the Cr³⁺ luminescence is more efficient for H⁺ than for He⁺ irradiation. Thermoluminescence (TL) studies were performed in the pristine sample, with no TL signal being observed in the spectral region corresponding to the Cr³⁺ emission. In agreement with the IBIL study, upon ion irradiation (with either protons or helium ions), this TL emission is activated. Moreover, it can be quenched by annealing at 923 K for 10 s, thus revealing the role played by the defects induced by the irradiation. These results show that the irradiation-induced defects play a major role in the activation of the Cr³⁺ luminescence, a fact that can be exploited for radiation sensing and dosimetry.

Integrating EM and Patch-seq data: Synaptic connectivity and target specificity of predicted Sst transcriptomic types

Neural circuit function is shaped both by the cell types that comprise the circuit and the connections between those cell types ¹ . Neural cell types have previously been defined by morphology ^{2, 3} , electrophysiology ^{4, 5} , transcriptomic expression ^6-8 , connectivity ^9-13 , or even a combination of such modalities ^14-16 . More recently, the Patch-seq technique has enabled the characterization of morphology (M), electrophysiology (E), and transcriptomic (T) properties from individual cells ^17-20 . Using this technique, these properties were integrated to define 28, inhibitory multimodal, MET-types in mouse primary visual cortex ²¹ . It is unknown how these MET-types connect within the broader cortical circuitry however. Here we show that we can predict the MET-type identity of inhibitory cells within a large-scale electron microscopy (EM) dataset and these MET-types have distinct ultrastructural features and synapse connectivity patterns. We found that EM Martinotti cells, a well defined morphological cell type ^{22, 23} known to be Somatostatin positive (Sst+) ^{24, 25} , were successfully predicted to belong to Sst+ MET-types. Each identified MET-type had distinct axon myelination patterns and synapsed onto specific excitatory targets. Our results demonstrate that morphological features can be used to link cell type identities across imaging modalities, which enables further comparison of connectivity in relation to transcriptomic or electrophysiological properties. Furthermore, our results show that MET-types have distinct connectivity patterns, supporting the use of MET-types and connectivity to meaningfully define cell types.

Effect of Intense Pulsed Light to Mitigate Meibomian Gland Dysfunction for Dry Eye Disease

BACKGROUND

This retrospective study aimed to evaluate the effect of intense pulsed light treatment (IPL) combined with meibomian gland expression (MGX) in treating meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD) related dry eye disease (DED) for the first time in Northeast China.

METHODS

Thirty-one MGD-related dry eye patients were managed by IPL-MGX from October to December 2019 in The First Hospital of Jilin University. Those patients had single IPL-MGX treatment with one follow-up visit, and no topical eye drops used were included in the study. General checkup and data collection helped in determining the age, sex, diagnosis, status of the MG, first noninvasive tear break-up time (1st NIBUT), average NIBUT, the height of tear film, and additional medical history.

RESULTS

There was an improvement in the function of the meibomian gland (MG), with a significant decrease in the MG dropouts in the upper eyelid (Rt eye, p = 0.0047; Lt eye, p = 0.0158) and lower eyelid (Rt eye, p = 0.0017; Lt eye, p = 0.0027) plus the average NIBUT (Rt eye, p = 0.0264) also showed improvement after the IPL-MGX treatment. Though no significant difference was reached with the average NIBUT of the Lt eye (p = 0.5256) and the NIBUT grade (Rt eye, p = 0.0578; Lt eye, p = 0.0588), there was an increased duration of the average NIBUT and improved NIBUT grading. The negative results may be because of the maximum severity of DED and the limited treatment times.

CONCLUSIONS

The result suggests that IPL-MGX was effective in treating MGD-related DED.

A network causal relationship between type-1 diabetes mellitus, 25-hydroxyvitamin D level and systemic lupus erythematosus: Mendelian randomization study

BACKGROUND

Observational studies have suggested a relationship between type-1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). In both autoimmunities, 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OHD) deficiency is common. However, the causality between T1DM, 25-OHD level and SLE remains largely unknown.

METHODS

Independent genetic variants associated with T1DM, 25-OHD level, and SLE from the largest genome-wide association studies were used to conduct two-sample bidirectional Mendelian randomization (BIMR) and two-step Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to estimate causal relationship between T1DM, 25-OHD level and SLE, and further multivariable Mendelian randomization (MVMR) was used to verify direct causality of T1DM and 25-OHD level on SLE. A series of sensitivity analysis as validation of primary MR results were performed.

RESULTS

Consistent with the results of BIMR, there was strong evidence for a direct causal effect of T1DM on the risk of SLE (ORMVMR-IVW = 1.249, 95% CI = 1.148-1.360, PMVMR-IVW = 1.25×10-5), and 25-OHD level was negatively associated with the risk of SLE (ORMVMR-IVW = 0.305, 95% CI = 0.109-0.857, PMVMR-IVW = 0.031). We also observed a negative causal effect of T1DM on 25-OHD level (ORBIMR-IVW = 0.995, 95% CI = 0.991-0.999, PBIMR-IVW = 0.030) while the causal effect of 25-OHD level on the risk of T1DM did not exist (PBIMR-IVW = 0.106). In BIMR analysis, there was no evidence for causal effects of SLE on the risk of T1DM and 25-OHD level (PBIMR-IVW > 0.05, respectively).

CONCLUSION

Our MR analysis suggested that there was a network causal relationship between T1DM, 25-OHD level and SLE. T1DM and 25-OHD level both have causal associations with the risk of SLE, and 25-OHD level could be a mediator in the causality of T1DM and SLE.

Dietary inflammatory index, and depression and mortality risk associations in U.S. adults, with a special focus on cancer survivors

Introduction

A higher risk for depression and mortality is associated with the inflammatory potential of diet measured through the Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII). The roles of DII in the risk of depression and death in cancer survivors were unclear. We aimed to examine the association between energy-adjusted DII (E-DII) score and risk of depression, and mortality using data from the 2007-2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), with a special focus on cancer survivors.

Methods

The 24-h dietary recall interview was used as a basis to calculate the E-DII score and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) was used to measure the depressive outcomes. Logistic regression analyses were performed to determine the association between quartiles of E-DII score and depression. Cox proportional hazard regression and competing risk analyses were used to estimate the risks of quartiles of E-DII score or depression on mortality.

Results

A total of 27,447 participants were included; including 24,694 subjects without cancer and 2,753 cancer survivors. The E-DII score and depression were not distributed differently between the two groups. However, the E-DII scores were positively associated with within each group's depression (all P trend < 0.001) and participants with higher E-DII scores had a higher risk of depression (subjects without cancer: OR_{Q4 vs Q1}: 2.17, 95% CI: 1.75-2.70; cancer survivors: OR_{Q4 vsQ1}: 1.78, 95% CI: 1.09-2.92). The median follow-up time were 87 person-months, a total of 1,701 (4.8%) and 570 (15.2%) all-cause deaths in subjects without cancer and cancer survivors were identified by the end of 2019. The highest E-DII scores quartile was associated with the highest risk of all-cause (HR_{Q4 vsQ1}: 1.90, 95% CI: 1.54-2.35) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) cause death (HR_{Q4 vsQ1}: 2.50, 95% CI: 1.69-2.3.7) in the subjects without cancer. Moreover, participants with depressive symptoms had higher all-cause mortality (HR: 1.29, 95% CI: 1.04-1.59). No significant correlation was found for E-DII scores or depression with all-cause, cancer-cause or CVD-cause mortality in cancer survivors.

Conclusion

Our findings demonstrate that E-DII score was positively associated with depression risk. A higher E-DII score or depressive symptom may increase the risks of all-cause and CVD-cause mortality only among general subjects.

Elevated serum AST and LDH levels are associated with infant death in premature babies with neonatal leukemoid reaction: a cohort study

BACKGROUND

Neonatal leukemoid reaction (NLR) is often accompanied by infectious or non-infectious diseases, a low birth weight, sepsis, prematurity, ventricular hemorrhage, and bronchial dysplasia. It has an incidence rate of 1.3-15% and a mortality rate of about 41.4%. Previous studies on NLR have largely focused on its pathogenesis and clinical cases, but little is known about its prognostic laboratory indicators. We found that some of the NLR exhibited obviously elevation in liver function tests like aspartate transaminase (AST) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) which were not took by all the LR infants. The necessity for liver function tests for the prognosis of NLR was still unclear.

METHODS

A total of 39 premature infants with NLR at the First Hospital of Jilin University between March 2016 and March 2017 were included in this retrospective cohort study. The infants were divided into death and cured group based on the clinical outcomes. Premature infants with LR and death were defined as the case group (n=14), while infants without death were defined as the control group (n=25). Confounding factors such as age and gender between the two groups were controlled. Blood routine tests, including the white blood cell (WBC) count and subtypes, and liver function, and clinical features were recorded and analyzed. T tests were used to examine the differences in the laboratory indicators between the NLR and control groups. Receiver operating characteristic curves (ROCs) and areas under the curve (AUCs) were used to examine laboratory indicators for prognosis.

RESULTS

For predicting clinical outcomes, the ROC curves showed that the cut-off values for AST and LDH were 279 and 1,412 U/L, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity for AST were 92% and 71.43%, respectively, with an AUC of 0.894, while the sensitivity and specificity for LDH were 88% and 78.57%, respectively, with an AUC of 0.911.

CONCLUSIONS

This innovative study investigated the NLR prognosis depending on laboratory tests. We found that serum AST and LDH levels had reliable predictive value in determining adverse outcomes of NLR.

Genetic estimation of correlations and causalities between multifaceted modifiable factors and gastro-oesophageal reflux disease

BACKGROUND

Gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD) is a common gastrointestinal dysfunction that significantly affects the quality of daily life, and health interventions are challenging to prevent the risk of GORD. In this study, we used Mendelian randomization framework to genetically determine the causal associations between multifaceted modifiable factors and the risk of GORD.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Sixty-six exposures with available instrumental variables (IVs) across 6 modifiable pathways were included in the univariable MR analysis (UVMR). Summary-level genome-wide association studies (GWAS) datasets for GORD were retrieved from the Neale Lab (GORD _Neale , Ncases = 29975, Ncontrols = 390556) and FinnGen (GORD _Finn , Ncases = 13141, Ncontrols = 89695). Using the METAL software, meta-analysis for single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from GORD _Neale and GORD _Finn was conducted with an inverse variance weighted (IVW) fixed-effect model. Moreover, we leveraged partition around medoids (PAM) clustering algorithm to cluster genetic correlation subtypes, whose hub exposures were conditioned for multivariable MR (MVMR) analyses. P-values were adjusted with Bonferroni multiple comparisons.

RESULTS

Significant causal associations were identified between 26 exposures (15 risk exposures and 11 protective exposures) and the risk of GORD. Among them, 13 risk exposures [lifetime smoking, cigarette consumption, insomnia, short sleep, leisure sedentary behavior (TV watching), body mass index (BMI), body fat percentage, whole body fat mass, visceral adipose tissue, waist circumference, hip circumference, major depressive disorder, and anxious feeling], and 10 protective exposures (leisure sedentary behavior (computer use), sitting height, hand grip strength (left and right), birth weight, life satisfaction, positive affect, income, educational attainment, and intelligence) showed novel significant causal associations with the risk of GORD. Moreover, 13 exposures still demonstrated independent associations with the risk of GORD following MVMR analyses conditioned for hub exposures (educational attainment, smoking initiation and BMI). In addition, 12 exposures showed suggestive causal associations with the risk of GORD.

CONCLUSION

This study systematically elucidated the modifiable factors causally associated with the risk of GORD from multifaceted perspectives, which provided implications for prevention and treatment of GORD.

The compliance of digital exercise with smart tools in subjects with cardiac arrythmias

Background

The exercise has well-documented health benefits on cardiovascular disease, and the use of mobile health (mHealth) may promote physical activity to reduce the risk.

Objective

The present study aimed to investigate the compliance of exercise dose and pattern through wearables and mHealth in subjects with cardiac arrhythmia in a real-world setting.

Method

The photoplethysmography (PPG)-algorithms with wearables to detect the ectopic and AF have been developed in the HUAWE HEART STUDY. Using the PPG-based smart devices, the adult subjects with identified arrhythmia received the personalized App-based lifestyle and exercise package was proposed. The V̇O2 peak (mL kg–1 min–1)was estimated from a non-exercise prediction model. The metabolic equivalent (MET)/week and Borg scale were utilized for the assessment of intensity of exercise. All subjects followed up for 3 months for the compliance to the exercise package.

Results

There were 7419 subjects (mean age ± standard deviation, SD, 35±12 years old, 92.1% male) who identified with the arrhythmia between April 1, 2021 and Dec 31, 2021. Among them, there were 165 subjects with identified AF, and 5277 subjects with the ectopic. The obstructive sleep apnea was the most reported risk profile (2643, 35.6%), while 1326 (17.9%) subjects were overweight.

Upon the baseline assessment, the personalized exercise package for cardiovascular disease prevention were proposed for 2864 subjects, exercise package to control the weight for 2510 subjects, and exercise package to reduce the weight for 1886 subjects.

Among 6366 subjects who took the exercise packages, 1867 (29.3%) subjects achieved target exercise, 395 (6.2%) subjects over target exercise, and 4104 (64.5%) under target exercise. The V̇O2 peak (mL kg–1 min–1, SD)in subjects who achieved the target exercise package, under target exercise, and over target exercise were (47.36±5.12, 32.14±22.47, and 65.99±10.38, p&lt;0.001).

For subjects who achieved target exercise, the intensity of exercise was as follows: 0.4% with low-intensity exercise, 95.8% with moderate-intensity exercise, and 3.7% with high-intensity exercise. Nonetheless, there were 37.7% of low-intensity, 60.6% of moderate-intensity exercise, and 1.7% with high-intensity exercise in subjects who didn't achieve exercise target.

77.9% subjects under target exercise had less than 1/week of physical activity, while there was only 12.9% in subjects with target exercise (p&lt;0.001).

Compared to randomly selected 8000 subjects (mean age ± SD, 39±13 years, 80.8% male) without exercise package, the proportion of steps/day over 10000 of 20% was significantly increased in subjects (37±13 years, 91.3% male) receiving the personalized App-based exercise package (31.2%, vs. 12.2%, p&lt;0.001).

Conclusion

The wearables facilitated the improvement of physical activity habit in subjects with cardiac arrhythmia, but subjects-centered self-management would be enhanced to the target exercise.

Funding Acknowledgement

Type of funding sources: Public grant(s) – National budget only. Main funding source(s): National Natural Science Foundation of China

PTEN Expression Was Significantly Associated with PD-L1 Score but Not with EBV Infection in Gastric Cancer

Purpose

Gastric cancer (GC) remains a prevalent aggressive tumor with high morbidity and mortality globally. The identification of GC subtypes based on molecular features improved the prediction of prognosis and the selection of targeted therapies. PTEN is a characteristic tumor suppressor, while its association with different GC subtypes was unknown.

Patients and Methods

The cohort consisted of 248 patients diagnosed with gastric cancer who were hospitalized and received radical gastrectomy. In addition, PTEN gene expression matrix of STAD was retrieved from TCGA. The mRNA and protein levels of PTEN and PD-L1 were detected using qRT-PCR and IHC staining. Multivariate logistic regression and Kaplan–Meier analysis were used to examine the relationship between PTEN expression and clinical characteristics.

Results

In our study, PTEN was downregulated in gastric tumors both in mRNA and protein levels. Its inactivation was closely linked to higher histological grade (P = 0.005), neural invasion (P = 0.012), depth of invasion (P = 0.021), lymph metastasis (P = 0.026), and TNM stage (P = 0.001) of GC in the present study. Moreover, according to the molecular subtypes, high PTEN expression was related to high TPS score of PD-L1 positively (P = 0.010) but was not associated with MSI and EBV infection. Further, TCGA data validated that PTEN was indeed correlated with histological grade and invasion depth and positively related to PD-L1 expression (R = 0.29, adjusted P < 0.001).

Conclusion

The above results suggested that PTEN expression was a useful marker in gastric carcinogenesis and progression and in the selection of immunotherapy-based treatments for GC patients.

Observation of WWW Production in pp Collisions at sqrt[s]=13 TeV with the ATLAS Detector

This Letter reports the observation of WWW production and a measurement of its cross section using 139  fb^{-1} of proton-proton collision data recorded at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Events with two same-sign leptons (electrons or muons) and at least two jets, as well as events with three charged leptons, are selected. A multivariate technique is then used to discriminate between signal and background events. Events from WWW production are observed with a significance of 8.0 standard deviations, where the expectation is 5.4 standard deviations. The inclusive WWW production cross section is measured to be 820±100 (stat)±80 (syst)  fb, approximately 2.6 standard deviations from the predicted cross section of 511±18  fb calculated at next-to-leading-order QCD and leading-order electroweak accuracy.

A detailed map of Higgs boson interactions by the ATLAS experiment ten years after the discovery

The standard model of particle physics1-4 describes the known fundamental particles and forces that make up our Universe, with the exception of gravity. One of the central features of the standard model is a field that permeates all of space and interacts with fundamental particles5-9. The quantum excitation of this field, known as the Higgs field, manifests itself as the Higgs boson, the only fundamental particle with no spin. In 2012, a particle with properties consistent with the Higgs boson of the standard model was observed by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN10,11. Since then, more than 30 times as many Higgs bosons have been recorded by the ATLAS experiment, enabling much more precise measurements and new tests of the theory. Here, on the basis of this larger dataset, we combine an unprecedented number of production and decay processes of the Higgs boson to scrutinize its interactions with elementary particles. Interactions with gluons, photons, and W and Z bosons-the carriers of the strong, electromagnetic and weak forces-are studied in detail. Interactions with three third-generation matter particles (bottom (b) and top (t) quarks, and tau leptons (τ)) are well measured and indications of interactions with a second-generation particle (muons, μ) are emerging. These tests reveal that the Higgs boson discovered ten years ago is remarkably consistent with the predictions of the theory and provide stringent constraints on many models of new phenomena beyond the standard model.

Predictors of refractory risk in systemic lupus erythematosus-related thrombocytopenia: a dual-centre retrospective study

Objectives

Based on clinical and laboratory indicators, this study aimed to establish a multiparametric nomogram to assess the risk of refractory cases of SLE-related thrombocytopenia (SLE-related TP) before systematic treatment.

Methods

From June 2012 to July 2021, a dual-centre retrospective cohort study of prospectively collected data of patients with SLE-related TP was conducted. The cohort data were divided into a developing set, internal validation set and external validation set. Refractory thrombocytopenia (RTP) was defined as failed to prednisone at 1 mg/kg per day with a platelet count cannot achieve or maintain higher than 50×10⁹/L. In the developing set, a nomogram were established to predict RTP risk based on clinical characteristics and laboratory indicators by multivariable logistic regression, and its performance was assessed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, calibration curves, decision curve analysis (DCA) and clinical impact curve (CIC).

Results

A total of 1778 patients with SLE were included, and 413 eligible patients were involved in the final analysis with 121 RTPs. The RTP risk assessment (RRA) model was composed of five significant risk variables: pregnancy, severity of TP, complement 3, anticardiolipin antibody-immunoglobulin G and autoimmune haemolytic anaemia. In three datasets, the AUCs were 0.887 (95% CI 0.830 to 0.945), 0.880 (95% CI 0.785 to 0.975) and 0.871 (95% CI 0.793 to 0.949), respectively. The calibration curve, DCA and CIC all showed good performance of the RRA model.

Conclusion

The RRA model demonstrated good capability for assessing the refractory risk in SLE-related TP, which may be helpful for early identification and intervention.

Positive H. pylori status predicts better prognosis of non-cardiac gastric cancer patients: results from cohort study and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Previous researches have associated Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) with a prognosis of gastric cancer (GC), however, without a concert conclusion. This study aimed to study this issue further by a prospective cohort study and a meta-analysis.

METHODS

Histologically diagnosed gastric cancer (GC) patients were recruited into the primary prospective cohort study between January 2009 to December 2013. All the patients were followed-up periodically to record information on post-surgery therapy and overall survival status. The pre-surgery status of H. pylori was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. A meta-analysis was conducted after retrieving related researches in the databases of PubMed and Embase up to April 2020. Pooled hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were summarized to validate the relationship between H. pylori infection and the survival time of GC patients. I² statistics and Q test were used to assess the heterogeneity. Sensitivity analyses were performed using Galbraith's plot, leave-one-out analysis, subgroup analyses and meta-regression to explore the sources of heterogeneity and the stability of the summary results.

RESULTS

A total of 743 GC patients with radical tumorectomy were included prospectively and 516 (69.4%) were positive on H. pylori. H. pylori-positive patients tended to survive longer than -negative ones (HR 0.92, 95%CI: 0.74-1.15), though the tendency was not statistically significant. Cohort studies on the prognosis of GC were retrieved comprehensively by assessing the full-text and 59 published studies, together with the result of our study, were included in the further meta-analysis. The summarized results related the positive status of H. pylori to better overall survival (HR 0.81, 95%CI: 0.72-0.90) and disease-free survival (HR 0.83, 95%CI: 0.67-0.99). Results from subgroup analyses indicated that the pooled magnitude of this association was relatively lower in studies not referring to H. pylori in title and abstract.

CONCLUSIONS

In conclusion, gastric cancer patients with H. pylori have a better prognosis than patients of H. pylori negative. More stringent surveillance strategies may be necessary for patients with H. pylori negative at cancer diagnosis.

Search for Lepton-Flavor Violation in Z-Boson Decays with τ Leptons with the ATLAS Detector

A search for lepton-flavor-violating Z→eτ and Z→μτ decays with pp collision data recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC is presented. This analysis uses 139  fb^{-1} of Run 2 pp collisions at sqrt[s]=13  TeV and is combined with the results of a similar ATLAS search in the final state in which the τ lepton decays hadronically, using the same data set as well as Run 1 data. The addition of leptonically decaying τ leptons significantly improves the sensitivity reach for Z→ℓτ decays. The Z→ℓτ branching fractions are constrained in this analysis to B(Z→eτ)<7.0×10^{-6} and B(Z→μτ)<7.2×10^{-6} at 95% confidence level. The combination with the previously published analyses sets the strongest constraints to date: B(Z→eτ)<5.0×10^{-6} and B(Z→μτ)<6.5×10^{-6} at 95% confidence level.

Association of Helicobacter pylori infection with estimated glomerular filtration rate in a Chinese population

BACKGROUND

Helicobacter pylori (H. Pylori) infection is reported to be associated with extragastric disorders which include kidney diseases. But the association between H. pylori infection and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) is unclear as far. Thus, we performed the study to investigate the prevalence of H. pylori infection and its association with eGFR in a Chinese population.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We conducted a cross-sectional study in adults who took health examination at the First Hospital of Jilin University in 2019. All the subjects received ¹⁴C-labled urea breath test to determine the H. pylori infection, and we analyzed the relationship between prevalence of H. pylori infection and eGFR.

RESULTS

Among 3593 participants in the health checkup, the positive rate of H. pylori infection was 37.3%. H. pylori-positive participants had a lower level of eGFR than H. pylori-negative participants. In univariate analysis, we observed that the positive rate of H. pylori infection and RR (relative risk) became larger with eGFR decreased, however, the association was not significant after adjustment for other factors. Further multivariable analysis showed age and sex were the main confounders between eGFR and H. pylori infection.

CONCLUSIONS

The correlation between eGFR and positive rate of H. pylori infection was confounded by age and sex.

Search for New Phenomena in Final States with Two Leptons and One or No b-Tagged Jets at sqrt[s]=13 TeV Using the ATLAS Detector

A search for new phenomena is presented in final states with two leptons and one or no b-tagged jets. The event selection requires the two leptons to have opposite charge, the same flavor (electrons or muons), and a large invariant mass. The analysis is based on the full run-2 proton-proton collision dataset recorded at a center-of-mass energy of sqrt[s]=13  TeV by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139  fb^{-1}. No significant deviation from the expected background is observed in the data. Inspired by the B-meson decay anomalies, a four-fermion contact interaction between two quarks (b, s) and two leptons (ee or μμ) is used as a benchmark signal model, which is characterized by the energy scale and coupling, Λ and g_{*}, respectively. Contact interactions with Λ/g_{*} lower than 2.0 (2.4) TeV are excluded for electrons (muons) at the 95% confidence level, still far below the value that is favored by the B-meson decay anomalies. Model-independent limits are set as a function of the minimum dilepton invariant mass, which allow the results to be reinterpreted in various signal scenarios.

Search for Displaced Leptons in sqrt[s]=13 TeV pp Collisions with the ATLAS Detector

A search for charged leptons with large impact parameters using 139  fb^{-1} of sqrt[s]=13  TeV pp collision data from the ATLAS detector at the LHC is presented, addressing a long-standing gap in coverage of possible new physics signatures. Results are consistent with the background prediction. This search provides unique sensitivity to long-lived scalar supersymmetric lepton partners (sleptons). For lifetimes of 0.1 ns, selectron, smuon, and stau masses up to 720, 680, and 340  GeV, respectively, are excluded at 95% confidence level, drastically improving on the previous best limits from LEP.

[LncRNA ASB16-AS1 regulates the proliferation, migration and invasion of esophageal cancer cells by targeting miR-1258]

Objective: To investigate the effects of long-chain non-coding RNA ASB16 antisense RNA1 (ASB16-AS1) on the proliferation, migration and invasion of esophageal cancer cells by targeting microRNA (miR )-1258. Methods: Forty pairs of esophageal cancer tissues and matched adjacent tissues (distance of tumor margin>3 cm) resected in Xinxiang Central Hospital from May 2016 to July 2017 were collected. Real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to detect the expressions of ASB16-AS1 and miR-1258 in esophageal cancer tissues and adjacent tissues. The small interfering RNA negative control (si-NC), ASB16-AS1 small interfering RNA (si-ASB16-AS1), miR-negative control mimics (miR-NC), miR-1258 mimics (miR-1258), si-ASB16-AS1 and anti-miR-NC, si-ASB16-AS1 and anti-miR-1258, si-ASB16-AS1 and anti-miR-1258 were transfected into Eca109 cells, respectively. Methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) was utilized to detect the cell viability. Transwell assays were applied to detect cell migration and invasion. Double luciferase reporting experiment and qRT-PCR were used to confirm the relationship between ASB16-AS1 and miR-1258. Results: The expression levels of ASB16-AS1 and miR-1258 in esophageal cancer tissues were 2.95±0.27 and 0.62±0.06, respectively. Compared with 1.00±0.06 and 1.00±0.07 in adjacent tissues, the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). The cell viability of the si-NC group at 48 h and 72 h were 0.81±0.07 and 1.15±0.11, while those of si-ASB16-AS1 group were 0.46±0.04 and 0.62±0.06 (P<0.05). The numbers of cell migration and invasion in the si-NC group were 86.32±8.24 and 71.29±7.15, respectively, while those of si-ASB16-AS1 group were 43.22±4.31 and 32.36±3.58, respectively, the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). The cell viability of the miR-NC group at 48 h and 72 h were 0.84±0.08, 1.18±0.12, while those of miR-1258 group were 0.55±0.05, 0.71±0.07 (P<0.05). The migration and invasion numbers of the miR-NC group were (83.15±8.31) and (75.33±7.51), while those of miR-1258 group were (49.58±4.23) and (38.42±3.84), respectively, the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). The cell viability of the si-ASB16-AS1+ anti-miR-NC group at 48 h and 72 h were 0.45±0.04, 0.61±0.06, while those of si-ASB16-AS1+ anti-miR-1258 group were 0.72±0.07, 0.98±0.08; The migration and invasion numbers of cells in the si-ASB16-AS1+ anti-miR-NC group were 44.36±4.41 and 31.69±3.85, respectively, while those of si-ASB16-AS1+ anti-miR-1258 group were 72.65±7.27 and 61.22±6.14, respectively, and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). ASB16-AS1 targeted negative regulation of miR-1258 expression. Conclusions: ASB16-AS1 upregulates in esophageal cancer. ASB16-AS1 promotes the proliferation, migration and invasion of esophageal cancer cells by targeting miR-1258.

Microsatellite instability and Epstein-Barr virus combined with PD-L1 could serve as a potential strategy for predicting the prognosis and efficacy of postoperative chemotherapy in gastric cancer

Background

Microsatellite instability (MSI) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-positive molecular subtypes exhibit complex immune responses in gastric cancer (GC), and PD-L1 has emerged as a prognostic biomarker associated with the cancer immune microenvironment. This study aimed to determine the prognostic value of molecular subtypes and whether the addition of PD-L1 would accurately predict the prognosis and guide postoperative chemotherapy for GC patients.

Methods

We performed molecular subtyping of tissue microarray slides from 226 GC patients who were treated with radical gastrectomy. The MSI status and PD-L1 expression were evaluated through immunohistochemistry (IHC) and EBV status through situ hybridization. Multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was also performed on 50 cases to validate the accuracy of IHC in defining MSI status. Differences in overall survival (OS) were assessed using the Kaplan-Meier method, log-rank test and Cox proportional hazards regression model.

Results

Among the 226 GC patients, 52 (23.2%) patients were classified as the MSI subtype, 11 (4.9%) were EBV⁺ subtype, and 161 (71.9%) were MSS (Microsatellite stable) /EBV subtype according to TCGA analysis. Two patients were both positive for MSI and EBV infection. EBV⁺ cases showed higher PD-L1 positivity than MSI cases and MSS/EBV cases (81.8% vs. 50.0% vs. 35.4%, P = 0.003). Compared with the non-MSS/EBV (MSI or EBV⁺ cases) subgroup, GC patients with MSS/EBV were associated with the worst outcomes (HR = 1.610, 95% CI [1.0462.479], P = 0.031). MSS/EBV GCs alone could benefit from postoperative chemotherapy (HR = 0.452, 95% CI [0.2990.682], P<0.001), and PD-L1-positive expression could also predict a better prognosis (HR = 0.612, 95% CI [0.3890.962], P = 0.033) in this subgroup. Considering both chemotherapy efficacy and PD-L1 expression in the MSS/EBV subgroup, chemotherapy could improve the prognosis for PD-L1-negative MSS/EBV GCs (HR = 0.357, 95% CI [0.2170.587], P <0.001) but not PD-L1-positive MSS/EBV GCs.

Conclusions

Molecular subtyping combined with PD-L1 expression could serve as a potential strategy to better predict prognosis and guide postoperative chemotherapy of GC patients.

Factors associated with long-term haemoptysis recurrence after transarterial embolisation for haemoptysis

OBJECTIVE: To assess factors associated with long-term haemoptysis recurrence after transarterial embolisation (TAE) for haemoptysis due to bronchiectasis.METHODS: Patients with haemoptysis due to bronchiectasis who underwent TAE between May 2010 and May 2019 were included in this retrospective study. Long-term haemoptysis recurrence was defined as the expectoration of >10 mL/day of fresh blood (for at least 1 day) 1 month after TAE. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify risk factors for long-term haemoptysis recurrence after TAE.RESULTS: A total of 197 patients (108 women; mean age, 61.0 ± 12.2 years) were included in the study. TAE was performed successfully in all patients. Side effects occurred in 43 (21.8%) patients, and all patients recovered uneventfully. During 37.6 ± 11.6 months of follow-up, long-term haemoptysis recurrence occurred in 41 (20.8%) patients; the mean interval between the TAE and haemoptysis recurrence was 21.4 ± 16.3 months. Long-term haemoptysis recurrence after TAE was associated with a history of haemoptysis (OR 3.483, 95% CI 1.373-8.836; P = 0.009).CONCLUSIONS: Approximately one fifth patients with bronchiectasis had long-term haemoptysis recurrence after TAE. Risk factor for long-term haemoptysis recurrence after TAE was a history of haemoptysis.

[Observation of effective dosage of remimazolam tosilate used for moderate-to-deep sedation in fiberoptic bronchoscopy]

Objective: To estimate the safety and efficacy of remimazolam tosilate used for moderate-to-deep sedation in fiberoptic bronchoscopy with its 50% effective dosage (ED50) and 95% effective dosage (ED95) calculated. Methods: A total of 50 patients aged from 18 to 65 years and classified as Class Ⅰ or Ⅱ according to the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) Classification who underwent fiberoptic bronchoscopy in Hainan Cancer Hospital from April to August of 2020 were included in this study. For each patient, bronchoscopy was only started when the eyelash reflex disappeared and MOAA/S score was<1 after a trial dose of remimazolam tosilate combined with 0.1 μg/kg sufentanil was intravenously given. The dosage of remimazolam tosilate for the first patient was 0.18 mg/kg, based on which the dosages for the following patients were increased or decreased by 1∶1 times for one another, forming an equal ratio sequence. A maintenance dose of remimazolam tosilate was pumped intravenously in a rate of 1 mg/(kg·h) during the bronchoscopic examination and treatment. The result of the sequential trial, the time to achieve proper sedation, the analepsia time and the adverse effects were recorded. Results: All the 50 patients went through bronchoscopy completely. The regression function of the sequential trial was Y=12.589+16.593X, the ED50 and the ED95 of remimazolam tosilate were 0.174 (95%CI: 0.162-0.186) mg/kg and 0.219 (95%CI: 0.199-0.312) mg/kg, respectively. The time to achieve proper sedation was (50±11) s and the mean analepsia time after the use of flumazenil was (56±16) s. There was one patient with respiratory inhibition, one with headache and dizziness, one with fatigue among the 50 patients. Conclusions: The strategy of moderate-to-deep sedation based on remimazolam tosilate is safe and effective in bronchoscopic examination and treatment. When combined with 0.1 μg/kg sufentanil, the ED50 and the ED95 of remimazolam tosilate are 0.174 mg/kg and 0.219 mg/kg, respectively.

Search for Dark Matter Produced in Association with a Dark Higgs Boson Decaying into W^{±}W^{∓} or ZZ in Fully Hadronic Final States from sqrt[s]=13 TeV pp Collisions Recorded with the ATLAS Detector

Several extensions of the Standard Model predict the production of dark matter particles at the LHC. An uncharted signature of dark matter particles produced in association with VV=W^{±}W^{∓} or ZZ pairs from a decay of a dark Higgs boson s is searched for using 139  fb^{-1} of pp collisions recorded by the ATLAS detector at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The s→V(qq[over ¯])V(qq[over ¯]) decays are reconstructed with a novel technique aimed at resolving the dense topology from boosted VV pairs using jets in the calorimeter and tracking information. Dark Higgs scenarios with m_{s}>160  GeV are excluded.

Differentiation of food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome and necrotizing enterocolitis in neonates by abdominal sonography

OBJECTIVES

To summarize and differentiate abdominal ultrasound findings of necrotizing enterocolitis and food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome.

METHODS

From January 2017 to December 2018, the abdominal ultrasound results of 304 cases diagnosed necrotizing enterocolitis or food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome were retrospectively analyzed. The presence of pneumatosis intestinalis, portal venous gas, bowel wall thickening, intestinal motility, focal fluid collections and hypoechoic change of gallbladder wall were calculated, and the results were compared and analyzed.

RESULTS

Pneumatosis intestinalis, portal venous gas, bowel wall thickening, intestinal motility weakened/absent, focal fluid collections and hypoechoic change of gallbladder wall can be found in both necrotizing enterocolitis and food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome infants. However, in infants with necrotizing enterocolitis, intestinal motility was weakened/absent in whole abdomen, and in food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome, it only involved isolated segment of bowel. The positive rates of above signs in necrotizing enterocolitis infants were significantly higher than those in food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome (p<0.01). Moreover, it was observed that the rate of weakened intestinal motility besides the lesion segment of bowel in necrotizing enterocolitis infants was 100%, and in food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome infants, it was 0%, which is supposed to be a main sign for identification.

CONCLUSION

In the early stage, abdominal ultrasound can be used to differentiate necrotizing enterocolitis and food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome.