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Understanding user behavior via IP addresses is a crucial measure towards numerous pragmatic IP-based applications, including online content delivery, fraud prevention, marketing intelligence, and others. While profiling IP addresses through methods like IP geolocation and anomaly detection has been thoroughly studied, the function of an IP address—e.g., whether it pertains to a private enterprise network or a home broadband—remains underexplored. In this work, we initiate the first attempt to address the IP usage scenario classification problem. We collect data consisting of IP addresses from four large-scale regions. A novel continuous neural tree-based ensemble model is proposed to learn IP assignment rules and complex feature interactions. We conduct extensive experiments to evaluate our model in terms of classification accuracy and generalizability. Our results demonstrate that the proposed model is capable of efficiently uncovering significant higher-order feature interactions that enhance IP usage scenario classification, while also possessing the ability to generalize from the source region to the target one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The aim of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of clinicopathological characteristics and computed tomography (CT) morphological features in predicting lymph node metastasis (LNM) for patients with T1 colorectal cancer (CRC). Methods: A total of 144 patients with T1 CRC who underwent CT scans and surgical resection were retrospectively included in our study. The clinicopathological characteristics and CT morphological features were assessed by two observers. Univariate and multiple logistic regression analyses were used to identify significant LNM predictive variables. Then a model was developed using the independent predictive factors. The predictive model was subjected to bootstrapping validation (1000 bootstrap resamples) to calculate the calibration curve and relative C-index. Results: LNM were found in 30/144 patients (20.83%). Four independent risk factors were determined in the multiple logistic regression analysis, including presence of necrosis (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 10.32, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.96–54.3, p = 0.004), irregular outer border (adjusted OR = 5.94, 95% CI 1.39–25.45, p = 0.035), and heterogeneity enhancement (adjusted OR = 7.35, 95% CI 3.11–17.38, p = 0.007), as well as tumor location (adjusted ORright-sided colon = 0.05 [0.01–0.60], p = 0.018; adjusted ORrectum = 0.22 [0.06–0.83], p = 0.026). In the internal validation cohort, the model showed good calibration and good discrimination with a C-index of 0.89. Conclusions: There are significant associations between lymphatic metastasis status and tumor location as well as CT morphologic features in T1 CRC, which could help the doctor make decisions for additional surgery after endoscopic resection. Key Points: • LNM more frequently occurs in left-sided T1 colon cancer than in right-sided T1 colon and rectal cancer. • CT morphologic features are risk factors for LNM of T1 CRC, which may be related to fundamental biological behaviors. • The combination of tumor location and CT morphologic features can more effectively assist in predicting LNM in patients with T1 CRC, and decrease the rate of unnecessary extra surgeries after endoscopic resection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Whether preoperative serum carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) is an independent prognostic factor and there are interactions of serum CA19-9 with carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) on the risk of recurrence in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients are still not clarified.Methods: Consecutive patients with CRC who underwent curative resection for stage II-III colorectal adenocarcinoma at five hospitals were collected. Based on Cox models, associations of preoperative CA19-9 with recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) were evaluated in patients with or without elevated CEA, and interactions between CEA and CA19-9 were also calculated. Restricted cubic spline (RCS) curves were used to evaluate the associations between preoperative CA19-9 and CRC outcomes on a continuous scale.Results: A total of 5048 patients (3029 [60.0%] men; median [interquartile range, IQR] age, 61.0 [51.0, 68.0] years; median [IQR] follow-up duration 46.8 [36.5-62.4] months) were included. The risk of recurrence increased with the elevated level of preoperative CA19-9, with the slope steeper in patients with normal CEA than those with elevated CEA. Worse RFS was observed for elevated preoperative CA19-9 (> 37 U/mL) (n = 738) versus normal preoperative CA19-9 (≤ 37 U/mL) (n = 4310) (3-year RFS rate: 59.4% versus 78.0%; unadjusted hazard ratio [HR]: 2.02; 95% confidence interval [CI]:1.79 to 2.28), and significant interaction was found between CA19-9 and CEA (P for interaction = 0.001). Increased risk and interaction with CEA were also observed for OS. In the Cox multivariable analysis, elevated CA19-9 was associated with shorter RFS and OS regardless of preoperative CEA level, even after adjustment for other prognostic factors (HR: 2.08, 95% CI:1.75 to 2.47; HR: 2.25, 95% CI:1.80 to 2.81). Subgroup analyses and sensitivity analyses yielded largely similar results. These associations were maintained in patients with stage II disease (n = 2724).Conclusions: Preoperative CA19-9 is an independent prognostic factor in CRC patients. Preoperative CA19-9 can be clinically used as a routine biomarker for CRC patients, especially with preoperative normal serum CEA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Obesity is a global epidemic health disorder and associated with several diseases. Body weight–reducing effects of melatonin have been reported; however, no investigation toward examining whether the beneficial effects of melatonin are associated with preadipocyte heterogeneity has been reported. In this study, we profiled 25 071 transcriptomes of normal and melatonin‐treated preadipocytes using scRNA‐seq. By tSNE analysis, we present a cellular‐state landscape for melatonin‐treated preadipocytes that covers multiple‐cell subpopulations, defined as cluster 0 to cluster 13. Cluster 0 and cluster 1 were the largest components of normal and melatonin‐treated preadipocytes, respectively. G0S2, an inhibitor of adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL), was significantly upregulated in cluster 0 and downregulated in cluster 1. We redefined cluster 0 as the G0S2‐positive cluster (G0S2+) and cluster 1 as the G0S2‐negative cluster (G0S2−). Through pseudotime analysis, the G0S2− cluster cell differentiation trajectory was divided into three major structures, that is, the prebranch, the lipid catabolism branch, and the cell fate 2 branch. In vitro, G0S2 knockdown enhanced the expression levels of ATGL, BAT markers and fatty acid oxidation–related genes, but inhibited C/EBPα and PPARγ expression. In vivo, knockdown of G0S2 reduced the body weight gain in high‐fat‐fed mice. The beneficial effects of the G0S2− cell cluster in promoting lipolysis and inhibiting adipogenesis are dependent on two major aspects: first, downregulation of the G0S2 gene in the G0S2− cluster, resulting in activation of ATGL, which is responsible for the bulk of triacylglycerol hydrolase activity; and second, upregulation of FABP4 in the G0S2− cluster, resulting in inhibition of PPARγ and further reducing adipogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computerized image analysis for whole-slide images has been shown to improve efficiency, accuracy, and consistency in histopathology evaluations. We aimed to assess whether immunohistochemistry (IHC) image quantitative features can reflect the immune status and provide prognostic information for colorectal cancer patients. A fully automated pipeline was designed to extract histogram features from IHC digital images in a training set (N = 243). A Hist-Immune signature was generated with selected features using the LASSO Cox model. The results were validated using internal (N = 147) and external (N = 76) validation sets. The five-feature-based Hist-Immune signature was significantly associated with overall survival in training (HR 2.72, 95% CI 1.68–4.41, P <.001), internal (2.86, 1.28–6.39, 0.010), and external (2.30, 1.02–6.16, 0.044) validation sets. The full model constructed by integrating the Hist-Immune signature and clinicopathological factors had good discrimination ability (C-index 0.727, 95% CI 0.678–0.776), confirmed using internal (0.703, 0.621–0.784) and external (0.756, 0.653–0.859) validation sets. Our findings indicate that the Hist-Immune signature constructed based on the quantitative features could reflect the immune status of patients with colorectal cancer, which might advocate change in risk stratification and consequent precision medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By combining the microemulsion polymerization with UV direct initiation, an efficient polymerization method was developed due to its advantages in terms of high polymerization rate and conversion, lower polymerization temperature, high purity polymer. To be more specific, in the absence of initiator and under UV direct radiation, the polymerizations of MMA/Water/emulsifier microemulsion system were successfully accomplished at low temperature (26 ∼ 35°C) and PMMA nanolatex with the average diameter of 9.5 nm and narrow diameter distribution was obtained. The effects of UV intensity, monomer concentration, emulsifier concentration and temperature on polymerization rate and intrinsic viscosity of polymer were researched. The apparent activation energy of the reaction and polymerization kinetics of Rp are obtained as the following: Rp∝[IUV] 1.25[M]1.04[E]−2.57, Ea=14.45KJ/mol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copper oxide (CuO) nanofibers were successfully prepared by electrospinning and subsequent heat treatment. The chemical composition and morphology of the fibers were characterized by SEM, XRD and EDS. Beaded nanofibers with 100nm in diameter were prepared by simple electrospinning and calcining. The catalytic effect of CuO nanofibers on the combustion of ammonium perchlorate (AP) was investigated by TG and DTA. The results showed that the decomposition temperature of AP shifted by 101.9 °C to the low temperature and the catalytic efficiency was very high. This is mainly attributed to the higher surface to volume ratio of beaded copper oxide nanofibers compared with smooth nanofibers and spherical nanoparticles. The results suggest that the electrospinning of CuO nanofibers is a promising one-dimensional nanometer material in the field of propellant catalysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a hierarchical energy management strategy (EMS) based on low-pass filter and equivalent consumption minimization strategy (ECMS) is proposed in order to lift energy sources lifespan, power performance and fuel economy for hybrid electrical vehicles equipped with fuel cell, battery and supercapacitor. As for the considered powertrain configuration, fuel cell serves as main energy source, and battery and supercapacitor are regarded as energy support and storage system. Supercapacitor with high power density and dynamic response acts during great power fluctuations, which relives stress on fuel cell and battery. Meanwhile, battery is used to lift the economy of hydrogen fuel. In higher layer strategy of the proposed EMS, supercapacitor is employed to supply peak power and recycle braking energy by using the adaptive low-pass filter method. Meantime, an ECMS is designed to allocate power of fuel cell and battery such that fuel cell can work in a high efficient range to minimize hydrogen consumption in lower layer. The proposed EMS for hybrid electrical vehicles is modeled and verified by advisor-simulink and experiment bench. Simulation and experiment results are given to confirm effectiveness of the proposed EMS of this paper. • Reduce stress on battery and fuel cell to lift power performances and fuel economy. • Adaptive low-pass filter to allocate peak power and braking energy to supercapacitor. • Minimizing hydrogen consumption while improving the working efficiency of fuel cell. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this study was to perform a systematic transcriptome-wide analysis of mRNA–miRNA interactions and to identify candidates involved in the interplay between miRNAs and mRNAs that regulate chicken muscle growth. We used our previously published mRNA (GSE72424) and miRNA (GSE62971) deep sequencing data from two-tailed samples [i.e., the highest (h) and lowest (l) body weights] of Recessive White Rock (WRR) and Xinghua (XH) chickens to conduct integrative analyses of the miRNA–mRNA interactions involved in chicken skeletal muscle growth. A total of 162, 15, 173, and 27 miRNA–mRNA pairs with negatively correlated expression patterns were identified in miRNA–mRNA networks constructed on the basis of the WRRh vs. XHh, WRRh vs. WRRl, WRRl vs. XHl, and XHh vs. XHl comparisons, respectively. Ingenuity Pathway Analysis revealed that gene networks identified for the WRRh vs. XHh contrast were associated with developmental disorders. Importantly, the WRRh vs. XHh contrast miRNA–mRNA network was enriched in IGF-1 signaling pathway genes, including FOXO3. A dual-luciferase reporter assay showed that FOXO3 was a target of miR-142-5p. Furthermore, miR-142-5p overexpression significantly decreased FOXO3 mRNA levels and promoted the expression of growth-related genes. These data demonstrated that miR-142-5p targets FOXO3 and promotes growth-related gene expression and regulates skeletal muscle growth in chicken. Comprehensive analysis facilitated the identification of miRNAs and target genes that might contribute to the regulation of skeletal muscle development. Our results provide new clues for understanding the molecular basis of chicken growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The powdered layered double hydroxide(LDH) synthesized by hydrothermal coprecipitation was compounded with sodium alginate to form microspheres(LDH-AL). The characterizations of the LDH-AL show that the microspheres were successfully prepared. Then the immobilization experiments of hexavalent chromium(Cr(VI)) were investigated. The results have proved the effectiveness of microspheres in the immobilization of Cr(VI) in soil. Other limiting factors including LDH percentage, the effects of pH, LDH-AL dosage, interlayer ions, and initial heavy metal concentration were also explored. The LDH-AL showed advantages and its maximum adsorption capacity is 17.0 mg/g. LDH contained in the materials plays a main role in the removal process. In addition, the toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) experiment, plant potting tests, and simulation of natural aging processes were used to verify the stability of microspheres. While a series of characterization investigated the adsorption mechanism, the interlayer ion exchange and surface adsorption are the main reasons for Cr(VI) immobilization in contaminated soil. There are also isomer substitution and complexation adsorption phenomena. This study demonstrated the potential application of LDH-AL microspheres in the immobilization of Cr(VI) from contaminated soil. [Display omitted] • LDH was successfully encapsulated into alginate and well characterized. • The LDH-AL were stable in the simulation of the natural aging process for Cr(VI) immobilization. • The immobilization mechanism is mainly ion-exchange, surface attraction, and restoration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1800s, natural gas has been extracted from wells drilled into conventional reservoirs. Today, gas is also extracted from shale using high-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF). These wells sometimes leak methane and must be re-sealed with cement. Some researchers argue that methane concentrations, C, increase in groundwater near shale-gas wells and that “fracked” wells leak more than conventional wells. We developed techniques to mine datasets of groundwater chemistry in Pennsylvania townships where contamination had been reported. Values of C measured in shallow private water wells were discovered to increase with proximity to faults and to conventional, but not shale-gas, wells in the entire area. However, in small subareas, C increased with proximity to some shale-gas wells. Data mining was used to map a few hotspots where C significantly correlates with distance to faults and gas wells. Near the hotspots, 3 out of 132 shale-gas wells (~ 2%) and 4 out of 15 conventional wells (27%) intersect faults at depths where they are reported to be uncased or uncemented. These results demonstrate that even though these data techniques do not establish causation, they can elucidate the controls on natural methane emission along faults and may have implications for gas well construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of cholamine, a raw material for synthesis of some active lipids, are unknown in poultry. To address this, 180 52-wk-old Hyline laying hens were randomly divided into 3 groups (20 replicates per group with three hens per replicate). The control group and the treatment groups (treatment 1 and 2) were fed basal diet and the diet supplemented with 500 or 1,000 mg of cholamine per kilogram of the diet for 35 d, respectively. The data showed that supplementary cholamine significantly lowered egg production, daily feed intake, serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level, liver index, and the percentages of C15:0 and C20:0 in fatty acid composition of liver, significantly elevated hepatic triglyceride content, the ratio of villus height to crypt depth (P < 0.05), and the percentage of C18:2n−6 and the ratio of n−6 to n−3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in liver fat (P < 0.10). Moreover, supplementary cholamine altered the relative abundance of some intestinal bacteria with a decrease in the alpha biodiversity (P < 0.10). Additionally, transcriptome analysis on the livers of the treatment vs. the control groups identified 1,151 up- and 914 down-regulated differentially expressed genes (DEGs), and pathway analysis revealed that the suppressed Notch signaling pathway and the enhanced Oxidative phosphorylation pathway were enriched with DEGs. Particularly, fat absorption, transport and oxidative phosphorylation-related DEGs (e.g., FABP1, APOA4 , and PCK1) were significantly induced, but fatty acid synthesis, and lipid package and secretion-related DEGs (e.g., FASN, SCD , and MTTP) were not. In conclusion, supplementary cholamine may lower egg production by promoting hepatic lipid deposition and reducing abundances of beneficial intestinal bacteria and microfloral biodiversity in laying hens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advanced technology in GPS and sensors enables us to track physical events, such as human movements and facility usage. Periodicity analysis from the recorded data is an important data mining task which provides useful insights into the physical events and enables us to report outliers and predict future behaviors. To mine periodicity in an event, we have to face real-world challenges of inherently complicated periodic behaviors and imperfect data collection problem. Specifically, the hidden temporal periodic behaviors could be oscillating and noisy, and the observations of the event could be incomplete. In this paper, we propose a novel probabilistic measure for periodicity and design a practical algorithm, ePeriodicity, to detect periods. Our method has thoroughly considered the uncertainties and noises in periodic behaviors and is provably robust to incomplete observations. Comprehensive experiments on both synthetic and real datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of our method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As it is well known, muscle atrophy is a process in which protein degradation increases and protein synthesis decreases. This process is regulated by a variety of links. Among them, microRNAs play an essential role in this process, which has attracted widespread attention. In this paper, we find that miR-27b-3p and Cbl-b genes are significantly differentially expressed in the induced atrophy model. The dual-luciferase experiment and Western blot analysis confirmed that miR-27b-3p could regulate the expression of Cbl-b. In C2C12-differentiated myotubes, the overexpression of the Cbl-b gene showed that Cbl-b could upregulate the expression of MuRF-1 and Atrogin-1, which are related marker genes of muscle atrophy, at both the mRNA and protein levels, indicating that the Cbl-b gene can specifically affect muscle atrophy. The knockdown of the Cbl-b gene after C2C12-differentiated myotubes induced atrophy treatment can downregulate the expression of muscle-atrophy-related genes, indicating that manual intervention to downregulate the expression of Cbl-b has a certain alleviating effect on muscle atrophy. These data suggest that miR-27b-3p can regulate the expression of the Cbl-b gene and then exert a particular influence on muscle atrophy through the Cbl-b gene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Previous studies have demonstrated the role of N6-methyladenosine (m6A) RNA methylation in various biological processes, our research is the first to elucidate its specific impact on LCAT mRNA stability and adipogenesis in poultry. Results: The 6 100-day-old female chickens were categorized into high (n = 3) and low-fat chickens (n = 3) based on their abdominal fat ratios, and their abdominal fat tissues were processed for MeRIP-seq and RNA-seq. An integrated analysis of MeRIP-seq and RNA-seq omics data revealed 16 differentially expressed genes associated with to differential m6A modifications. Among them, ELOVL fatty acid elongase 2 (ELOVL2), pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 4 (PDK4), fatty acid binding protein 9 (PMP2), fatty acid binding protein 1 (FABP1), lysosomal associated membrane protein 3 (LAMP3), lecithin-cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) and solute carrier family 2 member 1 (SLC2A1) have ever been reported to be associated with adipogenesis. Interestingly, LCAT was down-regulated and expressed along with decreased levels of mRNA methylation methylation in the low-fat group. Mechanistically, the highly expressed ALKBH5 gene regulates LCAT RNA demethylation and affects LCAT mRNA stability. In addition, LCAT inhibits preadipocyte proliferation and promotes preadipocyte differentiation, and plays a key role in adipogenesis. Conclusions: In conclusion, ALKBH5 mediates RNA stability of LCAT through demethylation and affects chicken adipogenesis. This study provides a theoretical basis for further understanding of RNA methylation regulation in chicken adipogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Previous studies of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) focused on CEA measured at a single time point, ignoring serial CEA measurements. Methods: This retrospective cohort included 2959 patients underwent surgery for stage I-III NSCLC. CEA trajectory patterns and long-term cumulative CEA burden were evaluated using the latent class growth mixture model. Results: Four CEA trajectory groups were identified, named as low-stable, decreasing, early-rising and later-rising. Compared with the low-stable group, the adjusted hazard ratios associated with death were 1.27, 4.50, and 3.68 for the other groups. Cumulative CEA burden were positively associated with the risk of death in patients not belonging to the low-stable group. The 5-year overall survival (OS) rates decreased from 62.3% to 33.0% for the first and fourth quantile groups of cumulative CEA burden. Jointly, patients with decreasing CEA trajectory could be further divided into the decreasing & low and decreasing & high group, with 5-year OS rates to be 77.9% and 47.1%. Patients with rising CEA trajectory and high cumulative CEA were found to be more likely to develop bone metastasis. Conclusions: Longitudinal trajectory patterns and long-term cumulative burden of CEA were independent prognostic factors of NSCLC. We recommend CEA in postoperative surveillance of NSCLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies the effects of nonpeptigernic angiotensin II (ANG II) antagonists on neural responses of hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN) neurons to electrical stimulation or direct application of ANG II. Excitatory effects; Increased neural activity; Effects of losartan; Implications.

Background: The Crohn's-like lymphoid reaction (CLR) is manifested as peritumoral lymphocytes aggregation in colon cancer, which is a major component of the host immune response to cancer. However, the lack of a unified and objective CLR evaluation standard limits its clinical application. We, therefore, developed a deep learning model for the fully automated CLR density quantification on routine hematoxylin and eosin (HE)-stained whole-slide images (WSIs) and further investigated its prognostic validity for patient stratification. Methods: The CLR density was calculated by using a deep learning method on HE-stained WSIs. A training (N = 279) and a validation (N = 194) cohorts were used to evaluate the prognostic value of CLR density for overall survival (OS). Result: The fully automated quantified CLR density was an independent prognostic factor, with high CLR density associated with increased OS in the discovery (HR 0.58, 95% CI 0.38–0.89, P = 0.012) and validation cohort (0.45, 0.23–0.88, 0.020). Integrating CLR density into a Cox model with other risk factors showed improved prognostic capability. Conclusion: We developed a new immune indicator (CLR density) quantified by a deep learning method to evaluate the lymphocytes aggregation in colon cancer. The CLR density was demonstrated its predictive value for OS in two independent cohorts. This approach allows for the objective and standardized quantification while reducing pathologists' workload. Therefore, this fully automated standardized method of CLR evaluation had potential clinical value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A novel Co 3 O 4 @SiO 2 -Ag nanocapsules were developed via a facile and environment-friendly self-catalytic method. • The morphology of nanocapsules with hollow and mesoporous were controllable. • The nanocapsules exhibited excellence catalytic performance for degrading methyl orange. A degradation of organic dyes catalyst with stable structure and efficient performance, SiO 2 coated Co 3 O 4 and Ag nanocapsules have been successfully prepared by the simple in-situ method and template method, which shown excellent catalytic performance for degrade methyl orange dye in solution. The degradation rate constant (k) of Co 3 O 4 @SiO 2 -Ag was 0.150 min−1. The combination of two metals and the hollow mesoporous structure significantly improved the catalytic performance of the material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel supercapacitor material was synthesized from SiO2-coated Co3O4 and CuO nanoparticles. These nanocapsules provided large specific surface area, fast electron transport, good mechanical stability and high electrochemical activity. The specific capacitance at 1 A g−1 was 835.4 F g−1, and it had excellent cycling performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To explore the correlation between the initial recurrence site and survival after recurrence (PRS) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods: We collected 588 stages I–III NSCLC patients with recurrence after radical resection in Yunnan Cancer Hospital from January 2013 to December 2018. We used Kaplan–Meier survival curves to compare PRS in patients with different site recurrences. The univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazard models were used to analyze the impact of the initial recurrence site on PRS. Results: The recurrence site included the lung (n = 109), brain (n = 113), bone (n = 79), abdomen (n = 28), pleura (n = 24), lymph node (n = 81), and multisite (n = 154). In the total population, patients with multisite recurrence had substantially worse PRS (24.8 months, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 17.46–32.20) than that of patients without multiple sites recurrence (42.2 months, 95% CI 32.24–52.10) (P = 0.026). However, patients with lung recurrence had better RFS (63.1 months, 95% CI 51.13–74.00) than those who did not (31.0 months, 95% CI 25.10–36.96) (P < 0.001). In adenocarcinoma, patients with pleural recurrence had substantially worse PRS (21.3 months, 95% CI 15.07–27.46) than that of patients without pleural recurrence (46.9 months, 95% CI 35.07–58.80) (P = 0.031). Multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression analysis revealed that lung recurrence (HR 0.58, 95% CI 0.40–0.82; P = 0.003) was independent protective prognostic factor for PRS in the total population, while pleural recurrence (HR 2.18, 95% CI 1.14–4.17; P = 0.018) was independent adverse prognostic factors for PRS in adenocarcinoma patients. Conclusion: The initial recurrence site was associated with PRS in NSCLC patients. Identification of recurrence sites could guide the subsequent treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three‐photon fluorescence (3PF) imaging excited at 1700 nm window is an enabling technology for visualizing deep brain structures and dynamics. Recently, the 2200 nm window has emerged as the longest excitation window suitable for deep‐brain 3PF imaging. Bright fluorescent probes lay the material basis for deep‐brain 3PF imaging. Among various fluorescent probes, aggregation‐induced emission luminogens (AIEgens) have great potential in 3PF imaging excited at the 1700 nm window in vivo. However, to the best of knowledge, there is no AIEgens applicable to 3PF imaging excited at both the 1700 and 2200 nm windows. To readily fill this gap, here this study designs and synthesizes a novel AIEgen, namely TPE‐DPTT‐ICP, which generates bright 3PF signals excited at both 1700 and 2200 nm. The accordingly fabricated TPE‐DPTT‐ICP nanoparticles (NPs) possess excellent water dispersibility, colloidal stability, biocompatibility, photostability and large 3P action cross section, key to in vivo imaging. In mouse brain in vivo, TPE‐DPTT‐ICP NPs enable deep‐brain 3PF imaging of subcortical structures excited at both the two windows, reaching depths of 1640 and 880 µm below the brain surface, respectively. TPE‐DPTT‐ICP NPs are thus a versatile material simultaneously catering to the need at two infrared optical windows with deep tissue penetration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Accurately assessing the risk of recurrence in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) before treatment is important for the development of treatment strategies. The purpose of this study is to develop an MRI-based scoring system to predict the risk of recurrence in patients with LARC. Methods: This was a multicenter observational study that enrolled participants who underwent neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy. To evaluate the risk of recurrence in these patients, we developed the mrDEC scoring system and assessed inter-reader agreement. Additionally, we plotted Kaplan–Meier curves to compare the 3-year disease-free survival (DFS) and 5-year overall survival (OS) rates among patients with different mrDEC scores. Results: A total of 1287 patients with LARC were included in this study. We observed substantial inter-reader agreement for mrDEC. Based on the mrDEC scores ranging from 0 to 3, the patients were categorized into four groups. The 3-year DFS rates for the groups were 91.0%, 79.5%, 65.5%, and 44.0% (P < 0.0001), respectively, and the 5-year OS rates were 92.9%, 87.1%, 74.8%, and 44.5%, respectively (P < 0.0001). Conclusions: The mrDEC scoring system proved to be an effective tool for predicting the prognosis of patients with LARC and can assist clinicians in clinical decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CuO nanoparticles (CuO NPs) with ultrasmall size (∼3.6 nm) and a highly-dispersed pattern embedded in a silica matrix were obtained in situ through a calcination process of organic copper salt. By means of rational selection of reactants, organic copper salt was introduced into Si–O–Si networks via covalent bonding during the sol–gel process under neutral conditions without any additional catalyst. The introduction of organic copper salt via covalent bonding as well as the compact Si–O–Si networks allowed for the formation of highly dispersed and ultrasmall sized CuO NPs. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed that the obtained silica complex had spherical morphology and well-dispersed small sized CuO NPs. The as-obtained CuO@SiO2 nanocomposites exhibited good catalytic property on the reduction of organic dye with NaBH4 as the reducing agent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Avian leukosis virus subgroup J (ALV-J) can cause several different leukemia-like proliferative diseases in the hemopoietic system of chickens. Here, we investigated the transcriptome profiles and miRNA expression profiles of ALV-J-infected and uninfected chicken spleens to identify the genes and miRNAs related to ALV-J invasion. In total, 252 genes and 167 miRNAs were differentially expressed in ALV-J-infected spleens compared to control uninfected spleens. miR-23b expression was up-regulated in ALV-J-infected spleens compared with the control spleens, and transcriptome analysis revealed that the expression of interferon regulatory factor 1 (IRF1) was down-regulated in ALV-J-infected spleens compared to uninfected spleens. A dual-luciferase reporter assay showed that IRF1 was a direct target of miR-23b. miR-23b overexpression significantly (P = 0.0022) decreased IRF1 mRNA levels and repressed IRF1-3′-UTR reporter activity. In vitro experiments revealed that miR-23b overexpression strengthened ALV-J replication, whereas miR-23b loss of function inhibited ALV-J replication. IRF1 overexpression inhibited ALV-J replication, and IRF1 knockdown enhanced ALV-J replication. Moreover, IRF1 overexpression significantly (P = 0.0014) increased IFN-β expression. In conclusion, these results suggested that miR-23b may play an important role in ALV-J replication by targeting IRF1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CircRNAs are newly identified special endogenous RNA molecules that covalently close a loop by back-splicing with pre-mRNA. In the cytoplasm, circRNAs would act as molecular sponges to bind with specific miRNA to promote the expression of target genes. However, knowledge of circRNA functional alternation in skeletal myogenesis is still in its infancy. In this study, we identified a circRNA–miRNA–mRNA interaction network in which the axis may be implicated in the progression of chicken primary myoblasts' (CPMs) myogenesis by multi-omics (i.e., circRNA-seq and ribo-seq). In total, 314 circRNA–miRNA–mRNA regulatory axes containing 66 circRNAs, 70 miRNAs, and 24 mRNAs that may be relevant to myogenesis were collected. With these, the circPLXNA2-gga-miR-12207-5P-MDM4 axis aroused our research interest. The circPLXNA2 is highly differentially expressed during differentiation versus proliferation. It was demonstrated that circPLXNA2 inhibited the process of apoptosis while at the same time stimulating cell proliferation. Furthermore, we demonstrated that circPLXNA2 could inhibit the repression of gga-miR-12207-5p to MDM4 by directing binding to gga-miR-12207-5p, thereby restoring MDM4 expression. In conclusion, circPLXNA2 could function as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) to recover the function of MDM4 by directing binding to gga-miR-12207-5p, thereby regulating the myogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A novel replaceable rhombus driving friction damper (RDF) is developed. • The hysteretic behavior of new PTED joint with RDF damper is theoretically derived. • The seismic optimization strategy for PC frames with NPTED joints is effective. • The parametrized modeling and structural analysis is automated in the optimization. • Design of performance- and cost-dominant cases is controlled by different ways. From the aspects of earthquake resilience, energy dissipation efficiency and building functionality, a novel post-tensioned energy dissipation (NPTED) joint with replaceable rhombus driving friction (RDF) damper is developed. To reach a well-balanced design scheme of a precast concrete (PC) frame with the NPTED joints, a multi-objective seismic optimization strategy with the dual concern of material cost and energy dissipation is put forward. The hysteretic behavior of the RDF damper is analytically derived, tested and numerically implemented into a finite element platform as a uniaxial material with the NPTED joint. To respond to the optimization problem in a more efficient way, the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) is modified to improve the quality of population. The development of some interfaces and batteries within the finite element analytical platform and Grasshopper® makes the parametrized modeling and structural finite element analysis be automated during the optimization process. The effectiveness of the proposed optimization strategy, as well as the NPTED joints, has been fully demonstrated by a case study on a 12-story PC frame. The results indicate that the seismic design of those performance-dominant cases is controlled by rare-level earthquake while that of those cost-dominant ones is controlled by frequent-level earthquake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The immobilization of cadmium (Cd(II)) in soil using calcined rectorite (REC) was investigated in this research. The results of immobilization show that a small amount of REC calcined at 700 °C (REC-700 °C) could effectively immobilize 90% of Cd(II) in soil, while the immobilization efficiency of REC only reached 42%. Moreover, the immobilization efficiency of REC calcined at 300 °C and 500 °C (REC-300 °C and REC-500 °C) were lower than REC. To investigate the mechanism, the materials before and after immobilization were fully analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), powdery X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results indicate that the structure of REC has been changed after calcination at different temperatures and Cd(II) was successfully immobilized on materials. Losing free water, structural water and OH groups respectively, the layer spacing of REC-300 °C and REC-500 °C was shrunk. However, the crystal structure of REC was destroyed after calcination at 700 °C, resulting in the generation of new phases. According to the XRD result, more cadmium hydroxide (Cd(OH) 2) were produced on REC-700 °C, indicating that more OH groups were formed during immobilization. Furthermore, Tessier test demonstrates that Cd(II) in soil changed from exchangeable state and water soluble state to carbonate bound state and iron manganese oxide bound state during immobilization. The result of microbial community indicates that REC-700 °C can restore the microbial composition of Cd(II)-contaminated soil. The effects of pH, freeze-thaw, REC dosage, and initial heavy metal concentration were also evaluated to provide a theoretical basis for the subsequent application of the material in the remediation of contaminated soil. [Display omitted] • Calcined RECs are used in the remediation of Cd(II)-contaminated soil. • The immobilization efficiency of REC-700 °C is much higher than REC. • Calcined RECs have great stability in different pH or temperatures soil. • REC-700 °C can effectively reduce the mobility and phytotoxicity of Cd(II). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Current prognostic prediction models of colorectal cancer (CRC) include only the preoperative measurement of tumor markers, with their available repeated postoperative measurements underutilized. CRC prognostic prediction models were constructed in this study to clarify whether and to what extent the inclusion of perioperative longitudinal measurements of CEA, CA19-9, and CA125 can improve the model performance, and perform a dynamic prediction. Methods: The training and validating cohort included 1453 and 444 CRC patients who underwent curative resection, with preoperative measurement and two or more measurements within 12 months after surgery, respectively. Prediction models to predict CRC overall survival were constructed with demographic and clinicopathological variables, by incorporating preoperative CEA, CA19-9, and CA125, as well as their perioperative longitudinal measurements. Results: In internal validation, the model with preoperative CEA, CA19-9, and CA125 outperformed the model including CEA only, with the better area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUCs: 0.774 vs 0.716), brier scores (BSs: 0.057 vs 0.058), and net reclassification improvement (NRI = 33.5%, 95% CI: 12.3 ~ 54.8%) at 36 months after surgery. Furthermore, the prediction models, by incorporating longitudinal measurements of CEA, CA19-9, and CA125 within 12 months after surgery, had improved prediction accuracy, with higher AUC (0.849) and lower BS (0.049). Compared with preoperative models, the model incorporating longitudinal measurements of the three markers had significant NRI (40.8%, 95% CI: 19.6 to 62.1%) at 36 months after surgery. External validation showed similar results to internal validation. The proposed longitudinal prediction model can provide a personalized dynamic prediction for a new patient, with estimated survival probability updated when a new measurement is collected during 12 months after surgery. Conclusions: Prediction models including longitudinal measurements of CEA, CA19-9, and CA125 have improved accuracy in predicting the prognosis of CRC patients. We recommend repeated measurements of CEA, CA19-9, and CA125 in the surveillance of CRC prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphitic phase carbon nitride (CN) is a safe and green photocatalyst, but the activity of the pristine CN photocatalyst is still unsatisfactory due to the significant recombination of photogenerated charges, so it is still challenging to realize the practical application of CN for photocatalysis. Herein, we report that a mechanical mixture consisting of pre-thermally polymerized melamine (Me) and 3-amino-1,2,4-triazole (AT) can be transformed into a crystalline isotype heterojunction material (ISCN MT) by ionothermal synthesis. A series of characterizations and photocatalytic tests demonstrate that the polymerizability, porosity and photoelectric conversion efficiency of the constructed ISCN MT have been improved. The photogenerated charge pairs of the ISCN MT can migrate in S-scheme, indicating that ISCN MT retains the strongest reduction capacity and greatly improving the separation efficiency of photogenerated charge pairs. As a result, the ISCN MT exhibits outstanding performance. Its catalytic efficiency for visible light-triggered hydrogen evolution from water can reach 9.64 mmol·g−1·h−1 with an apparent quantum efficiency (AQE) of 26.23%, which is 21 or 45 times higher than that of the carbon nitride material directly polymerized by Me or AT (CNM or CN T). In addition, the ISCN MT has a catalytic efficiency of 15.64 μmol·g−1·h−1 for photocatalysis CO 2 reduction under water vapor. This work provides a facile pathway for designing S-scheme isotype heterojunction CN-based photocatalysts for the efficient conversion of solar energy. [Display omitted] • S-scheme carbon nitride isotype heterojunction ISCN MT were prepared by an in-stu ionothermal synthesis method. • Ionothermal synthesis method can significantly improve the crystallinity of material. • ISCN MT showed excellent activity for photocatalytic H 2 evolution (9.64 mmol·g−1·h−1) and CO 2 reduction (15.64 μmol·g−1·h−1). • The exciton dynamics was analyzed in detail using TAS to prove the existence of a strong built-in electric field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Tumor histomorphology analysis plays a crucial role in predicting the prognosis of resectable lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). Computer-extracted image texture features have been previously shown to be correlated with outcome. However, a comprehensive, quantitative, and interpretable predictor remains to be developed. Methods: In this multi-center study, we included patients with resectable LUAD from four independent cohorts. An automated pipeline was designed for extracting texture features from the tumor region in hematoxylin and eosin (H&E)-stained whole slide images (WSIs) at multiple magnifications. A multi-scale pathology image texture signature (MPIS) was constructed with the discriminative texture features in terms of overall survival (OS) selected by the LASSO method. The prognostic value of MPIS for OS was evaluated through univariable and multivariable analysis in the discovery set (n = 111) and the three external validation sets (V1, n = 115; V2, n = 116; and V3, n = 246). We constructed a Cox proportional hazards model incorporating clinicopathological variables and MPIS to assess whether MPIS could improve prognostic stratification. We also performed histo-genomics analysis to explore the associations between texture features and biological pathways. Results: A set of eight texture features was selected to construct MPIS. In multivariable analysis, a higher MPIS was associated with significantly worse OS in the discovery set (HR 5.32, 95%CI 1.72–16.44; P = 0.0037) and the three external validation sets (V1: HR 2.63, 95%CI 1.10–6.29, P = 0.0292; V2: HR 2.99, 95%CI 1.34–6.66, P = 0.0075; V3: HR 1.93, 95%CI 1.15–3.23, P = 0.0125). The model that integrated clinicopathological variables and MPIS had better discrimination for OS compared to the clinicopathological variables-based model in the discovery set (C-index, 0.837 vs. 0.798) and the three external validation sets (V1: 0.704 vs. 0.679; V2: 0.728 vs. 0.666; V3: 0.696 vs. 0.669). Furthermore, the identified texture features were associated with biological pathways, such as cytokine activity, structural constituent of cytoskeleton, and extracellular matrix structural constituent. Conclusions: MPIS was an independent prognostic biomarker that was robust and interpretable. Integration of MPIS with clinicopathological variables improved prognostic stratification in resectable LUAD and might help enhance the quality of individualized postoperative care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Accurate pre-treatment prediction of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) resistance in patients with locally advanced gastric cancer (LAGC) is essential for timely surgeries and optimized treatments. We aim to evaluate the effectiveness of deep learning (DL) on computed tomography (CT) images in predicting NACT resistance in LAGC patients. Methods: A total of 633 LAGC patients receiving NACT from three hospitals were included in this retrospective study. The training and internal validation cohorts were randomly selected from center 1, comprising 242 and 104 patients, respectively. The external validation cohort 1 comprised 128 patients from center 2, and the external validation cohort 2 comprised 159 patients from center 3. First, a DL model was developed using ResNet-50 to predict NACT resistance in LAGC patients, and the gradient-weighted class activation mapping (Grad-CAM) was assessed for visualization. Then, an integrated model was constructed by combing the DL signature and clinical characteristics. Finally, the performance was tested in internal and external validation cohorts using area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves (AUC). Results: The DL model achieved AUCs of 0.808 (95% CI 0.724–0.893), 0.755 (95% CI 0.660–0.850), and 0.752 (95% CI 0.678–0.825) in validation cohorts, respectively, which were higher than those of the clinical model. Furthermore, the integrated model performed significantly better than the clinical model (P < 0.05). Conclusions: A CT-based model using DL showed promising performance for predicting NACT resistance in LAGC patients, which could provide valuable information in terms of individualized treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Patients with high expression of CXCL8 are not sensitive to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) treatment, but the mechanism is unclear. LSECtin is the immune checkpoint ligand of LAG3, and is considered as an important factor of ICIs resistance. This study confirmed the role of CXCL8 and LSECtin in immune microenvironment modulation of colon cancer. The expression of CXCL8 is positively correlated with more than 40 immune checkpoints. CXCL8 could up-regulate LSECtin through AKT signal and promoted the proliferation and invasion ability of colon cancer. These results may be important reasons for the primary drug resistance of ICIs in colon cancer. Background: The role of CXCL8 and LSECtin in colon cancer liver metastasis and immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) treatment effect were widely recognized. However, the regulatory role of CXCL8 on LSECtin is still unclear. Methods: The expression of CXCL8 or LSECtin was analyzed by TCGA database, and verified by GES110225 and clinical samples. The relationship between the expression of CXCL8 or LSECtin and immune cells infiltration, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway, Gene Ontology (GO) items, stromal score, Estimation of STromal and Immune cells in MAlignant Tumours (ESTIMAT) immune score, tumor mutation burden (TMB), mismatch repair gene and immune checkpoints expression were analyzed by Spearman. The effects of CXCL8 on LSECtin expression, proliferation, and invasion ability were clarified by recombinant CXCL8 or CXCL8 interfering RNA. Results: In colon cancer, the expression of CXCL8 was higher, but LSECtin was lower than that in normal mucosa. The expression of CXCL8 or LSECtin was significantly positively correlated with immune cells infiltration, stromal score, ESTIMATE immune score, TMB, and immune checkpoints expression. The expression of LSECtin was closely related to the cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction pathway and response of chemokine function, such as CXCL8/CXCR1/2 pathway. There was a significant positive correlation between the expression of CXCL8 and LSECtin in colon cancer. CXCL8 up-regulated LSECtin through AKT signal and promoted the proliferation and invasion ability of colon cancer. Conclusions: CXCL8 up-regulated LSECtin by activating AKT signal and correlated with the immune microenvironment modulation in colon cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the value of the pre-operative amide proton transfer-weighted (APTw) MRI to assess the prognostic factors in rectal adenocarcinoma (RA).This prospective study ran from January 2022 to September 2023 and consecutively enrolled participants with RA who underwent pre-operative MRI and radical surgery. The APTw signal intensity (SI) values of RA with various tumor (T), node (N) stages, perineural invasion (PNI), and tumor grade were compared by Mann–Whitney U-test or t-test. The receiver operating characteristic curve was used to evaluate the diagnostic performance of the APTw SI values.A total of 51 participants were enrolled (mean age, 58 years ± 10 [standard deviation], 26 men). There were 24 in the T1–T2 stage and 9 with positive PNI. The APTw SI max, 99th, and 95th values were significantly higher in T3–T4 stage tumor than in T1-T2; the median (interquartile range) (M (IQR)) was (4.0% (3.6–4.9%) vs 3.4% (2.9– 4.3%), p = 0.017), (3.7% (3.2–4.1%) vs 3.2% (2.8–3.8%), p = 0.013), and (3.3% (2.8–3.8%) vs 2.9% (2.3–3.5%), p = 0.033), respectively. These indicators also differed significantly between the PNI groups, with the M (IQR) (4.5% (3.6–5.7%) vs 3.7% (3.2–4.2%), p = 0.017), (4.1% (3.4–4.8%) vs 3.3% (3.0–3.9%), p = 0.022), and (3.7% (2.7–4.2%) vs 2.9% (2.6–3.5%), p = 0.045), respectively.Pre-operative APTw MRI has potential value in the assessment of T-staging and PNI determination in RA.Pre-operative amide proton transfer-weighted MRI provides a quantitative method for noninvasive assessment of T-staging and PNI in RA aiding in precision treatment planning.The efficacy of APTw MRI in RA needs further investigation.T3–T4 stage and PNI positive APTw signal intensities were higher than T1–T2 and non-PNI, respectively.APTw MRI provides a quantitative method for assessment of T staging and PNI in RA.The efficacy of APTw MRI in RA needs further investigation.T3–T4 stage and PNI positive APTw signal intensities were higher than T1–T2 and non-PNI, respectively.APTw MRI provides a quantitative method for assessment of T staging and PNI in RA.Methods: To investigate the value of the pre-operative amide proton transfer-weighted (APTw) MRI to assess the prognostic factors in rectal adenocarcinoma (RA).This prospective study ran from January 2022 to September 2023 and consecutively enrolled participants with RA who underwent pre-operative MRI and radical surgery. The APTw signal intensity (SI) values of RA with various tumor (T), node (N) stages, perineural invasion (PNI), and tumor grade were compared by Mann–Whitney U-test or t-test. The receiver operating characteristic curve was used to evaluate the diagnostic performance of the APTw SI values.A total of 51 participants were enrolled (mean age, 58 years ± 10 [standard deviation], 26 men). There were 24 in the T1–T2 stage and 9 with positive PNI. The APTw SI max, 99th, and 95th values were significantly higher in T3–T4 stage tumor than in T1-T2; the median (interquartile range) (M (IQR)) was (4.0% (3.6–4.9%) vs 3.4% (2.9– 4.3%), p = 0.017), (3.7% (3.2–4.1%) vs 3.2% (2.8–3.8%), p = 0.013), and (3.3% (2.8–3.8%) vs 2.9% (2.3–3.5%), p = 0.033), respectively. These indicators also differed significantly between the PNI groups, with the M (IQR) (4.5% (3.6–5.7%) vs 3.7% (3.2–4.2%), p = 0.017), (4.1% (3.4–4.8%) vs 3.3% (3.0–3.9%), p = 0.022), and (3.7% (2.7–4.2%) vs 2.9% (2.6–3.5%), p = 0.045), respectively.Pre-operative APTw MRI has potential value in the assessment of T-staging and PNI determination in RA.Pre-operative amide proton transfer-weighted MRI provides a quantitative method for noninvasive assessment of T-staging and PNI in RA aiding in precision treatment planning.The efficacy of APTw MRI in RA needs further investigation.T3–T4 stage and PNI positive APTw signal intensities were higher than T1–T2 and non-PNI, respectively.APTw MRI provides a quantitative method for assessment of T staging and PNI in RA.The efficacy of APTw MRI in RA needs further investigation.T3–T4 stage and PNI positive APTw signal intensities were higher than T1–T2 and non-PNI, respectively.APTw MRI provides a quantitative method for assessment of T staging and PNI in RA.Results: To investigate the value of the pre-operative amide proton transfer-weighted (APTw) MRI to assess the prognostic factors in rectal adenocarcinoma (RA).This prospective study ran from January 2022 to September 2023 and consecutively enrolled participants with RA who underwent pre-operative MRI and radical surgery. The APTw signal intensity (SI) values of RA with various tumor (T), node (N) stages, perineural invasion (PNI), and tumor grade were compared by Mann–Whitney U-test or t-test. The receiver operating characteristic curve was used to evaluate the diagnostic performance of the APTw SI values.A total of 51 participants were enrolled (mean age, 58 years ± 10 [standard deviation], 26 men). There were 24 in the T1–T2 stage and 9 with positive PNI. The APTw SI max, 99th, and 95th values were significantly higher in T3–T4 stage tumor than in T1-T2; the median (interquartile range) (M (IQR)) was (4.0% (3.6–4.9%) vs 3.4% (2.9– 4.3%), p = 0.017), (3.7% (3.2–4.1%) vs 3.2% (2.8–3.8%), p = 0.013), and (3.3% (2.8–3.8%) vs 2.9% (2.3–3.5%), p = 0.033), respectively. These indicators also differed significantly between the PNI groups, with the M (IQR) (4.5% (3.6–5.7%) vs 3.7% (3.2–4.2%), p = 0.017), (4.1% (3.4–4.8%) vs 3.3% (3.0–3.9%), p = 0.022), and (3.7% (2.7–4.2%) vs 2.9% (2.6–3.5%), p = 0.045), respectively.Pre-operative APTw MRI has potential value in the assessment of T-staging and PNI determination in RA.Pre-operative amide proton transfer-weighted MRI provides a quantitative method for noninvasive assessment of T-staging and PNI in RA aiding in precision treatment planning.The efficacy of APTw MRI in RA needs further investigation.T3–T4 stage and PNI positive APTw signal intensities were higher than T1–T2 and non-PNI, respectively.APTw MRI provides a quantitative method for assessment of T staging and PNI in RA.The efficacy of APTw MRI in RA needs further investigation.T3–T4 stage and PNI positive APTw signal intensities were higher than T1–T2 and non-PNI, respectively.APTw MRI provides a quantitative method for assessment of T staging and PNI in RA.Conclusion: To investigate the value of the pre-operative amide proton transfer-weighted (APTw) MRI to assess the prognostic factors in rectal adenocarcinoma (RA).This prospective study ran from January 2022 to September 2023 and consecutively enrolled participants with RA who underwent pre-operative MRI and radical surgery. The APTw signal intensity (SI) values of RA with various tumor (T), node (N) stages, perineural invasion (PNI), and tumor grade were compared by Mann–Whitney U-test or t-test. The receiver operating characteristic curve was used to evaluate the diagnostic performance of the APTw SI values.A total of 51 participants were enrolled (mean age, 58 years ± 10 [standard deviation], 26 men). There were 24 in the T1–T2 stage and 9 with positive PNI. The APTw SI max, 99th, and 95th values were significantly higher in T3–T4 stage tumor than in T1-T2; the median (interquartile range) (M (IQR)) was (4.0% (3.6–4.9%) vs 3.4% (2.9– 4.3%), p = 0.017), (3.7% (3.2–4.1%) vs 3.2% (2.8–3.8%), p = 0.013), and (3.3% (2.8–3.8%) vs 2.9% (2.3–3.5%), p = 0.033), respectively. These indicators also differed significantly between the PNI groups, with the M (IQR) (4.5% (3.6–5.7%) vs 3.7% (3.2–4.2%), p = 0.017), (4.1% (3.4–4.8%) vs 3.3% (3.0–3.9%), p = 0.022), and (3.7% (2.7–4.2%) vs 2.9% (2.6–3.5%), p = 0.045), respectively.Pre-operative APTw MRI has potential value in the assessment of T-staging and PNI determination in RA.Pre-operative amide proton transfer-weighted MRI provides a quantitative method for noninvasive assessment of T-staging and PNI in RA aiding in precision treatment planning.The efficacy of APTw MRI in RA needs further investigation.T3–T4 stage and PNI positive APTw signal intensities were higher than T1–T2 and non-PNI, respectively.APTw MRI provides a quantitative method for assessment of T staging and PNI in RA.The efficacy of APTw MRI in RA needs further investigation.T3–T4 stage and PNI positive APTw signal intensities were higher than T1–T2 and non-PNI, respectively.APTw MRI provides a quantitative method for assessment of T staging and PNI in RA.Clinical relevance statement: To investigate the value of the pre-operative amide proton transfer-weighted (APTw) MRI to assess the prognostic factors in rectal adenocarcinoma (RA).This prospective study ran from January 2022 to September 2023 and consecutively enrolled participants with RA who underwent pre-operative MRI and radical surgery. The APTw signal intensity (SI) values of RA with various tumor (T), node (N) stages, perineural invasion (PNI), and tumor grade were compared by Mann–Whitney U-test or t-test. The receiver operating characteristic curve was used to evaluate the diagnostic performance of the APTw SI values.A total of 51 participants were enrolled (mean age, 58 years ± 10 [standard deviation], 26 men). There were 24 in the T1–T2 stage and 9 with positive PNI. The APTw SI max, 99th, and 95th values were significantly higher in T3–T4 stage tumor than in T1-T2; the median (interquartile range) (M (IQR)) was (4.0% (3.6–4.9%) vs 3.4% (2.9– 4.3%), p = 0.017), (3.7% (3.2–4.1%) vs 3.2% (2.8–3.8%), p = 0.013), and (3.3% (2.8–3.8%) vs 2.9% (2.3–3.5%), p = 0.033), respectively. These indicators also differed significantly between the PNI groups, with the M (IQR) (4.5% (3.6–5.7%) vs 3.7% (3.2–4.2%), p = 0.017), (4.1% (3.4–4.8%) vs 3.3% (3.0–3.9%), p = 0.022), and (3.7% (2.7–4.2%) vs 2.9% (2.6–3.5%), p = 0.045), respectively.Pre-operative APTw MRI has potential value in the assessment of T-staging and PNI determination in RA.Pre-operative amide proton transfer-weighted MRI provides a quantitative method for noninvasive assessment of T-staging and PNI in RA aiding in precision treatment planning.The efficacy of APTw MRI in RA needs further investigation.T3–T4 stage and PNI positive APTw signal intensities were higher than T1–T2 and non-PNI, respectively.APTw MRI provides a quantitative method for assessment of T staging and PNI in RA.The efficacy of APTw MRI in RA needs further investigation.T3–T4 stage and PNI positive APTw signal intensities were higher than T1–T2 and non-PNI, respectively.APTw MRI provides a quantitative method for assessment of T staging and PNI in RA.Key Points: To investigate the value of the pre-operative amide proton transfer-weighted (APTw) MRI to assess the prognostic factors in rectal adenocarcinoma (RA).This prospective study ran from January 2022 to September 2023 and consecutively enrolled participants with RA who underwent pre-operative MRI and radical surgery. The APTw signal intensity (SI) values of RA with various tumor (T), node (N) stages, perineural invasion (PNI), and tumor grade were compared by Mann–Whitney U-test or t-test. The receiver operating characteristic curve was used to evaluate the diagnostic performance of the APTw SI values.A total of 51 participants were enrolled (mean age, 58 years ± 10 [standard deviation], 26 men). There were 24 in the T1–T2 stage and 9 with positive PNI. The APTw SI max, 99th, and 95th values were significantly higher in T3–T4 stage tumor than in T1-T2; the median (interquartile range) (M (IQR)) was (4.0% (3.6–4.9%) vs 3.4% (2.9– 4.3%), p = 0.017), (3.7% (3.2–4.1%) vs 3.2% (2.8–3.8%), p = 0.013), and (3.3% (2.8–3.8%) vs 2.9% (2.3–3.5%), p = 0.033), respectively. These indicators also differed significantly between the PNI groups, with the M (IQR) (4.5% (3.6–5.7%) vs 3.7% (3.2–4.2%), p = 0.017), (4.1% (3.4–4.8%) vs 3.3% (3.0–3.9%), p = 0.022), and (3.7% (2.7–4.2%) vs 2.9% (2.6–3.5%), p = 0.045), respectively.Pre-operative APTw MRI has potential value in the assessment of T-staging and PNI determination in RA.Pre-operative amide proton transfer-weighted MRI provides a quantitative method for noninvasive assessment of T-staging and PNI in RA aiding in precision treatment planning.The efficacy of APTw MRI in RA needs further investigation.T3–T4 stage and PNI positive APTw signal intensities were higher than T1–T2 and non-PNI, respectively.APTw MRI provides a quantitative method for assessment of T staging and PNI in RA.The efficacy of APTw MRI in RA needs further investigation.T3–T4 stage and PNI positive APTw signal intensities were higher than T1–T2 and non-PNI, respectively.APTw MRI provides a quantitative method for assessment of T staging and PNI in RA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disuse muscle atrophy is identified as the physiological, biochemical, morphological, and functional changes during restricted movement, immobilization, or weightlessness. Although its internal mechanism has been extensively studied in mammals and was thought to be mainly related to oxidative stress, it was unclear whether it behaved consistently in non-mammals such as chickens. In this study, we tried to construct a disuse atrophy model of the gastrocnemius muscle in chickens by limb immobilization, and collected the gastrocnemius muscles of the fixed group and the control group for RNA sequencing. Through analysis of muscle loss, HE staining, immunohistochemistry, and oxidative stress level, we found that limb immobilization could lead to loss of muscle mass, decrease in muscle fiber diameter, decrease in the proportion of slow muscle fibers, and increase in the proportion of fast muscle fibers, and also cause elevated levels of oxidative stress. In addition, a total of 565 different expression genes (DEGs) were obtained by RNA sequencing, which was significantly enriched in the biological processes such as cell proliferation and apoptosis, reactive oxygen species metabolism, and fast and slow muscle fiber transformation, and it showed that the FOXO signaling pathway, closely related to muscle atrophy, was activated. In brief, we initially confirmed that limb immobilization could induce disuse atrophy of skeletal muscle, and oxidative stress was involved in the process of disuse muscle atrophy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: High immune infiltration is associated with favourable prognosis in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), but an automated workflow for characterizing immune infiltration, with high validity and reliability, remains to be developed.Methods: We performed a multicentre retrospective study of patients with completely resected NSCLC. We developed an image analysis workflow for automatically evaluating the density of CD3+ and CD8+ T-cells in the tumour regions on immunohistochemistry (IHC)-stained whole-slide images (WSIs), and proposed an immune scoring system "I-score" based on the automated assessed cell density.Results: A discovery cohort (n = 145) and a validation cohort (n = 180) were used to assess the prognostic value of the I-score for disease-free survival (DFS). The I-score (two-category) was an independent prognostic factor after adjusting for other clinicopathologic factors. Compared with a low I-score (two-category), a high I-score was associated with significantly superior DFS in the discovery cohort (adjusted hazard ratio [HR], 0.54; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.33-0.86; P = 0.010) and validation cohort (adjusted HR, 0.57; 95% CI 0.36-0.92; P = 0.022). The I-score improved the prognostic stratification when integrating it into the Cox proportional hazard regression models with other risk factors (discovery cohort, C-index 0.742 vs. 0.728; validation cohort, C-index 0.695 vs. 0.685).Conclusion: This automated workflow and immune scoring system would advance the clinical application of immune microenvironment evaluation and support the clinical decision making for patients with resected NSCLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Radiomics analysis of pre-treatment portal phase CT images could effectively predict response to NAC in patients with LAGC. • Proposed radiomics signature with XGB classifier showed the best predictive performance. • Clinical characteristics were unable to predict the response to NAC. To investigate the ability of the CT-based radiomics models for pretreatment prediction of the response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in patients with locally advanced gastric cancer (LAGC). This retrospective analysis included 279 consecutive LAGC patients from center I (training cohort, n = 196; internal validation cohort, n = 83) who were examined by contrast-enhanced CT before treatment and 211 consecutive patients from center II who were recruited as an external validation cohort. A total of 102 features were extracted from the portal venous phase CT images, and feature selection was further subjected to three-step procedures. Next, five classifications, including Logistic Regression (LR), Naive Bayes, Random forest (RF), Support Vector Machine (SVM), and Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGB) algorithms, were applied to construct radiomics models for predicting the good-responder (GR) to NAC in the training cohort. The prediction performances were evaluated using ROC and decision curve analysis (DCA). No statistically significant difference was detected for all clinicopathological characteristics. Additionally, all six key features were significantly different between GR and poor-responder (PR). Compared to models from other classifiers, the model obtained with XGB showed promising prediction performance with the highest AUC of 0.790(95%CI: 0.700–0.880) in the training cohort. The corresponding AUCs were 0.784(95%CI, 0.659–0.908) and 0.803(95%CI, 0.717–0.888) in the internal and external validation cohorts, respectively. DCA confirmed the clinical utility. The proposed pretreatment CT-based radiomics models revealed good performances in predicting response to NAC and thus may be used to improve clinical treatment in LAGC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Simultaneous steep increase of BET and construction of CN-based homojunction were achieved. • The CN-based homojunction photocatalytic CO 2 conversion performance was 13.8 or 16.1 times higher than that of pristine CN. • The adsorption and activation properties of catalysts for CO 2 were studied using the first principles calculations. • A detailed mechanism of photocatalytic CO 2 conversion was proposed based on in situ infrared characterization. The value-added conversion of CO 2 by photocatalytic reduction is considered as a potential way to solve the current energy and environmental crisis. In this paper, we report that a mechanical mixture of the as-thermally polymerized melamine (Me)- and 3-amino-1,2,4-triazole (AT)-based nitride carbons (MCN and TCN) can turn into a homojunction material (MTCN) by a calcination under air. A series of characterizations and photo-catalytic tests, combined with DFT calculations, support that the constructed MTCN has an improved porosity and photoelectric conversion efficiency. And the nitrogen-rich structure not only broadens the visible light response range but also provides stronger Lewis basic sites for the adsorption and activation of CO 2 at the surface. As a result, MTCN exhibits the most outstanding performance on tetracycline degradation under visible light illumination. In particular, its photo-catalytic efficiency for the visible-triggered CO 2 reduction under normal temperature and pressure can reach 7.75 μmol·g−1·h−1, which is 13.8 or 16.1 times higher than the single MCN or TCN. This work provides a facile pathway to construct CN-based homojunction photocatalyst for the efficient conversion of CO 2 into valuable products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Extracellular electron transfer pathway enhances biological hydrogen production. • Shewanella oneidensis -based conductive micro-niches are created. • Graphene and PDA can serve as bridges for interbacterial electron transfer. • A long record for Shewanella oneidensis -based H 2 production for 30 d is achieved. The synergetic integration of living microorganisms and nonliving matrices into a new artificial micro-ecological system is a crucial challenge in bio-manufacturing especially towards the development of sustainable energy technology. Here we develop a way of creating a Shewanella oneidensis based conductive micro-niche to boost hydrogen production by integrating graphene, polydopamine and alginate. We reveal that both the respiratory metabolism induces localized hypoxic conditions inside the micro-niche and the wired-up extracellular electron reverses transfer pathway from the outer environment to the periplasmic hydrogenases, contributing to the enhanced hydrogen production rate which is about 12.7 folds enhancement compared with that of the free Shewanella oneidensis in solution. Significantly, the whole assembly process shows good biocompatibility, ensuring that the Shewanella oneidensis inside the micro-niche could maintain hydrogen production for 30 days. Overall, it is anticipated the hybrid integration of microorganisms and abiotic material will provide an effective strategy to modulate green biomanufacturer as well as enhance biological hydrogen production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A technique for measuring live chicken body fat based on the principle of bioelectrical impedance was proposed. • The AD5933 module performs impedance measurements for better performance. • The impedance measurement experiment of isolated chicken and live broiler was carried out respectively. • The measurement system can be used to predict the fat content of live broilers. In chicken breeding, body fat distribution is an important genetic indicator. To address the issues of low accuracy, high workload, and limited experimental environment in traditional chicken body fat measurement methods, this paper proposes an online measurement method for live chicken body fat based on the principle of bio-electrical impedance. The system uses an STM32F103C8T6 processor, AD5933 impedance measurement module, and four-electrode sampling core module to design an impedance measurement system. During the detection process, the electrode was placed on the left chest-left tibia of live broilers, and a constant excitation frequency signal of 50 kHz was sent to the electrode. The feedback information was then analyzed by the impedance measurement module, and the impedance was calculated and establish a mathematical model of the correlation between impedance values and body fat percentage. Using the method proposed in this paper and traditional methods, the electrical impedance and body fat rate of 30 Wenchang free-range chickens at 107-day-old were measured respectively. The experimental results show that there is a significant positive correlation between the electrical impedance of live broilers and their body fat rate (P < 0.01), which is consistent with previous observations on the characteristics of fat impedance. At a 95 % confidence level, the accuracy of the predicted body fat rate value based on impedance compared with the actual value reached 88.43 %. This study verifies the feasibility of the live chicken body fat measurement method based on the bio-electrical impedance principle, thereby improving the convenience and accuracy of chicken body fat measurement and providing reliable data support for chicken breeding research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Image segmentation of histopathology of colorectal cancer is a core task of computer aided medical image diagnosis system. Existing convolutional neural networks generally extract multi-scale information in linear flow structures by inserting multi-branch modules, which is difficult to extract heterogeneous semantic information under multi-level and different receptive field and tough to establish context dependency among different receptive field features. To address these issues, we propose a symmetric spiral progressive feature fusion encoder-decoder network called the Symmetric Conical Network (SC-Net). First, we design a Multi-scale Feature Extraction Block (MFEB) matching with the Symmetric Conical Network to obtain multi-branch heterogeneous semantic information under different receptive fields, so as to enrich the diversity of extracted feature information. The encoder is composed of MFEB through spiral and multi-branch arrangement to enhance context dependence between different information flow. Secondly, the information loss of contour, color and others in high-level semantic information through causally stacking MFEB, the Feature Mapping Layer (FML) is designed to map low-level features to high-level semantic features along the down-sampling branch and solve the problem of insufficient global feature extraction in deep levels. The SC-Net was evaluated on our self-constructed colorectal cancer dataset, a publicly available breast cancer dataset and a polyp dataset. The results revealed that the mDice of segmentation reached 0.8611, 0.7259 and 0.7144. We compare our model with the state-of-art semantic segmentation UNet++, PSPNet, Attention U-Net, R2U-Net and other advanced segmentation networks. The experimental results demonstrate that we achieve the most advanced performance. The results indicate that the proposed SC-Net excels in segmenting H & E stained pathology images, effectively preserving morphological features and spatial information even in scenarios with weak texture, poor contrast, and variations in appearance. • The symmetrical conical network is proposed for the segmentation of colorectal cancer pathological images. • Improve information flow and gradients across the network through parameter sharing. • Improving Segmentation Performance by Incorporating Contextual Information from Multi-Scale Receptive Fields. • Compensating the loss of deep abstract semantic feature information in the form of hierarchical flow • A dataset is established with four semantic categories finely annotated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Growth traits are important in poultry production, however, little is known for its regulatory mechanism at epigenetic level. Therefore, in this study, we aim to compare DNA methylation profiles between fast- and slow-growing broilers in order to identify candidate genes for chicken growth. Methylated DNA immunoprecipitation-sequencing (MeDIP-seq) was used to investigate the genome-wide DNA methylation pattern in high and low tails of Recessive White Rock (WRRh; WRRl) and that of Xinhua Chickens (XHh; XHl) at 7 weeks of age. The results showed that the average methylation density was the lowest in CGIs followed by promoters. Within the gene body, the methylation density of introns was higher than that of UTRs and exons. Moreover, different methylation levels were observed in different repeat types with the highest in LINE/CR1. Methylated CGIs were prominently distributed in the intergenic regions and were enriched in the size ranging 200–300 bp. In total 13,294 methylated genes were found in four samples, including 4,085 differentially methylated genes of WRRh Vs. WRRl, 5,599 of XHh Vs. XHl, 4,204 of WRRh Vs. XHh, as well as 7,301 of WRRl Vs. XHl. Moreover, 132 differentially methylated genes related to growth and metabolism were observed in both inner contrasts (WRRh Vs. WRRl and XHh Vs. XHl), whereas 129 differentially methylated genes related to growth and metabolism were found in both across-breed contrasts (WRRh Vs. XHh and WRRl Vs. XHl). Further analysis showed that overall 75 genes exhibited altered DNA methylation in all four contrasts, which included some well-known growth factors of IGF1R, FGF12, FGF14, FGF18, FGFR2, and FGFR3. In addition, we validate the MeDIP-seq results by bisulfite sequencing in some regions. Conclusions: This study revealed the global DNA methylation pattern of chicken muscle, and identified candidate genes that potentially regulate muscle development at 7 weeks of age at methylation level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Profound heterogeneity in prognosis has been observed in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients with intermediate levels of disease (stage II–III), advocating the identification of valuable biomarkers that could improve the prognostic stratification. This study aims to develop a deep learning-based pipeline for fully automatic quantification of immune infiltration within the stroma region on immunohistochemical (IHC) whole-slide images (WSIs) and further analyze its prognostic value in CRC. Methods: Patients from two independent cohorts were divided into three groups: the development group (N = 200), the internal (N = 134), and the external validation group (N = 90). We trained a convolutional neural network for tissue classification of CD3 and CD8 stained WSIs. A scoring system, named stroma-immune score, was established by quantifying the density of CD3+ and CD8+ T-cells infiltration in the stroma region. Results: Patients with higher stroma-immune scores had much longer survival. In the development group, 5-year survival rates of the low and high scores were 55.7% and 80.8% (hazard ratio [HR] for high vs. low 0.39, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.24–0.63, P < 0.001). These results were confirmed in the internal and external validation groups with 5-year survival rates of low and high scores were 57.1% and 78.8%, 63.9% and 88.9%, respectively (internal: HR for high vs. low 0.49, 95% CI 0.28–0.88, P = 0.017; external: HR for high vs. low 0.35, 95% CI 0.15–0.83, P = 0.018). The combination of stroma-immune score and tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage showed better discrimination ability for survival prediction than using the TNM stage alone. Conclusions: We proposed a stroma-immune score via a deep learning-based pipeline to quantify CD3+ and CD8+ T-cells densities within the stroma region on WSIs of CRC and further predict survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]