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Primary pulmonary sarcoma (PPS) is a rare and poor prognostic malignancy that results from current clinical studies are lacking. Our study aimed to investigate the prognostic factors of PPS and to construct a predictive nomogram that predict the overall survival (OS) rate. We extracted data on patients diagnosed with PPS from 2010 to 2019 in the SEER database. A total of 169 patients were included after screening by inclusion and exclusion criteria. Univariate and multivariate COX regression analyses showed that age, pathological grade, liver metastasis, surgical intervention, and chemotherapy influenced the prognosis. We constructed the prediction model nomogram based on these factors. Moreover, the results of the internal and external ROC curves, calibration curves, and DCA plots confirmed that the model has good discrimination, accuracy, and clinical practice efficacy. The present study is the first population-based study to explore the factors affecting the prognosis of PPS. We established a novel prognostic nomogram to predict the OS rate, which can help to make proper clinical decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Demineralized dentin matrix (DDM) is an osteoconductive and osteoinductive material that has been successfully used in sinus floor augmentation and alveolar ridge augmentation in clinical applications. It releases bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) and other growth factors, making DDM a suitable grafting material. However, the granular particle of DDM makes it difficult to anchor into the bone defect area. The aim of this study was to investigate the biological effects and osteoinductivity of the combination of DDM and Fibrin Glue (FG) at an optimal ratio on bone healing from a critical bone defect in an animal model. The mouse osteoblastic cell line (MC3T3-E1) was co-cultured with various ratios of DDM and FG to examine their effects on osteoblast proliferation and differentiation, as indicated by alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity, osteocalcin (OC) production and mineralized nodules formation. The optimal ratio was then chosen for further study with a rabbit calvarial defective model, in which they were implanted with DDM or DDM-FG1 (1 g: 0.1 ml) and DDM-FG2 (1 g: 0.5 ml) compounds, or left blank for 2, 4, 8 and 12 weeks to investigate soft tissue and new bone regeneration. Micro-CT and histology analysis were used to evaluate the total grafting properties according to the different healing periods. The result from in vitro studies demonstrated that the ratio of 1:0.1 induced more ALP activity and mineralized nodules, while the ratio of 1: 0.5 (DDM-FG combined) induced more osteocalcin (OC) at specific time points. In the animal model, the 3D new bone volume in all DDM-FG treatment groups was significantly greater than that in the blank group at 2, 4, 8 and 12 weeks. Furthermore, the new bone volume was greater in DDM-FG2 when compared to the other groups during the early weeks of the healing period. In histological analysis, clusters of osteoblasts were formed adjacent to the DDM particles, and newly formed bone was observed in all groups, suggesting an osteoinductive property of DDM. Moreover, the greater new collagen synthesis observed at 4 weeks suggested that early bone healing was induced in the DDM-FG2 group. This study demonstrated that at an optimal ratio, the DDM-FG compound enhances osteogenic activities and bone regeneration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reduced salinity is a major factor that causes macrobenthic degradation in reclaimed wetlands. We investigated populations of the sesarmid crab Chiromantes dehaani in reclaimed and natural wetlands. Then, in the laboratory, we exposed male and female crabs to four salinity levels (0, 6, 12 and 18) for 96 h to analyse the effects of reduced salinity on osmoregulatory enzyme activities in the posterior gills and digestive and immune enzyme activities in the hepatopancreas of C. dehaani. The results revealed a significant positive correlation between the number of crabs and salinity. In the laboratory, we found that the isosmotic point of C. dehaani was close to 16 ppt. The crabs showed strong hyper-osmotic regulation when exposed to 0–6 ppt salinities. Moreover, in this salinity range, amylase activities were significantly inhibited. Under low-salinity stress, the immune enzyme activities were significantly activated. However, phenoloxidase and lysozyme activities were inhibited in the freshwater environment. The male and female crabs showed no significant differences in most of the enzyme activities. Thus, reduced salinity can adversely affect the digestive and immune functions of C. dehaani, which may cause population degradation in reclaimed wetlands. Our findings can provide new insights into the effects of reclamation on macrobenthos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To check if it is possible for crayfish to reduce the weed biomass in a paddy field, we hypothesised that crayfish can feed on common weeds in a paddy field. The feeding ability of red swamp crayfish, Procambarus clarkii, males and females for 4 weeds, Ludwigia prostrata Roxb., Leptochloa chinensis (L.) Nees, Echinochloa crusgalli (L.) Beauv and Eclipta prostrata L., commonly found in rice–crayfish fields were evaluated using a quantitative feeding experiment and behaviour observation experiment. The results of the quantitative feeding and behaviour experiments were highly consistent. The P. clarkii gender and weed species had no interactive effects on survival rate, the daily feed intake (FI) and percentage of daily feed intake (PFI). The results of the quantitative feeding experiment showed that the FI and PFI values of both P. clarkii females and males were significantly higher in the P. clarkii feed group than in the weed treatment group. Both FI and PFI were significantly higher in the L. chinensis group than in the other treatment groups. The survival rate of P. clarkii was significantly lower in the E. crusgalli group than in the other treatment groups. The behaviour observation experiment showed that the feeding frequency and duration were in the order of L. chinensis > E. prostrata > L. prostrata > E. crusgalli. The results indicate that the P. clarkii specimens liked to eat L. chinensis (mean PFI was more than 2%), hardly fed on E. crusgalli. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the ultrafiltration (UF) membrane fouling mechanism of intracellular organic matter (IOM) from Chlorella vulgaris (CV) and Microcystis aeruginosa (MA). Both CV- and MA-IOM caused severe membrane fouling during UF; however, there were significant differences in the membrane fouling by these two materials. Neutral hydrophilic (N-HPI) compounds were the organics that caused the most severe membrane fouling during CV-IOM filtration, whereas the MA-IOM membrane fouling was induced by mainly hydrophobic (HPO) organics. From an analysis based on Derjaguin–Landau–Verwey–Overbeek theory, it was found that the interaction energy between the membrane and foulants in the later stage of filtration was the major factor determining the efficiency of filtration for both CV-IOM and MA-IOM. The TPI organics in CV-IOM fouled the membrane to a more severe degree during the initial filtration flux; however, when the membrane surface was covered with CV-IOM foulants, the N-HPI fraction of CV-IOM caused the most severe membrane fouling because its attractive energy with the membrane was the highest. For MA-IOM, regardless of the initial filtration flux or the late stage of filtration, the HPO organics fouled the membrane to the greatest extent. An analysis of modified filtration models revealed that cake layer formation played a more important role than other fouling mechanisms during the filtration of CV-IOM and MA-IOM. This study provides a significant understanding of the membrane fouling mechanism of IOM and is beneficial for developing some strategies for membrane fouling control when treating MA and CV algae-laden waters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resonators with multi-frequency generations at the device-level are highly desired in the future multi-band, reconfigurable, and compact wireless communications. In this work, a switchable radio frequency micro-electro-mechanical system (RF-MEMS) resonator with multiple electrodes is presented. The resonator is designed to operate at the whispering gallery modes (WGMs). Simultaneous excitations of the second to seventh modes with high Q values are implemented within a single device using a pair of electrodes for driving and sensing. For effective multi-frequency excitations, the electrode span angle is optimized. The frequencies of the 37 μm and 18 μm-radius resonators range from 53 MHz to 176 MHz and 112 MHz to 366 MHz, respectively. The Q values in each mode are over 104. Moreover, with the multi-electrode configurations, the specific mode can be enhanced with other modes suppressed. A more than 6 dB improvement of the spectrum peak is realized and the high Q values are maintained. A comprehensive theory is built up to clarify the driving/sensing principles under different electrode configurations. Furthermore, the air damping is found to have a significant effect on Q values for resonator with high stiffness vibrating in all the WGMs. The Q values in vacuum have at least two times improvement. The high-performance switchable resonator could dramatically reduce the power consumption, simplify the processing circuits, and occupy less footprint, which has great potential applications in future advanced RF front end systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, many new rice–fish co-culture models have been developed to increase economic and ecological benefits. In this study, we added eels (Monopterus albus) to a rice–crayfish system and conducted a 3-year field investigation to compare the yields and availability of fertilizer N among groups with a low density of eels, high density of eels and no eels. We performed a mesocosm experiment and used an isotope tracer technique to detect the fate of fertilizer N. The results showed that the rice yields significantly improved after the introduction of the eels. However, the introduction of a high density of eels significantly limited the crayfish yield, increased water N and N2O emissions and decreased soil N content. The mesocosm experiment suggested that the use efficiency of fertilizer N was significantly increased after the introduction of the eels. The fertilizer N used by rice was significantly higher in rice–crayfish–eel system than in rice–crayfish system. This study indicated that the introduction of eels may be a good practice for improving yields and availability of fertilizer N in a rice–crayfish system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influenza epidemic is a huge burden to public health. Current influenza vaccines provide limited protection against new variants due to frequent mutation of the virus. The continual emergence of novel variants necessitates the method rapidly monitoring influenza virus infection in experimental systems. Although several replication-competent reporter viruses carrying fluorescent proteins or small luciferase have been generated in previous studies, visualizing influenza virus infection via such strategy requires reverse genetic modification for each viral strain which is usually time-consuming and inconvenient. Here, we created a novel influenza A nucleoprotein (NP) dependent reporter gene transcription activation module using NP-specific nanobodies. Our results demonstrated the modular design allowed reporter genes (mNeonGreen fluorescent protein and Gaussia luciferase) specifically expressing to detect intracellular NP protein, and therefore acts as a universal biosensor to monitor infection of various influenza A subtypes in living cells. The new system may provide a powerful tool to analyze influenza A infections at the cellular level to facilitate new antiviral drug discovery. Moreover, this approach may easily extend to develop live-cell biosensors for other viruses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tissue engineering is a promising technology used as an alternative to organ/tissue transplantation which is often limited by donor shortage. The construction of large-sized engineered tissue requires a fast and sufficient vascularization process. Previous studies have shown that hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) -1α may promote the vascularization process implying that stabilized HIF-1α can be applied in the engineering of large-sized tissue. However, the toxicity and off-target effect of previously reported HIF-1α stabilizers limit their clinical application. FG-4592, a small molecule specific HIF stabilizer, was previously investigated as an anti-anemia drug in a phase-III clinical trial. Here we found that FG-4592 promoted tube formation in an in vitro model of angiogenesis by stabilizing HIF-1α and activating vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). When FG-4592 immobilized fibrin gel scaffold was implanted into a subcutaneous tissue engineering chamber, the vascularization process was significantly enhanced through the similar mechanisms which was verified in vitro. We conclude that FG-4592 may serve as a pro-angiogenic molecule for the construction of large-sized engineered tissue where intensive angiogenesis is required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The renin-angiotensin system (RAS) is a principal determinant of arterial blood pressure and fluid and electrolyte balance. RAS component dysregulation was recently found in some malignancies and correlated with poor patient outcomes. However, the exact mechanism of local RAS activation in tumors is still unclear. Here, we find that the local angiotensin II predominantly exists in the hypoxic regions of tumor formed by nasopharyngeal carcinoma CNE2 cells and breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells, where these tumor cells autocrinely produce angiotensin II by a chymase-dependent rather than an angiotensin converting enzyme-dependent mechanism. We further demonstrate in nasopharyngeal carcinoma CNE2 and 5-8F cells that this chymase-dependent effect is mediated by increased levels of lactate, a by-product of glycolytic metabolism. Finally, we show that the enhanced angiotensin II plays an important role in the intracellular accumulation of HIF-1α of hypoxic nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells and mediates the radiation-resistant phenotype of these nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells. Thus, our findings reveal the critical role of hypoxia in producing local angiotensin II by a lactate-chymase-dependent mechanism and highlight the importance of local angiotensin II in regulating radioresistance of hypoxic tumor cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hepatitis D virus (HDV) is a defective RNA virus that requires the presence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) for its life cycle. The in vitro HDV infection system is widely used as a surrogate model to study cellular infection with both viruses owing to its practical feasibility. However, previous methods for running this system were less efficient for high-throughput screening and large-scale studies. Here, we developed a novel method for the production of infectious HDV by adenoviral vector (AdV)-mediated transduction. We demonstrated that the AdV-based method yields 10-fold higher viral titers than the transient-transfection approach. The HDV-containing supernatant derived from AdV-infected Huh7 cells can be used as the inoculum in infectivity assays without requiring further concentration prior to use. Furthermore, we devloped a chemiluminescent immunoassay (HDV-CLEIA) to quantitatively determine intracellular HDAg with a dynamic range of 5-11,000 pg/mL. HDV-CLEIA can be used as an alternative approach to assess HDV infection. The advantages of our updated methodology were demonstrated through in vitro HDV infection of HepaRG cells and by evaluating the neutralization activity using antibodies that target various regions of the HBV/HDV envelope proteins. Together, the methods presented here comprise a novel toolbox of in vitro assays for studying HDV infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a worldwide health problem. Serum levels of FGF23, a phosphaturic hormone, increase at the earliest stages of CKD, and have been found to be independently associated with the mortality and morbidity of CKD patients. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether FGF23 neutralization was able to improve bone quality and osseointegration of titanium implants. Uremia was induced by 5/6 nephrectomy in adult female mice. Postsurgery, the mice were injected with vehicle or FGF23 neutralizing antibody (5 mg/kg body weight) 3 times a week. Experimental titanium implants were inserted in the distal end of the femurs. FGF23 neutralization significantly increased serum phosphate, 1,25(OH)2D and BUN, and decreased serum PTH and FGF23, relative to vehicle-treated CKD mice. Histomorphometric analysis of the tibiae indicated that FGF23 neutralization normalized the osteoidosis observed in vehicle-treated CKD mice. Although bone-implant contact ratio remained unchanged by anti-FGF23 antibody treatment, the strength of osseointegration, as evidenced by a biomechanical push-in test, was significantly improved by FGF23 neutralization. Our findings revealed that FGF23 neutralization effectively improves bone quality and osseointegration of titanium implants in CKD mice, suggesting FGF23 as a key factor of CKD related bone diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]