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Purpose: The present report discusses the indications of cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) in open nephrectomy and surgical outcomes of conventional and minimally invasive surgical techniques for treating advanced renal cell carcinoma with inferior vena cava tumor thrombus. Methods: The present study involved a comprehensive retrieval of pertinent literature from the most recent two decades. Results: Comparisons between radical nephrectomy procedures in terms of open, laparoscopic and robotic-assisted surgeries revealed that open surgery had more blood loss, a longer operation time and higher mortality rates than laparoscopic and robotic-assisted surgeries. Furthermore, surgery with CPB was associated with more blood loss than non-CPB surgery. Rates of early and late deaths were much higher in patients with CPB than in those without CPB. Conclusions: Different surgical techniques had different indications in terms of levels of inferior vena cava tumor thrombus. The laparoscopic, robotic-assisted, open surgical techniques and CPB with deep hypothermic circulatory arrest were indicated for Levels I, II, III and III–IV inferior vena cava tumor thrombus, respectively. Laparoscopic and robotic-assisted surgeries cause less trauma than open surgery but require more complicated equipments to support the procedure. CPB should be avoided in radical nephrectomy whenever possible. The increased application of laparoscopic and robotic techniques in the future is anticipated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Treated patients with multiple myeloma (MM) and PC leukemia (PCL) who were considered measurable residual disease (MRD) testing-eligible were identified and the proportion of patients in whom MRD testing was avoided by a positive PCPRO was calculated. The S-phase fraction of abnormal PCs was estimated by dividing the number of abnormal PCs in the S-window by the total number of abnormal PCs after manually gating G0-G1 and G2-M peaks [[7]]. B TO THE EDITOR: b Multiple myeloma (MM) is the second most common hematological malignancy in the United States predicted to cause 34,470 new cases and 12,640 deaths in 2022 [[1]]. [Extracted from the article]

Whether amino acids act on cellular insulin signaling remains unclear, given that increased circulating amino acid levels are associated with the onset of type 2 diabetes (T2D). Here, we report that phenylalanine modifies insulin receptor beta (IRβ) and inactivates insulin signaling and glucose uptake. Mice fed phenylalanine-rich chow or phenylalanine-producing aspartame or overexpressing human phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase (hFARS) develop insulin resistance and T2D symptoms. Mechanistically, FARS phenylalanylate lysine 1057/1079 of IRβ (F-K1057/1079), inactivating IRβ and preventing insulin from promoting glucose uptake by cells. SIRT1 reverse F-K1057/1079 and counteract the insulin-inactivating effects of hFARS and phenylalanine. F-K1057/1079 and SIRT1 levels in white blood cells from T2D patients are positively and negatively correlated with T2D onset, respectively. Blocking F-K1057/1079 with phenylalaninol sensitizes insulin signaling and relieves T2D symptoms in hFARS-transgenic and db/db mice. These findings shed light on the activation of insulin signaling and T2D progression through inhibition of phenylalanylation. Whether amino acids act on cellular insulin signaling remains unclear. Here, the authors find that phenylalanine modifies insulin receptor beta (IRβ) and inactivates insulin signaling and glucose uptake and positively correlated with T2D onset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, carbon nanohorn (CNH)–decorated multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) (CNH@MWCNT) composite was prepared and used to modify glass carbon electrode (GCE) as sensitive electrochemical sensor for niclosamide (NA) determination. Herein, the decoration of CNHs induces higher dispersibility for MWCNTs, and endows the composite with better conductivity, larger surface area, and higher catalytic activity, which leads to significantly enhanced electrochemical behavior toward NA oxidation. The parameters such as mass ratios of CNHs and MWCHTs, the amount of composite materials, the accumulation time, and the solution pH are systematically optimized. Under optimized conditions, the developed electrochemical sensor exhibits a low detection limit of 2.0 nM with a wide linear range of 7.0 nM–10.0 µM and high anti-interference ability. In addition, the sensor displays good stability, repeatability, and reproducibility. The feasibility of the assay was verified by testing NA in brown rice and rice field water samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Bi4−xErxTi3O12 films were deposited on the substrates via the spin-coating method. The doping of Er3+ does not give rise to the variation of phase composition and element valence state in the Bi4−xErxTi3O12 films. The Bi4−xErxTi3O12 films show dense surfaces and clear phase interfaces between the films and the substrates. And the surfaces of the Bi4−xErxTi3O12 films contain particles with various sizes and irregular shapes. The leakage current density and ferroelectricity of Er3+-doped Bi4Ti3O12 (Bi4−xErxTi3O12) are lower than those of Bi4Ti3O12 films. With increasing the doping concentration of Er3+, the values of leakage current density of Bi4−xErxTi3O12 films decrease at first and then increase. Meanwhile, the values of remanent polarization of Bi4−xErxTi3O12 films increase at the beginning and then decrease. Among the five films, the Bi3.4Er0.6Ti3O12 film exhibit smallest value of leakage current density (6.43 × 10−7 A·cm−2) and greatest value of remanent polarization (14.4 μC·cm−2), which indicates the better ferroelectric properties. This is beneficial for the application of ferroelectric functional devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The correct image for Figure 6i is: Graph The correct image for Figure 6j is: Graph These errors have been corrected in both the PDF and HTML versions of the Article. Correction to: I Nature Communications i https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-40597-z, published online 17 August 2023 The original version of this Article contained incorrect images for the microscopy in Figure 6i and western blots in 6j. Author Correction: p21-activated kinase 4 suppresses fatty acid -oxidation and ketogenesis by phosphorylating NCoR1. [Extracted from the article]

DNA methylation is one of the important contents of epigenetics research, and it is inseparable from the occurrence of various biological processes. To explore the epigenetic mechanism of hyperhydricity development and recovery in Dendrobium officinale, whole-genome bisulfite sequencing was performed to systematically analyze the extent and patterns of cytosine methylation in the normal plantlets (Normal), hyperhydric plantlets (HH), and hyperhydric plantlets cultured with K2SiO3 (HH-Si). The CHH context accounted for the largest proportion of methylated cytosine site in D. officinale. There was no significant difference in the degree of methylation in the CG context among the HH vs. Normal, HH-Si vs. HH, and HH-Si vs. Normal. The methylation level in the CHH context decreased with hyperhydricity, while the exogenous addition of silicon increased the methylation level of hyperhydric plantlets. In addition, 36,944 differentially methylated regions were detected in our study. GO enrichment analysis of differentially methylated genes revealed that various methylation sites were involved in different processes and pathways. In HH vs. Normal and HH-Si vs. HH, CHH-DMGs are closely related to the redox system. A cointegration analysis of transcriptome sequencing and methylation data showed that the expression levels of most differentially expressed genes were positively correlated to the methylation level. Our research provides references for an in-depth understanding of plant oxidative stress response mechanisms, as well as new insights into the epigenetic regulation of gene expression in the occurrence and restoration of hyperhydricity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To compare the accuracy and primary stability of tapered and straight implants undergoing immediate implant placement with dynamic navigation. Materials and methods: Patients with compromised anterior teeth in maxilla were recruited and allocated randomly into (1) tapered implant group (TI group) and (2) straight implant group (SI group). Implants were inserted into fresh sockets with dynamic navigation. Three-dimensional platform deviation, apex deviation, angular deviation, insertion torque value (ITV) and implant stability quotient (ISQ) were recorded. Results: Twenty patients with 20 implants were included. The overall platform, apex, and angular deviation were 0.87 ± 0.35 mm, 0.81 ± 0.34 mm, and 2.40 ± 1.31°, respectively. The accuracy was 0.86 ± 0.26 mm, 0.76 ± 0.33 mm, and 2.49 ± 1.54° for TI, and 0.89 ± 0.44 mm, 0.88 ± 0.36 mm, and 2.31 ± 1.01° for SI, with no significant difference (p = 0.85, 0.45, 0.76). Sagittal root position classification (SRP) class I may obtain greater error in numerical values in straight implants (0.97 ± 0.47 mm vs. 0.6 ± 0.16 mm, 0.92 ± 0.36 mm vs. 0.73 ± 0.36 mm, 2.48 ± 1.19° vs. 1.71 ± 0.14°). The overall ISQ was 60.74. ISQ was 60.48 for TI and 60.96 for SI, with no significant difference. Acceptable ITV (> 15 Ncm) was achieved in most of the included patients (SI 7/10, TI 9/10). Conclusions: High accuracy and primary stability of immediate implant placement could be achieved both in tapered and straight implants with dynamic navigation systems. Clinical relevance: Tapered and straight implants did not reach a consensus on which was better in immediate implant regarding to accuracy and primary stability. Our study demonstrated implant macrodesign did not affect accuracy and primary stability in immediate implant using dynamic navigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Yolk—shell and hollow structures are powerful platforms for controlled release, confined nanocatalysis, and optical and electronic applications. This contribution describes a fabrication strategy for a yolk—shell nanoreactor (NR) using a post decoration approach. The widely studied yolk—shell structure of silica-coated TiO2 (TiO2@SiO2) was used as a model. At first, anatase TiO2 spheres were prepared, and subsequently were given a continuous coating of carbonaceous and silica layers. Finally, the carbonaceous layer was removed to produce a yolk—shell structure TiO2@SiO2. By using an in-situ photodeposition method, Pt-encased spheres (Pt-TiO2@SiO2) were synthesized with Pt nanoparticles grown on the surface of the TiO2 core, which contained void spaces suitable for use as NRs. The NR showed enhanced hydrogen production with a rate of 24.56 mmol·g−1h−1 in the presence of a sacrificial agent under simulated sunlight. This strategy holds the potential to be extended for the synthesis of other yolk-shell photocatalytic NRs with different metal oxides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the molecular characteristics in tumor immune microenvironment that affect long-term survival of patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAAD). Methods: The tumor related genetic features of a female PAAD patient (over 13-year survival) who suffered from multiple recurrences and metastases, and six operations over one decade were investigated deeply. Genomic features and immune microenvironment signatures of her primary lesion as well as six metastatic tumors at different time-points were characterized. Results: High-frequency clonal neoantigenic mutations identified in these specimens revealed the significant associations between clonal neoantigens with her prognosis after each surgery. Meanwhile, the TCGA and ICGC databases were employed to analyse the function of KRAS G12V in pancreatic cancer. Conclusions: The genomic analysis of clonal neoantigens combined with tumor immune microenvironment could promote the understandings of personalized prognostic evaluation and the stratification of resected PAAD individuals with better outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patients with large granular lymphocytic leukemia (LGLL) frequently present with neutropenia. When present, anemia is usually accompanied by neutropenia and/or thrombocytopenia and isolated anemia is uncommon. We evaluated a cohort of 244 LGLL patients spanning 15 years and herein report the clinicopathologic features of 34 (14%) with isolated anemia. The patients with isolated anemia showed a significantly male predominance (p = 0.001), a lower level of hemoglobulin (p < 0.0001) and higher MCV (p = 0.017) and were less likely to have rheumatoid arthritis (p = 0.023) compared to the remaining 210 patients. Of the 34 LGLL patients with isolated anemia, 13 (38%) presented with pure red cell aplasia (PRCA), markedly decreased reticulocyte count and erythroid precursors, and more transfusion-dependence when compared to non-PRCA patients. There was no other significant clinicopathologic difference between PRCA and non-PRCA patients. 32 patients were followed for a median duration of 51 months (6–199). 24 patients were treated (11/11 PRCA and 13/21 non-PRCA patients, p < 0.02). The overall response rate to first-line therapy was 83% [8/11 (72.7%) for PRCA, 12/13 (92.3%) for non-PRCA], including 14 showing complete response and 6 showing partial response with a median response duration of 48 months (12–129). Half of non-PRCA patients who were observed experienced progressive anemia. During follow-up, no patients developed neutropenia; however, 5/27 (18.5%) patients developed thrombocytopenia. No significant difference in overall survival was noted between PRCA and non-PRCA patients. In summary, this study demonstrates the unique features of LGLL with isolated anemia and underscores the importance of recognizing LGLL as a potential cause of isolated anemia, which may benefit from disease-specific treatment. LGLL patients with PRCA were more likely to require treatment but demonstrated similar clinicopathologic features, therapeutic responses, and overall survival compared to isolated anemia without PRCA, suggesting PRCA and non-PRCA of T-LGLL belong to a common disease spectrum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the theoretical results on the finite-time synchronization of two delayed inertial fuzzy neural networks. Different from the existing study about dynamics analysis for inertial neural networks, more adjustable parameters are introduced into the variable substitution, and a general Lyapunov function is constructed to realize synchronization in finite time. The analysis mainly employs the theory of finite-time stability theory, Lyapunov functional method and inequality techniques. Finally, numerical simulations are conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the theoretical results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The distinction between chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL) with isolated Hodgkin/Reed–Sternberg cells (CLL-HRS; background milieu with a paucity of inflammatory cells) and overt transformation to classic Hodgkin lymphoma (CLL-HL; mixed inflammatory background) is incompletely understood. This retrospective study examined the clinicopathologic features of CLL-HRS (n = 15) and CLL-HL (n = 31) patients seen over the past three decades from a single institution. The phenotypic features of Reed–Sternberg cells in both groups were similar, including expression of CD30, CD15, and PAX5, as well as EBV status. However, a spectrum of background CLL/SLL infiltration amongst the HRS cells was noted on pathologic review, and four patients had both diagnoses, either concurrently or in succession. The median overall survival (OS) of patients with CLL-HRS was 17.5 months compared to 33.5 months for patients with CLL-HL (P = 0.24). Among patients with CLL-HRS, those who received Hodgkin-directed therapy had a significantly longer median OS (57 months) compared to those who received CLL-directed therapy (8.4 months, P = 0.02). Our clinical and pathologic findings suggest a biologic continuum between CLL-HRS and CLL-HL and indicate that CLL-HRS patients may benefit from Hodgkin-directed therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel molecularly imprinted sensor was developed for the voltammetric determination of adrenaline (AD). MXene/carbon nanohorn (MXene/CNH) composite with good electric conductivity and enormous accessible active sites was firstly introduced as catalytic substrate. Subsequently, molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) film was fabricated in mixed solutions containing hydroxymethyl-3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (functional monomer) and AD (template) through electro-polymerization process. A molecularly imprinted sensor was formed after removing the template. The morphology and elemental composition of the prepared composites were studied by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Cyclic voltammetry (CV), differential pulse voltammetry (DPV), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were used to investigate the electrochemical performance of the molecularly imprinted sensors. Under optimized conditions, the designed sensor displays a wide linear range from 1.0 nM to 60.0 μM and a low limit of detection of 0.3 nM. The developed sensor also presents good selectivity, reproducibility and long-term stability, and satisfactory feasibility in practical sample analysis. MXene/carbon nanohorns decorated with conductive molecularly imprinted poly(hydroxymethyl-3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) was proposed for highly sensitive and selective detection of adrenaline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phenolic acids and tanshinones are important bioactive components with multiple pharmacological properties accumulated in traditional Chinese medicinal plant Salvia miltiorrhiza. Abscisic acid (ABA) is effective to enhance the content of the two compounds in S. miltiorrhiza, while the regulation mechanism remains unknown. Deep transcriptome profile of S. miltiorrhiza hairy roots treated with ABA was conducted. Totally, 42,710 unigenes with the average length of 1,157 bp were obtained from de novo assembly from about 2.81 billion produced clean reads, of which 27,641 unigenes (64.72%) were successfully annotated. Unigenes encoding key enzymes such as PAL, TAT, C4H, RAS, CYP98A14, GGPPS expressed significantly higher than that in control. Candidate laccases showing similar expression with RAS and CYP98A14 in phenolic acid biosynthesis and potential P450 unigenes involved in tanshinone biosynthesis genes were screened out. Furthermore, transcription factor (TF) profiles revealed that 1,250 TFs representing 35 families were identified, of which MYB, AP2/ERF, bHLH and bZIP were most abundant. The present study provided a comprehensive transcriptional expression profile affected by ABA, which will help underly the biosynthesis and regulation mechanism. Key message: Transcriptomic analysis of ABA-treated Salvia miltiorrhiza. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Han burials in the Wuchuan region of the northeast Yungui Plateau are known for the cinnabar grains placed within. Many bronze grave goods are morphologically similar to those in the Central Plains, providing clues for studying the immigrants from the Central Plains during the Qin and Han Dynasties. Our results indicate that Wuchuan bronzes are stylistically similar to the Qin bronzes in northern China. We combine lead isotope and alloy composition analyses to classify Wuchuan bronzes into three provenance groups. By comparing the lead isotope data of the bronze artifacts of the Qin and Han Dynasties, we find that the bronze wares of the early Western Han Dynasty in Wuchuan were all imported from northern China. Conversely, the Eastern Han Dynasty bronzes were likely produced locally using the metal resources from the Yungui Plateau. Those northern China bronzes were possibly imported into this region by mining immigrants, as the Yungui Plateau is rich in mercury resources. According to historical documents, Wuchuan was a major cinnabar and mercury production center, and its mercury resources were exploited on a large scale during the Qin and Han Dynasties. Therefore, mining was the main driver for this southward immigration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The field static load test method was adopted for two test piles in a project in Zhejiang area of China, analyze the effect of post-grouting technique on super-long cast-in-place bored pile and its internal mechanism. Q-s curves and pile axial force curves were drawn based on test data to show that post-grouting technique played a prominent role in improving bearing capacity of single pile and pile skin friction. In addition, pile skin friction at upper soil layer around super-long pile was fully used, but that at lower soil layer was not. For the design of super-long pile, the compression of pile body should be considered to make the best use of pile skin friction caused by relative displacement between pile and soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mutations in SPOP E3 ligase gene are reportedly associated with genome-wide DNA hypermethylation in prostate cancer (PCa) although the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. Here, we demonstrate that SPOP binds and promotes polyubiquitination and degradation of histone methyltransferase and DNMT interactor GLP. SPOP mutation induces stabilization of GLP and its partner protein G9a and aberrant upregulation of global DNA hypermethylation in cultured PCa cells and primary PCa specimens. Genome-wide DNA methylome analysis shows that a subset of tumor suppressor genes (TSGs) including FOXO3, GATA5, and NDRG1, are hypermethylated and downregulated in SPOP-mutated PCa cells. DNA methylation inhibitor 5-azacytidine effectively reverses expression of the TSGs examined, inhibits SPOP-mutated PCa cell growth in vitro and in mice, and enhances docetaxel anti-cancer efficacy. Our findings reveal the GLP/G9a-DNMT module as a mediator of DNA hypermethylation in SPOP-mutated PCa. They suggest that SPOP mutation could be a biomarker for effective treatment of PCa with DNA methylation inhibitor alone or in combination with taxane chemotherapeutics. The molecular mechanism underlying the DNA hypermethylation phenotype observed in the SPOP-mutant prostate cancers is unclear. Here, the authors show that mutant SPOP induces global aberrant DNA methylation patterns through GLP/G9a and renders prostate cancer cells susceptible to DNA demethylating agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intraspecific competition is a major force in mediating population dynamics, fuelling adaptation, and potentially leading to evolutionary diversification. Among the evolutionary arms races between parasites, one of the most fundamental and intriguing behavioural adaptations and counter-adaptations are superparasitism and superparasitism avoidance. However, the underlying mechanisms and ecological contexts of these phenomena remain underexplored. Here, we apply the Drosophila parasite Leptopilina boulardi as a study system and find that this solitary endoparasitic wasp provokes a host escape response for superparasitism avoidance. We combine multi-omics and in vivo functional studies to characterize a small set of RhoGAP domain-containing genes that mediate the parasite's manipulation of host escape behaviour by inducing reactive oxygen species in the host central nervous system. We further uncover an evolutionary scenario in which neofunctionalization and specialization gave rise to the novel role of RhoGAP domain in avoiding superparasitism, with an ancestral origin prior to the divergence between Leptopilina specialist and generalist species. Our study suggests that superparasitism avoidance is adaptive for a parasite and adds to our understanding of how the molecular manipulation of host behaviour has evolved in this system. Evolutionary arms races can drive adaptations in hosts and parasites as well as among competing parasites. A combination of multi-omics and functional tests identifies a set of genes that allow a parasitic wasp to minimize intraspecific competition by inducing hosts to escape before more wasps can parasitize them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The endosomal-lysosomal system mediates the process of protein degradation through endocytic pathway. This system consists of early endosomes, late endosomes, recycling endosomes and lysosomes. Each component in the endosomal-lysosomal system plays individual crucial role and they work concordantly to ensure protein degradation can be carried out functionally. Dysregulation in the endosomal-lysosomal system can contribute to the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). In AD endosomal-lysosomal abnormalities are the earliest pathological features to note and hence it is important to understand the involvement of endosomal-lysosomal dysfunction in the pathogenesis of AD. In-depth understanding of this dysfunction can allow development of new therapeutic intervention to prevent and treat AD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a scheme for implementing deterministic joint remote preparation of the Knill–Laflamme–Milburn state with two GHZ states as the quantum channel. Assuming that four of the six involved qubits collectively suffer the same type of noise, we first investigate the effects of four typical types of noises on the protocol by means of Kraus operators. It is shown that the bit-flip and amplitude damping noise are the severe noises for decoherence rate χ < 0.5 , followed by the depolarizing and phase-flip channel, respectively. Interestingly, the efficiency of the scheme can be restored by adding decoherence when χ > 0.5 in bit-flip and phase-flip noise channel. Afterward, we investigate the dynamics of deterministic joint remote state preparation for dissipative environments. Analytical and numerical calculations show that the quality of our scheme can be enhanced by adjusting the system detuning no matter whether the non-Markovian effect is applicable or not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lead-free films of Bi4-xNdxTi3O12 were deposited on Pt(111)/Ti/SiO2/Si(100) substrate via spin-coating methods. It is shown that there are no secondary phases in the films of Bi4-xNdxTi3O12 and clear interfaces between the films of Bi4-xNdxTi3O12 and substrates when the films are annealed at 700 °C. And the films of Bi4-xNdxTi3O12 also exhibit a blue light emission peak at 437 nm and a yellow light emission peak at 580 nm. There are narrower band gaps, greater values of dielectric constant and lower values of dielectric loss when the concentration of Nd3+ varies from 0 to 0.85. And the films of Bi4-xNdxTi3O12 possess the minimum of band gap energy (2.67 eV). Moreover, the films of Bi4-xNdxTi3O12 exhibit minimal leakage current density and maximal remanent polarization, which is highly beneficial for the potential applications in multi-functional devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dysregulated extravillous trophoblast invasion and proliferation are known to increase the risk of recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA); however, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. Herein, in our retrospective observational case-control study we show that villous samples from RSA patients, compared to healthy controls, display reduced succinate dehydrogenase complex iron sulfur subunit (SDHB) DNA methylation, elevated SDHB expression, and reduced succinate levels, indicating that low succinate levels correlate with RSA. Moreover, we find high succinate levels in early pregnant women are correlated with successful embryo implantation. SDHB promoter methylation recruited MBD1 and excluded c-Fos, inactivating SDHB expression and causing intracellular succinate accumulation which mimicked hypoxia in extravillous trophoblasts cell lines JEG3 and HTR8 via the PHD2-VHL-HIF-1α pathway; however, low succinate levels reversed this effect and increased the risk of abortion in mouse model. This study reveals that abnormal metabolite levels inhibit extravillous trophoblast function and highlights an approach for RSA intervention. Abnormal placentation is associated with recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA) risk. Here the authors report that low embryonic villous succinate level associates with risk of RSA in patients, and increasing succinate levels is sufficient to reduce the incidence rate in a mouse model of spontaneous abortion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cadmium (Cd) is a toxic metal reported to act as an estrogen "mimic" in the rat uterus and in vitro. We have reported that Cd stimulates proliferation of estrogen-responsive human uterine leiomyoma (ht-UtLM; fibroid) cells through nongenomic signaling involving the G protein-coupled estrogen receptor (GPER), with activation of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and mitogen-activated protein kinase (pMAPK44/42). In this study, we explored Cd-induced mechanisms downstream of MAPK and whether Cd could stimulate phosphorylation of Histone H3 at serine 10 (H3Ser10ph) through activated Aurora B kinase (pAurora B), a kinase important in activation of histone H3 at serine 10 during mitosis, and if this occurs via Fork head box M1 (FOXM1) and cyclin D1 immediately downstream of MAPK. We found that Cd increased proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and H3Ser10ph expression by immunofluorescence, and that H3ser10ph and pAurora B were coexpressed along the metaphase plate in ht-UtLM cells. In addition, Cd-exposed cells showed higher expression of pMAPK44/42, FOXM1, pAurora B, H3ser10ph, and Cyclin D1 by western blotting. Immunoprecipitation and proximity ligation assays further indicated an association between FOXM1 and Cyclin D1 in Cd-exposed cells. These effects were attenuated by MAPK kinase (MEK1/2) inhibitor. In summary, Cd-induced proliferation of ht-UtLM cells occurred through activation of Histone H3 and Aurora B via FOXM1/Cyclin D1 interactions downstream of MAPK. This provides a molecular mechanism of how Cd acts as an "estrogen mimic" resulting in mitosis in hormonally responsive cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The irregular domain and lack of ordering make it challenging to design deep neural networks for point cloud processing. This paper presents a novel framework named Point Cloud Transformer (PCT) for point cloud learning. PCT is based on Transformer, which achieves huge success in natural language processing and displays great potential in image processing. It is inherently permutation invariant for processing a sequence of points, making it well-suited for point cloud learning. To better capture local context within the point cloud, we enhance input embedding with the support of farthest point sampling and nearest neighbor search. Extensive experiments demonstrate that the PCT achieves the state-of-the-art performance on shape classification, part segmentation, semantic segmentation, and normal estimation tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The films of (Bi0.5Na0.5)(Ti1-xMnx)O3-δ (BNTMx) were deposited on the substrates via the sol–gel method. The influence of the doping content of Mn on the microstructures and ferroelectric properties of the films were investigated. In addition, the valence states of Mn ions were analyzed. The results show that Mn ions have dissolved into the lattice of Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3 (BNT) without forming any secondary phase. When the doping content of Mn is 0.04, the film of BNTMx possesses a dense microstructure, maximum of remnant polarization (20.2 µC·cm−2), minimum value of leakage current density (3.31 × 10–5 A· cm−2), which shows good ferroelectric property and insulation performance. The results of XPS indicate that Mn ions exist in form of Mn2+, Mn3+ and Mn4+. The ratio of the amount of Mn4+ to that of Mn3+ and Mn2+ is 5.5:1. In this work, relationship between valence states of Mn ions and leakage current densities or ferroelectric property of the films were investigated in detail. The results will provide a new way for future applications of BNT-based multi-functional devices and an alternative for environmental-friendly ferroelectric materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a practical backend for stereo visual SLAM which can simultaneously discover individual rigid bodies and compute their motions in dynamic environments. While recent factor graph based state optimization algorithms have shown their ability to robustly solve SLAM problems by treating dynamic objects as outliers, their dynamic motions are rarely considered. In this paper, we exploit the consensus of 3D motions for landmarks extracted from the same rigid body for clustering, and to identify static and dynamic objects in a unified manner. Specifically, our algorithm builds a noise-aware motion affinity matrix from landmarks, and uses agglomerative clustering to distinguish rigid bodies. Using decoupled factor graph optimization to revise their shapes and trajectories, we obtain an iterative scheme to update both cluster assignments and motion estimation reciprocally. Evaluations on both synthetic scenes and KITTI demonstrate the capability of our approach, and further experiments considering online efficiency also show the effectiveness of our method for simultaneously tracking ego-motion and multiple objects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The past few years have witnessed a substantial increase in functional rich API services and their compositions (e.g., Mashup services) on the Internet, which as a result proposes new requirement of organization and management methods for better service understanding, discovery and usage. Tagging is known to be efficient for this purpose, and many tag recommender systems for API services have been proposed in the past. Existing approaches targeted at API services usually recommend several similar tags, which is insufficient for Mashup services that normally demonstrate diverse functionalities. In this paper, we propose a novel approach for Mashup service tag completion that can recommend tags revealing the functional features of Mashup services more comprehensively. It first extracts candidate tags for the target Mashup from API services in different functional domains. Then, it adopts a hybrid filtering procedure to recommend the most relevant tags. To support efficient tag extraction and recommendation, an attention-based topic model called Att-LDA is proposed that can highlight the functional oriented features in descriptions of services for accurate functional semantic learning. Experiments and validations on a real-word dataset demonstrate the performance of our approach improved 7.1% compared with other state-of-the-art methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mycobacteria have shown enormous resilience to survive and persist by remodeling and altering metabolic requirements. Under stringent conditions or exposure to drugs, mycobacteria have adapted to rescue themselves by shutting down their major metabolic activity and elevate certain survival factor levels and efflux pathways to survive and evade the effects of drug treatments. A fundamental feature in this adaptation is the ability of mycobacteria to vary the enzyme composition of the electron transport chain (ETC), which generates the proton motive force for the synthesis of adenosine triphosphate via oxidative phosphorylation. Mycobacteria harbor dehydrogenases to fuel the ETC, and two terminal respiratory oxidases, an aa3-type cytochrome c oxidase (cyt-bcc-aa3) and a bacterial specific cytochrome bd-type menaquinol oxidase (cyt-bd). In this study, we employed homology modeling and structure-based virtual screening studies to target mycobacteria-specific residues anchoring the b558 menaquinol binding region of Mycobacterium tuberculosis cyt-bd oxidase to obtain a focused library. Furthermore, ATP synthesis inhibition assays were carried out. One of the ligands MQL-H2 inhibited both NADH2- and succinate-driven ATP synthesis inhibition of Mycobacterium smegmatis inside-out vesicles in micromolar potency. Similarly, MQL-H2 also inhibited NADH2-driven ATP synthesis in inside-out vesicles of the cytochrome-bcc oxidase deficient M. smegmatis strain. Since neither varying the electron donor substrates nor deletion of the cyt-bcc oxidase, a major source of protons, hindered the inhibitory effects of the MQL-H2, reflecting that MQL-H2 targets the terminal oxidase cytochrome bd oxidase, which was consistent with molecular docking studies. Characterization of novel cytochrome bd oxidase Menaquinol binding domain inhibitor (MQL-H2) using virtual screening and ATP synthesis inhibition assays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parasitoids are ubiquitous in natural ecosystems. Parasitic strategies are highly diverse among parasitoid species, yet their underlying genetic bases are poorly understood. Here, we focus on the divergent adaptation of a specialist and a generalist drosophilid parasitoids. We find that a novel protein (Lar) enables active immune suppression by lysing the host lymph glands, eventually leading to successful parasitism by the generalist. Meanwhile, another novel protein (Warm) contributes to a passive strategy by attaching the laid eggs to the gut and other organs of the host, leading to incomplete encapsulation and helping the specialist escape the host immune response. We find that these diverse parasitic strategies both originated from lateral gene transfer, followed with duplication and specialization, and that they might contribute to the shift in host ranges between parasitoids. Our results increase our understanding of how novel gene functions originate and how they contribute to host adaptation. Parasitism is a widespread evolutionary strategy. A study that spans functional and evolutionary genomics identifies the molecular basis and history underlying two genes that have mediated divergent parasitic strategies (specialist vs generalist) between two sister species of parasitoid wasp. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The silence of lncRNA small nucleolar RNA host gene 16 (SNHG16) suppressed acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) cell proliferation and migration, whereas its role in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) still lacks clarity. This study showed that SNHG16 was upregulated in AML patients and cells. And SNHG16 overexpression remarkably enhanced the proliferation and migration capacities of HL60 and AML-193 cells, while SNHG16 knockdown acted the opposite way. Subsequently, we revealed that SNHG16 directly bound to CELF2 (CUGBP Elav-like family member 2) protein, and caused CELF2 mRNA unstably and proteins reducing. CELF2 was decreased both in AML patients and cells. CELF2 overexpression or interference weakened the effect of overexpressing or silencing SNHG16 on proliferation and migration. Moreover, the transfection of pcDNA-CELF2 elevated PTEN (phosphatase and tensin homolog) activity and hindered the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/AKT signaling. And SNHG16 reduced PTEN activity and promoted the PI3K/AKT pathway activation by restraining CELF2. Furthermore, GDC-0941 (a specific inhibitor of the PI3K/AKT pathway) impeded the effect of SNHG16 increase, and bpV(pic) (a specific PTEN inhibitor) declined the effect of SNHG16 decrease on cell proliferation and migration. Taken together, the present study indicated that SNHG16 promoted proliferation and migration of AML cells via PTEN/PI3K/AKT axis through suppressing CELF2 protein. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies have shown that long-term alcohol intake from food can lead to numerous mental disorders in humans, and the social and health effects of excessive intake of alcohol currently represent serious problems for governments and families worldwide. However, to date, it has not been determined how alcohol affects the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis. The zebrafish offers a good model for studying the toxicology of food-grade ethanol. In the present study, using zebrafish larvae exposed to 1% ethanol, we performed zebrafish behavioral analysis. Samples were collected for enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and quantitative real time-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) experiments, and statistical analysis was performed. We found that ethanol decreased the locomotor activity of zebrafish larvae, which showed a more intense reaction to external stimuli. Ethanol also increased the level of HPA axis hormones in zebrafish larvae, influenced the level of neurotransmitters, and altered the expression of key genes in neurotransmitter metabolism. Ethanol exposure affects zebrafish behavior, increases the level of HPA axis hormones in zebrafish larvae, affects the level of neurotransmitters, and affects the expression of key genes in dopamine and serotonin metabolism. These findings may help to elucidate the effects of ethanol on HPA axis activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is concerned with the dynamic characteristics of bubbles near two connected walls (one horizontal and the other inclined with an obtuse angle from the horizontal one). In this study, we set up an experiment system to conduct typical cases, and the boundary element method is employed to explain the bubble behavior and study the effect of relative parameters. Comparing the two mutually perpendicular walls, we find that the liquid jet deviates from the horizontal direction within a much shorter range. On the intersection of the two walls, the motions of bubbles have similar trends. The relatively low pressure between the bubble and walls causes the transition of the bubble, and a local high-pressure zone leads to the formation of a liquid jet. Moreover, there are moments when the two walls are evenly stressed in the first bubble cycle. Through parameter analysis, we find that the jet directions of bubbles perform interesting discrepancies for different buoyancy and distances to walls. Some instructive conclusions are given to serve practical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces Jittor, a fully just-in-time (JIT) compiled deep learning framework. With JIT compilation, we can achieve higher performance while making systems highly customizable. Jittor provides classes of Numpy-like operators, which we call meta-operators. A deep learning model built upon these meta-operators is compiled into high-performance CPU or GPU code in real-time. To manage metaoperators, Jittor uses a highly optimized way of executing computation graphs, which we call unified graph execution. This approach is as easy to use as dynamic graph execution yet has the efficiency of static graph execution. It also provides other improvements, including operator fusion, cross iteration fusion, and unified memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the idea of transition from classical optics to quantum optics we deduce the natural expressions of optical beam splitter (BS) and 2-cascaded BS operators in coherent state representation and also obtain their normally ordered forms. Moreover, we theoretically prepare some desired quantum entangled states and investigate several carried experiments. Finally, our work shall be focused on the following two aspects: the quantum-optical catalysis of the BS and quantum state truncation of the 2-cascaded BS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Coronary artery involvements in patients with Takayasu arteritis (TA) have not been sufficiently described. By comprehensive retrieval of the pertinent literature published in the past two decades, 59 reports including 141 patients were recruited into this study. In TA patients with coronary artery involvements, the right coronary artery was the most commonly affected. Stenosis was the most common coronary artery lesion, and the coronary ostium was the most commonly affected coronary segment. Acute myocardial infarction was diagnosed in 17 (12.1%) patients of this cohort. Patients receiving surgical treatment showed a higher recovery rate than interventionally treated patients. Interventional therapy was associated with a higher reintervention rate than surgical treatment. The inflammation condition in TA patients can lead to in-stent restenosis and warrant reinterventions. Surgical treatment is a preferable treatment of choice over interventional therapy for the coronary artery lesions of TA patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) is involved in diverse biological processes of cells including dermal fibroblasts that contributed to wound healing and resulted in keloid scarring. MiR-506-3p has been identified as a tumor suppressor or oncogene in fibroblasts of various cancers, while the role of miR-506-3p in regulating functions of post-burn dermal fibroblasts is poorly known. In this study, miR-506-3p was confirmed to be significantly downregulated in burned tissues and heat-stimulated dermal fibroblasts. Expression levels of autophagy-related proteins suggested thermal stimulus promoting the autophagy in dermal fibroblasts. Then, miR-506-3p inhibition enhanced cell proliferation and cell cycle process in dermal fibroblasts after thermal stimulus, whereas overexpression of miR-506-3p showed the opposite effect. Western blot assay showed that inhibition of miR-506-3p resulted in the upregulation of the expression levels of LC3-II, ATG5, and structural protein collagen I, as well as the downregulation of p62. Marker proteins of intermolecular cross-links in collagen synthesis, including hydroxylysylpyridinoline (HP), lysinepyridine (LP), and lysyl hydroxylase 2 (LH2), were increased by miR-506-3p overexpression and decreased by miR-506-3p inhibition. Moreover, transfection with miR-506-3p mimic suppressed the proliferation and autophagy in heat-stimulated dermal fibroblasts in a dose-dependent manner. Subsequently, dual luciferase reporter gene assay demonstrated that Beclin-1 was a direct target of miR-506-3p, and reintroduction of Beclin-1 could antagonize the suppressive effect of miR-506-3p overexpression on fibroblast proliferation, autophagy, and the intermolecular cross-links in collagen synthesis. Taken together, our findings showed that miR-506-3p regulated autophagy and proliferation in post-burn skin fibroblasts through post-transcriptionally suppressing Beclin-1 expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Authorship is commonly used as the basis for the measurement of research productivity. It influences career progression and rewards, making it a valued commodity in a competitive scientific environment. To better understand authorship practices amongst collaborative teams, this study surveyed authors on collaborative journal articles published between 2011 and 2015. Of the 8364 respondents, 1408 responded to the final open-ended question, which solicited additional comments or remarks regarding the fair distribution of authorship in research teams. This paper presents the analysis of these comments, categorized into four main themes: (1) disagreements, (2) questionable behavior, (3) external influences regarding authorship, and (4) values promoted by researchers. Results suggest that some respondents find ways to effectively manage disagreements in a collegial fashion. Conversely, others explain how distribution of authorship can become a "blood sport" or a "horror story" which can negatively affect researchers' wellbeing, scientific productivity and integrity. Researchers fear authorship discussions and often try to avoid openly discussing the situation which can strain team interactions. Unethical conduct is more likely to result from deceit, favoritism, and questionable mentorship and may become more egregious when there is constant bullying and discrimination. Although values of collegiality, transparency and fairness were promoted by researchers, rank and need for success often overpowered ethical decision-making. This research provides new insight into contextual specificities related to fair authorship distribution that can be instrumental in developing applicable training tools to identify, prevent, and mitigate authorship disagreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scientific authorship serves to identify and acknowledge individuals who "contribute significantly" to published research. However, specific authorship norms and practices often differ within and across disciplines, labs, and cultures. As a consequence, authorship disagreements are commonplace in team research. This study aims to better understand the prevalence of authorship disagreements, those factors that may lead to disagreements, as well as the extent and nature of resulting misbehavior. Methods include an international online survey of researchers who had published from 2011 to 2015 (8364 respondents). Of the 6673 who completed the main questions pertaining to authorship disagreement and misbehavior, nearly half (46.6%) reported disagreements regarding authorship naming; and discipline, rank, and gender had significant effects on disagreement rates. Paradoxically, researchers in multidisciplinary teams that typically reflect a range of norms and values, were less likely to have faced disagreements regarding authorship. Respondents reported having witnessed a wide range of misbehavior including: instances of hostility (24.6%), undermining of a colleague's work during meetings/talks (16.4%), cutting corners on research (8.3%), sabotaging a colleague's research (6.4%), or producing fraudulent work to be more competitive (3.3%). These findings suggest that authorship disputes may contribute to an unhealthy competitive dynamic that can undermine researchers' wellbeing, team cohesion, and scientific integrity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]