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Coffee is a globally consumed commodity of substantial commercial significance. In this study, we constructed a fluorescent sensor array based on two types of polymer templated silver nanoclusters (AgNCs) for the detection of organic acids and coffees. The nanoclusters exhibited different interactions with organic acids and generated unique fluorescence response patterns. By employing principal component analysis (PCA) and random forest (RF) algorithms, the sensor array exhibited good qualitative and quantitative capabilities for organic acids. Then the sensor array was used to distinguish coffees with different processing methods or roast degrees and the recognition accuracy achieved 100%. It could also successfully identify 40 coffee samples from 12 geographical origins. Moreover, it demonstrated another satisfactory performance for the classification of pure coffee samples with their binary and ternary mixtures or other beverages. In summary, we present a novel method for detecting and identifying multiple coffees, which has considerable potential in applications such as quality control and identification of fake blended coffees., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) is commonly found in the environment as a result of incomplete combustion of organic materials and cigarette smoke. Epidemiological studies have consistently suggested that elderly smokers are at higher risk for small cell lung cancer (SCLC), with risks and clinical stages increasing with the intensity and duration of smoking. However, the underlying mechanism remains insufficiently investigated. Here, we established a positive correlation between smoking and BaP metabolite 3-hydroxybenzo[a]pyrene (3OH-BaP) in urine. The pooled standardized mean difference of urinary 3OH-BaP concentration for smokers versus nonsmokers was 5.18 (95 % CI 2.86-7.50). Clinical data suggested that smoking led to more lymph node metastasis, higher pathological N-stage, and worse overall survival in SCLC patients. We identified 75 genes that participate in BaP-associated cancer stemness of SCLC from Comparative Toxicogenomics Database and validated the expression of these candidate genes in SCLC patient samples. Protein kinase cAMP-activated catalytic subunit alpha (PRKACA) was found to be most upregulated in SCLC patients and in vitro experiments indicated that long-term exposure of SCLC cells to BaP, at the concentration equivalent to those detected in blood, increased PKA protein level. Further investigation revealed that PKA could directly interact with SOX2 and protect SOX2 from COP1-mediated ubiquitination and degradation. Upregulated SOX2 then contributed to the stemness and metastasis of SCLC cells while inhibition of aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) signaling pathway abolished BaP induced PKA expression and downstream PKA/SOX2 axis. Our findings firstly pinpoint BaP exposure as a high-risk factor for SCLC and worse outcomes in patients, with the underlying mechanism being the activation of cancer stemness of SCLC via the AhR/PKA/SOX2 axis., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Antibiotic residues accumulation in the environment endangers ecosystems and human health. There is an urgent need for a facile and efficient strategy to detect antibiotics. Here, we report a photoluminescent sensor array based on protein-stabilized gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) for the detection of two families of antibiotics, tetracyclines and quinolones. The nanoclusters were synthesized with bovine serum albumin (BSA) and ovalbumin (OVA), respectively. They had different interactions with seven kinds of antibiotics and exhibited diverse photoluminescence (PL) responses, which were analyzed by linear discriminant analysis and ExtraTrees algorithms. The sensor array performed well in both classification and quantification of seven antibiotics. And the quantitative results of all antibiotics obtained R 2 of no less than 0.99 at 0-100 μM when using suitable regression models. Additionally, the sensor array was able to distinguish antibiotic mixtures and multiple interfering substances, and it also kept 100% classification accuracy in river water samples. Moreover, test paper assisted by a smartphone was applied for quick detection of antibiotics, with good performance in both HEPES buffer and river water. These studies reveal great potential for the point-of-use analysis of antibiotics in environmental monitoring., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The growing concern over heavy metal pollution and its impact on the environment and human health has led to a proliferation of research on the detection and differentiation of heavy metal ions. A novel fluorescent sensor array utilizing only one single Ag-nanoclusters (Ag NCs) was developed for the efficient detection of six metal ions. The Ag NCs probe was prepared by using poly(methyl vinyl ether-alt-maleic acid) (PMVEM) as the ligand and has different fluorescence properties in water and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). The interaction between metal ions and Ag NCs resulted in a characteristic fluorescence variation pattern which was subsequently analyzed using various tree-based machine learning models. We have compared different combinations of classification models and pre-processing methods of which the K-Nearest Neighbors Classifier with the first five linear discriminants has the highest accuracy. Through the integration of concentration models within a tree-based pipeline optimization framework, six unique concentration regression models were selected for each metal ion. In addition, the developed sensor array could identify metal ions in binary mixtures. And it still kept high accuracy for the classification of six target metal ions in river water. In conclusion, the proposed framework was found to be effective in the detection of heavy metal ions in environmental samples, thus providing a promising approach for addressing heavy metal pollution., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Baijiu occupies a vital position in Chinese food and China's market. Strict evaluation of Baijiu is highly demanded. In this study, we constructed a novel fluorescent sensor array based on the single glutathione-protected gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) probe for the detection of organic acids and Baijiu. The fluorescence of AuNCs was simply modulated by three metal ions (Cu 2+ , Mn 2+ , and Ag + ), and formed new complexes as sensing elements. These four sensing elements responded variously to nine organic acids, and further chemometric analysis results allowed for the classification and quantification of acids. Moreover, the sensor array successfully identified 21 Baijiu samples of different brands among 11 aroma types. It could also distinguish Baijiu of different qualities as well as pure Baijiu from its adulterations and showed high selectivity among multiple interfering drinks. The results demonstrated that the AuNCs-based sensor array has considerable potential for quality monitoring of Baijiu., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The transcription factor HOXB13 is bound up with the occurrence, progression and drug fast of many kinds of cancer. Nevertheless, the specific molecular mechanism of HOXB13 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is still unknown. This provides an obstacle to the exploration of HCC treatments targeting HOXB13. This study found that HOXB13 was up-regulated in HCC tissues. HOXB13 enhanced the multiplication and metastasis of HCC cells. It enhanced HCC cell drug and anoikis resistance. The analysis of HCC RNA seq data indicated that the expression of HOXB13 and PIMREG were positively correlated. Luciferase report assay showed that HOXB13 could activate PIMREG promoter transcription. The results of RT-qPCR and western blot showed that HOXB13 regulated the transcription of PIMREG. Western blot proved that high expression of PIMREG participated in DNA damage repair and cell cycle regulation by up-regulating RAD51, BRCA1, CDC25A, CDC25B and CDC25C and down-regulating HIPK2. This led to a significant increase in DNA repair capacity, accelerated cell cycle progression, and insensitive to DNA damage. Down-regulation of PIMREG in Hep3B cells overexpressing HOXB13 attenuated the phenotype induced by HOXB13. Therefore, HOXB13 functioned through PIMREG instead of directly regulating the transcription of RAD51, BRCA1, CDC25A, CDC25B and CDC25C. The same results were obtained in vivo. It was concluded that HOXB13 affected the expression of cell cycle and DNA repair related factors by up-regulating the transcription of PIMREG, thereby promoting the progression of HCC and enhancing the resistance of HCC to chemotherapeutics., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interests The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Metal-organic framework (MOF) composites are considered to be one of the most vital energy storage materials due to their advantages of high porousness, multifunction, various structures and controllable chemical compositions, which provide a great possibility to find suitable electrode materials for batteries and supercapacitors. However, MOF composites are still in the face of various challenges and difficulties that hinder their practical application. In this review, we introduce and summarize the applications of MOF composites in batteries, covering metal-ion batteries, lithium-sulfur batteries, lithium-oxygen batteries and zinc-air batteries, as well as supercapacitors. In addition, the application challenges of MOF composites in batteries and supercapacitors are also summarized. Finally, the basic ideas and directions for further development of these two types of electrochemical energy storage devices are proposed., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

In recent years, the prevention and control of water pollution has received extensive attention. There is a need to develop simple and effective strategies for the rapid detection of metal ions and dissolved organic matter (DOM) in order to improve water quality. To this end, the first copper nanoclusters (CuNCs)-based fluorescent sensor array was done to identify 12 metal ions (Pb 2+ , Fe 3+ , Cu 2+ , Cd 2+ , Cr 3+ , Co 2+ , Ni 2+ , Zn 2+ , Ag + , Fe 2+ , Hg 2+ , and Al 3+ ) and DOM (humic substances, lipids, fatty acids, amino acids, and lignans). The results revealed that CuNCs that were synthesized with polyethyleneimine (PEI), histidine (His), and glutathione (GSH) exhibited different binding abilities to metal ions and DOM. These unique fluorescence responses were analyzed using principal component analysis (PCA) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) to identify metal ions and DOM in the buffer. The aforementioned 12 metal ions were classified at a limit concentration of 1.5 μM. Moreover, quantification of metal ions was achieved even at a low concentration of 0.83 μM (Zn 2+ ). This array also worked well in the recognition of metal ions in tap water as well as distinguishing riverine and seawater samples of different regions, which was of great significance in environmental monitoring., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) has been widely used in the surgical treatment of thoracic diseases, and it suggested surgical and oncological advantages compared with open surgery. However, reports on the application of VATS in surgery of small cell lung cancer (SCLC) are scarce. This study aimed to explore the advantages and disadvantages of different surgical approaches in the treatment of pathological stage T1(pT1) SCLC in terms of safety, clinical outcomes, and lymph node dissection., Patients and Methods: Patients who underwent lobectomy for pT1 SCLC between January 2014 and September 2017 were identified from the National Collaborative Lung Cancer Database (LinkDoc Database). The patients were stratified based on the surgery approach (VATS or open lobectomy). Perioperative outcomes and long-term survival were analyzed using SPSS software., Results: A total of 169 patients with pT1 SCLC met the criteria and were enrolled for this study, including 110 cases of VATS lobectomies and 59 cases of open lobectomies. VATS lobectomy was associated with less blood loss than open surgery (168.1 ± 237.4 vs. 340.0 ± 509.8 mL, P = .002). Open lobectomy harvested more N2 LNs (11.8 ± 8.2 vs. 8.4 ± 5.8, P = .048) and identified more metastasis positive LNs (3.1 ± 6.0 vs. 1.4 ± 3.0, P = .050). Open lobectomy associated with longer overall survival (OS) but has no statistical difference (23.4 ± 13.2 vs. 20.2 ± 10.9, P = .070)., Conclusion: Open lobectomy had better lymph node dissection results, and comparable postoperative complications, postoperative hospital stay, and OS to VATS lobectomy. Further studies may still be needed to confirm the recommendation of thoracoscopic approach as a routine surgical procedure for operable SCLC, and until then, open surgery should still be considered., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Race/ethnicity-specific disparities in lung cancer survival have been investigated extensively. However, more studies concentrating on lung adenocarcinoma (ADC), especially those using a competing-risk model, are needed. We examined race/ethnicity-specific differences in lung ADC survival., Patients and Methods: Patients with ADC diagnosed from 2004 to 2015 were identified from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program. Race/ethnicity was categorized into 4 groups: non-Hispanic white (NHW), non-Hispanic black (NHB), non-Hispanic Asian/Pacific Islander (NHAPI), and Hispanic. Lung cancer-specific mortality (LCSM) and other cause-specific mortality (OCSM) were evaluated using a competing-risk model., Results: On multivariate analysis, NHB patients experienced slightly lower LCSM (subdistribution hazard ratio, 0.96; 95% confidence interval, 0.94-0.98) and higher OCSM (subdistribution hazard ratio, 1.16; 95% confidence interval, 1.11-1.22) compared with NHW patients in the stage IV group. No significant differences were found in LCSM and OCSM between the NHB and NHW patients with early-stage ADC (stage I or II). Both NHAPI and Hispanic patients experienced lower OCSM and LCSM compared with the NHW patients. Additionally, NHB patients with stage IV tumors had a greater mortality risk of cardiovascular disease and a lower risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease than NHW patients., Conclusions: The source of racial/ethnic survival disparities that exist between NHB and NHW patients was mainly found in patients with stage IV ADC. Reducing the greater mortality rate of cardiovascular disease among NHB patients and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease among NHW patients would be conducive to narrowing the racial/ethnic gaps. Further research is warranted to determine additional influencing factors, especially among patients with stage IV ADC., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

As a major toxicant which is abundant in tobacco smoking, benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) is considered as a strong carcinogen of lung cancer. In spite of the intensive research, the role that BaP plays in lung cancer still lacks a comprehensive and precise understanding. Recently, a long non-coding RNA, linc00673, has emerged as a central player in different kinds of malignancies, including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In the present study, we found that BaP with the concentration of no more than 8 μM did not affect cell proliferation in the NSCLC cell line A549, while it significantly enhanced A549 cell migration and invasion. Further results revealed that BaP promoted mesenchymal biomarkers expression and inhibited the major epithelial biomarker E-cadherin in a time and dose dependent manner, which indicated epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) was induced by BaP in A549 cells. Through quantitative real-time PCR, we observed that BaP significantly elevated the expression level of linc00673. While after the knockdown of aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR), the up-regulating effect of BaP on linc00673 was reversed. Furthermore, silencing linc00673 significantly suppressed the BaP-induced migration, invasion, and EMT in A549 cells. In summary, our study demonstrates that BaP promotes A549 cell migration, invasion and EMT through up-regulating the expression of linc00673 in an AHR-dependent manner., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: The amount and type of intraoperative fluid in patients with pulmonary resection currently are controversial. This study evaluated the dose-response relationship between intraoperative fluid administration and postoperative outcomes in minimally invasive lobectomy patients., Methods: A retrospective analysis of adult patients undergoing minimally invasive lobectomy between May 2016 and April 2017 was performed. The primary exposure variables were intraoperative total fluid infusion rate and intraoperative colloid infusion rate. The observation outcomes were postoperative pulmonary complications (PPCs), acute kidney injury, in-hospital mortality, postoperative length of stay, and costs. Univariate analyses and multivariate analyses were performed., Results: In 446 patients all resections were minimally invasive lobectomies. Two hundred one PPCs were observed in 172 patients. Binary logistics regression analysis demonstrated that compared with the moderate group of intraoperative total fluid infusion rate, the risk for PPCs was significantly increased at restrictive (odds ratio [OR], 2.202; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.189-4.078; p = 0.012), moderately liberal (OR, 2.743; 95% CI, 1.451-5.184; p = 0.002), and liberal (OR, 2.609; 95% CI, 1.278-5.328; p = 0.008) groups. Compared with the moderate group of intraoperative colloid infusion rate, the risk for PPCs significantly increased at no colloid (OR, 2.095; 95% CI, 1.193-3.680; p = 0.010) and restrictive (OR, 2.911; 95% CI, 1.443-5.873; p = 0.003) groups., Conclusions: In patients undergoing minimally invasive lobectomy the infusion rates of intraoperative total fluid and intraoperative colloid were all significantly associated with PPCs. Both restrictive and liberal intraoperative fluid administration were related to adverse effects on postoperative outcomes., (Copyright © 2019 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Groundwater contaminated by Cr(VI) requires effective remediation to prevent adverse environmental impacts. The biodegradation of Cr(VI) has been documented for several decades, but little remains known about the removal fate of chromium, including the main species of reductase (sites) and functional genes involved in Cr(VI) reduction in mixed bacterial consortium. Cr(VI) reduction in this study was verified to be an enzyme-mediated process. Meanwhile, Cr(VI) reduction of different cell components demonstrated that the extracellular enzyme was the main active substance, and the distribution of Cr after experiment was quantified using mass balance calculation. Furthermore, the optimal pH for reduction was 8.0, with the reduction rate decreasing with increasing initial Cr(VI) concentrations. The co-existing oxyanions had little effect on Cr(VI) reduction, while the presence of other heavy metals had a relatively significant influence. The evolutionary behavior of microbial community structure and functional genes affected by Cr(VI) were also analyzed, which provided new insights on the underlying mechanisms involved in bioreduction in this study. These results generated new understanding of the reduction mechanisms on the Cr-relevant bacterial species and genes, which would be helpful in designing strategies for the bioremediation of Cr(VI) contaminated water., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: This study aimed to compare the survival rates after lobectomy, segmentectomy, and wedge resection for the eighth edition of the tumor, node, metastasis classification for stage IA non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)., Methods: Patients who underwent lobectomy, segmentectomy, or wedge resection for stage IA NSCLC were identified from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database. A Cox regression model and propensity-matched analysis were used. The overall survival (OS) rates and lung cancer-specific survival (LCSS) rates among the three groups were compared by tumor size., Results: A total of 16,819 patients met our criteria. Although the OS rate was better for lobectomy than for wedge resection, no statistical differences in the LCSS rate were identified among the three treatment groups of patients with tumors that were 1.0 cm or smaller. For tumors from 1.1 to 2.0 cm, lobectomy and segmentectomy showed no statistical differences in the LCSS rate, but both conferred better OS and LCSS rates than wedge resection. For tumors from 2.1 to 3.0 cm, the OS and LCSS rates were better for lobectomy than for segmentectomy or wedge resection, but similar for segmentectomy and wedge resection., Conclusions: Lobectomy, segmentectomy, and wedge resection are comparable oncologic procedures for patients with stage IA NSCLC that is 1.0 cm or smaller. For tumors from 1.1 to 2.0 cm, lobectomy and segmentectomy could lead to equivalent survival rates but showed better survival rates than that observed with wedge resection. For tumors from 2.1 to 3.0 cm, lobectomy is still the standard surgical procedure; for patients who are unsuitable candidates for lobectomy, segmentectomy and wedge resection show similar survival rates., (Copyright © 2018 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Despite some published papers analyzing the prognostic role of forkhead-box A1 (FOXA1) in breast cancer, it has not yet been considered as an established prognostic factor in clinical practice. The present meta-analysis evaluated the prognostic value of FOXA1 in breast cancer., Methods: PubMed, Web of Science and Embase databases were searched for relevant published literature that evaluated the correlation between FOXA1 and breast cancer. Either a fixed or random effect model was applied to estimate the pooled hazard ratio (HR) for FOXA1 prognosis in breast cancer., Result: A total of nine articles comprising 6386 breast cancer patients met the inclusion criteria. Among these nine studies, five studies and four studies investigated the prognostic association with disease-free survival (DFS), and overall survival (OS), respectively. Meta-analysis results suggested that high FOXA1 expression was positively associated with DFS (pooled HR: 0.43, 95% CI: 0.23-0.81; P < 0.05) and OS (pooled HR: 0.39, 95% CI: 0.26-0.60; P < 0.05) in breast cancer patients. No publication bias was discovered by Begg's test in this meta-analysis., Conclusion: The results from this meta-analysis indicated that elevated FOXA1 expression level was associated with better outcome in breast cancer., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background & Aims: The association between dietary vitamin A, retinol intake and blood retinol level and gastric cancer risk has been investigated by many studies. However, the results of these studies were controversial. The aim of our study was to systematically assess this issue., Methods: PUBMED and EMBASE were searched, supplemented with manual-screening for relevant publications. Meta-analyses were performed to evaluate the association between vitamin A, retinol dietary intake or blood retinol level and gastric cancer risk., Results: Thirty-one studies were included in this meta-analysis. Comparing the highest with the lowest categories, vitamin A intake significantly reduced gastric cancer risk (pooled RR = 0.66, 95% CI: 0.52-0.84), whereas a marginally inverse association was found between retinol intake (pooled RR = 0.94, 95% CI: 0.87-1.03) or blood retinol level (pooled RR = 0.87, 95% CI: 0.73-1.05) and gastric cancer risk. Interestingly, the results of subgroup analysis indicated that high vitamin A intake and blood retinol level were associated with reduced gastric cancer risk in Western countries, while a marginally inverse association was found between retinol and gastric cancer risk in Western countries., Conclusions: Vitamin A intake was inversely associated with gastric cancer risk, while no significant association was found with retinol intake or blood retinol level., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd and European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism. All rights reserved.)

Background & Aims: Association between zinc intake and digestive tract cancers risk has been reported in several epidemiological studies, while the results were controversial. The aim of our study was to get a systemic review of this issue., Methods: PUBMED and EMBASE were searched up to April 2013, supplemented with manual-screening for relevant articles. Two independent reviewers independently extracted data from eligible studies, risk ratio (RR) or odds ratio (OR) with 95% CIs for the highest versus lowest categories of zinc intake was adopted. Either a fixed- or a random-effects model was adopted to estimate overall odds ratios. Besides, dose-response, subgroup, and publication bias analyses were applied., Results: Nineteen studies with approximately 400,000 participants were included in this meta-analysis. The pooled relative risk (RR) of overall digestive tract cancers for the highest versus lowest categories of zinc intake was 0.82 (95% CI: 0.70-0.96; p = 0.013). Comparing the highest with lowest categories, higher zinc intake was significantly associated with reduced colorectal cancer risk (pooled RR = 0.80, 95% CI: 0.70-0.92; p = 0.002), while zinc intake was not statistically associated with gastric cancer risk (pooled RR = 0.91, 95% CI: 0.64-1.29; p = 0.581) or esophageal cancer risk (pooled RR = 0.72, 95% CI: 0.44-1.17; p = 0.187). However, subgroup analyses showed that zinc intake was significantly associated with esophageal cancer risk and gastric cancer risk in Asia, but not in America and Europe., Conclusions: Dietary zinc intake was inversely associated with digestive tract cancers, especially colorectal cancer risk in this study., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd and European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism. All rights reserved.)