Search

Disease burden is known to alter cellular integrity and water balance. Therefore, the intracellular water/total body water (ICW/TBW) ratio is used as an adjunctive indicator to predict disease severity and prognosis. The ICW/TBW ratio of patients with cancer, who typically present with low muscle mass, poor nutritional status, and high inflammatory response, reportedly differs from that of the healthy population. Herein, we aimed to evaluate the effect of the ICW/TBW ratio on the prognosis of different subgroups of patients with cancer. This multicenter cohort study included 2787 patients with malignancies between June 2014 and December 2018. The association between covariates and overall survival (OS) was assessed using restricted cubic spline models. The multivariate Cox regression model included variables demonstrating a statistical significance in the univariate Cox regression analysis (P < 0.05) without multicollinearity. The generated nomogram used the C-index and calibration curves to validate the predictive accuracy of the scoring system. The optimal cut-off value for the ICW/TBW ratio was 0.61. The ICW/TBW ratio was an independent prognostic factor (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.621; 95 % confidence interval [CI]: 0.537–0.719, P < 0.001). Moreover, the ICW/TBW ratio had a greater impact on the prognosis of patients receiving chemoradiotherapy than on those receiving chemotherapy alone (chemoradiotherapy: HR = 0.495, P = 0.005 vs. chemotherapy: HR = 0.646, P < 0.001). Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that sex, age, tumor stage, body mass index, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), and ICW/TBW ratio were associated with OS. Subsequently, a nomogram was developed incorporating these variables and yielded a C-index of 0.743. The ICW/TBW ratio was associated with muscle mass, nutritional status, and inflammation. A low ICW/TBW ratio is an independent risk factor for poor prognosis in patients with cancer, especially when they are female, have advanced cancer stage, have sarcopenia, and are receiving radiotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract A series of reactive TiO 2 pigments with olefinic double-bonds were prepared by grafting modification of silane coupler KH570 to be covalently anchored in the blue-light curing film, which improved the color fastness to crocking of the printed fabrics significantly. Effects of KH570 concentrations on particle size, surface wettability and dispersing stability of KH570-TiO 2 pigments, photo-polymerization of KH570-TiO 2 bule-light curing inks and tensile properties of curing films were investigated. Color fastness to crocking of KH570-TiO 2 pigment on cotton fabric was explored. Results showed that compared to the native TiO 2 , all the properties of KH570-TiO 2 improved. With the increases of KH570 concentrations, the grafting degrees of KH570-TiO 2 had gradual increase. The surface hydrophobicity and dispersion stability of KH570-TiO 2 pigments, photo-polymerization of KH570-TiO 2 blue-light curing ink and tensile properties of curing films enhanced, especially those of 12∼20KH570-TiO 2 the best. Within the concentrations of KH570 12–20 wt %, the printed fabrics had dry/wet color fastness to crocking no less than 4 grades. Highlights • Reactive KH570-TiO 2 pigments were prepared to realize the covalent anchorage of pigments into the blue-light curing film. • The properties of KH570-TiO 2 blue-light curing inks were controlled by the grafting degree of KH570. • Crocking fastness of the printed fabrics using 12~20KH570-TiO 2 blue-light curing inks reached no less than 4 grades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Sentinel-1/-2 data complement each other in evergreen forest mapping. • The new phenology indicator was proposed to map evergreen forest. • First 10 m resolution map of evergreen forest in the Ta-pieh Mountain. • The new method has the potential to extend the other region and years. Evergreen forests are sensitive to climate change and their role in the exchange of carbon, water, and energy in terrestrial ecosystems is irreplaceable. The temporal and spatial variation of the evergreen forest is closely related to forest monitoring and management in China, which has a far-reaching impact on forest protection and sustainable development. However, the lack of annual fine resolution maps of evergreen forests limits our exploration of the evolution of the spatiotemporal patterns of evergreen forests. Therefore, it is necessary to timely and accurately maps evergreen forests with high spatial resolution. We used a new phenology index of NDVI max -NDVI winter_max to identify evergreen forests at the 10-m scale. First, we mapped annual 2019 land cover types to obtain the forest mask. Second, we calculated the classification phenology index by extracting the difference between evergreen forests and deciduous forests in phenological characteristics. Finally, we extracted the evergreen forest in 2019 from the annual forest map based on the constructed phenological indicators. The kappa coefficient of our annual forest map for 2019 was 0.92, and the overall, producer and user accuracies were 97.98%, 90.09%, and 97.46%, respectively. The kappa coefficient of the annual evergreen forest map in 2019 was 0.98, and the overall, producer and user accuracies were 99.73%, 97.84%, and 99.68%, respectively. Our study shows that the new phenological index can identify and map evergreen forests on complex landforms dominated by evergreen-deciduous mixed forests, which can be applied to other regions and years in China. The results of this study have reference value for evaluating the spatial distribution and resource management of evergreen forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The H7N9 VLPs based on BEVS was successfully generated. • H7N9 VLPs confers 100 % protection against lethal H7N9 virus challenge in birds. • H7N9 VLPs significantly limits viral shedding. • H7N9 VLPs confers complete inhibition of virus replication in birds. • H7N9 VLPs dramatically alleviates acute lung injury of the birds challenged by H7N9. H7N9 avian influenza virus poses a dual threat to both poultry industry and public health. Therefore, it is highly urgent to develop an effective vaccine to reduce its pandemic potential. Virus-like particles (VLP) represent an effective approach for pandemic vaccine development. In this study, a recombinant baculovirus co-expressing the HA, NA and M1 genes of the H7N9 virus was constructed for generation of H7N9 VLP. Single immunization of chickens with 15 μg of the VLP or the commercial whole virus inactivated vaccine stimulates high hemagglutination inhibition, virus neutralizing and HA-specific IgY antibodies. Moreover, the antiserum had a good cross-reactivity with H7N9 field strains isolated in different years. Within 14 days after a lethal challenge with highly pathogenic (HP) H7N9 virus, no clinical symptoms and death were observed in the vaccinated chickens, and no virus was recovered from the organs. Compared to the non-vaccinated chickens, H7N9 VLP significantly reduced the proportion of animals shedding virus. Only 30 % of the VLP-vaccinated birds shed virus, whereas virus shedding was detected in 50 % of the chickens immunized with the commercial vaccine. Moreover, both vaccines dramatically alleviated pulmonary lesions caused by HP H7N9 virus, with a greater degree observed for the VLP. Altogether, our results indicated that the H7N9 VLP vaccine candidate confers a complete clinical protection against a lethal challenge with HP H7N9 virus, significantly inhibits virus shedding and abolishes viral replication in chickens. The VLP generated in this study represents a promising alternative strategy for the development of novel H7N9 avian influenza vaccines for chickens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• H7N9 VLP composed of HA, NA and M1 genes was generated in BEVS via coinfection strategy. • H7N9 VLP has strong immunogenicity and excellent efficacy both in chickens and mice. • H7N9 VLP significantly reduces virus shedding and viral replication in chickens and mice. • H7N9 VLP dramatically alleviates pulmonary lesions induced by H7N9 virus in chickens and mice. • H7N9 VLP significantly diminishes key inflammatory cytokine expression in mouse lung. Currently, highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H7N9 viruses still pose a potential pandemic threat. Influenza virus-like particle (VLP) is one of the most promising vaccine strategies to complement traditional egg-dependent vaccines. Here, we generated a H7N9 VLP vaccine candidate by baculovirus expression system and evaluated its efficacy in chickens and mice. The H7N9 VLP was produced through co-infection of Sf9 insect cells with three recombinant baculoviruses expressing individual HA, NA and M1 gene of the HPAI H7N9 virus A/chicken/Guangdong/GD15/2016. Intramuscular immunization of the H7N9 VLP elicited robust antibody immune responses and conferred complete clinical protection against lethal H7N9 virus challenge both in chickens and mice. Meanwhile, H7N9 VLP significantly restrained virus shedding and dramatically alleviated pulmonary lesions caused by H7N9 virus infection in birds and mice. Interestingly, chicken antibodies induced by the H7N9 VLP also had a good cross-reactivity with H7N9 field strains isolated in different years. In addition, vaccination with the H7N9 VLP elicited high T cell immunity in mouse lung, evidenced by significantly upregulated expression of IL-2, IL-4 and IFN-γ. Furthermore, the H7N9 VLP significantly decreased the expression of some key inflammatory cytokines, such as IL6, RANTES and TNF-α in mouse lung, which may partially account for its contribution to alleviate lung pathology. Therefore, our study describes the good efficacy of the HA + NA + M1-containing H7N9 VLP both in chicken and mice models, highlighting the potential of VLP-based vaccine as a critical alternative of traditional egg-based vaccine for control of H7N9 influenza virus in both humans and poultry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]