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Purpose: To define and predict early recurrence (ER) in patients with gastric cancer (GC) who underwent radical gastrectomy after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). Methods: The present study included 573 patients who underwent NAC followed by curative resection for GC between January 2014 and December 2019. The patients were randomly divided into the training (n = 382) and validation (n = 191) cohorts in a 2:1 ratio. The optimal cut-off value of recurrence-free survival for defining ER was determined based on post-recurrence survival (PRS). Risk factors for ER were identified by logistic regression. A nomogram was further constructed and evaluated. Results: The optimal cut-off value for defining ER was 12 months. Overall, 136 patients (23.7%) experienced ER and had significantly shorter median PRS (4 vs. 13 months, P < 0.001). In the training cohort, factors independently associated with ER included age (P = 0.026), Lauren classification (P < 0.001), preoperative carcinoembryonic antigen (P = 0.029), ypN staging (P < 0.001), major pathological regression (P = 0.004), and postoperative complications (P < 0.001). A nomogram integrating these factors exhibited higher predictive accuracy than the ypTNM stage alone in both the training and validation cohorts. Moreover, the nomogram enabled significant risk stratification in both cohorts; only the high-risk patients could benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy (ER rate: 53.9% vs. 85.7%, P = 0.007). Conclusion: A nomogram involving preoperative factors can accurately predict the risk of ER and guide individualized treatment strategies for GC patients following NAC, which may assist in clinical decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Accumulating epidemiological studies support that Vitamin D deficiency is associated with the pathogenesis of preeclampsia. However, it is unknown whether vitamin D can be used as a treatment for preeclampsia. This study aimed to explore whether vitamin D supplementation could improve the rat model of preeclampsia.Methods: LPS was used to establish a rat model of preeclampsia. Inflammatory cytokines were examined by QRT-PCR and ELISA assays, and the concentration of sfit-1 and NO was assessed by ELISA. Analyzing the pathological features of the placenta with hematoxylin-eosin. The spatial learning and memory abilities of offspring were evaluated by the Morris water maze. Immune histology and western blot were performed to evaluate the expression levels of inflammatory pathway-associated Factor and vascular endothelium-associated Factor in the placenta.Results: Vitamin D treatment reduced the blood pressure and urine protein of PE model rats, alleviated pathological damage to the placenta and pregnancy outcomes, and protected PE offspring from impaired memory and learning abilities. Moreover, TLR4 signaling pathway in the placenta was inhibited. Furthermore, vitamin D supplementation increased the expression of endothelial growth factor and vascular relaxing factor, and there was no significant difference compared with the control group.Discussion: We generated the result that Vitamin D supplementation significantly improved the phenotype of preeclampsia and adverse pregnancy outcome caused by an abnormal inflammatory reaction and endothelial dysfunction in the placenta, and improved the learning and cognitive ability of offspring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accumulating evidences indicate that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) might play important roles in tumorigenesis and metastasis. EMT (epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition) is considered as a critical step in invasion and metastasis of various tumors including bladder cancer (BC). Recent researches have showed that lncRNA H19 is implicated in metastasis through regulating EMT and the reverse MET (mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition). However, underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown. Here, we screened lncRNA and mRNA expression profiles of BC with microarray assay. We found that H19 and DNMT3B displayed a higher co-expression in BC tissues and cells. Functionally, we demonstrated that H19 could increase proliferation, invasion and migration, regulate EMT as well as rearrange cytoskeleton of BC cells in vitro . Moreover, ectopic expression of H19 promoted tumorigenesis, angiogenesis and pulmonary metastasis in vivo , whereas knockdown of H19 has a contrary role in vivo and in vitro . Mechanistically, we proved that H19 could directly bind to miR-29b-3p (miR-29b) and derepress the expression of target DNMT3B. H19 and miR-29b-3p showed a co-localization. More importantly, up-regulating H19 antagonized miR-29b-3p-mediated proliferation, migration and EMT suppression in BC cells. Furthermore, H19 knockdown partially reversed the function of miR-29b-3p inhibitor on DNMT3B and facilitated miR-29b-3p-induced MET. Taken together, we demonstrated for the first time that H19 might function as ceRNA (competing endogenous RNA) for miR-29b-3p and relieve the suppression for DNMT3B, which led to EMT and metastasis of BC. Our findings highlight a novel mechanism of H19 in progression of BC and provide H19/miR-29b-3p/DNMT3B axis as a promising therapeutic target for BC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The (Nd 10.23 Pr 2.56 Fe 68.32 Co 13.08 B 5.81) 100-x Nb x (x = 0, 0.5, 1, 2, 3) ribbons were prepared by melt-spinning at a wheel speed of 15 m/s. The effects of Nb addition on the microstructure and the magnetic properties of the ribbons were investigated. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns of the ribbons show that the Nd 2 (Fe, Co) 14 B (2:14:1) phase is observed in all samples indicating that Nb addition does not change the phase constitution. The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images show that Nb addition can dramatically reduce the average grain size from 52 ± 5 nm of the Nb-free alloy to 12 ± 2 nm of the Nb-containing x = 3 alloy. Based on the atom probe tomography (APT) result, we identify different mechanisms for grain refinement at different Nb content. When x = 0.5, the distribution of Nb is uniform at the intergranular phase and Nb addition promotes the segregation of rare-earth Nd and Pr at the thick ferromagnetic intergranular phase (≈ 10 nm), which leads to decreasing the average grain size to 38 nm. With further increasing Nb addition to x = 2, the existence of Nb-rich precipitations (2–4 nm in width) at the grain boundaries effectively reduces the grain size to 16 nm. The remanence (B r) and the maximum energy product ((BH) max) are obviously increased by Nb addition and the maximum of the B r and the (BH) max is obtained in the (Nd 10.23 Pr 2.56 Fe 68.32 Co 13.08 B 5.81) 98 Nb 2 (x = 2) alloy. The values of the B r and the (BH) max are 0.90 T and 138 kJ/m3, 8.4% and 22.1% higher than that of the Nb-free alloy. It ascribes to the grain refinement, the changes of the distribution and the composition of the ferromagnetic intergranular phase by Nb addition. Our findings provide a new method of designing prospective permanent alloys with increased magnetic properties by reducing the grain size and tuning the distribution and chemical composition of the intergranular phase. • Different mechanisms for grain refinement at different Nb content is proposed. • Nb addition changes the distribution and composition of the intergranular phase. • Nb addition increases the remanence and the maximum energy product. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The FeCoNi(CuAl) 0.8 high-entropy alloy (HEA) consists of both face-centered cubic (FCC) phase and body-centered cubic (BCC) phase which allows for a fine tuning of the magnetic properties by controlling the concentration, morphology, and distribution of each phase. In this work, we report the effect of Ho addition on the microstructure, magnetic domains, and alternating current (AC) magnetic properties. FeCoNi(CuAl) 0.8 Ho 0.05 (x = 0.05) HEA exhibits the optimum AC magnetic property with the minimum AC coercivity, hysteresis loss, eddy current loss and total loss among samples studied at both 50 Hz and 950 Hz. Ho addition increases the volume fraction of BCC phase. SEM-EDX results show that Cu and Ho elements are aggregated together at boundaries in Ho-containing alloys. Magnetic domain structure shows that stripe domains are observed in FCC phase and BCC phase with different domain width. Finely spaced domain in BCC phase leads to low eddy current loss. No domain pattern at boundaries is observed indicating that boundaries can hinder motion of domain resulting in an increase of the energy loss. Our findings provide a valid approach toward optimizing the desired physical properties of HEA magnets by adding a small fraction of rare earth element. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cu-rich precipitates were observed in the FeCoNiCuAl high-entropy alloy (HEA). In this paper, the microstructure of Cu-rich precipitates in the as-cast and annealed HEA was studied. A novel mechanism for the formation and microstructural evolution of Cu-rich precipitates has been discovered. In the solidification of alloy preparation, sphere-like precipitates with 9R close-packed (9R) or body-centred cubic (BCC) structures were formed. It was noteworthy that several sphere-like precipitates self-assembled into a large rod-like precipitate when they were close to each other. After the annealing treatment, the Cu-rich precipitates grew and part of them formed a core-shell structure. Cu atoms in the matrix adsorbed on the surface of the original precipitates to form the 9R structure shell, and the original precipitates underwent a phase transformation to form the twin face-center tetragonal (FCT) structure core. In addition, a large number of nano-clusters with sizes of about 3–8 nm were dispersed in the BCC matrix. The magnetic and mechanical properties of HEA were greatly affected by the annealing treatment. The σ max , σ 0.2 , H V , and B r of the alloy were improved 22.5%, 76.7%, 14.2% and 17.7% by annealing treatment, respectively. This work lays the foundation for further improving the mechanical and magnetic properties of HEAs by adjusting the amount, distribution, and structure of the precipitates. • Some precipitates were self-assembled by 9R or BCC precipitates. After annealing, core-shell precipitates and nano-clusters formed. • After annealing treatment, some precipitates grow into core-shell structure. • After annealing treatment, a lot of nano-clusters were dispersed in the BCC matrix. • The magnetic parameters B r and Vickers hardness of the alloy were improved by annealing treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]