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Communication between tumors and lymph nodes carries substantial significance for antitumor immunotherapy. Remodeling the immune microenvironment of tumor-draining lymph nodes (TdLN) plays a key role in enhancing the anti-tumor ability of immunotherapy. In this study, we constructed a biomimetic artificial lymph node structure composed of F127 hydrogel loading effector memory T (T EM) cells and PD-1 inhibitors (aPD-1). The biomimetic lymph nodes facilitate the delivery of T EM cells and aPD-1 to the TdLN and the tumor immune microenvironment, thus realizing effective and sustained anti-tumor immunotherapy. Exploiting their unique gel-forming and degradation properties, the cold tumors were speedily transformed into hot tumors via T EM cell supplementation. Meanwhile, the efficacy of aPD-1 was markedly elevated compared with conventional drug delivery methods. Our finding suggested that the development of F127@T EM @aPD-1 holds promising potential as a future novel clinical drug delivery technique. F127@T EM @aPD-1 show unique advantages in cancer treatment. When injected subcutaneously, F127@T EM @aPD-1 can continuously supplement T EM cells and aPD-1 to tumor draining lymph nodes (TdLN) and the tumor microenvironment, not only improving the efficacy of ICB therapy through slow release, but also exhibiting dual regulatory effects on the tumor and TdLN. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to a filament-by-filament and layer-by-layer structure produced by an additive manufacturing (or namely 3D printing) technique, mechanical properties of 3D printed materials diverge considerably from those of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites made by traditional processes. This study aims to experimentally characterize their mechanical properties through the off-axis tensile, compressive and V-notch shear tests. Advanced imaging techniques, such as digital image correlation (DIC), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and computed tomography (CT), are used to investigate anisotropic nature of materials and failure mechanisms of the 3D printed CFRP composites. The applicability of conventional failure criteria to the 3D printed CFRP composites, including Tsai-Wu, Tsai-Hill, Hoffman, Maximum Stress, Hashin, Puck and LaRC05, is assessed systematically. The experimental results divulge that the filament-by-filament and layer-by-layer features intrinsic to 3D printed CFRP composites lead to an uneven yet organized distribution of voids. This characteristic contributes on the development of claw mark strain patterns, parallel track inter-fiber failure patterns, and distinct compression failure modes such as delamination and interlayer crack under loading perpendicular to the fiber direction. The voids in the 3D printed CFRP materials are partially responsible for the significant asymmetry when off-axis angle increases. Notably, the conventional failure criteria exhibit limited capability for predicting the off-axis tensile strength accurately. This phenomenon can be attributed to the redistribution of inherent fiber waviness as the fiber encounters tensile loads. Based on the experimental results, the inter-fiber failure as per the LaRC05 is modified to obtain an enhanced failure criterion for predicting the off-axis tensile strength. This study is expected to provide fundamental understanding of structural characteristics and mechanical properties for 3D printed CFRP composites. [Display omitted] • Asymmetric elasticity and multiscale failure behaviour of 3D printed C-CFRP. • The voids contributes to the distinctive deformation and failure modes. • The conventional failure criteria can't predict the off-axis tensile strength accurately. • A refined LaRC05 failure criteria considering the redistribution of fiber waviness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Totally implantable venous access ports (TIVAPs) are essential in children who require long-term intermittent intravenous therapy. Patients who needed to undergo TIVAP implantation were randomly assigned to the internal jugular vein group or the subclavian vein group. The medical histories, operative details and major complications from the time of port implantation to 48 h after port removal were collected. During the use of TIVAPs, satisfaction surveys were regularly conducted for the children and guardians and compared in the two groups. A total of 216 patients in the subclavian vein group and 199 patients in the internal jugular vein group were included. TIVAPs were successfully implanted in all children. The incidence of postoperative venous access occlusion in the subclavian vein group and internal jugular vein group was 1.5% and 5%, respectively, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). The average satisfaction score of the children and guardians in the subclavian vein group was 9.6 ± 0.3, and that in the internal jugular vein group was 8.3 ± 0.8. There was a significant difference between the 2 groups (P < 0.05). Subclavian vein should be the first choice for TIVAP implantation in children. Treatment study level I. • Subclavian vein TIVAPs have few postoperative complications and demonstrate high postoperative comfort in children. • We reported a new surgical method for skin infection around the port or the pocket. • We reported a method that can effectively avoid pinch-off syndrome which occurred in subclavian vein TIVAPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Previous structural imaging studies found evidence of brain morphometric changes in major depression (MD) patients, but they rarely excluded compounding effects of some important factors, such as medication and brain degeneration. This study sought to explore the brain morphometric changes of first-episode, drug-naïve, non–late-life adult MD patients with optimized voxel-based morphometry (VBM) method. Methods: Twenty-three first-episode, drug-naïve, non–late-life adult depressed patients and 23 healthy control subjects were enrolled in this study. Subjects underwent high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging, and optimized VBM was performed to analyze the morphometric data. A partial correlation model was used to analyze associations of morphometric changes with Hamilton Depression Rating Scale scores and illness duration. Results: Depressed patients showed significant gray matter volume reduction in the bilateral limbic system, especially in hippocampus. These changes did not significantly correlate with symptom severity or illness duration. Conclusions: Our findings provided new evidence of gray matter deficits in first-episode, drug-naïve, non–late-life adult MD patients. It supported that the reduction of hippocampal volume is a trait for MD patients and further highlighted the important role of the limbic system, particularly hippocampus in the pathophysiology of MD. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• The proposed method had fused multi-level information compensation and U-Net. • The module designed for multi-level information compensation and compression. • The method had fused compressed features and correlation features. Recently, Deep Convolutional Neural Networks have demonstrated high-quality reconstruction in image super-resolution procedure. In this paper, we propose improved image super-resolution reconstruction via multi-level information compensation and U-Net network to address the problem that the image super-resolution reconstruction algorithm based on deep neural networks tends to lose feature information in the feature extraction process, resulting in the lack of texture and edge details in the reconstructed image. Firstly, we design the U-net like network for image super-resolution reconstruction, which performs multi-level feature extraction and channel compression for the input features through the down-channel branch. It fuses the compressed features and extracts the correlation features of different channels through the bottom module, and performs multi-level feature extraction and channel recovery for the compressed correlation features through the up-channel branch. The multi-level information compensation model is then designed to compensate for the information lost in the channel compression process and the information that is difficult to recover in the channel recovery process of U-net like network. The experimental results can show that the proposed algorithm achieves a significant improvement in Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio and Structure Similarity Index and visual effect compared with the state-of-arts algorithms. The average experimental results of PSNR from proposed method had improved by 1.63 dB, 1.53 dB, 0.97 dB and 0.94 dB compared to SRCNN, HAT, DAT and CARN, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The novel NiO hexagonal hollow microspheres have been successfully prepared by annealing Ni(OH)2, which was synthesized via an ionic liquid-assisted hydrothermal method. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), N2 adsorption–desorption and Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR). The results show that the hollow NiO microstructures are self-organized by mesoporous cubic and hexagonal nanocrystals. The mesoporous structure possessed good thermal stability and high specific surface area (ca. 83m2/g). The ionic liquid 1-butyl-3methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([Bmim][BF4]) was found to play a key role in controlling the morphology of NiO microstructures during the hydrothermal process. The special hollow mesoporous architectures will have potential applications in many fields, such as catalysts, absorbents, sensors, drug-delivery carriers, acoustic insulators and supercapacitors. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Previous studies have found evidence of brain functional connectivity (FC) changes with pre-selected region-of-interest (ROI) method in major depressive disorder (MDD). However, these studies could not completely exclude personal inequality when drawing ROIs manually and did not measure the total number of FC for each voxel. Here, we firstly applied functional connectivity density (FCD) mapping, a voxel-based analysis to locate the hubs with amount changes of FC between 22 first-episode, drug-naive adult MDD patients and 22 healthy control (HC) subjects. Both short-range (local) FCD and long-range (distal) FCD were measured. The relationships of FCD changes with Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD) scores and illness duration were also explored. Compared with the HC group, MDD patients showed significantly decreased short-range FCD in the left superior temporal gyrus (STG), the right orbital frontal cortex (OFC) and bilateral precuneus, while significantly decreased long-range FCD was found in bilateral middle occipital gyrus (MOG), superior occipital gyrus (SOG) and right calcarine. These results firstly demonstrated both local and distal alterations of connection amount at voxel level, and highlighted that the OFC, the precuneus, the STG and the visual cortex were important brain network hubs for first-episode, drug-naive adult MDD patients. Our findings were complementary for previous structural and functional studies in MDD patients, and provided new evidence of the dysfunction of connection hubs in the pathophysiology of MDD at voxel level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Background: Studies on treatment resistant depression (TRD) using advanced magnetic resonance imaging techniques are very limited. Methods: A group of 15 patients with clinically defined TRD and 15 matched healthy controls underwent magnetization transfer imaging (MTI) and T1-weighted (T1W) imaging. MTI data were processed and analyzed voxel-wised in SPM2. A voxel based morphometric (VBM) analysis was performed using T1W images. Results: Reduced magnetization transfer ratio was observed in the TRD group relative to normal controls in the anterior cingulate, insula, caudate tail and amygdala-parahippocampal areas. All these regions were identified within the right hemisphere. VBM revealed no morphological abnormalities in the TRD group compared to the control group. Negative correlations were found between MRI and clinical measures in the inferior temporal gyrus. Limitations: The cross-sectional design and small sample size. Conclusions: The findings suggest that MTI is capable of identifying subtle brain abnormalities which underlie TRD and in general more sensitive than morphological measures. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]