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Objective To evaluate the diagnostic performance of short state homeobox 2 (SHOX2) promoter methylation as biomarker for lung cancer identification through aggregating the open published data. Methods We did an electronic search in Pubmed, EMBASE, Ovid, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) to identify the publications related to SHOX2 promoter methylation and lung cancer. The diagnostic performance of sensitivity (SEN), specificity (SPE), odds ratio (DOR), and summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) cure were aggregated by fixed or random effect model. Fagan's nomogram was used to investigate the post‐test diagnostic probability. Deek's funnel plot and line regression test was applied to evaluate the publication bias. Results In total, 18 clinical studies about SHOX2 promoter methylation and lung cancer were included in the meta‐analysis. The combined diagnostic SEN, SPE, DOR were 0.63 (95% CI = 0.54–0.70), 0.91 (95% CI = 0.87–0.94), and 16.84 (95% CI = 11.18–25.36) in random effect model respectively. The pooled area under the curve (AUC) of SROC was 0.88 (95% CI = 0.84–0.90). The post‐test probability of lung cancer was 88% and 29% when SHOX2 methylated and unmethylated in humoral components given a pre‐test probability of 50%. Deek's funnel plot and regression test indicated no publication bias (p = 0.62). Conclusion SHOX2 promoter methylation in humoral components may be a potential biomarker for lung cancer diagnosis with relative high diagnostic specificity., Fagan's nomogram indicated that if SHOX2 methylated in humoral components, the positive post‐test probability of lung cancer was 88%, whereas the negative post‐test probability was 29% when SHOX2 unmethylated in humoral components give a pre‐test probability of 50%.

The rapid spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) represented the most serious issue to public health globally. Hematological patients as immunocompromised hosts are vulnerable to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. There is little information available regarding the clinical features of hematological patients concomitant with COVID-19. In this study, 9 concomitant patients were analyzed for their clinical manifestations, laboratory data, radiological findings, and immunologic features. The median age was 50 years (range, 17-68 years) and 6 patients were male. Seven patients were infected through hospital-associated transmission and other 2 through community-associated transmission. Onset of COVID-19 in all patients occurred during routine treatments for their hematological diseases. Eight patients were classified as moderate and 1 patient as critically ill COVID-19. Four patients died, 1 from leukemia progression, 2 from life-threatening secondary infection, and the other from respiratory failure caused by COVID-19. Abruptly elevated levels of cytokines were often correlated with progressive hematological disease or concurrent bacterial infections. Two patients had atypical computed tomography (CT) imaging findings of COVID-19. The median interval from the first CT scan imaging to improvement in survivors was 40 days (range, 14-51 days). Four of 5 survivors had negative serological tests 1 month after symptom onset. Positive viral load in 4 survivors lasted longer than 45 days. Our results indicated concomitant patients formed a distinct subgroup characterized by atypical clinical features, defective viral clearance, and lower level of SARS-CoV-2-specific Abs. Targeted therapies that impair host humoral immunity should be avoided. These findings will be helpful to tailor appropriate management for the concomitant patients.

Background The purpose of this study was to evaluate the correlation between calcium-binding protein S100A8 and S100A9 expression in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and patients' clinical features. Methods Fifty-two NSCLC patients who underwent surgery at Zhejiang Hospital from February 2014 to January 2016 were included in this study. Calcium-binding protein S100A8 and S100A9 expression patterns in cancer and para-cancer tissues were examined by immunohistochemistry assay. The correlation between calcium-binding protein S100A8 and S100A9 expression patterns and NSCLC patients' clinical characteristics, including age, gender, tumor node metastasis stage, and pathology type, were evaluated. Results S100A8 and S100A9 were generally expressed on the cytoplasm and nucleus of NSCLC cells, mainly located in the cytoplasm, stained with brown particles, and distributed evenly. The positive expression rates of S100A8 and S100A9 in cancer tissues were 71.2% and 76.9%, respectively, which were significantly higher than in para-cancer tissues at 11.5% and 19.2%, respectively, with statistical significance (P 0.05). Conclusion S100A8 and S100A9 positive expression in cancer tissues was significantly higher than in para-cancer tissues and was correlated with tumor differentiation, which may be a potential marker for poor prognosis.

Metallaaromatics represent a distinct and attractive class of heterocycles, which have greatly expanded the library of known aromatics. They have garnered extensive research interest on account of their unique properties, organometallic reactivity, and aromaticity. The metal-carbon bonds have been regarded as the most active reaction sites of metallaaromatics and a variety of related reactions have been demonstrated in the literature. This Minireview summarized recent findings on the reactivity of the metal-carbon bonds, mainly relevant to the representative metallaaromatics with six-membered ring scaffolds. A series of reactions occurred on the metal-carbon bonds, including the nucleophilic addition reactions, nucleophilic aromatic substitution reactions, electrophilic addition reactions, reactions with unsaturated compounds, and migratory insertion reactions, have been classified. These reactions demonstrate that the metal-carbon bonds of metallaaromatics can undergo typical reactions for both aromatic species and metal carbene/carbyne complexes. Meanwhile, the reactivity trends of the metal-carbon bonds are strongly affected by the metal centers and the effect of the corresponding substituents of metallacycles.

Carbon ligands have long played an important role in organometallic chemistry. However, previous examples of all-carbon chelating ligands are limited. Herein, we present a novel complex with an eleven-atom carbon chain as a polydentate chelating ligand. This species was formed by the [2+2+2] cycloaddition reaction of two equivalents of an alkyne with an osmapentalyne that contains the smallest carbyne bond angle (127.9°) ever observed. Density functional calculations revealed that electron-donating groups play a key role in the stabilization of this polydentate carbon-chain chelate. This process is also the first [2+2+2] cycloaddition reaction of an alkyne with a late-transition-metal carbyne complex. This study not only enriches the chemistry of polydentate carbon-chain chelates, but also deepens our understanding of the chelating ability of carbon ligands.

Topological manipulation of waves is at the heart of the cutting-edge metamaterial researches. Quadrupole topological insulators were recently discovered in two-dimensional (2D) flux-threading lattices which exhibit higher-order topological wave trapping at both the edges and corners. Photonic crystals (PhCs), lying at the boundary between continuous media and discrete lattices, however, are incompatible with the present quadrupole topological theory. Here, we unveil quadrupole topological PhCs triggered by a twisting degree-of-freedom. Using a topologically trivial PhC as the motherboard, we show that twisting induces quadrupole topological PhCs without flux-threading. The twisting-induced crystalline symmetry enriches the Wannier polarizations and lead to the anomalous quadrupole topology. Versatile edge and corner phenomena are observed by controlling the twisting angles in a lateral heterostructure of 2D PhCs. Our study paves the way toward topological twist-photonics as well as the quadrupole topology in the quasi-continuum regime for phonons and polaritons.

Isolation of the simplest 4π three-membered heterocycles (1H-azirine, oxirene, thiirene, and selenirene) remains a big challenge due to their π-antiaromaticity and significant ring strain. Here we demonstrate that the incorporation of a transition-metal fragment could stabilize the antiaromatic selenirene and pentalene frameworks simultaneously by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Experimental verification leads to the Se-containing metallapolycycles, osmapentaloselenirenes, with remarkable thermal stability. The osmaselenirene unit in the metallapolycycle is determined to be the first example of σ-aromaticity dominating in an unsaturated Se-containing ring. Our results not only highlight a remarkable stabilization by the transition-metal but also widen the scope of σ-aromaticity in unsaturated rings, which is traditionally reserved for the domain of π-aromaticity.

The cover picture shows the structures of rigid dinuclear metallacumulenes with diazafluorene or fluorine fragments. These complexes were derived from 9-ethynyl-9-fluorenol and 9-hydroxy-9-ethynyl-4,5-diazafluorene in the presence of cis-OsCl2(dppm)2 and cis-RuCl2(dppe)2. Eletrochemical studies have revealed that these complexes display a quasireversible redox behavior and a moderate electronic communication between the two metal centers. Moreover, these new structurally rigid complexes show a remarkably broad absorption in the long-wavelength region (λmax = 300−700 nm), which would be excellent candidates for optical materials. The bridge in center shows the implied meaning of the rigid structures of these complexes and the electronic communication between the two metal centers. More details are discussed in the article by Xia et al. on page 420–428.