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Simple Summary: Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women. Metaplastic breast carcinoma is a rare, heterogeneous group of invasive breast carcinomas that are more aggressive, poorly responsive to neoadjuvant chemotherapy, and have higher rates of chemoresistance than most other breast tumors. This article aims to provide an overview and summary of the current knowledge regarding the translational aspects of metaplastic breast carcinoma that could open the possibility of discovering specific treatment targets and knowing prognostic factors. Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women. Metaplastic breast carcinoma (MpBC) is a rare, heterogeneous group of invasive breast carcinomas, which are classified as predominantly triple-negative breast carcinomas (TNBCs; HR-negative/HER2-negative). Histologically, MpBC is classified into six subtypes. Two of these are considered low-grade and the others are high-grade. MpBCs seem to be more aggressive, less responsive to neoadjuvant chemotherapy, and have higher rates of chemoresistance than other TNBCs. MpBCs have a lower survival rate than expected for TNBCs. MpBC treatment represents a challenge, leading to a thorough exploration of the tumor immune microenvironment, which has recently opened the possibility of new therapeutic strategies. The epithelial–mesenchymal transition in MpBC is characterized by the loss of intercellular adhesion, downregulation of epithelial markers, underexpression of genes with biological epithelial functions, upregulation of mesenchymal markers, overexpression of genes with biological mesenchymal functions, acquisition of fibroblast-like (spindle) morphology, cytoskeleton reorganization, increased motility, invasiveness, and metastatic capabilities. This article reviews and summarizes the current knowledge and translational aspects of MpBC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flower-like particles have attracted much attention due to their efficient surface accessible sites and unique hierarchical porous structure. However, their synthesis is usually challenging and requires complex procedures. Herein, we present a simple method for rapid preparation of flower-like hierarchical porous TiO2 (FHP-TiO2) at room temperature for the first time. This method can accurately control the size of FHP-TiO2 from 150 nm to 400 nm by combining co-assembly and Stober reaction. The formation mechanism and influencing factors of FHP-TiO2 were systematically investigated, and its excellent metal oxide affinity was confirmed by theoretical calculations. Due to its hierarchical porous structure, large surface area and high specificity performance, FHP-TiO2 served as an appealing restricted-access adsorbent for specific and efficient enrichment of molecules with phosphate groups in a complex sample matrix, thereby realizing the quantitative analysis of these important biomolecules by coupling with high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). Moreover, compared with other morphologies (rough surface, and hollow dendritic and mesoporous structure) of TiO2 and flower-like SiO2, FHP-TiO2 showed the best affinity binding ability. This research not only presents a novel approach for tunable room-temperature synthesis of FHP-TiO2 with different sizes, but also expands the application of FHP-TiO2 as an appealing sample-enricher for food safety monitoring and early disease diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Epidermal growth factor receptor variant III (EGFRvIII) is caused by the deletion of six exons and the fusion of exons 1 to exon 8. EGFRvIII occurs frequently in glioblastoma, a type of high-grade brain tumor; however, its presence in other solid tumors is not well characterized. Upon reviewing 4331 solid tumor cases tested via the 610-gene sequencing platform, EGFRvIII was identified in 17 cases, including 16 brain tumors and one breast tumor. EGFRvIII-positive brain tumors were all glioblastoma with wild-type IDH1/2 status, most with EGFR amplification and EGFR mutation. The only EGFRvIII-positive breast lesion was in a young female patient. A separate breast case tested outside our institution with reported EGFRvIII was noted in a young female patient. Both EGFRvIII-positive breast tumors showed high-grade sarcomatoid morphology. In summary, EGFRvIII is rare, occurring primarily in glioblastoma and rarely in breast sarcomatoid neoplasm. This select group of patients may benefit from chemotherapy and/or targeted anti-EGFR therapy. Epidermal growth factor receptor variant III (EGFRvIII, the deletion of exons 2–7) is a recurrent intragenic EGFR::EGFR.E1E8 fusion that occurs in high-grade gliomas. The presence of EGFRvIII in other solid tumors has not been well characterized. We retrospectively reviewed advanced malignant solid tumor cases tested by a custom hybrid capture 610-gene next-generation sequencing platform from 2021 to 2022. EGFRvIII was identified in 17 of 4331 (0.4%) cases, including 16 of 238 (7%) brain tumors and 1/301 (0.3%) breast tumors. EGFRvIII-positive brain tumors were all glioblastoma IDH-wildtype, most with concurrent TERT promoter mutation (14 of 16), EGFR amplification (13 of 16), and EGFR mutation (8 of 16). The only EGFRvIII-positive breast lesion was a sarcomatoid neoplasm in a young female patient. A separate breast case tested outside our institution with reported EGFRvIII was noted in a young female patient with a malignant phyllodes tumor with stromal overgrowth. Microscopically, both EGFRvIII-positive breast tumors showed high-grade sarcomatoid morphology with brisk mitotic activity. In summary, EGFRvIII is rare, occurring primarily in glioblastoma and rarely in breast sarcomatoid neoplasm, with no instances identified in other tumor types in our series. This select group of patients may benefit from chemotherapy and/or targeted anti-EGFR therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The enhanced mechanical properties of Ni-based single-crystal superalloys induced by refractory elements such as Re, Wo, Mo, etc. are essential for the manufacture of advanced aero engines' turbine blades. Whereas these elements could promote the formation of the topologically close-packed (TCP) phases, and their growth would have a deleterious effect on the creep rupture life of single-crystal superalloys. Concomitantly, the formation of the brittle phase of the internal nitrides, especially the aluminium nitride (AlN), would be detrimental to superalloys as well. Nonetheless, the formation relationship between AlN and TCP phases has maintained opaque. In this study, the relationship between the TCP phase and AlN phase was analysed by microscopic methods, such as BSE, TEM and EDS. An AlN phase located near the TCP phase in the deep surface of the superalloy was found, and its formation was suggested to be related to nitrogen penetration during the thermal exposure. This accompanying growth of the AlN phase and TCP phase in the deep surface could provide a new perspective on the formation mechanism of these brittle phases in the Ni-based single-crystal superalloys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In view of problems of single function and low positioning accuracy existed in underground personnel positioning system, an intrinsic safety and multi-functional wireless information transmission platform based on 802.11n was designed. The platform is based on 802.11n transmission protocol and uses signal strength measurement module, which not only can realize high speed transmission of data, voice and video, but also can realize real-time positioning of underground personnel through WiFi signal. The actual test results show that wireless transmission rate of the platform reaches 120 Mbit/s, the signal coverage is 500 m, real-time positioning accuracy is 9.68 m, satisfy requirements of coal mine safety information transmission.

An efficient and stable fiber coating is of great importance for solid-phase microextraction (SPME). In this study, carboxylated mesoporous carbon hollow spheres (MCHS-COOH) were developed as an efficient SPME coating of polar aromatic amines (AAs) for the first time. The MCHS-COOH coating material with high specific surface area (1182.32 m2 g−1), large pore size (10.14 nm), and rich oxygen-containing groups was fabricated via a facile H2O2 post-treatment. The as-prepared MCHS-COOH-coated fiber exhibited fast adsorption rate and excellent extraction properties, mainly due to its π–π interactions, hollow structure, and abundant affinity sites (carboxyl groups). Subsequently, coupled with gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS), a sensitive method with low limits of detection (0.08–2.0 ng L−1), a wide linear range (0.3–500.0 ng L−1), and good repeatability (2.0–8.8%, n = 6) was developed for the analysis of AAs. The developed method was validated against three river water samples, with satisfactory relative recoveries being obtained. The above results demonstrated that the prepared MCHS-COOH-coated fiber exhibited good adsorption capacity, suggesting a promising application to monitor trace polar compounds in real environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]