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Abstract Backgrounds Papillary thyroid cancer (PTC), which is often driven by acquired somatic mutations in BRAF genes, is the most common pathologic type of thyroid cancer. PTC has an excellent prognosis after treatment with conventional therapies such as surgical resection, thyroid hormone therapy and adjuvant radioactive iodine therapy. Unfortunately, about 20% of patients develop regional recurrence or distant metastasis, making targeted therapeutics an important treatment option. Current in vitro PTC models are limited in representing the cellular and mutational characteristics of parental tumors. A clinically relevant tool that predicts the efficacy of therapy for individuals is urgently needed. Methods Surgically removed PTC tissue samples were dissociated, plated into Matrigel, and cultured to generate organoids. PTC organoids were subsequently subjected to histological analysis, DNA sequencing, and drug sensitivity assays, respectively. Results We established 9 patient-derived PTC organoid models, 5 of which harbor BRAFV600E mutation. These organoids have been cultured stably for more than 3 months and closely recapitulated the histological architectures as well as mutational landscapes of the respective primary tumors. Drug sensitivity assays of PTC organoid cultures demonstrated the intra- and inter-patient specific drug responses. BRAFV600E inhibitors, vemurafenib and dabrafenib monotherapy was mildly effective in treating BRAFV600E-mutant PTC organoids. Nevertheless, BRAF inhibitors in combination with MEK inhibitors, RTK inhibitors, or chemotherapeutic agents demonstrated improved efficacy compared to BRAF inhibition alone. Conclusions These data indicate that patient-derived PTC organoids may be a powerful research tool to investigate tumor biology and drug responsiveness, thus being useful to validate or discover targeted drug combinations.

Energy spectroscopy is a powerful tool with diverse applications across various disciplines. Variational quantum-classical algorithms based on programmable digital quantum simulators have emerged as promising approaches for conducting spectroscopy on various models using a single device, despite facing significant quantum and classical resource overheads. Here, we experimentally demonstrate multilevel variational spectroscopy for fundamental many-body Hamiltonians using a superconducting digital quantum simulator. By exploiting symmetries and the subspace search method, we achieve full spectroscopy for a four-qubit Heisenberg spin chain, yielding an average energy deviation as small as 0.13 from the theoretical values, assuming unity coupling strength. Our method, when extended to eight-qubit Heisenberg and transverse-field Ising Hamiltonians, successfully determines the three lowest-energy levels. In achieving the above, we introduce a circuit-agnostic compilation method that enhances the robustness of our simulator against signal crosstalk. Our study highlights the combination of the subspace search method and symmetry-assisted resource efficiency in variational quantum algorithms and lays the foundation for practical spectroscopy on near-term quantum simulators, with potential applications in quantum chemistry and condensed matter physics.

Aqueous battery (AB) with non-metallic charging carriers is a viable candidate for grid energy storage devices owing to its comparatively low cost and high safety. However, developing practical electrode materials with remarkable electrochemical performance remains a great challenge. In this study, tungsten trioxide nanosheets (WONSs) with one-dimensional tunnels were facilely synthesized through a hydrothermal reaction. When used as the cathode material in aqueous batteries, the as-prepared WONS exhibits excellent long-term cycling stability and impressively high rate capability due to the nearly zero-strain structural characteristics of super-fast proton storage. Notably, a stable cycling performance with 89% capacity retention after 10000 cycles was achieved with an increased mass loading of WONS at around 12 mg cm−2. Our work points to a new direction of promoting high-efficiency AB applications with protons as charge carriers in a mild electrolyte.

Investigating high-performance and stable spintronics devices has been a research hotspot in recent years. In this paper, we employed first-principles methods and Monte Carlo (MC) simulations to explore the structure, electronic, and magnetic properties of monolayer NbSe2, as well as its behavior under carrier concentration modulation. The research on the electronic structure reveals that by introducing an appropriate amount of holes, the material can undergo a transition from metal to a half-metal state, achieving 100% high spin polarization. Investigation of magnetic crystalline anisotropy shows that the magnetic crystal anisotropy energy of 1210 μeV in out-of-plane is beneficial to maintain ferromagnetic order at high temperatures. In addition, doping with suitable carriers can effectively enhance or strengthen the ferromagnetic coupling in NbSe2 so that the magnetization easy axis is shifted. This reveals the potential application prospects of NbSe2 in electronically controlled spintronic devices. Analysis of the Fermi surface shows that both holes and electron doping increase the Fermi velocity of the material. The effect of hole doping is particularly significant, indicating its potential application in Fermi velocity engineering. Under the theoretical framework of the extended two-dimensional Ising model, based on MC simulation, the Curie temperature (TC) of NbSe2 is predicted to be 162 K. The effects of carrier concentration and the magnetic field on the magnetic and thermal properties of monolayer NbSe2 are simulated. The results show that appropriately increasing the hole doping concentration and magnetic field is conducive to obtaining ferromagnetic half-metallic materials with TC higher than room temperature, which provides theoretical support for experimental preparation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bamboo plants are fast-growing, quickly produce usable material, and are an abundant resource. Bamboo is an excellent, natural, and renewable material. It has a long history of application in human life, industrial manufacturing, cultural industries, and other fields. The warehousing of bamboo and its finished products is an emerging industry with much potential. A reasonable, stable, and orderly warehouse could be an effective solution for the sustainable management, seasonal harvesting, and raw material stability issues. In addition, the warehouse plays an important role in the processing of raw materials, reserve logistics, keeping a robust and real-time supply for downstream products. This is of great significance for alleviating problems associated with Chinese timber safety and for improving the quality of life. This paper focuses on warehousing experience in grain and coal fields, reviews the common material processing and preservation measures of bamboo, analyzes advantages and developmental prospects of bamboo warehousing, and explores and suggests appropriate storage methods, technical systems, and application models. It is expected to provide technical guidance for construction in the bamboo storage industry, and to supply ideas and suggestions for the modern development of the bamboo industry.

Taeniasis is a foodborne zoonotic parasitic disease caused by parasitism of Taenia solium, Taenia saginata and Taenia asiatica in the human intestine. Humans are the only ultimate hosts. In this article, the diagnosis and treatment of a patient with acute abdomen caused by taeniasis were reported. The 28-year old male patient was mainly manifested as abdominal pain. Blood routine, biochemistry, imaging and other examinations after admission excluded the possibility of appendicitis and the possibility of acute abdomen induced by other causes was considered. After conservative treatment including abstinence from drinking and eating, enema, anti-inflammation and fluid replacement, the patient restored defecation and flatus, and abdominal pain was significantly mitigated. The diagnosis of incomplete intestinal obstruction caused by infection of Taenia was confirmed by the segments of Taenia in the stool sample. The patient was given with albendazole and successfully discharged from hospital. This case suggests that clinicians should deepen the understanding of intestinal parasitic diseases, broaden diagnostic thinking, and reduce missed diagnosis and misdiagnosis.

Abstract Neural precursor cell expressed developmentally downregulated 4‐like (NEDD4L), a member of the E3 ubiquitin‐protein ligases, encoded by NEDD4L gene, was found to be involved in in salt sensitivity by regulating sodium reabsorption in salt‐sensitive rats. The authors aimed to explore the associations of NEDD4L genetic variants with salt sensitivity, blood pressure (BP) changes and hypertension incidence in Chinese adults. Participants from 124 families in Northern China in the Baoji Salt‐Sensitive Study Cohort in 2004, who received the chronic salt intake intervention, including a 7‐day low‐salt diet (3.0 g/day) and a 7‐day high‐salt diet (18 g/day), were analyzed. Besides, the development of hypertension over 14 years was evaluated. NEDD4L single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs74408486 was shown to be significantly associated with systolic BP (SBP), diastolic BP (DBP) and mean arterial pressure (MAP) responses to low‐salt diet, while SNPs rs292449 and rs2288775 were significantly associated with pulse pressure (PP) response to high‐salt diet. In addition, SNP rs4149605, rs73450471, and rs482805 were significantly associated with the longitudinal changes in SBP, DBP, MAP, or PP at 14 years of follow‐up. SNP rs292449 was significantly associated with hypertension incidence over the 14‐year follow‐up. Finally, this gene‐based analysis found that NEDD4L was significantly associated with longitudinal BP changes and the incidence of hypertension over the 14‐year follow‐up. This study indicated that gene polymorphism in NEDD4L serve an important function in salt sensitivity, longitudinal BP change and development of hypertension in the Chinese population.

Background: The expression of miR-141-3p in many malignant tumors has been verified. Nevertheless, the relationship between ovarian cancer and miR-141-3p remains undetermined. Therefore, further exploration is required. Results: According to data from 100 samples, the final results of RT-qPCR showed that miR-141-3p was highly expressed in ovarian cancer. Furthermore, miR-141-3p was able to distinguish ovarian cancer cells from ovary tissues. The most significant Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway, was regulation of lipolysis in adipocytes in ovarian cancer. The expression of PIK3R1 was negatively correlated with miR-141- 3p. PIK3R1 has a combing site with miR-141-3p. Conclusions: This study examined the expression levels and mechanism of miR-141-3p in ovarian cancer for the first time. The results suggested that miR-141-3p may promote the occurrence of ovarian cancer by down-regulating PIK3R1.How to cite: Shi L, Sun H-J, Zeng J-J, et al. Evaluation of miR-141-3p over-expression in ovarian cancer. Electron J Biotechnol 2022;58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejbt.2022.04.006

Abstract Background Nitrogen (N) is a major element and fundamental constituent of grain yield. N fertilizer plays an essential role in the roots, shoots, and leaves of crop plants. Here, we obtained two N-sensitive potato cultivars. Results The plants were cultivated in the pots using N-deficient and N-sufficient conditions. Crop height, leaf chlorophyll content, dry matter, and N-accumulation significantly decreased under N-deficient conditions. Furthermore, we performed a comprehensive analysis of the phenotype and transcriptome, GO terms, and KEGG pathways. We used WGCNA of co-expressed genes, and 116 differentially expressed hub genes involved in photosynthesis, nitrogen metabolism, and secondary metabolites to generate 23 modules. Among those modules, six NRT gene families, four pigment genes, two auxin-related genes, and two energy-related genes were selected for qRT-PCR validation. Conclusions Overall, our study demonstrates the co-expressed genes and potential pathways associated with N transport and accumulation in potato cultivars’ roots, shoots, and leaves under N-deficient conditions. Therefore, this study provides new ideas to conduct further research on improving nitrogen use efficiency in potatoes.

With the increasing demand for astronomical observations, telescope systems are becoming increasingly complex. Thus, the observatory control software needs to be more intelligent. It has to control each instrument inside the observatory, finish the observational tasks autonomously, and report the information to users if needed. We developed a distributed autonomous observatory control framework named the Remote Autonomous Control System 2nd (RACS2) to meet these requirements. Rich features are integrated into the RACS2 framework. The RACS2 is a modular framework, in which each device control software and system services are implemented as different components. Furthermore, the RACS2 framework assimilates new techniques, such as a lightweight message and serialization mechanism. RACS2 also has good compatibility with other frameworks or ecosystems such as Python and the EPICS (Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System). The RACS2 framework can communicate with EPICS-based and Python-based software. With the help of these features, key system components like executor, scheduler are developed. The executor component can support sophisticated tasks. Autonomous observation can be achieved by the scheduler component. A set of web-based graphical user interface (GUI) is designed to help control and manage the framework remotely. Based on the RACS2 framework, we have implemented the Dome A Twins (DATs) telescope’s observation system and the space object observation system. The systems have been operated for more than 1 year. The RACS2 framework also has been used in our other projects like camera control system of Wide Field Survey Telescope (WFST) and its observatory control system, and the design can be a useful reference for the development of other frameworks.