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A facile method that combines alkali-assisted oxidation and –SH chelation with a click chemistry reaction was employed to create an F-POSS polymer surface (fluorinated octavinyl polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane polymer)-based Cu mesh (F-POSS-OM). The as-prepared F-POSS-OM surface displayed a cohering hierarchical nano-F-POSS polymer granule/micro-Cu(OH)2 wire structure, which provided a re-entrant geometry needed for liquid-repellency and low liquid sliding angles (

The fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors are widely used in strain measurement. However, the current FBG sensors are not sensitive enough to monitor the micro-strain. In order to provide a feasible method to monitor the micro-strain of lithium-ion battery, a novel fiber Bragg grating (FBG) strain sensors with enhanced sensitivity was developed in this paper. A lever mechanism was adopted to enhance the sensor sensitivity and flexure hinges as well as serpentine springs were used in sensor structure. The sensor structure dimension was optimized through theoretical calculation and finite element analysis, and the optimized sensor was manufactured and tested. The results of calibration test show that in the measuring range of ±500 μe, the sensor has strain sensitivity of 11.49 pm/μe, good linearity and repeatability as well as tiny hysteresis error. The battery experimental results illustrate there is a same trend between strain and voltage of battery, and a good uniformity under three working modes of battery. This proposed FBG sensor will provide a solution for strain measurement of battery.

A superhydrophobic/superoleophilic copper mesh with CuCl crystals for oil/water separation has been fabricated by immersing copper mesh in acidic CuCl2 solution and then grafting with 1-dodecanethiol. The mesh exhibits superhydrophobicity, with a water contact angle (WCA) of 151° and a water sliding angle of 4°. The mesh was used to separate various oil/water mixtures, including isooctane/water, petroleum ether/water, n-hexadecane/water, n-hexane/water and chloroform/water, with separation efficiencies over 95%. The mesh still kept separation efficiency above 99% and a WCA of 146° even after 20 separation cycles for chloroform/water mixture. In addition, the mesh could not only maintain high hydrophobicity after 50 g sand impact but also resist water droplets with different pH, indicating it has good mechanical and chemical durability.

Stimulus-responsive materials have great potential in advanced controllable oil/water separation applications. Here, a novel, cost-effective, and green approach is developed to produce a pH-responsive smart fabric with switchable wettability. The approach first involves grafting polydopamine (PDA) and cystamine dihydrochloride (cystamine) on a fabric surface to obtain thiol-functionalized fabric (Fabric-SH). Hydrophobic stearyl methacrylate (SMA) and pH-responsive undecylenic acid are then decorated on the Fabric-SH surface through efficient and green photoinduced thiol–ene click coupling chemistry. The obtained fabric exhibits rapidly switchable wettability between superhydrophobicity and superhydrophilicity depending on the contacting liquid pH value and can be applied in controllable separation of various mixtures of water and oil with high efficiency up to 99%. More importantly, the as-prepared fabric is able to realize the separation of oil/water/oil ternary mixtures and can self-clean and repel oil ...

Polyacrylate/silica nanoparticles hybrid emulsion (PSHE) with high silica content was produced and used in the preparation of high hardness and dry-wear-resistant coating via a facile and environment-friendly method. Specifically, the surface of alkaline silica sol nanoparticles was modified by cationic polyacrylamide (CPAM), which was then added in an emulsifier-free polymerization system comprised of methyl methacrylate (MMA) and butyl acrylate (BA). Through electrostatic attractions, hydrogen bonds, and van der Waals force, the positive charged silica nanoparticles aggregate around polyacrylate emulsion particles to improve the hardness and dry-wear-resistant of PSHE coating. Our results confirmed an average size of the PSHE particles only 58.6 nm. A bimodal molecular weight distribution (MWD) and consequently two different glass transition temperatures (Tg) were found in such PSHE polyacrylate resin. Due to the presence of modified silica nanoparticles, a reduced polymerization degree of MMA monomer in the aqueous phase of core emulsion leads to a decreased first Tg and the high molecular weight fraction with highly compacted molecular structure, and the improved mechanical properties of the PSHE coating. The chains of relatively low molecular weight fraction of polyacrylate move more easily during film formation, which prevents the structural voids in the coatings. Better adhesion as well as higher hardness, impact resistance, dry-wear-resistance, and thermal stability are found when compared with its pure polyacrylate emulsion (PPE) coating counterparts. Although having high silica content, the PSHE coating still retains 90% transparency rate in visible light range.

A superhydrophobic film with good durability was fabricated by simple spraying a mixed solution of a POSS-based fluorinated acrylate polymer and ethyl-α-cyanoacrylate on a glass slide. The polymer was firstly synthesized via a typical free radical solution polymerization and could self-assemble into spherical micelle, thus leading to the formation of a rough film with hierarchical nano-microstructure through spray coating. The adding of ethyl-α-cyanoacrylate can improve the mechanical durability of the film. The film shows robust superhydrophobicity with a high water angle contact of 158° and an ultralow water sliding angle of 1.9°. More importantly, the film not only can withstand 25 abrasion cycles under a load of 200 g and approximately 5.5 m high static water pressure without losing superhydrophobicity, but also exhibits favorable resistance to acidic and basic solutions over a wide range of pH values from 2 to 14. Besides, the transmittance of the coated glass slide is above 75% in the visible light range of 400–800 nm, reflecting high transparency of the film. This film may be a promising candidate in practical applications, including coating of optical devices, solar cell panel and outdoor instruments, because this method to fabricate supehydrophobic surfaces is facile, effective and scalable, and the superhydrophobic coating has good water resistance, high transparency and enough durability.

A superhydrophobic halloysite-based mesh was facilely prepared by spraying epoxy/hexadecyltrimethoxysilane-halloysite nanotubes (HDTMS-HNTs) on stainless steel mesh. The as-prepared mesh was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and optical contact angle meter (OCA). The HNTs modified by HDTMS not only enhanced surface roughness, but also endowed hydrophobicity of the mesh. The mesh, with a static water contact angle of 154° and a sliding angle of 1.5°, was applied to separate a series of oil-water mixtures, such as n-hexane-water, isooctane-water and petroleum ether-water, with high separation efficiency of over 98%. The mesh still kept separation efficiency approximately 98.5% even after 25 separation cycles for n-hexane-water mixture separation. More importantly, the mesh is durable enough to withstand heat, chemical and mechanical challenges, such as hot water, strong alkaline, strong acid and sand abrasion, and high hydrostatic pressure. The as-prepared mesh will be a promising material in oil-water separation, because of the simple, economical and easily scalable preparation method and the excellent separation performance in radical oil-water separation.

A superhydrophobic and superoleophilic polymer-infiltrated nanoparticle film-coated stainless-steel mesh (PINF-SSM) was prepared with a novel and facile nature-inspired approach. The approach involves the use of low-cost raw materials and simple spray coating of hydrophobic silica nanoparticles onto stainless-steel mesh (SSM) surface. With acrylic resin pre-coating layer on both surfaces, it is conveniently transformed into an integrated polymer-infiltrated nanoparticle film on SSM after annealing above the resin’s glass transition temperature. The obtained PINF-SSM shows robust superhydrophobicity after multiple cycles rubbing with sandpaper, long-term UV irradiation, long-term storage, and exposure to strong acidic, alkaline, and saline solutions. The as-prepared PINF-SSM was successfully used to separate various oil/water mixtures with high-efficiency for at least 50 cycles and collect oil slick on water surface efficiently. Sequential coating thermoplastic acrylic resin and hydrophobic silica nanoparticles on the surface of SSM allow for extended storage time of the coating materials, easy resin processing with high silica content, quick repairing, and easy recovery of the superhydrophobic surface, making it suitable in various oil/water separation practices.

BACKGROUND: The discordance of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), and Ki-67 cell nuclear proliferation antigen status in patients with locally advanced breast cancer pre- and post-neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is quite common. This study aimed to assess the frequency of changes in receptor status after NAC in patients with invasive ductal breast cancer and the prognostic impact of such changes. METHODS: The study comprised 670 patients who were diagnosed with invasive ductal breast carcinoma and treated with both NAC and surgery from 2012–2017. Hormone receptor (HR; including ER and PR), HER2, and Ki-67 status was assessed before NAC and in residual invasive tumor cells of the surgical specimens. The prognostic impact of receptor conversions in breast cancer patients treated with NAC was evaluated in this retrospective study. RESULTS: The conversion of ER was related to overall survival (OS; P=0.008) and disease-free survival (DFS; P=0.004). Patients whose ER status was always positive had the best prognosis, and those who were always negative had the worst prognosis. Similar results were also found for PR status, as the conversion of PR status was also related to OS (P20% after NAC had the worst survival. Nevertheless, there was no statistical significance in the conversion of HER2 status. In multivariate Cox regression analyses, PR conversion and post-neoadjuvant pathological lymph node stage (ypN) were independent prognostic factors for DFS (P=0.008

A superhydrophobic porous film was fabricated by a simple phase separation process between a polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) based diblock polymer (P) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) in selective solvents. The POSS-based hybrid diblock polymer was synthesized using a two-step atom transfer radical polymerization method. The polymer, along with PEG, was dissolved in mixed solvents of tetrahydrofuran (THF) and ethanol (AC), and then dip-coated onto the glass slides to form a coating film. After PEG was washed away using water, the polymer film with nano-micrometer dual-scale roughness on the slides was formed due to the phase separation. Then, a superhydrophobic porous film was obtained after surface modification with low surface energy material. The effects of POSS content, P/PEG ratio, and AC/THF ratio were investigated. The results showed that the water contact angle increased with the PEG content within a certain range and the surface roughness was enhanced after adding AC. When the POSS content was 25.3% (P2), the ratio of P2/PEG was 5:5 and AC/THF was 3:7, the film after modification had a static water contact angle of 155.1° and a sliding angle of 6.5°, demonstrating superhydrophobicity.

Superhydrophobic–superoleophilic meshes with hierarchical structures were fabricated by spraying a POSS hybrid acrylic polymer on stainless steel mesh for oil–water separation in this paper. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR), and thermogravimetric analyses were used to verify the chemical composition and thermostability of the POSS hybrid acrylic polymer, which was synthesized via a free radical solution polymerization. The obtained mesh was characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and optical contact angle meter to confirm the morphology, composition, and wettability of the film surface. The coated mesh, with a static water contact angle of 153° and a sliding angle of 4.5°, was applied to separate a series of oil–water mixtures, such as n-hexane, isooctane, petroleum ether, kerosene, and vegetable oil, with separation efficiency nearly 99%. In addition, the coated mesh still kept separation efficiency approximately 99% even after 25 separation cycles for n-hexane/water mixture. After 20 abrasion cycles, the water contact angle of the mesh remained 145°, and separation efficiency for n-hexane/water mixture is approximately 99%, indicating the coated mesh possessed good mechanical stability. The as-prepared mesh will be a promising material in oil–water separation, due to the simple, low-cost, and easily scalable fabrication method and the excellent separation performance in radical oil–water separation.

A new shape memory hydrogel, which can be programmed with quadruple geometries when stimuli are applied sequentially, is presented. With a new redox-responsive stimulus coupled with two other common regulation mechanisms, this hydrogel shows multiple shape memory behaviours, which is promising for various applications, especially drug delivery.

A polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS)-based hybrid triblock copolymer - methyl methacrylate-b-perfluoroalkylethyl methacrylate-b-methacrylisobutyl polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (PMMA-b-PFMA-b-PMAPOSS) was synthesized via an atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) method. The self-assembly behavior of triblock copolymers in selective solvents of tetrahydrofuran (THF) and trichlorotrifluoroethane (F113) was studied using dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) simulation. The effects of the block sequence and volume ratio of F113/THF were discussed. The aggregate morphology and size were also characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS). The simulation results showed that the spherical micelle with core-shell-corona or core-mixed shell structure could be formed and the micelle size increased with the F113 content, which was in qualitative agreement with the experimental results. The DPD simulation revealed the dynamic process of the formation of aggregates at the mesoscopic scale, which can be considered as an adjunct to experiments and provides other valuable information for the experiments.

Robust polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS)-based superhydrophobic fabrics were successfully generated by surface modification of fibers with mercapto silanes followed by click coupling with methacryl-heptaisobutyl POSS (MAPOSS). MAPOSS grafted onto the fabric surfaces not only increased the surface roughness but also lowered the surface energy of fabric, resulting in superhydrophobicity with a water contact angle of 159° and a sliding angle of 7°. Importantly, the as-prepared superhydrophobic cotton fabric is tolerant to corrosive liquids, UV irradiation, high temperature environment, ultrasonic washing and mechanical abrasion. And the as-prepared superhydrophobic fabric could be used as an adsorbent material for removing oil from water. In addition, MAPOSS could be easily grafted onto other porous substrates (including but not limited to polyester fabrics, filter papers and melamine sponges) to endow these materials with high hydrophobicity. Therefore, this facile, environmentally friendly, low cost and versatile method offers great technological promise in the preparation of robust superhydrophobic coatings on a large scale.

Oxidized low-density lipoprotein receptor 1 (OLR1), a key receptor for oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL), plays a crucial role in cancer and inflammatory disease. However, the correlation between OLR1 expression and immune infiltration in breast cancer (BC) remain unclear. In this study, we comprehensively analyzed the expression level of OLR1 in BC tissues and explore the prognostic importance of OLR1 using quantitative real-time PCR, immunohistochemical analysis and different databases. The significantly enriched KEGG and GO pathways were used to identify the potential biological function of OLR1 via LinkedOmics analysis. Furthermore, we detected the correlation between OLR1 expression and a variety of immune infiltrating cells via Tumor Immune Estimation Resource database and GEPIA database. Our study revealed that OLR1 upregulation was observed in BC tissues and correlated with worse clinical outcomes and advanced clinicopathological factors. Meanwhile, OLR1 regulated various immunity-related pathways, especially the polarization of macrophages. Immunohistochemical analysis further confirmed the significant correlation between OLR1 expression and tumor infiltration of M2 macrophages as well as tumor-associated macrophages. OLR1 upregulation indicated poor prognosis in BC, possibly through inducing macrophage polarization and triggering immune evasion. Collectively, OLR1 may represent a potential therapeutic target for BC tailored therapy.

We reported an aqueous plasmon enhanced fluorescence (PEF) nanomaterial, termed as O113A11F19@QDs@SiO2@AuNR, where the fluorescence enhancement fold was highly dependent on the distance between cadmium selenide quantum dots (CdSe QDs) and the plasmonic gold nanorod (AuNR). The distance between AuNR and CdSe QDs was controlled by adjusting the thickness of the silica layer. When the thickness of silica layer was 22 ± 1.2 nm, the maximum fluorescence enhancement of O113A11F19@QDs@SiO2@AuNR was 3.30 times that of bare CdSe QDs. Moreover, O113A11F19@QDs@SiO2@AuNR also showed colloidal stability even when diluted to 5 times. The O113A11F19@QDs@SiO2@AuNR could be used as advanced bio-probe for sophisticated medical diagnosis. The interaction between CdSe QDs and AuNR was investigated using a finite difference time domain (FDTD) simulation. The simulation results demonstrated that the electromagnetic field generated from AuNR can enhance the excitation and radiation decay rate of CdSe QDs, which results in the fluorescence enhancement. The spectra overlap of CdSe QDs with longitudinal localized surface plasmon resonance band (L-SPR) of AuNR and an appropriate distance between AuNR and QDs were both crucial factors for the fluorescence enhancement. The reported findings provide a valuable guidance to rationally design advanced bio-probe for sophisticated medical diagnosis.

Homogeneous hydrophobic ZIF-67 decorated copper mesh was prepared by ultrafast electrodeposition and subsequent hydrophobization with stearic acid or 1-dodecanethiol. The preparation can be completed within 9 min under room temperature. Based on the hard-soft-acid-base (HSAB) theory, there exists difference of the interaction between Co2+ and specific groups (carboxy or sulfhydryl), the oil/water separation and dyes adsorption performances were thus affected after ZIF-67-coated copper mesh was hydrophobized. The separation efficiency of the hydrophobic meshes for various oil/water mixtures was all greater than 98%, and remained almost no decline after several cycles of separation. However, the intrusion pressure of ZIF-67/copper mesh modified by 1-dodecanethiol is higher than the one modified by stearic acid. At the same time, the 1-dodecanethiol modified ZIF-67/copper mesh displayed a high adsorption capacity for Congo red (near 2000 mg/m2), while the adsorption rate of the mesh modified by stearic acid is significantly faster. This work proposed a simple and fast method to build continuous, homogeneous MOFs film for oil/water separation and dyes adsorption.

Background/Aims: The oncogenic role of linc00152 in pan-cancer is unclear. Methods: In this study, RNA-Seq of 33 breast specimens was performed, and the expression of linc00152 was validated by qPCR using 50 paired breast cancer tissues and adjacent normal tissues. This result combined with the expression of linc00152 in pan-cancer was revalidated by Gene Expression Omnibus and The Cancer Genome Atlas data. Next, the oncogenic roles of linc00152 in view of prognosis, chemoresistance, genomic and epigenetic regulation, including DNA methylation and histone modification, potential biological function enrichment, and basic molecular function in pan-cancer, were also evaluated in vitro and in vivo . Results: Linc00152 is upregulated in pan-cancer, especially in progressive cancer, and the high expression of linc00152 may lead to a worse prognosis and chemoresistance in pan-cancer patients. Amplification, DNA hypomethylation, promoter-like lncRNA characteristics and super-enhancer regulation are the drivers that lead to the upregulation of linc00152 in pan-cancer. Meanwhile, linc00152 was involved in cancer-related pathways, infection and immune response-associated pathways by enriched analysis using TCGA data. Finally, linc00152 was confirmed to promote the proliferation, migration and invasion in MDA-MB-231, SGC-7901 and 786-O. Moreover, RIP and RNA pull-down assays indicated that linc00152 can bind to EZH2 directly. Conclusion: All of the results indicated that linc00152 acted as an oncogenic propellant from various perspectives, and it may be an effective therapy target in pan-cancer.

Dissipative particle dynamics simulation is used to reveal the loading/release of small interfering RNA (siRNA) in pH-sensitive polymers/gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) polyplex. The conformation dynamics of these polyplex at various Au/siRNA mass ratios, the original AuNPs sizes, polymer types, and pH values are simulated and compared to experimental results. At neutral conditions (pH = 7.4), spherical micelles with a multilayer structure are formed in siRNA/polyethyleneimine/cis-aconitic anhydride functionalized poly(allylamine)/polyethyleneimine/11-mercaptoundecanoic acid-gold nanoparticle (siRNA/PEI/PAH-Cit/PEI/MUA-AuNP) polyplex. Large polyplex are obtained with high Au/siRNA mass ratio and/or small original AuNPs size. The release dynamics of siRNA from AuNPs-polyplex systems were also simulated in the intracellular environment (pH = 5.0). A swelling-demicellization-releasing mechanism is followed while the release of siRNA is found much faster for polyplex involving charge-reversal PAH-Cit. These findings are qualitatively consistent with the experimental results and may provide valuable guidance in later design and optimization of delivery carriers for siRNA or other molecule probes. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 64: 810–821, 2018

A durable underwater superoleophobic mesh was conveniently prepared by layer-by-layer (LBL) assembly of poly (diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDDA) and halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) on a stainless steel mesh. The hierarchical structure and roughness of the PDDA/HNTs coating surface were controlled by adjusting the number of layer deposition cycles. When the PDDA/HNTs coating with 10 deposition cycles was decorated on the mesh with pore size of about 54 μm, the underwater superoleophobic mesh was obtained. The as-prepared underwater superoleophobic PDDA/HNTs decorated mesh exhibits outstanding oil–water separation performance with a separation efficiency of over 97% for various oil/water mixtures, which allowed water to pass through while repelled oil completely. In addition, the as-prepared decorated mesh still maintained high separation efficiency above 97% after repeated 20 separation times for hexane/water mixture or chloroform/water mixture. More importantly, the as-prepared decorated mesh is durable enough to resist chemical and mechanical challenges, such as strong alkaline, salt aqueous and sand abrasion. Therefore, the as-prepared decorated mesh has practical utility in oil–water separation due to its stable oil–water performance, remarkable chemical and mechanical durability and the facile and eco-friendly preparation process.

A superhydrophobic melamine sponge was fabricated by a facile method of photoinitiated thiol-ene click chemistry. The resultant sponge exhibited excellent water repellency with a water contact angle of 152.8° and could not only absorb various organic compounds with absorption capacities of 72–160 times its own weight, but also selectively and continuously remove oil from water. More importantly, the sponge still maintained a high absorption capacity after reused 16 times by sorption/squeezing. Additionally, the superhydrophobic sponge could also be used as a filter to separate oil/water mixtures successfully. These results suggest that the resultant superhydrophobic melamine sponge may provide great potential application for oil removal.

We fabricated a matchstick-like Cu2S@CuxO nanowire film on copper mesh by applying a Cu(OH)2 nanowires template-sacrificial method, which can transformed from superhydrophilic to superhydrophobic just after storage in air for a certain period without any further organic modification. The surface morphology, chemical composition and the wettability were investigated by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffractometer (XRD), Raman, X-ray Photoelectron Microscopy (XPS), and contact angle measurement. Results showed that the change of surface chemical composition and the trapped air among the matchstick-like structures were the decisive factors for the wettability transition. Therefore, on-demand oil/water separation was achieved, which was performed by using the superhydrophilic–underwater superoleophobic mesh for separating light oil/water mixtures and the superhydrophobic one for separating heavy oil/water mixtures.

The segmentation of organs at risk is an important part of radiotherapy. The current method of manual segmentation depends on the knowledge and experience of physicians, which is very time-consuming and difficult to ensure the accuracy, consistency and repeatability. Therefore, a deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) is proposed for the automatic and accurate segmentation of head and neck organs at risk. The data of 496 patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma were reviewed. Among them, 376 cases were randomly selected for training set, 60 cases for validation set and 60 cases for test set. Using the three-dimensional (3D) U-NET DCNN, combined with two loss functions of Dice Loss and Generalized Dice Loss, the automatic segmentation neural network model for the head and neck organs at risk was trained. The evaluation parameters are Dice similarity coefficient and Jaccard distance. The average Dice Similarity coefficient of the 19 organs at risk was 0.91, and the Jaccard distance was 0.15. The results demonstrate that 3D U-NET DCNN combined with Dice Loss function can be better applied to automatic segmentation of head and neck organs at risk.勾画危及器官是放射治疗中的重要环节。目前人工勾画的方式依赖于医生的知识和经验，非常耗时且难以保证勾画准确性、一致性和重复性。为此，本研究提出一种深度卷积神经网络，用于头颈部危及器官的自动和精确勾画。研究回顾了 496 例鼻咽癌患者数据，随机选择 376 例用于训练集，60 例用于验证集，60 例作为测试集。使用三维（3D）U-NET 深度卷积神经网络结构，结合 Dice Loss 和 Generalized Dice Loss 两种损失函数训练头颈部危及器官自动勾画深度卷积神经网络模型，评估参数为 Dice 相似性系数和 Jaccard 距离。19 种危及器官 Dice 相似性指数平均达到 0.91，Jaccard 距离平均值为 0.15。研究结果显示基于 3D U-NET 深度卷积神经网络结合 Dice 损失函数可以较好地应用于头颈部危及器官的自动勾画。.

Objective: A novel respiratory monitoring method based on the periodical pressure change on the patient’s back was proposed and assessed by applying to four-dimensional CT (4DCT) scanning. Methods: A pressure-based respiratory monitoring system is developed and validated by comparing to real-time position management (RPM) system. The pressure change and the RPM signal are compared with phase differences and correlations calculated. The 4DCT images are reconstructed by these two signals. Internal and skin artifacts due to mismatch between CT slices and respiratory phases are evaluated. Results: The pressure and RPM signals shows strong consistency (R = 0.68±0.19 (1SD)). The time shift is 0.26 ± 0.51 (1SD) s and the difference of breath cycle is 0.02 ± 0.17 (1SD) s. The quality of 4DCT images reconstructed by two signals is similar. For both methods, the number of patients with artifacts is eight and the maximum magnitudes of artifacts are 20 mm (internal) and 10 mm (skin). The average magnitudes are 8.8 mm (pressure) and 8.2 mm (RPM) for internal artifacts, and 5.2 mm (pressure) and 4.6 mm (RPM) for skin artifacts. The mean square gray value difference shows no significant difference (p = 0.52). Conclusion: The pressure signal provides qualified results for respiratory monitoring in 4DCT scanning, demonstrating its potential application for respiration monitoring in radiotherapy. Advances in knowledge: Pressure change on the back of body is a novel and promising method to monitor respiration in radiotherapy, which may improve treatment comfort and provide more information about respiration and body movement.

Additional file 2 : Figure S2. Potential therapeutic role of LINC00673 in breast cancer progression. (a) Effect of ASO on apoptosis in mouse organs. (b) H&E staining and sections were observed under an Olympus microscope. (c) Serum chemistry markers of liver and renal function in the 0.9% normal saline and ASO treatment groups. GPT: glutamic pyruvic transaminase; ALP: alkaline phosphatase; GGT: gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase; BUN: blood urea nitrogen; CRE: serum creatinine; and TBIL: total bilirubin.*P

Effects of PSAT1 on the migration, invasion and apoptosis of ER-negative breast cancer cells. (A) Transwell assays were used to investigate changes in cell migration and invasion. **P

Additional file 1 : Figure S1. LINC00673 is highly expressed in breast cancer tissues. (a) LINC00673 data downloaded from the MiTranscriptome database. (b) Expression of LINC00673 in 950 breast cancer tissues and 107 normal breast tissues (TCGA). *** P

The conical copper wires (CCWs) were subjected to alkali assistant oxidation or electrochemical deposition to form superhydrophilic wettability of ∼4° with needle-like or leaf-like morphology, respectively. The superhydrophobic CCWs with water contact angles of ∼156° were further constructed by modification with 1-dodecanethiol. The CCWs were used to study the effect of fog flow velocity and surface morphology on fog collection. With the fog flow velocity increased, the dominant factor for fog collection changed from fog capture to droplet motion. The surfaces with needle-like morphology displayed better fog capture ability while the surfaces with leaf-like morphology were more prone to driving droplet motion.

Lithium-ion batteries have become a most promising energy storage candidate in power station and electric vehicles because of its high power capability, high energy-conversion efficiency, and environmental friendliness. It is significant to diagnose the security of battery by monitoring the its state parameters. Wherein, temperature and strain are the two of the important ones. In this work, a sensitivity-enhanced FBG strain sensor was designed for the strain measurement of lithium-ion batteries. This proposed sensor consists of two FBGs and a lever mechanism. The lever mechanism works as a displacement amplifier. The amplified deformation of battery act on the functional FBG and induce the larger wavelength shift. The thermal compensation FBG can eliminate the influence of ambient temperature. The calibration test shows that this sensor has a high sensitivity of 11.55 pm/μe and a good linearity. Application test on a battery illustrates that the strain responses of the sensor has a good repeatability in three cycles. Then, artificial neural networks were used for state of charge (SOC) estimation. When the strain and temperature data were set as input parameters, SOC can be well predicted. Therefore, this sensor can monitor the strain on the cell with high sensitivity and accuracy. This research demonstrated a new solution for SOC estimation especially based on strain signals, which can provide more informative data for battery management system.

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNA) that are associated with immune checkpoints have not been identified, and the mechanism by which such lncRNAs might regulate the expression of immune checkpoints is unknown in human cancer. Immune checkpoint–associated lncRNAs (ICP-lncRNA) were identified and validated via a comprehensive bioinformatic analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas data. These ICP-lncRNAs were involved in key immune response and immune cell receptor signaling pathways. The expression of ICP-lncRNAs was upregulated and correlated with a poor prognosis in patients with cancer. HLA complex P5 (HCP5) and myocardial infarction associated transcript (MIAT) promoted tumor growth and upregulated the expression of PD-L1/CD274 via a competing endogenous RNA mechanism of sponging miR-150-5p. The combination of MIAT knockdown and PD-L1 antibody administration showed a synergistic inhibitory effect on tumor growth. Finally, the expression of both HCP5 and MIAT was confirmed to be transcriptionally suppressed by CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF), and lipopolysaccharide induced CTCF eviction from the HCP5 and MIAT promoters, attenuating the transcriptionally suppressive activity of CTCF. This study enlarges the functional landscape of known lncRNAs in human cancer and indicates novel insights into their roles in the field of tumor immunity and immunotherapy. These findings may aid in the comprehensive management of human cancer with immunotherapy.

The landscape of molecular subtype-specific long intergenic noncoding RNAs (MS-lincRNAs) in breast cancer has not been elucidated. No study has investigated the biological function of BCLIN25, serving as a novel HER2 subtype-specific lincRNA, in human disease, especially in malignancy. Moreover, the mechanism of BCLIN25 in the regulation of ERBB2 expression remains unknown. Our present study aimed to investigate the role and underlying mechanism of BCLIN25 in the regulation of ERBB2 expression. The transcriptional landscape across five subtypes of breast cancer was investigated using RNA sequencing. Integrative transcriptomic analysis was performed to identify the landscape of novel lincRNAs. Next, WEKA was used to identify lincRNA-based subtype classification and MS-lincRNAs for breast cancer. The MS-lincRNAs were validated in 250 breast cancer samples in our cohort and datasets from The Cancer Genome Atlas and Gene Expression Omnibus. Furthermore, BCLIN25 was selected, and its role in tumorigenesis was examined in vitro and in vivo. Finally, the mechanism by which BCLIN25 regulates ERBB2 expression was investigated in detail. A total of 715 novel lincRNAs were differentially expressed across five breast cancer subtypes. Next, lincRNA-based subtype classifications and MS-lincRNAs were identified and validated using our breast cancer samples and public datasets. BCLIN25 was found to contribute to tumorigenesis in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, BCLIN25 was shown to increase the expression of ERBB2 by enhancing promoter CpG methylation of miR-125b, leading to miR-125b downregulation. In turn, ERBB2 mRNA degradation was found to be abolished due to decreased binding of miR-125b to the 3’-untranslated region (UTR) of ERBB2. These findings reveal the role of novel lincRNAs in breast cancer and provide a comprehensive landscape of breast cancer MS-lincRNAs, which may complement the current molecular classification system in breast cancer.

Advances in the molecular characteristics of cancers have facilitated the classification system from morphology to molecular characteristic-based subtypes. Cancer profiling has expanded in its focus from protein-coding genes to noncoding RNAs, with advances in the depth and quality of transcriptome sequencing. Here, we examined the profiles of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) according to breast cancer subtype categories in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database to identify a cohort of breast cancer- and oestrogen receptor (ER)-negative-associated lncRNAs. According to the prioritization of variation in ER-negative-associated lncRNAs, we identified and investigated the role of LINC00511 in breast cancer. We determined that high LINC00511 expression was an unfavourable prognostic factor for patients with breast cancer. Furthermore, LINC00511 promoted tumour growth by accelerating the G1/S transition and inhibiting apoptosis. At the transcriptional level, ER deficiency directly affected the expression of LINC00511 activated by transcription factor AP-2 (TFAP-2) in breast cancer cells. Moreover, mechanistic investigations demonstrated that ER-negative-associated LINC00511 interacted with enhancer of zeste homologue 2 (EZH2, the catalytic subunit of polycomb repressive complex 2, PRC2) and recruited PRC2 to mediate histone methylation, contributing to the repression of CDKN1B in the nucleus. This process resulted in altered ER-negative breast cancer cell biology. By highlighting the oncogenic function of LINC00511, we revealed the role of lncRNAs in regulating the network of cell cycle control in ER-negative breast cancer and suggested the exploitation of LINC00511 as an anticancer therapy in the future.

(+)-JQ1 is an inhibitor of the tumor-driver bromodomain protein BRD4 and produces satisfactory effects because it efficiently increases apoptosis. Ferroptosis is an oxidative cell death program differing from apoptosis. Ferroptosis is characterized by high levels of iron and reactive oxygen species and has been confirmed to suppress tumor growth. In this study, BRD4 expression in cancer and its influence on the prognosis of cancer patients were analyzed using data from public databases. In addition, the effect of the BRD4 inhibitor (+)-JQ1 on ferroptosis was investigated via a series of in vitro assays. A nude mouse model was used to evaluate the function of (+)-JQ1 in ferroptosis in vivo. The potential mechanisms by which (+)-JQ1 regulates ferroptosis were explored. The results showed that BRD4 expression levels were higher in cancer tissues than in normal tissues and were related to poor prognosis in cancer patients. Furthermore, ferroptosis was induced under (+)-JQ1 treatment and BRD4 knockdown, indicating that (+)-JQ1 induces ferroptosis via BRD4 inhibition. Moreover, the anticancer effect of (+)-JQ1 was enhanced by ferroptosis inducers. Further studies confirmed that (+)-JQ1 induced ferroptosis via ferritinophagy, which featured autophagy enhancement by (+)-JQ1 and increased iron levels. Subsequently, the reactive oxygen species levels were increased by iron via the Fenton reaction, leading to ferroptosis. In addition, expression of the ferroptosis-associated genes GPX4, SLC7A11, and SLC3A2 was downregulated under (+)-JQ1 treatment and BRD4 knockdown, indicating that (+)-JQ1 may regulate ferroptosis by controlling the expression of ferroptosis-associated genes regulated by BRD4. Finally, (+)-JQ1 regulated ferritinophagy and the expression of ferroptosis-associated genes via epigenetic inhibition of BRD4 by suppressing the expression of the histone methyltransferase G9a or enhancing the expression of the histone deacetylase SIRT1. In summary, the BRD4 inhibitor (+)-JQ1 induces ferroptosis via ferritinophagy or the regulation of ferroptosis-associated genes through epigenetic repression of BRD4.

Developing efficient separation materials for surfactant-stabilized oil/water emulsions is of great importance while significantly challenging. In this work, a sand filter with Janus channels was prepared by simply mixing superhydrophilic and superhydrophobic quartz sand in a mass ratio of 1:1. Due to the imbalanced force of droplets in those Janus channels, better separation performance under gravity was achieved for both surfactant-stabilized oil-in-water and water-in-oil emulsions than the superhydrophilic or superhydrophobic sand filter alone. It also received high flux (1080.13 L m−2 h−1 for dichloroethane-in-water emulsion and 1378.07 L m−2 h−1 for water-in-dichloroethane emulsion) and high separation efficiency (99.80% for dichloroethane-in-water emulsion and 99.98% for water-in-dichloroethane emulsion). Molecular dynamics based computational work and experimental studies revealed that the Janus channels of mixed sand layer exhibited greater interaction energy with emulsion droplets for more efficient adsorption, resulting in better demulsification capability and separation performance. The as-prepared Janus sand filters retained excellent separation performance after 50 cycles of the stability test. Together with the needs on only cheap and easily accessible raw materials and its environmentally friendly preparation method, this Janus sand filtration process exhibits its great potential for the separation of surfactant-stabilized oil/water emulsions.

Separating oil from oily water and degrading the aqueous pollutants are two significant issues of wastewater treatment. In this work, a titanium mesh coated with W, N co-doped TiO2 nanobelts (WNTNBs) was prepared through a simple solution route, followed by a subsequent calcination. The hierarchical nanobelt structures on the mesh contributed to considerable surface roughness, resulting in the excellent superhydrophilicity and underwater superoleophobicity. The mesh could keep its wetting performance in corrosive environments such as highly saline, acidic and alkaline conditions, revealing good environmental stability. This durable mesh is efficient for separating oil from water with high separation efficiency, as well as degrading soluble dyes such as methylene blue (MB) in the water phase even under visible light irradiation. Moreover, the mesh possesses good self-cleaning property on the removal of aqueous insoluble oil on its surface in the presence of ultraviolet and visible light, making it more effective and promising in wastewater treatment.

Cu 2 S and Cu 2 O composite (Cu 2 S@Cu 2 O) film with micro/nano binary structure was created on copper surface using the mixing solution of sodium thiosulphate and copper sulfate by a facile chemical bath deposition method. After modification with low-cost polydimethylsioxane (PDMS), the superhydrophobic Cu 2 S@Cu 2 O film was obtained. The as-prepared film shows outstanding water repellency with a water contact angle larger than 150° and long-term storage stability. The geometric morphology and chemical composition of the film were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) and attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), respectively. Moreover, the same method was used to fabricate superhydrophobic/superoleophilic copper mesh, and it could realize separation of various oily sewages with separation efficiency above 94%. This strategy has potential to fabricate the practical superhydrophobic Cu 2 S@Cu 2 O film on copper surface on a large scale due to its simplicity and low cost.

Inspired by the water-collecting mechanism of the Stenocara beetle’s back structure, we prepared a superhydrophilic bumps–superhydrophobic/superoleophilic stainless steel mesh (SBS-SSM) filter via a facile and environmentally friendly method. Specifically, hydrophilic silica microparticles are assembled on the as-cleaned stainless steel mesh surface, followed by further spin-coating with a fluoropolymer/SiO2 nanoparticle solution. On the special surface of SBS-SSM, attributed to the steep surface energy gradient, the superhydrophilic bumps (hydrophilic silica microparticles) are able to capture emulsified water droplets and collect water from the emulsion even when their size is smaller than the pore size of the stainless steel mesh. The oil portion of the water-in-oil emulsion therefore permeates through pores of the superhydrophobic/superoleophilic mesh coating freely and gets purified. We demonstrated an oil recovery purity up to 99.95 wt % for surfactant-stabilized water-in-oil emulsions on the biomim...

Cu(OH)2 nanoribbons on copper mesh (NCM) has recently received much attention for oil/water separation. However, Cu(OH)2 nanostructures would be destroyed in acidic solution and lost the separation ability. In order to improve the anti-acidic stability, copper oxalate (CuC2O4) NCM was prepared by immersing the pre-grown Cu(OH)2 nanoribbons in oxalic acid solution. The as-prepared CuC2O4 NCM showed better acid-resistance than Cu(OH)2 NCM. After corrosion in 0.1 M HCl for 2 h, the CuC2O4 NCM could keep the underwater oil contact angle (OCA) of above 150° and separation efficiency of above 95%, while Cu(OH)2 would be corroded only in 10 s. Therefore, the CuC2O4 NCM in this work may provide a new strategy for oil/water separation.

A superhydrophobic/superoleophilic cotton fabric was fabricated by a facile one-step dip-coating method using a crosslinkable fluorinated copolymer material-Poly(methyl methacrylate-co-butyl acrylate-co-hydroxyethyl methacrylate-co-perfluoroalkylethyl methacrylate-co-stearyl methacrylate-co-methacrylisobutyl polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane) (P(MMA-BA-HEMA-FMA-SMA-MAPOSS)). The copolymer was synthesized using a conventional solution free radical polymerization. Cotton fabric was dip-coated in tetrahydrofuran (THF) solution of the copolymer and curing agent with –NCO groups. The coated cotton fabric has a water contact angle above 150° and oil contact angle of 0°, showing both superhydrophobicity and superoleophilicity. Furthermore, the cotton fabric could keep its superhydrophobic property even after ultrasonic treatment in ethanol or thermal treatment, as well as for acidic or alkaline liquids. The coated cotton fabrics were used to separate various oil-water mixtures with separation efficiency all above 96%. Additionally, the cotton fabrics still kept high separation efficiency above 98% after 50 separation times for n-hexane/water mixture. These suggest that the coated cotton fabric possesses robust superhydrophobic property and excellent oil-water separation performance, and can finely meet the urgent request in oil-water separation.

A novel Cu2S coated copper mesh with unique curled plate-like structure was prepared via a simple and cost-effective electrochemical anodization approach. The as-prepared coated mesh shows superhydrophilicity and underwater superoleophobicity and low adhesion property to oil. The mesh was used to separate various oil-water mixtures with high efficiency, which allowed water to pass through while it repelled oil completely. In addition, the coated mesh still maintained high separation efficiency above 97% after repeated 50 separation times for hexane/water mixture. These suggest that the coated mesh possesses superhydrophilic and underwater superoleophobic properties and stable oil-water separation performance. Therefore, the Cu2S coated copper mesh can be a novel ideal candidate material for oil-water separation.

Superhydrophilic and underwater superoleophobic titania nanowires (TNWs) films on Ti substrates were fabricated via a facile low temperature and short time-consuming route. The hierarchical one-dimension nanowires morphology with considerable roughness of the films led to the water permeation in air and oil repellency in water. Not only in pure water, the as-prepared TNWs films also exhibited excellent underwater superoleophobicity in corrosive aqueous media, including highly saline, acidic and alkaline solutions. Importantly, the surface of the TNWs films may keep the wetting properties and morphologies after immersed into corrosive solutions for 168 h, indicating the good environmental stability. The TNWs film prepared on Ti mesh showed good oil/water separation ability with a separation efficiency of high up to 99.7%. During the oil/water separation process, water passed through the mesh rapidly by gravity, while oils stayed above the mesh due to its superoleophobicity. We envision that the TNWs films with good underwater superoleophobicity may provide a candidate not only for oil/water separation but also in many other potential applications such as underwater oil manipulation, self-cleaning, bioadhesion control and fluidic devices.

The lack of safe and effective gene delivery strategies remains a bottleneck for cancer gene therapy. Here, we describe the synthesis, characterization, and application of cell-penetrating peptide (CPP)-loaded nanobubbles (NBs), which are characterized by their safety, strong penetrating power and high gene loading capability for gene delivery. An epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-targeted small interfering RNA (siEGFR) was transfected into triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) cells via prepared CPP-NBs synergized with ultrasound-targeted microbubble destruction (UTMD) technology. Fluorescence microscopy showed that siEGFR and CPP were loaded on the shells of the NBs. The transfection efficiency and cell proliferation levels were evaluated by FACS and MTT assays, respectively. In addition, in vivo experiments showed that the expression of EGFR mRNA and protein could be efficiently downregulated and that the growth of a xenograft tumor derived from TNBC cells could be inhibited. Our results indicate that CPP-NBs carrying siEGFR could potentially be used as a promising non-viral gene vector that can be synergized with UTMD technology for efficient TNBC therapy.

Purpose: CyberKnife system is initially equipped with fixed circular cones for stereotactic radiosurgery. Two dose calculation algorithms, Ray-Tracing and Monte Carlo, are available in the supplied treatment planning system. A multileaf collimator system was recently introduced in the latest generation of system, capable of arbitrarily shaped treatment field. The purpose of this study is to develop a model based dose calculation algorithm to better handle the lateral scatter in an irregularly shaped small field for the CyberKnife system. Methods: A pencil beam dose calculation algorithm widely used in linac based treatment planning system was modified. The kernel parameters and intensity profile were systematically determined by fitting to the commissioning data. The model was tuned using only a subset of measured data (4 out of 12 cones) and applied to all fixed circular cones for evaluation. The root mean square (RMS) of the difference between the measured and calculated tissue-phantom-ratios (TPRs) and off-center-ratio (OCR) was compared. Three cone size correction techniques were developed to better fit the OCRs at the penumbra region, which are further evaluated by the output factors (OFs). The pencil beam model was further validated against measurement data on the variable dodecagon-shaped Iris collimators and a half-beam blocked field. Comparison with Ray-Tracing and Monte Carlo methods was also performed on a lung SBRT case. Results: The RMS between the measured and calculated TPRs is 0.7% averaged for all cones, with the descending region at 0.5%. The RMSs of OCR at infield and outfield regions are both at 0.5%. The distance to agreement (DTA) at the OCR penumbra region is 0.2 mm. All three cone size correction models achieve the same improvement in OCR agreement, with the effective source shift model (SSM) preferred, due to their ability to predict more accurately the OF variations with the source to axis distance (SAD). In noncircular field validation, the pencil beam calculated results agreed well with the film measurement of both Iris collimators and the half-beam blocked field, fared much better than the Ray-Tracing calculation. Conclusions: The authors have developed a pencil beam dose calculation model for the CyberKnife system. The dose calculation accuracy is better than the standard linac based system because the model parameters were specifically tuned to the CyberKnife system and geometry correction factors. The model handles better the lateral scatter and has the potential to be used for the irregularly shaped fields. Comprehensive validations on MLC equipped system are necessary for its clinical implementation. It is reasonably fast enough to be used during plan optimization.

Background Currently, over 20 genes have been defined that can confer susceptibility for high-risk breast cancer. Although research has proved the utility of multiple-gene sequencing in the assessment of breast cancer risk, there is little data from China patients. Here, we use a multiple-gene sequencing panel to identify the variant spectrum in Chinese high-risk breast cancer subjects. Findings A total of 829 Chinese high-risk breast cancer patients participated in the research. The coding regions of 115 hereditary cancer susceptibility genes were captured and sequenced using a next generation sequencing platform from Complete Genomics and Illumina. Single Nucleotide Polymorphism and small Insertion/deletion variants were defined and analyzed. We developed a semi-automatic interpretation pipeline which enables accurate variants classification. In total, 193 pathogenic variants were identified in 45 genes from 177 patients. The pathogenic variant carrier rate is 21.4%: with 10.5% patients carrying a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation only, 10.0% of patients carried non-BRCA gene mutations only, while 1.0% of patients carried both a BRCA1/2 and a non-BRCA gene mutation. Variants of uncertain significance (VUS) totaling 2632 were identified in 115 genes from 787 of 829 patients: 82.5% patients carried more than one VUS, and only 5.1% patients did not carry any VUS. Families carrying pathogenic variants were tracked and adenoma was founded in three of them. Conclusions Our data provide a comprehensive analysis of potential susceptibility variations of high-risk for breast cancer in a Chinese population. This data will be useful for the comparison of the susceptibility variation spectrum between different populations and to discover potential pathogenic variants to improve the prevention and treatment of high-risk breast cancer.

Additional file 2: Figure S2. Potential therapeutic role of LINC00673 in breast cancer progression. (a) Effect of ASO on apoptosis in mouse organs. (b) H&E staining and sections were observed under an Olympus microscope. (c) Serum chemistry markers of liver and renal function in the 0.9% normal saline and ASO treatment groups. GPT: glutamic pyruvic transaminase; ALP: alkaline phosphatase; GGT: gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase; BUN: blood urea nitrogen; CRE: serum creatinine; and TBIL: total bilirubin.*P