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This study aims to compare the prevalence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) with semen quality in men from couples with primary and secondary infertility. Semen samples were collected from 133 men who requested fertility evaluation. Seminal tract infection with Ureaplasma spp. (UU), Mycoplasma hominis (MH), Mycoplasma genitalium (MG), Chlamydia trachomatis (CT), Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG), and herpes simplex virus-2 (HSV-2) was assessed by PCR-based diagnostic assays. Among all patients, the prevalence of STIs was higher in men from couples with primary infertility than that in men from couples with secondary infertility (39.7% vs 21.7%, P = 0.03). The prevalence of UU was 28.8% and 13.3% in men from couples with primary and secondary infertility, respectively. Men from couples with primary infertility were more likely to be positive for UU than men from couples with secondary infertility (P = 0.04). Regarding the UU subtype, the prevalence of Ureaplasma urealyticum (Uuu) and Ureaplasma parvum (Uup; including Uup1, Uup3, Uup6, and Uup14) did not differ between the two groups. No associations between the prevalence rates of MH, MG, and CT were found in men from either infertility group. A lower sperm concentration was associated with STI pathogen positivity in men with primary infertility according to the crude model (P = 0.04). The crude and adjusted models showed that semen volume (both P = 0.03) and semen leukocyte count (both P = 0.02) were independently associated with secondary infertility. These findings suggest the importance of classifying the type of infertility during routine diagnosis of seminal tract infections.

Continuous spermatogenesis depends on the self-renewal and differentiation of spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs). SSCs, the only male reproductive stem cells that transmit genetic material to subsequent generations, possess an inherent self-renewal ability, which allows the maintenance of a steady stem cell pool. SSCs eventually differentiate to produce sperm. However, in an in vitro culture system, SSCs can be induced to differentiate into various types of germ cells. Rodent SSCs are well defined, and a culture system has been successfully established for them. In contrast, available information on the biomolecular markers and a culture system for livestock SSCs is limited. This review summarizes the existing knowledge and research progress regarding mammalian SSCs to determine the mammalian spermatogenic process, the biology and niche of SSCs, the isolation and culture systems of SSCs, and the biomolecular markers and identification of SSCs. This information can be used for the effective utilization of SSCs in reproductive technologies for large livestock animals, enhancement of human male fertility, reproductive medicine, and protection of endangered species.

Abstract Transparent electrodes (TEs) with high chemical stability and excellent flexibility are critical for flexible optoelectronic devices, such as photodetectors, solar cells, and light-emitting diodes. Ultrathin metal electrode (thickness less than 20 nm) has been a promising TE candidate, but the fabrication can only be realized by vacuum-based technologies to date, and require tedious surface engineering of the substrates, which are neither ideal for polymeric based flexible applications nor suitable for roll-to-roll large-scale manufacture. This paper presents high-performance nanostructured transparent metal electrodes formation via displacement–diffusion-etch (DDE) process, which enables the solution-processed sub-20-nm-thick ultrathin gold electrodes (UTAuEs) on a wide variety of hard and soft substrates. UTAuEs fabricated on flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates show a high chemical/environmental stability and superior bendability to commercial flexible indium–tin-oxide (ITO) electrodes. Moreover, flexible organic solar cells made with UTAuEs show similar power conversion efficiency but much enhanced flexibility, in comparison to that of ITO-based devices.

Abstract Limited previous studies focused on the death and progression risk stratification of colorectal cancer (CRC) lung metastasis patients. The aim of this study is to construct a nomogram model combing machine learning-pathomics, radiomics features, Immunoscore and clinical factors to predict the postoperative outcome of CRC patients with lung metastasis. In this study, a total of 103 CRC patients having metastases limited to lung and undergoing radical lung resection were identified. Patch-level convolutional neural network training in weakly supervised manner was used to perform whole slides histopathological images survival analysis. Synthetic minority oversampling technique and support vector machine classifier were used to identify radiomics features and build predictive signature. The Immunoscore for each patient was calculated from the density of CD3+ and CD8+ cells at the invasive margin and the center of metastatic tumor which were assessed on consecutive sections of automated digital pathology. Finally, pathomics and radiomics signatures were successfully developed to predict the overall survival (OS) and disease free survival (DFS) of patients. The predicted pathomics and radiomics scores are negatively correlated with Immunoscore and they are three independent prognostic factors for OS and DFS prediction. The combined nomogram showed outstanding performance in predicting OS (AUC = 0.860) and DFS (AUC = 0.875). The calibration curve and decision curve analysis demonstrated the considerable clinical usefulness of the combined nomogram. Taken together, the developed nomogram model consisting of machine learning-pathomics signature, radiomics signature, Immunoscore and clinical features could be reliable in predicting postoperative OS and DFS of colorectal lung metastasis patients.

As the critical sensors and decoders of calcium signal, calcium-dependent protein kinase (CDPK) has become the focus of current research, especially in plants. However, few resources are available on the properties and functions of CDPK gene family in Triticum aestivum (TaCDPK). Here, a total of 79 CDPK genes were identified in the wheat genome. These TaCDPKs could be classified into four subgroups on phylogenesis, while they may be classified into two subgroups based on their tissue and organ-spatiotemporal expression profiles or three subgroups according to their induced expression patterns. The analysis on the signal network relationships and interactions of TaCDPKs and NADPH (reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidases, NOXs), the key producers for reactive oxygen species (ROS), showed that there are complicated cross-talks between these two family proteins. Further experiments demonstrate that, two members of TaCDPKs, TaCDPK2/4, can interact with TaNOX7, an important member of wheat NOXs, and enhanced the TaNOX7-mediated ROS production. All the results suggest that TaCDPKs are highly expressed in wheat with distinct tissue or organ-specificity and stress-inducible diversity, and play vital roles in plant development and response to biotic and abiotic stresses by directly interacting with TaNOXs for ROS production.

Background: Cancer of unknown primary (CUP) is a class of metastatic malignant tumors whose primary location cannot be determined. The diagnosis and treatment of CUP are a considerable challenge for clinicians. Herein, we report a CUP case whose corresponding primary tumor sites were successfully identified, and the patient received proper treatment.Case report: In February 2022, a 74-year-old woman was admitted to the Medical Oncology Department at Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital for new lung and intestinal tumors after more than 9 years of breast cancer surgery. After laparoscopically assisted right hemicolectomy, pathology revealed mucinous adenocarcinoma; the pathological stage was pT2N0M0. Results from needle biopsies of lung masses suggested poorly differentiated cancer, ER (-), PR (-), and HER2 (-), which combined with the clinical history, did not rule out metastatic breast cancer. A surgical pathology sample was needed to determine the origin of the tumor tissue, but the patient’s chest structure showed no indications for surgery. Analysis of the tumor’s traceable gene expression profile prompted breast cancer, and analysis of next-generation amplification sequencing (NGS) did not obtain a potential drug target. We developed a treatment plan based on comprehensive immunohistochemistry, a gene expression profile, and NGS analysis. The treatment plan was formulated using paclitaxel albumin and capecitabine in combination with radiotherapy. The efficacy evaluation was the partial response (PR) after four cycles of chemotherapy and two cycles combined with radiotherapy.Conclusion: This case highlighted the importance of identifying accurate primary tumor location for patients to benefit from treatment, which will provide a reference for the treatment decisions of CUP tumors in the future.

Stretch woven fabrics are known for their elastic and recovery properties. To date, they found many interesting applications from simple jeans to complex fabric structures with functional properties for example bi-stretch auxetic woven fabrics, compressions garments and stretchable textile carriers for healthcare applications. Many studies have been carried out on the physical, mechanical and comfort properties of stretchable knitted and woven fabrics. However, to identify combination of yarns with different stretch properties and other design parameters required to meet multiple objectives in the production and usage of bi-stretch woven fabrics is an area that has been taken up by fabric scientists recently. This study compared the effect of using elastic yarns and alternate elastic and non-elastic yarns in warp on the properties of bi-stretch woven fabrics while using elastic yarns in weft direction. It was found that shrinkage of the fabrics made of elastic yarns was higher along the warp direction as compared to that in weft direction due to shrinkage balancing effect; however, in case of fabrics made of alternate elastic and non-elastic yarns in warp the shrinkage behavior was exact opposite. The comparison of shrinkage for different weave patterns revealed that satin had the highest shrinkage followed by twill and plain, due to least number of interlacements in satin among these three patterns.

Summary: Diagnosis of primary brain tumors relies heavily on histopathology. Although various computational pathology methods have been developed for automated diagnosis of primary brain tumors, they usually require neuropathologists’ annotation of region of interests or selection of image patches on whole-slide images (WSI). We developed an end-to-end Vision Transformer (ViT) – based deep learning architecture for brain tumor WSI analysis, yielding a highly interpretable deep-learning model, ViT-WSI. Based on the principle of weakly supervised machine learning, ViT-WSI accomplishes the task of major primary brain tumor type and subtype classification. Using a systematic gradient-based attribution analysis procedure, ViT-WSI can discover diagnostic histopathological features for primary brain tumors. Furthermore, we demonstrated that ViT-WSI has high predictive power of inferring the status of three diagnostic glioma molecular markers, IDH1 mutation, p53 mutation, and MGMT methylation, directly from H&E-stained histopathological images, with patient level AUC scores of 0.960, 0.874, and 0.845, respectively.

Annually, the thermal coal industries produce billion tons of fly-ash (FA) as a waste by-product. Which has been proficiently used for the manufacture of FA based geopolymer concrete (FGC). To accelerate the usage of FA in building industry, an innovative machine learning techniques namely gene expression programming (GEP) and multi expression programming (MEP) are employed for forecasting the compressive strength of FGC. The comprehensive database is constructed comprising of 311 compressive strength results. The obtained equations relate the compressive strength of FGC with eight most effective parameters i.e., curing regime (T), time for curing (t) in hours, age of samples (A) in days, percentage of total aggregate by volume (% Ag), molarity of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution (M), silica (SiO2) solids percentage in sodium silicate (Na2SiO3) solution (%S), superplasticizer (%P) and extra water (%EW) as percent FA. The accurateness and predictive capacity of both GEP and MEP model is assessed via statistical checks, external validation criteria suggested by different researcher and then compared with linear regression (LR) and non-linear regression (NLR) models. In comparison with MEP equation, the GEP equation has lesser statistical error and higher correlation coefficient. Also, the GEP equation is short and it would be easy to use in the field. So, the GEP model is further utilized for sensitivity and parametric study. This research will increase the re-usage of hazardous FA in the development of green concrete that would leads to environmental safety and monetarist reliefs.

Abstract Growing efforts are being invested in investigating various molecular approaches to detect minimal residual disease (MRD) and predict disease recurrence. In our study, we investigated the utility of parallel longitudinal analysis of mutation and DNA methylation profiles for predicting MRD in postoperative non‐small‐cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. Tumor tissues and longitudinal blood samples were obtained from 65 patients with resected stage IA‐IIIB NSCLC. Somatic mutation and DNA methylation profiling were performed using ultra‐deep targeted sequencing and targeted bisulfite sequencing, respectively. Dynamic changes in plasma‐based mutation and tumor‐informed methylation profiles, reflected as MRD score, were observed from before surgery (baseline) to postoperative follow‐up, reflecting the decrease in tumor burden of the patients with resected NSCLC. Mutations were detected from plasma samples in 63% of the patients at baseline, which significantly reduced to 23‐25% during post‐operative follow‐ups. MRD score positive rate was 95.7% at baseline, which reduced to 74% at the first and 70% at the second follow‐up. Among the 5 relapsed patients with parallel longitudinal analysis of mutation and methylation profile, elevated MRD score was observed at follow‐up between 0.5‐7 months prior to radiologic recurrence for all 5 patients. Of them, 4 patients also had concomitant increase in allelic fraction of mutations in at least 1 follow‐up time point, but one patient had no mutation detected throughout all follow‐ups. Our results demonstrate that longitudinal profiling of mutation and DNA methylation may have potential for detecting MRD and predicting recurrence in postoperative NSCLC patients.

Hepatic angiosarcoma is a rare disease, and hepatic hemangiosarcoma with Kasabach-Merritt syndrome (KMS) is even rarer. Although there have been several reports about KMS caused by hepatic angiosarcoma, there has been no mention of successful treatment regimens for hepatic angiosarcoma with KMS. A 64-year-old female patient presented with right upper abdominal pain and multiple cutaneous purpuras for 10 days. Blood analysis revealed that hemoglobin, platelet and fibrinogen were significantly decreased, prothrombin time was prolonged, fibrinogen degradation products were increased. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography scan of the abdomen demonstrated a large mass in the right lobe of the liver, which is pathologically suggestive of hepatic angiosarcoma. Based on the above examination, the patient was diagnosed with KMS caused by hepatic angiosarcoma. Repeated transfusion of blood products could only temporarily improve the coagulation function of the patient. After transarterial chemoembolization, the patient experienced a long-term improvement of blood clotting, and the patient's survival increased by six months. Transarterial chemoembolization should be considered one of effective therapies for hepatic angiosarcoma with KMS.

Fast cut back (FCB) is an important condition in power control of steam turbine generator unit, which is closely related to the flexibility, safety and stability of thermal power unit. In this paper, the traditional single reheat steam turbine model were optimized and improved by adding the key links such as medium pressure control valve and bypass, and further adding the once through boiler, bypass control system, FCB action signal, excitation system and other models. A thermal power unit model suitable for FCB large disturbance condition simulation was established. The simulation results verify the effectiveness of the model, and meet the requirements of power system electromechanical transient simulation and FCB simulation. And then, this paper improved the PSO (Particle Swarm Optimization) algorithm, and combined the advantages of each algorithm in the aspects of calculation difficulty, convergence speed, accuracy, ability to jump out of local optimum, etc., puts forward and verifies the GA-PSO (Genetic Algorithm-PSO) optimization method. Finally, considering the stability and regulation performance of the system, the GA-PSO optimization algorithm was used to obtain the optimal values of the system component parameters. The simulation results indicated that the characteristics of optimized system damping was improved, which enhanced the regulation performance and stability of the system.

To improve the computing speed and energy efficiency of deep neural network (DNN) applications, in‐memory computing with nonvolatile memory (NVM) is proposed to address the time‐consuming and energy‐hungry data shuttling issue. Herein, a digital in‐memory computing method for convolution computing, which holds the key to DNNs, is proposed. Based on the proposed method, a floating gate transistor‐based in‐memory computing chip for accurate convolution computing with high parallelism is created. The proposed digital in‐memory computing method can achieve the central processing unit (CPU)‐equivalent precision with the same neural network architecture and parameters, different from the analogue or digital–analogue‐mixed in‐memory computing techniques. Based on the fabricated floating gate transistor‐based in‐memory computing chip, a hardware LeNet‐5 neural network is built. The chip achieves 96.25% accuracy on the full Modified National Institute of Standards and Technology database, which is the same as the result computed by the CPU with the same neural network architecture and parameters.

3-Methylindole is a major component of organic pollutants in livestock compost, which can contribute to the deterioration of the environment in livestock farms and their surrounding areas. This study demonstrates that using microorganisms to degrade 3-methylindole is an effective method for energy conservation and environmental protection. The microbe capable of efficiently degrading 3-methylindole was isolated and screened from fecal samples. The isolated bacteria were identified as Acinetobacter oleivorans after morphological characterization and 16S rRNA sequencing. This project demonstrated that 3-methylindole was completely degraded under optimal conditions (initial concentration of 3MI: 100 mg/L, 30°C, pH8.0, and shaking at 160 rpm for 48 h). N2-Acetyl-L-ornithine, Phenylacetaldehyde, Phenylacetic acid, Indole-3-carboxylic acid, and Indole-3-carboxaldehyde were the primary metabolites of this degradation process. This study provides a theoretical foundation for other microbe-mediated environmental remediation approaches as well as a basis for future work to apply bacteria that degrade 3-methylindole for the purification of polluted environments. It has a promising application in the control of malodorous gas pollution in the large-scale livestock and poultry breeding industries.

Abstract microRNAs act as fine-tuners in the regulation of plant growth and resistance against biotic and abiotic stress. Here we demonstrate that rice miR1432 fine-tunes yield and blast disease resistance via different modules. Overexpression of miR1432 leads to compromised resistance and decreased yield, whereas blocking miR1432 using a target mimic of miR1432 results in enhanced resistance and yield. miR1432 suppresses the expression of LOC_Os03g59790, which encodes an EF-hand family protein 1 (OsEFH1). Overexpression of OsEFH1 leads to enhanced rice resistance but decreased grain yield. Further study revealed that miR1432 and OsEFH1 are differentially responsive to chitin, a fungus-derived pathogen/microbe-associated molecular pattern (PAMP/MAMP). Consistently, blocking miR1432 or overexpression of OsEFH1 improves chitin-triggered immunity responses. In contrast, overexpression of ACOT, another target gene regulating rice yield traits, has no significant effects on rice blast disease resistance. Altogether, these results indicate that miR1432 balances yield and resistance via different target genes, and blocking miR1432 can simultaneously improve yield and resistance.

Abstract Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic disease characterized by mucosal and submucosal inflammation, which has a low cure rate and is prone to relapse, due to the immune imbalance of the body. Inhibition of inflammation‐related pathways can delay the progression of UC. Toll‐like receptor 4 (TLR4) pathway is considered to be one of the important signaling pathways involved in colon inflammation. Eriodictyol (EDT) is a natural flavonoid widely distributed in foodborne plants. EDT plays an important role in the regulation of inflammation and related signaling pathways. However, whether EDT plays a role in UC remains unknown. Herein, we established a TNBS induced animal model of enteritis in Wistar rats. Our data confirmed the establishment of TNBS induced animal model of enteritis and the administration Eriodictyol in Wistar rats. EDT treatment alleviated TNBS‐induced intestinal tissue injury in rats. We further found that EDT reduced MPO expression and regulated the cytokine parameters in TNBS‐induced intestinal tissues of rats. The levels of TNF‐α, IL‐1β, IL‐6, IL‐10, IL‐2, and IL‐12 were also affected by the treatment of EDT. EDT also affected SOD, CAT, GSH‐Px, and MDA level in rats with colitis. Moreover, EDT regulated TNBS‐induced TLR4/NF‐κB pathway activation, therefore inhibiting the progression of UC. Our results suggest that EDT could be a potential therapeutic agent for UC.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze the supply chain's resilience in crowd networks from both static and dynamic perspectives.Design/methodology/approachThis paper first defines the supply chain's resilience, then proposes a graphical and game-theoretic framework to evaluate the resilience.FindingsIn this framework, an equilibrium with high resilience will be achieved after the iterated prisoner's dilemma in the supply chain. The two-stage update mechanism contributes to higher profits, higher stability and stronger risk resistance capability. The reputation-based tit-for-tat strategy in the second stage helps to realize society cooperation.Originality/valueThis work pays more attention to the dynamic evolution of interactions between organizations in the supply chain. It provides an important theoretical basis for future work such as how to effectively control and guide the evolution of events in the intelligence network and how to stand sudden changes and avoid collapse.

Abstract Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is the most common type of lung cancer. Currently, the survival rate of LUAD patients remains low due to heterogeneity and high invasiveness. The long non‐coding RNA (lncRNA) cancer susceptibility candidate 2 (CASC2) is reported to be related to LUAD development. Hence, we investigate the roles and regulatory mechanism of CASC2 in LUAD. The expression levels of CASC2, microRNA (miR)‐21, and p53 were quantified by quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction, and the protein levels of Bax, Bcl‐2, p53, and p21 were examined using western blotting. A dual‐luciferase reporter experiment was conducted to prove the molecular interactions between CASC2 and miR‐21 or p53. CCK‐8 and flow cytometry assays were conducted to assess cell proliferation and apoptosis, respectively. CASC2 was expressed at a low level in LUAD patients and LUAD cell lines. CASC2 overexpression markedly suppressed cell proliferation and enhanced apoptosis. Mechanistically, CASC2 overexpression dramatically inhibited miR‐21 expression and increased p53 expression by directly targeting miR‐21. Moreover, rescue experiments suggested that either miR‐21 overexpression or p53 silencing obviously weakened the biological effects of CASC2 overexpression. In addition, p53 was proven to be an upstream transcription factor of CASC2 and can activate CASC2 transcription. These results provide evidence that the lncRNA CASC2/miR‐21/p53 form a positive feedback loop to mediate cell proliferation and apoptosis in LUAD, which may provide a new insight into the pathological mechanisms of LUAD.

Abstract Background Both hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and adiponectin are critically involved in metabolism. The reversal and associations of altering adiponectin levels after sustained virological responses (SVRs) following direct-acting antivirals (DAA) in HCV-infected patients remained elusive. Methods A joint study was conducted in a prospective cohort of 427 HCV-infected patients and a line of HCV core transgenic mice. Results Of 427, 358 had completed a course of DAA therapy and 353 had SVRs. At baseline, male sex (95% CI β: − 1.44 to − 0.417), estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) (− 0.025 to − 0.008), triglycerides (− 0.015 to − 0.005), and fibrosis-4 levels (0.08–0.297) were associated with adiponectin levels; BMI (0.029–0.327) and triglycerides levels (0.01–0.03) were associated with homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) in HCV-infected patients. At 24-week post-therapy, in SVR patients, male sex (− 1.89 to − 0.5) and eGFR (− 0.02 to − 0.001) levels were associated with adiponectin levels, levels of BMI (0.094–0.335) and alanine transaminase (0.018–0.078) were associated with HOMA-IR; compared with baseline levels, adiponectin levels decreased (6.53 ± 2.77 vs. 5.45 ± 2.56 μg/mL, p

Variation in resistance of xylem to embolism among flowers, leaves, and stems strongly influences the survival and reproduction of plants. However, little is known about the vulnerability to xylem embolism under drought stress and their relationships to the anatomical traits of pits among reproductive and vegetative organs. In this study, we investigated the variation in xylem vulnerability to embolism in peduncles, petioles, and stems in a woody plant, Magnolia grandiflora. We analyzed the relationships between water potentials that induced 50% embolism (P50) in peduncles, petioles, and stems and the conduit pit traits hypothesized to influence cavitation resistance. We found that peduncles were more vulnerable to cavitation than petioles and stems, supporting the hypothesis of hydraulic vulnerability segmentation that leaves and stems are prioritized over flowers during drought stress. Moreover, P50 was significantly correlated with variation in the dimensions of inter-vessel pit apertures among peduncles, petioles and stems. These findings highlight that measuring xylem vulnerability to embolism in reproductive organs is essential for understanding the effect of drought on plant reproductive success and mortality under drought stress.