Search

Abstract Predicting H3K27M mutation status in midline gliomas non-invasively is of considerable interest, particularly using deep learning with 11C-methionine (MET) and 18F-fluoroethyltyrosine (FET) positron emission tomography (PET). To optimise prediction efficiency, we derived an assistance training (AT) scheme to allow mutual benefits between MET and FET learning to boost the predictability but still only require either PET as inputs for predictions. Our method significantly surpassed conventional convolutional neural network (CNN), radiomics-based, and MR-based methods, achieved an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.9343 for MET, and an AUC of 0.8619 for FET during internal cross-validation (n = 90). The performance remained high in hold-out testing (n = 19) and consecutive testing cohorts (n = 21), with AUCs of 0.9205 and 0.7404. The clinical feasibility of the proposed method was confirmed by the agreements to multi-departmental decisions and outcomes in pathology-uncertain cases. The findings positions our method as a promising tool for aiding treatment decisions in midline glioma.

BackgroundThe escalating global cancer burden necessitates the development of biomarkers with enhanced specificity and sensitivity for early diagnosis and therapeutic efficacy monitoring. The CNIH4 gene, an emerging biomarker, is increasingly recognized for its role in the malignant progression across various cancers.MethodsWe conducted a comprehensive multi-omics analysis of CNIH4, including pan-cancer expression profiles, epigenetic alterations, immune microenvironment characteristics, and therapeutic response patterns. Our focus was on clinical features, molecular underpinnings, and drug sensitivity in breast cancer (BRCA) associated with CNIH4. In vitro studies were also performed to assess the effects of CNIH4 knockdown on cell proliferation and cell cycle in the MDA-MB-231 cell line.ResultsCNIH4 upregulation was observed in multiple cancers, significantly correlating with genomic instability. High CNIH4 expression levels were linked to poor prognosis across cancers and associated with key cancer-related pathways, particularly those in cell cycle regulation and DNA repair. Correlation analyses suggest a role for CNIH4 in the tumor immune microenvironment, as evidenced by its association with immune subtypes, immune-related genes, and immune cell infiltration. Single-cell and spatial transcriptome analyses confirmed that CNIH4 expression in BRCA predicts tumor malignancy. Drug sensitivity analysis revealed a significant correlation between CNIH4 and responsiveness to various kinase inhibitors and chemotherapeutic agents. In vitro experiments demonstrated that CNIH4 knockdown significantly impacts the proliferation and cell cycle of MDA-MB-231 cells.ConclusionOur study highlights CNIH4 as a promising pan-cancer biomarker with significant implications for tumor progression and a critical role in cell cycle regulation in BRCA.

The application of promising g-C3N4 has been limited by poor photogenerated electron-hole separation and limited absorption for visible light. Sulfamethoxazole (SMX) is a typical antibiotic drug that is used worldwide and hard to be disposed through conventional wastewater treatment methods. Herein, S-scheme Fe2O3/g-C3N4 heterojunction was successfully prepared via a facile one-step sintering method and applied to photodegrade SMX under visible light irradiation. The integration of Fe2O3 and g-C3N4 shows superior charge separation and light absorption ability. As a result, the removal efficiency of 11 wt% Fe2O3/g-C3N4 reaches to 99.2% within 30 min, which is visibly higher than 59.5% of pure g-C3N4. ·O2− and ·OH are demonstrated to be the predominant active species for SMX photodegradation, and the possible degradation pathway is also proposed based on electronic band structure of Fe2O3/g-C3N4 heterojunction. This study presents a facile construction of g-C3N4 based S-scheme photocatalyst and offers an environmentally friendly approach to effectively remove organic pollutants using renewable solar energy.

Background: Basic leucine zipper and W2 domains 2 (BZW2), a member of the basic domain leucine zipper superfamily of transcription factors, has been implicated in the development and progression of various cancers. However, the precise biological role of BZW2 in pan-cancer datasets remains to be explored. This study aimed to assess the prognostic significance of BZW2 and its immune-related signatures in various tumors. Methods: Our study investigated the expression, epigenetic modifications, and clinical prognostic relevance of BZW2 using multi-omics data in different cancer types. Additionally, the immunological characteristics, tumor stemness, drug sensitivity, and correlation of BZW2 with immunotherapy response were explored. Finally, in vitro experiments were conducted to assess the impact of BZW2 knockdown on Hela cells, a cell line derived from cervical squamous cell carcinoma and endocervical adenocarcinoma (CESC). Results: BZW2 exhibited elevated expression levels in various tumor tissues and significantly impacted the prognosis of different cancer types. BZW2 emerged as an independent prognostic factor in CESC. We found that copy number amplification and methylation levels of BZW2 were associated with its mRNA expression. Immunological analyses revealed that BZW2 shapes a non-inflamed immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment across multiple cancers. Furthermore, our cell experiments demonstrated that BZW2 knockdown reduced proliferation, migration, and apoptosis activities in CESC cells. Conclusions: BZW2 promotes cancer progression by shaping a non-inflamed immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. Additionally, BZW2 was shown to significantly influence the proliferation, migration, and apoptosis of CESC cells.

Cost-effective bismuth (Bi) boasts a high theoretical capacity and exceptional selectivity towards Cl- ion storage, making it a promising material for desalination batteries (DBs). However, the substantial volume expansion and low conductivity severely hinder the cycling performance of Bi-based DBs. In this study, a carbon-layer-coated Bi nanocomposite (Bi@C) was synthesized by pyrolyzing a metal–organic framework (Bi-MOF) containing Bi using a straightforward method. The results show that the Bi@C synthesized under the condition of annealing at 700 °C for 2 h has the optimum properties. The Bi@C has good multiplication performance, and the desalination capacity is 106.1 mg/g at a high current density of 1000 mA/g. And the material exhibited a high desalination capacity of 141.9 mg/g at a current density of 500 mA/g and retained 66.9% of its capacity after 200 cycles. In addition, the Bi@C can operate at a wide range of NaCl concentrations from 0.05 to 2 mol/L. The desalination mechanism analysis of the Bi@C revealed that the carbon coating provides space for Bi particles to expand in volume, thereby mitigating the issues of electrode material powdering and shedding. Meanwhile, the porous carbon skeleton establishes electron and ion channels to enhance the electrode material’s conductivity. This research offers a promising strategy for the application of chloride-storage electrode materials in electrochemical desalination systems.

BackgroundC15orf48 was recently identified as an inflammatory response-related gene; however there is limited information on its function in tumors. In this study, we aimed to elucidate the function and potential mechanism of action of C15orf48 in cancer.MethodsWe evaluated the pan-cancer expression, methylation, and mutation data of C15orf48 to analyze its clinical prognostic value. In addition, we explored the pan-cancer immunological characteristics of C15orf48, especially in thyroid cancer (THCA), by correlation analysis. Additionally, we conducted a THCA subtype analysis of C15orf48 to determine its subtype-specific expression and immunological characteristics. Lastly, we evaluated the effects of C15orf48 knockdown on the THCA cell line, BHT101, by in vitro experimentation.ResultsThe results of our study revealed that C15orf48 is differentially expressed in different cancer types and that it can serve as an independent prognostic factor for glioma. Additionally, we found that the epigenetic alterations of C15orf48 are highly heterogeneous in several cancers and that its aberrant methylation and copy number variation are associated with poor prognosis in multiple cancers. Immunoassays elucidated that C15orf48 was significantly associated with macrophage immune infiltration and multiple immune checkpoints in THCA, and was a potential biomarker for PTC. In addition, cell experiments showed that the knockdown of C15orf48 could reduce the proliferation, migration, and apoptosis abilities of THCA cells.ConclusionsThe results of this study indicate that C15orf48 is a potential tumor prognostic biomarker and immunotherapy target, and plays an essential role in the proliferation, migration, and apoptosis of THCA cells.

Mesoporous In/Hβ-X series catalysts were prepared by desilication method with tetrapropylammonium hydroxide (TPAOH) and indium incorporation for selective catalytic reduction of NO with methane (CH4-SCR). The post desilication treatment conditions for preparing In/Hβ-X were optimized. Etching time is the most important desilication parameter influencing the resulting CH4-SCR performance of the catalyst. The In/Hβ-3 sample which was etched for 3 h presents the highest NOx conversion, 22% higher than In/H-Beta counterparts using commercial microporous beta. Obvious analysis reveals that besides generating mesopores, controlled desilication can modulate the proportion of InO+ active sites and surface oxygen species, allowing more active sites to be exposed.

VUV/UV photodegradation is a promising method that utilizes energetic photons and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated via the photo-dissociation of H2O and O2 to degrade VOCs. In the paper, we investigated the efficiency of removal and mineralization in humid air and the effects of key factors. Toluene of 4–20 ppm can be almost completely removed in 60 s and mineralization efficiency is above 55% at 25 min. 185 nm ultraviolet light plays a key role in the rapid removal and mineralization of toluene. Appropriate amount of O2 and H2O promote the removal of toluene due to the generation of ROS. Based on the intermediates and degradation pathway analysis, it is found that in the presence of O2, degradation pathways of toluene are more abundant and fewer linear-chain aldehydes are produced, thus resulting in higher mineralization efficiency. This work highlights the importance of practical application of VUV/UV photodegradation in humid air.

Degradation of the antidepressant venlafaxine by an effective electrocatalytic process, boron-doped diamond (BDD) electrode, was study. The BDD electrode was selected as the anode, and the degradation efficiency of venlafaxine under different influencing factors was systematically investigated. The preliminary grasp of the degradation law of venlafaxine by anodic electro-degradation using BDD electrode was obtained. The experimental results showed that the electrochemical oxidation technology using BDD anode can effectively degrade venlafaxine and remove total organic carbon (TOC) from the solution, complete venlafaxine degradation and TOC elimination could be achieved within 30 and 120 min of BDD oxidation process, respectively, and it has good stability and reusability. Increasing the electrolyte concentration (≤0.1 mol/L) and current density (≤100 mA/cm2) within a certain range could accelerate the degradation of venlafaxine. HCO3– and PO43− could inhibit the degradation efficiency of venlafaxine through of competing for free radicals. It is interesting that the presence of Cl− significantly promoted the degradation efficiency of venlafaxine. The results of this study suggest that the Electro-degradation treatment may provide a promising way to treat venlafaxine contaminated water.

The pandemic caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been basically under control in China since March 2020, but the import of domestic SARS-CoV-2 has begun to increase. This study reported the first case of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection imported from Spain into Sichuan Province, China, on March 11, 2020. The infected male had a body temperature of 37.5°C, normal blood oxygen saturation levels, and a computed tomography (CT) examination showed that his lungs had no shadows. However, a throat swab from the subject tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 using qPCR assay. In this study, we conducted transcriptome sequencing on respiratory throat swabs from the subject and found that the dominant SARS-CoV-2 sequence (Gene Bank ID: MW301121) was a spike protein D614G mutant strain, which is currently popular throughout world. We downloaded and analyzed SARS-CoV-2 sequences collected from cases in China and Spain for comparison and tracing purposes. After March 11, 2020, the Chinese domestic clade was naturally divided into the imported SARS-CoV-2 D614G mutant strain and evolutionarily-related similar sequences and that of sequences collected in the original Wuhan area. The sequence reported in this study was located on a small branch, far from the evolution of Wuhan sequences. As expected, the identified sequence was closely related to the evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 D614G mutant strain circulating in Spain.

The deep interdependence between electrical and natural gas system has great influence on the security of multi-carrier energy (MCE) systems. The large-scale access to distribution generation (DG) of clean energy makes it necessary to investigate the effects of uncertainties on the safe and stable operation of MCE systems. However, the existing probabilistic energy flow analysis for MCE systems pays little attention to the difference between the correlation of various DG during calculating the energy flow. Therefore, this paper investigates the probabilistic energy flow considering the uncertainties and correlations of various DG. A framework of MCE systems considering various coupling units including power to gas (P2G) and energy hub is initially proposed. For this, the Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) method based on Latin hypercube sampling (LHS) and Nataf transformation is specially designed to calculate the energy flow for each sample. The energy flow calculation method is composed of three-phase AC/DC alternating iteration method and improved Newton node mesh method considering the control mode of compressors. Finally, the test system containing improved IEEE123-node system and NGS48-node system have verified the accuracy of the proposed probabilistic energy flow calculation method.

Space charges accumulate easily at insulation interface of cable accessories, which cause different electric field distribution and aging characteristics compared to single-layered cable. To explore the space charge behavior in double-layered insulation of cable accessories, a one-dimensional (1D) axisymmetric model for bipolar charge transport is built in this work, in which the effects of temperature gradient and electric field gradient in the radial direction are considered. Then the influences of electric field/temperature gradient and interface position on transport behavior of space charges are investigated. The simulation results suggest that the charges accumulate easily at the interface, which severely reduce the electric field in the inner layer of insulation and further inhibit the injection and migration processes of charges. The charge density at the interface increases with temperature and voltage, which accelerates the decay of the charge injection, furthers the interface charges to reach the dynamic equilibrium state quickly. The charge density at the interface and the electric field distribution are closely related to the interface position, and the electric field is more uniform when XLPE occupies the 1/3 to 1/2 inner part of the whole insulation.

The interdependency of electric and natural gas systems is becoming stronger. The challenge of how to meet various energy demands in an integrated energy system (IES) with minimal cost has drawn considerable attention. The optimal scheduling of IESs is an ideal method to solve this problem. In this study, a day-ahead optimal scheduling model for IES that included an electrical system, a natural gas system, and an energy hub (EH), was established. The proposed EH contained detailed models of the fuel cell (FC) and power to gas (P2G) system. Considering that the optimal scheduling of an IES is a non-convex complex optimal problem, a piecewise self-adaptive particle swarm optimization (PCAPSO) algorithm based on multistage chaotic mapping was proposed to solve it. The objective was to minimize the operating cost of the IES. Three operation scenarios were designed to analyze the operation characteristics of the system under different coupling conditions. The simulation results showed that the PCAPSO algorithm improved the convergence rate and stability compared to the original PSO. An analysis of the results demonstrated the economics of an IES with the proposed EHs and the advantage of cooperation between the FC and P2G system.

The destruction of low concentration of toluene (0–30 ppm) has been studied under the UV/photogenerated O3/MnO2-impregnated granular activated carbon (MnO2-impregnated GAC) process by the combination of self-made high frequency discharge electrodeless lamp (HFDEL) with MnO2-impregnated GAC catalyst. Experimental results showed that the initial toluene concentration can strongly affect the concentration of photogenerated O3 from HFDEL and the efficiency and mass rate of destruction of toluene via HFDEL/MnO2-impregnated GAC system. Active oxygen and hydroxyl radicals generated from HFDEL/MnO2-impregnated GAC system played a key role in the decomposition of toluene process and the intermediates formed by photolysis are more prone to be mineralized by the subsequent MnO2-impregnated GAC catalyst compared to the original toluene, resulting in synergistic mineralization of toluene by HFDEL/MnO2-impregnated GAC system. The role of MnO2-impregnated GAC catalyst is not only to eliminate the residual O3 completely but also to enhance the decomposition and mineralization of toluene.

This study examined the photocatalytic degradation efficiency under high UV photon flux (intensity normalized by photon energy) irradiation; the incident UV photon flux was 1.71×10−6−3.13×10−6 einstein cm−2 s−1 made by a super high-intensity UV apparatus. A comparative study between high photon flux photocatalytic process and routine low photon flux photocatalytic process for methylene blue degradation has been made in aqueous solution. The experimental results showed that under the best conditions of high UV photocatalytic reaction 99% decolorization and 95% TOC removal of 20 mg L−1 methylene blue could be achieved in 30 s and 120 s of UV irradiation time, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, photocatalytic decolorization and photocatalytic degradation of dyes in such a short time has not been reported. Aiming at the low photonic efficiency in high photon flux photocatalytic process, we found that reducing the density of excited electron-hole appropriately could improve initial apparent photonic efficiency effectively. The TOC experiments under high UV photon flux showed a faster mineralization rate and a different mineralization process compared to that under low UV photon flux.

The application of promising g-C3N4 has been limited by poor photogenerated electron-hole separation and limited absorption for visible light. Sulfamethoxazole (SMX) is a typical antibiotic drug that is used worldwide and hard to be disposed through conventional wastewater treatment methods. Herein, S-scheme Fe2O3/g-C3N4 heterojunction was successfully prepared via a facile one-step sintering method and applied to photodegrade SMX under visible light irradiation. The integration of Fe2O3 and g-C3N4 shows superior charge separation and light absorption ability. As a result, the removal efficiency of 11 wt% Fe2O3/g-C3N4 reaches to 99.2% within 30 min, which is visibly higher than 59.5% of pure g-C3N4. ·O2- and ·OH are demonstrated to be the predominant active species for SMX photodegradation, and the possible degradation pathway is also proposed based on electronic band structure of Fe2O3/g-C3N4 heterojunction. This study presents a facile construction of g-C3N4 based S-scheme photocatalyst and offers an environmentally friendly approach to effectively remove organic pollutants using renewable solar energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background The global burden of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and colorectal cancer (CRC) continues to rise. Observational studies have suggested a link between T2D and an elevated risk of CRC. However, these studies are often susceptible to confounding factors and reverse causation, leading to inconsistent findings. There is a specific gap in knowledge regarding the causal nature of the relationship between T2D and CRC, which this study aims to address using a more robust approach. To fill this gap, we employed Mendelian randomization (MR), a method that uses genetic variants as instrumental variables (IVs) to infer causality, providing clearer insight into the genetic links between T2D and CRC. Methods A bidirectional MR study was conducted to investigate the causal links between T2D and CRC. Genetic instruments for T2D were derived from two large genome-wide association studies (GWAS) with a total sample size of X individuals, and CRC genetic instruments were obtained from a GWAS with Y individuals. The MR analysis utilized the inverse-variance weighted (IVW) method as the primary analysis, alongside sensitivity analyses such as heterogeneity and pleiotropy analysis to account for potential pleiotropy and bias. Additionally, to enhance the robustness of the findings and minimize the influence of data from different GWAS sources, we performed a meta-analysis of the IVW results. Results The MR analysis and meta-analysis revealed that genetically predicted T2D is associated with an increased risk of CRC (Pooled ORIVW = 1.07, 95% CI 1.02–1.12, P = 0.003). However, the reverse analysis did not indicate a causal effect of genetically predicted CRC on T2D risk (Pooled ORIVW = 1.02, 95% CI 0.96–1.09, P = 0.469). Sensitivity analyses supported the robustness of these findings, indicating no evidence of heterogeneity or pleiotropic effects that could bias the results (all P > 0.05). Conclusion Our bidirectional MR study and meta-analysis provide evidence that T2D increases the risk of colorectal cancer. However, there is no evidence to support a reverse causal relationship. These findings highlight the importance of monitoring and managing T2D as part of CRC prevention strategies.