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Timely detection of nonreversible liver diseases contributes greatly to reasonable therapy and quality of life. Given the current situation, minimally invasive high-specificity molecular diagnosis based on body fluid can be a good choice. Herein, a mesoporous superstructure is designed using silicon atom-doped nanowire arrays to uniformly load Pt nanoparticles on the surface to produce a desirable ionization effect. We apply the multiscale element-doped nanowire arrays to efficiently assist extraction of high-quality metabolic fingerprints from only 35 nL of serum within seconds. Using different machine learning algorithms, we establish specific biomarker panels to distinguish different liver diseases from the healthy control, with more than 90% accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity. Moreover, from established biomarker panels, we further determine key metabolites of significant difference (

Gastric cancer (GC) presents high mortality worldwide because of delayed diagnosis. Currently, exosome-based liquid biopsy has been applied in diagnosis and monitoring of diseases including cancers, whereas disease detection based on exosomes at the metabolic level is rarely reported. Herein, the specific aptamer-coupled Au-decorated polymorphic carbon (CoMPC@Au-Apt) is constructed for the capture of urinary exosomes from early GC patients and healthy controls (HCs) and the subsequent exosome metabolic pattern profiling without extra elution process. Combining with machine learning algorithm on all exosome metabolic patterns, the early GC patients are excellently discriminated from HCs, with an accuracy of 100% for both the discovery set and blind test. Ulteriorly, three key metabolic features with clear identities are determined as a biomarker panel, obtaining a more than 90% diagnostic accuracy for early GC in the discovery set and validation set. Moreover, the change law of the key metabolic features along with GC development is revealed through making a comparison among HCs and GC at early stage and advanced stage, manifesting their monitoring ability toward GC. This work illustrates the high specificity of exosomes and the great prospective of exosome metabolic analysis in disease diagnosis and monitoring, which will promote exosome-driven precision medicine toward practical clinical application.

Body fluids contain a large number of disease markers including proteins, exosomes and cells, the concentration of which indicates the health status of a body system and can be hence applied to predict the degree of seriousness of a disease. However, the content of disease markers is relatively low. For solving this problem, a variety of pretreatment methods have been developed, among which aptamer-based nanomaterials hold great potential for biomarker capture because of various natural properties of nano-substrates such as high specific surface area, as well as the high affinity of aptamer towards target and the higher stability than antibody. In this review, we summarized the recent aptamer-based nanomaterials for the separation and analysis of different biomarkers including proteins, exosomes and cells. More specifically, the standard of classification description was based on the applied substrates including magnetic substrates and non-magnetic substrates. Moreover, the perspective of aptamer-based nanomaterials was discussed.

This study examines the pricing behaviour in the gasoline market using station-level pricing data from Inner Mongolia, China. The spatial econometric findings confirm that: (1) there is a significant spatial dependence among gas stations; (2) the two state-owned oil giants, PetroChina and Sinopec, receive a positive pricing effect from their brands compared with other stations; (3) there is no significant evidence of price competition among PetroChina stations, and some evidence of competition among Sinopec stations, and more intense competition among other stations; and (4) ‘stand-alone’ (no stations nearby) stations have a price premium, but the premium is limited by the price regulation. Our results show the heterogeneity in pricing behaviour between stations, implying the need for differentiated policies to ensure orderly competition in the retail gasoline market.

Background Until now, allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) is the only effective method to cure Thalassemia major. However, it has not been determined whether similar results can be obtained with the same conditioning regimen for both fully-matched and mismatched donors grafts. We hypothesized that using modified NF-08-TM conditioning regimen could achieve similar results for both fully and mismatched donors grafts. Methods This retrospective cohort study included patients with β-thalassemia major who underwent HSCT with modified NF-08-TM conditioning regimen at Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Centre between January 2013 and January 2019. Results Among the 257 patients (172 males) included in this study, 3 had two transplantations. Totally 193 and 67 had fully-matched and mismatched donors were examined, respectively. The median follow-up was 29 months; 6-year overall survival (OS), thalassemia-free survival (TFS), graft rejection (GR) and transplantation-related mortality (TRM) were 92.08%, 90.89%, 1.24% and 8.01%, respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that human leukocyte antigen (HLA) compatibility between patient and donor was not independently associated with OS, TFS, GR or TRM. Mismatched donor graft transplantation for β-thalassemia major is associated with similar survival outcomes and incidences of complications (except for acute GVHD) to fully-matched donor graft transplantation based on modified NF-08-TM conditioning regimen. Conclusions In conclusion, based on the modified NF-08-TM regimen, certain mismatched donor transplantations for thalassemia major patients could achieve similar results as fully-matched donor transplantations.

Aim: To examine the association between a broad array of characteristics and sexuality in breast cancer patients in Hong Kong. Method: We collected data on demographic and clinical factors, psychosocial well-being, quality of life (QOL), body image and sexual health of breast cancer patients presented to the Department of Clinical Oncology, Prince of Wales Hospital from November 2005 to February 2006. Results: More than 40% of Chinese breast cancer patients experienced moderate problems in sexual health. Their medical treatment had a greater influence on their sexual functioning in a change in their social activities, whereas more support from their partner predicted less influence. The presence of a child and more support from their partner predicted greater sexual satisfaction. Undergoing the menopause related to a longer time to resume sexual activity after cancer treatment. A change of relationship with their partner and a loss of self-confidence were strong predictors of sexual problems influencing their QOL. Patients who had experienced a change in their relationship with their partner or had greater sexual problems were more likely to perceive greater benefit from professional intervention on sexual problem. Conclusion: An improvement in their intimate relationships and enhanced psychosocial functioning should improve the sexual health of Chinese women with breast cancer.