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The handling safety of high explosives, as routinely characterized by the drop-weight impact sensitivity (IS), has important repercussions on the development of explosives. Herein, the impressive low IS of β-HMX (1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetraazacyclooctane) spherulite and the corresponding desensitization mechanism are elaborated with the influential role of the grain boundary. The sensitivity was evaluated by a substantial number of IS tests using “X out of 25”, Bruceton “up and down” and high-speed photography technology. The collected data, comprising over 12 batches of samples for a total of about 400 impact tests, were analyzed as a function of the particle structure parameters. The IS was found to positively relate to the porosity calculated from Small-Angle X-ray Scattering data which semi-quantitatively reflected the grain boundary in spherulite. The investigation into the influence of shape suggests that while particle shape did contribute to desensitization, the primary factor affecting the reduction in HMX sensitivity was the presence of grain boundaries. The grain boundary strengthening and spherical envelope were found to be influential as they may be beneficial for energy de-localization, thereby mitigating localized heating. The polycrystalline spherulite with purity (>98.5%), sphericity (>80.0%) and porosity (>0.4%) carefully controlled exhibited the ignition probability of 0% and H50 of c.a. 99.0 cm, outperforming any other monocrystalline β-HMX particles. This work introduces the grain boundary as a new consideration for desensitization in energetic crystals, which has been previously underestimated but holds promise for the design of high explosives with improved handling safety.

Abstract Background Diminished ovarian reserve (DOR) is one of the obstacles affecting the reproductive outcomes of patients receiving assisted reproductive therapy. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether dual trigger, including gonadotropin‐releasing hormone agonist (GnRHa) and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), can improve pregnancy outcomes in patients with DOR undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles using mild stimulation protocols. Methods A total of 734 patients with DOR were included in this retrospective study. Patients were divided into a recombinant hCG trigger group and a dual trigger group (hCG combined with GnRHa) according to the different trigger drugs used. The main outcome measures included the number of oocytes retrieved, the fertilization rate, the number of transferable embryos, the implantation rate, the clinical pregnancy rate, the miscarriage rate, the live birth rate (LBR), and the cumulative live birth rate (CLBR). Generalized linear model and logistic regression analyses were performed for confounding factors. Results There were 337 cycles with a single hCG trigger and 397 cycles with dual trigger. The dual trigger group demonstrated significantly higher numbers of retrieved oocytes [3.60 vs. 2.39, adjusted β = 0.538 (0.221–0.855)], fertilized oocytes [2.55 vs. 1.94, adjusted β = 0.277 (0.031–0.523)] and transferable embryos [1.22 vs. 0.95, adjusted β = 0.162 (-0.005–0.329)] than did the hCG trigger group, whereas no significant difference in the fertilization rate was observed between the two groups. Moreover, the embryo transfer cancellation rate (35.5% vs. 43.9%) was obviously lower in the dual trigger group. Among the fresh embryo transfer cycles, the implantation rate, clinical pregnancy rate, miscarriage rate and live birth rate were similar between the two groups. After controlling for potential confounding variables, the trigger method was identified as an independent factor affecting the number of oocytes retrieved but had no significant impact on the CLBR. Conclusions Dual triggering of final oocyte maturation with hCG combined with GnRHa can significantly increase the number of oocytes retrieved in patients with DOR but has no improvement effect on the implantation rate, clinical pregnancy rate or LBR of fresh cycles or on the CLBR.

Abstract Olfactomedin4 (Olfm4) is expressed in normal mouse prostate. However, Olfm4+ cells in the murine prostate have not been well characterized. In this study, we generated an Olfm4 eGFP reporter mouse line with C57BL/6 mice and investigated the distribution of Olfm4/eGFP-expressing cells during postnatal development from P1, P7, P14, P20, P42, P56 to adult male mouse prostate and urethral tube. We observed Olfm4/eGFP expression in urogenital and prostatic epithelial cells during early postnatal development, which persisted into adulthood in urethral-tube and anterior-prostate (AP) epithelium. We found Olfm4+ cells are E-cadherin+/CD44+/Foxa1+ and some of subpopulation are Ck8+/Ck5+/Sca-1-/Ck4-/Syn- in the adult mouse AP epithelium. Functional studies of single-cell preparations of Olfm4/eGFP-expressing cells isolated from adult Olfm4 eGFP mouse prostate demonstrated that Olfm4+ cells can grow and form colonies, spheres, or organoids in culture. Bioinformatic analysis of Olfm4+ cells using single-cell RNA sequencing meta data in adult mouse urethra (GSE145865) identified upregulation of genes related to cell and tissue migration and development, as well as upregulation of xenobiotic metabolism signaling pathways. In conclusion, Olfm4 eGFP mouse is a novel model to further study Olfm4’s biological functions and Olfm4+ cells may contribute importantly to cellular processes supporting development and homeostasis of the epithelium in murine prostate and urethral tube.

Cocrystal of 2,4,6,8,10,12-hexaazaisowurtzitane/1-methyl-3,4,5-trinitropyrazole (CL-20/MTNP) in a 1:1 molar ratio is a promising energetic material, since it combines the superior detonation performance of CL-20 and good mechanical sensitivity of MTNP. In order to promote its progress to practical use, a rapid, facile and candidate large-scale manufacture method-spray drying was used to prepare the CL-20/MTNP cocrystal in this study. The morphology, crystal structure and thermodynamic behavior of the resulted CL-20/MTNP-SD cocrystal, raw materials and the cocrystal prepared via solvent evaporation method (CL-20/MTNP-E) were systematically studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), respectively. The resulted CL-20/MTNP-SD cocrystal shows a regular spherical shape with diameter narrowly distributed from 0.2 µm to 2 µm. This morphology is different from the rod-like shape of CL-20/MTNP-E cocrystal. The crystal structure and thermal behavior CL-20/MTNP-SD is similar to the CL-20/MTNP-E cocrystal, and totally different to the raw materials. Additionally, the initiation temperature and activation energy for thermal decomposition of the CL-20/MTNP-SD cocrystal are slightly lower than the CL-20/MTNP-E cocrystal. The short pulse slapper sensitivity of cocrystals have been investigated. The spray drying method endows CL-20/MTNP cocrystal with the ability of being initiated by short-duration impulse. And the slapper impact initiating threshold of CL-20/MTNP-SD cocrystal is even lower than the commonly used initiating explosive 2,2′,4,4′,6,6′-hexanitrostilbene (HNS). This result evokes a prospective application of CL-20/MTNP-SD cocrystal as an initiating explosive for short impulse shockwave.

Abstract Background There is ongoing debate regarding which embryo transfer procedure can achieve a higher live birth rate. Research has suggested that frozen ET might be beneficial for certain populations, such as hyper-responders. This study aimed to compare outcomes of pregnancies between frozen and fresh embryo transfer cycles in patients with endometrial hyperplasia and carcinoma. Methods This retrospective cohort study was conducted at a high-volume reproductive center from January 2010 to January 2022. Patients who were diagnosed with endometrial hyperplasia with atypia and endometrial carcinoma were included. They all underwent in vitro fertilization after conservative treatment. The primary outcome was live birth after frozen and fresh embryo transfer cycles, and secondary outcomes included perinatal complications and other pregnancy outcomes. Results Overall, 259 ET cycles (130 fresh and 129 frozen) were included. The rate of live births per embryo transfer cycle of the whole cohort was 20.8% (54/259), and no significant between-group difference was found after adjusting for potential confounding factors (23.8% vs. 17.8%; adjusted OR, 0.47; 95% CI, 0.21-1.06; p=0.068). Compared to fresh embryo transfer group, the incidence of total maternal complications in the frozen embryo transfer group was significantly higher (30.4% vs. 6.5%, p=0.019). Analyzing each complication as a separate entity, patients in the frozen embryo transfer group had a higher incidence of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (p=0.028). Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that frozen embryo transfer was related with an increased occurrence of maternal complications (OR, 6.68, 95% CI, 1.01-44.19, p=0.040). Conclusions Among patients with endometrial hyperplasia and carcinoma, the rate of live births was comparable between both embryo transfer procedures, while frozen embryo transfer might be associated with a higher risk of maternal complications compared to that with fresh embryo transfer.

Molecular property prediction is essential for drug screening and reducing the cost of drug discovery. Current approaches combined with deep learning for drug prediction have proven their viability. Based on the previous deep learning networks, we propose the Molecular Information Fusion Neural Network (MIFNN). The features of MIFNN are as follows: (1) we extracted directed molecular information using 1D-CNN and the Morgan fingerprint using 2D-CNN to obtain more comprehensive feature information; (2) we fused two molecular features from one-dimensional and two-dimensional space, and we used the directed message-passing method to reduce the repeated collection of information and improve efficiency; (3) we used a bidirectional long short-term memory and attention module to adjust the molecular feature information and improve classification accuracy; (4) we used the particle swarm optimization algorithm to improve the traditional support vector machine. We tested the performance of the model on eight publicly available datasets. In addition to comparing the overall classification capability with the baseline model, we conducted a series of ablation experiments to verify the optimization of different modules in the model. Compared with the baseline model, our model achieved a maximum improvement of 14% on the ToxCast dataset. The performance was very stable on most datasets. On the basis of the current experimental results, MIFNN performed better than previous models on the datasets applied in this paper.

Abstract Excessive inflammatory responses contribute to the pathogenesis and lethality of highly pathogenic human coronaviruses, but the underlying mechanism remains unclear. In this study, the N proteins of highly pathogenic human coronaviruses, including severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), middle east respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), were found to bind MASP-2, a key serine protease in the lectin pathway of complement activation, resulting in excessive complement activation by potentiating MBL-dependent MASP-2 activation, and the deposition of MASP-2, C4b, activated C3 and C5b-9. Aggravated inflammatory lung injury was observed in mice infected with adenovirus expressing the N protein. Complement hyperactivation was also observed in SARS-CoV-2-infected patients. Either blocking the N protein:MASP-2 interaction, MASP-2 depletion or suppressing complement activation can significantly alleviate N protein-induced complement hyperactivation and lung injury in vitro and in vivo. Altogether, these data suggested that complement suppression may represent a novel therapeutic approach for pneumonia induced by these highly pathogenic coronaviruses.

Agaricus bisporus is widely cultivated worldwide due to its considerable economic benefits. The increasingly prominent contradiction between production and labor shortage necessitates the urgent replacement of human workers with intelligent picking technology and equipment. Therefore, a pressure-stabilized flexible end-effector was designed to achieve the rapid and low-loss picking of Agaricus bisporus. The dimensions of the end-effector were determined by measuring the external parameters of Agaricus bisporus. A mechanics model of the end-effector was constructed to analyze the picking process theoretically, and the pre-experiments identified the key performance factors of the end-effector: the thickness of the flexible membrane, the particle filler material, and the pressure stability. A series of experiments were conducted to investigate the factors mentioned above concerning the performance of the end-effector. The results show that the adsorption effect is best when the thickness of the flexible membrane is 0.9 mm, and the particle diameter is 200 mesh quartz. To control the adsorption force of the end-effector accurately during the picking process, a low-cost adsorption force-adjustment system was designed, and the stability of the system was verified. The experimental results showed that the device improved the stability of the adsorption force during the operation of the picking system by 84.71%. An experiment was conducted on the picking of Agaricus bisporus using the designed end-effector. The success rate of picking with the end-effector was 98.50%, and the picking damage rate was 2.50%.

Simple summarySomatic and germline aberrations in homologous recombinant repair (HHR) genes are associated with increased incidence and poor prognosis for prostate cancer. Through next-generation sequencing of prostate cancer patients across all clinical states from north China, here the authors identified a somatic mutational rate of 3% and a germline mutational rate of 3.9% for HRR genes using 200 tumor tissues and 714 blood specimens. Thus, mutational rates in HRR genes were lower compared with previous studies.BackgroundHomologous recombination repair deficiency is associated with higher risk and poorer prognosis for prostate cancer. However, the landscapes of somatic and germline mutations in these genes remain poorly defined in Chinese patients, especially for those with localized disease and those from north part of China. In this study, we explore the genomic profiles of these patients.MethodsWe performed next-generation sequencing with 200 tumor tissues and 714 blood samples from prostate cancer patients at Peking University First Hospital, using a 32 gene panel including 19 homologous recombination repair genes.ResultsTP53, PTEN, KRAS were the most common somatic aberrations; BRCA2, NBN, ATM were the most common germline aberrations. In terms of HRR genes, 3% (6/200) patients harbored somatic aberrations, and 3.8% (28/714) patients harbored germline aberrations. 98.0% (196/200) somatic-tested and 72.7% (519/714) germline tested patients underwent prostatectomy, of which 28.6% and 42.0% had Gleason scores ≥8 respectively. Gleason scores at either biopsy or prostatectomy were predictive for somatic aberrations in general and in TP53; while age of onset

Due to the distinct design concept, high-entropy alloys (HEAs) exhibit unusual properties and lead an emerging new field. In this work, we show that a typical face-centered cubic crystalline phase CoCrFeNiMn HEA can be readily transformed into the amorphous phase under the ultrasonic vibration treatment (UVT) at a frequency of 20000 Hz. The nanoscale hierarchical features include twins, stacking faults bands, hexagonal-close packed phase bands and even amorphous bands can be obviously identified in samples treated by different UVT energies. The dominant mechanism of ultrasonic vibration-induced amorphization is that the grain refinement promotes the formation of amorphous phases when the defect density at the grain boundaries reaches a critical level. In addition, the mechanical instability is easily induced by ultrasonic vibration at high strain rate to generate amorphous phase inside the grains. As a consequence of UVT, the HEA samples revealed significant mechanical performance improvement owing to the microstructure evolution especially the generation of amorphous phase, such as yielding strength and hardness. This rapid amorphization process provides not only a candidate strengthening mechanism for HEA, but also a novel approach to unveil the pending crystal-amorphous transition problem.

Functionalization of endohedral metallofullerenes (EMFs) plays an important role in exploring the reactivity of EMFs and stabilizing missing EMFs, thus conferring tunable properties and turning EMFs into applicable materials. In this review, we present exhaustive progress on the functionalization of EMFs since 2019. Classic functionalization reactions include Prato reactions, Bingel–Hirsch reactions, radical addition reactions, carbene addition reactions, and so on are summarized. And new complicated multi-component reactions and other creative reactions are presented as well. We also discuss the structural features of derivatives of EMFs and the corresponding reaction mechanisms to understand the reactivity and regioselectivity of EMFs. In the end, we make conclusions and put forward an outlook on the prospect of the functionalization of EMFs.

Experimental determination of new cocrystals remains challenging due to the need of a systematic screening with a large range of coformers. Here the authors develop a flexible deep learning framework based on graph neural network demonstrated to quickly predict the formation of co-crystals.

As one of the most popular edible fungi in the market, the quality of Agaricus bisporus will determine its sales volume. Therefore, to achieve rapid and nondestructive testing of the quality of Agaricus bisporus, this study first built a portable spectrum acquisition device for Agaricus bisporus. The Ocean Spectromeper was used to calibrate the spectral data of the device, and the linear regression analysis method was combined to analyze the two. The results showed that the Pearson correlation coefficient of significance between the two was 0.98. Then, the spectral data of Agaricus bisporus were collected, the spectral characteristic wavelength of Agaricus bisporus was extracted by the SPA and PCA algorithms, and the moisture content and whiteness prediction models based on a BP neural network and PLSR, respectively, were built. The parameters of the BP neural network model were optimized by SSA. The R2 values for the final moisture content and the predicted whiteness were 0.95 and 0.99, and the RMSE values were 5.04% and 0.60, respectively. The results show that the portable spectral acquisition and analysis device can be used for the accurate and rapid quality detection of Agaricus bisporus.

Abstract. The incidence of pancreatic cancer has been rising worldwide, and its clinical diagnosis and treatment remain a great challenge. To present the update and improvements in the clinical diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer in recent years, Chinese Pancreatic Association, the Chinese Society of Surgery, Chinese Medical Association revised the Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Pancreatic Cancer in China (2014) after reviewing evidence-based and problem-oriented literature published during 2015–2021, mainly focusing on highlight issues regarding diagnosis and surgical treatment of pancreatic cancer, conversion strategies for locally advanced pancreatic cancer, treatment of pancreatic cancer with oligo metastasis, adjuvant and neoadjuvant therapy, standardized processing of surgical specimens and evaluation of surgical margin status, systemic treatment for unresectable pancreatic cancer, genetic testing, as well as postoperative follow up of patients with pancreatic cancer. Forty recommendation items were finally proposed based on the above issues, and the quality of evidence and strength of recommendations were graded using the Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation system. This guideline aims to standardize the clinical diagnosis and therapy, especially surgical treatment of pancreatic cancer in China, and further improve the prognosis of patients with pancreatic cancer.

PurposeTo explore the relationship between different artificial reproductive treatment (ART) strategies and tumor outcomes, by analyzing clinical data of patients with endometrial carcinoma (EC) and atypical endometrial hyperplasia (AEH).MethodsThis retrospective study was performed in a tertiary hospital. Patients (n=131) with EC or AEH, who underwent in vitro fertilization (IVF)/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) treatment between June 2010 and June 2021, were divided into a recurrence group and a non-recurrence group. Clinical characteristics and tumor outcomes were assessed.Results131 patients were followed up for 4-132 months; 33 patients had recurrence, the recurrence rate was 25.2%, 3-year recurrence-free survival (RFS) rate was 83.2 ± 3.4%, and the 5-year RFS rate was 72.9 ± 4.4%. Factors including the frequency of controlled ovarian stimulation (COS) and the total days of ovarian stimulation had no significant effect on the recurrence of tumor lesions (p=0.368 and 0.969, respectively). Histology type (HR: 4.94, 95%CI: 2.41-10.15, p

Elucidation of the crystal nucleation process can provide guidance for controlling crystal size and quality. To understand the nucleation process of 1,1-diamino-2,2-dinitroethylene (FOX-7), the induction time and nucleation kinetics of FOX-7 were studied using a turbidity method in a binary solvent system (DMSO ​+ ​water, xDMSO ​= ​0.3364) under cooling crystallization conditions. Using the CrystalSCAN system, the induction time was determined at a range of temperatures (325.05, 335.25, 343.15, 348.15, and 354.65 ​K) and supersaturations (S) (1.20, 1.22, 1.24, 1.27, 1.30, 1.32, 1.35, 1.37), and it was found that induction time decreases as supersaturation increases. The system displayed a homogeneous nucleation mechanism at high supersaturation ratios (≥1.27) and heterogeneous nucleation at low supersaturation ratios, below 1.25. The FOX-7 crystal exhibited a continuous growth mechanism, as inferred from the value of the surface entropy factor (f). The induction time data were analyzed using the classical nucleation theory to calculate the interfacial energy (γ) and various nucleation parameters, including the radius of the critical nucleus (r∗), critical free energy of the nucleus (ΔG∗), molecular number of the critical nucleus (i∗), and the nucleation rate (J). The morphology of FOX-7 crystals changed negligibly with varying temperature and supersaturation, while the average particle size decreased with an increase in supersaturation and a decrease in temperature.

Sensitivity is one of the greatest concerns in explosive materials, and its underlying mechanism remains ambiguous. In this study, 2,6-diamino-3,5- dinitropyrazine -1-oxide (LLM-105) crystals with different morphologies, such as crosswise, needle, plate, block, diamond, and spherical shapes, were prepared using a solution crystallization method, and their crystal characteristics and sensitivity were investigated. It was found that the H50 values (impact sensitivity) of LLM-105 vary within an extremely wide range of 33.8–112.2 cm and are mainly influenced by the particle morphology, crystal integrity, particle surface defects, and roughness, but are mostly independent of intracrystalline defects and particle sizes. The friction sensitivities of all samples are zero and are unaffected by the crystal characteristics. The G50 values (shock sensitivity) are within the range of 0–6.9 mm, increasing with decreasing particle sizes and the apparent crystal density. Notably, LLM-105 crystals with a spherical shape, good integrity, smooth surface, and fewer defects are insensitive to impact and shock impulse. The relationships between the crystal characteristics and the sensitivity of LLM-105 are extremely complex and show some abnormal phenomena, which can be attributed to the crystal packing style and aggregated microstructures of LLM-105.

Abstract Olfactomedin 4 (OLFM4) is expressed in normal prostate epithelial cells and immortalized normal human prostate epithelial cells (RWPE1), but the identity of OLFM4-expressing cells within these populations and OLFM4’s physiological functions in these cells have not been elucidated. Using single-cell RNA sequencing analysis, we found here that OLFM4 was expressed in multiple stem/progenitor-like cell populations in both the normal prostate epithelium and RWPE1 cells and was frequently co-expressed with KRT13 and LY6D in RWPE1 cells. Functionally, OLFM4-knockout RWPE1 cells exhibited enhanced proliferation of the stem/progenitor-like cell population, shifts stem/progenitor-like cell division to favor symmetric division and differentiated into higher levels PSA expression cells in organoid assays compared with OLFM4-wild RWPE1 cells. Bulk-cell RNA sequencing analysis pinpointed that cMYC expression were enhanced in the OLFM4-knockout RWPE1 cells compared with OLFM4-wild cells. Molecular and signaling pathway studies revealed an increase in the WNT/APC/MYC signaling pathway gene signature, as well as that of MYC target genes that regulate multiple biological processes, in OLFM4-knockout RWPE1 cells. These findings indicated that OLFM4 is co-expressed with multiple stem/progenitor cell marker genes in prostate epithelial cells and acts as a novel mediator in prostate stem/progenitor cell proliferation and differentiation.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is an extremely aggressive disease with poor prognosis. Our previous study found that peroxisome proliferator activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) was capable of enhancing glycolysis in PDAC cells. However, whether PPARγ could promote PDAC progression remains unclear. In our present study, PPARγ was positively associated with tumor size and poor prognosis in PDAC patients. Functional assays demonstrated that PPARγ could promote the proliferation of pancreatic cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. Additionally, flow cytometry results showed that PPARγ decreased mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (mitochondrial ROS) production, stabilized mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) and inhibited cell apoptosis via up-regulating superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2), followed by the inhibition of ATG4D-mediated mitophagy. Meanwhile, the activation of PPARγ might reduce pancreatic cancer cell stemness to improve PDAC chemosensitivity via down-regulating ATG4D. Thus, these results revealed that PPARγ/SOD2 might protect against mitochondrial ROS-dependent apoptosis via inhibiting ATG4D-mediated mitophagy to promote pancreatic cancer proliferation, further improving PDAC chemosensitivity.

Abstract Purpose This study aims to identify predictive local recurrence risk factors and site-specific local recurrence pattern of upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) with different primary tumor locations. Methods Three hundred and eighty-nine UTUC patients with radical nephroureterectomy were included in this study. Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards regressions were performed to measure the risk of local recurrence. We also mapped the position of local recurrence sites stratified by primary tumor locations. Results A total of 73 patients (18.7%) developed local recurrence within a median follow-up of 41 months (range, 3-80 months). For patients with local recurrence, the median interval of local recurrence was 9 months. Ureter tumor, multifocality, T stage, G grade, lymph node metastasis (LNM), lymph node dissection (LND), and lymph vascular invasion (LVI) were all significantly associated with increased local recurrence by univariable analyses (P < 0.05). Only multifocality, T3–4, G3, and LNM remained independent predictors of increased local recurrence by multivariable analyses. Adjuvant radiotherapy could reduce the local recurrence (HR = 0.177; 95% CI 0.064-0.493, P = 0.001). Patients with local recurrence had poorer cancer-specific survival (4-year cancer-specific survival rate 36 ± 7.5% vs 88.4 ± 2.2%, P = 0.000). We evaluated local recurrence pattern stratified by tumor locations. Para-aortic lymph node region was the most common recurrence area for all the patients. Left-sided UTUC had more than 70% recurrent lymph nodes in the left para-aortic region (LPA). For right-sided UTUC patients, recurrent para-aortic lymph nodes distributed in the LPA (33.3%), aortocaval (AC) (41.5%), and right paracaval (RPC) (25.2%) regions. Recurrence in the internal and external iliac regions was only found in the distal ureter group (P < 0.05). Renal pelvic fossa recurrence was only found in renal pelvic tumor (22.2%, P = 0.007). The ureter tumor bed recurrence rate was higher for ureter patients (P = 0.001). Conclusions Multifocality, T3–4, G3, and LNM are predictors of higher local recurrence rate of UTUC. Adjuvant radiotherapy can reduce local recurrence rate. Local recurrence patterns are different according to primary tumor locations.

Infrared images can provide clear contrast information to distinguish between the target and the background under any lighting conditions. In contrast, visible images can provide rich texture details and are compatible with the human visual system. The fusion of a visible image and infrared image will thus contain both comprehensive contrast information and texture details. In this study, a novel approach for the fusion of infrared and visible images is proposed based on a dual-discriminator generative adversarial network with a squeeze-and-excitation module (DDGANSE). Our approach establishes confrontation training between one generator and two discriminators. The goal of the generator is to generate images that are similar to the source images, and contain the information from both infrared and visible source images. The purpose of the two discriminators is to increase the similarity between the image generated by the generator and the infrared and visible images. We experimentally demonstrated that using continuous adversarial training, DDGANSE outputs images retain the advantages of both infrared and visible images with significant contrast information and rich texture details. Finally, we compared the performance of our proposed method with previously reported techniques for fusing infrared and visible images using both quantitative and qualitative assessments. Our experiments on the TNO dataset demonstrate that our proposed method shows superior performance compared to other similar reported methods in the literature using various performance metrics.

Background: The aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 family member A3 (ALDH1A3) is a key enzyme associated with a variety of metabolic processes, including glucose metabolism. We recently uncovered that glucose metabolism played an essential role in promoting metastasis of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). As ALDH1A3 labels an aggressive subtype of PDAC, we hypothesized that ALDH1A3 functionally promoted PDAC metastasis via its metabolic effect on glucose metabolism.Methods: Expression of ALDH1A3 was detected in human PDAC tissues by immunohistochemistry. ALDH1A3 was knocked down or overexpressed in PDAC cells by either shRNA or overexpression vector. The functional roles of ALDH1A3 were characterized in vitro and in vivo. Transcriptional profiling via RNA-sequencing was used to explore the possible underlying molecular mechanisms. Glucose uptake, extracellular lactate, and ATP production were measured to access the metabolic influence of ALDH1A3 on PDAC cells.Results: ALDH1A3 was associated with poor prognosis in PDAC patients. Functionally, ALDH1A3 promoted PDAC metastasis in vitro and in vivo. Further studies revealed that ALDH1A3 activated PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway and its downstream target-PPARγ (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma). This led to increase the expression of HK2 (hexokinase 2), which subsequently enhanced the glycolysis in PDAC cells. Additionally, the pharmacological inhibition of PPARγ activity in ALDH1A3-positive cells impaired glycolytic genes expression, PI3K/AKT/mTOR activity and cellular glycolysis.Conclusions: ALDH1A3 promotes PDAC metastasis via its metabolic influence on glucose metabolism. PPARγ and its downstream PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway maybe involved in this process.

The solubility of dicarbohydrazide bis[3-(5-nitroimino-1,2,4-triazole)] (DCBNT) was first measured under the different pure solvents and binary solvents by the dynamic method over the temperature range of 290–360 K at atmospheric pressure. Results in all the solvents were positively correlated with temperature, namely increased with increasing temperature. The experiment data were correlated by the Apelblat equation, the Yaws equation and the polynomial equation. The conclusion showed that these three models all agreed well with the experimental data. Simultaneously, the dissolution enthalpy, dissolution entropy and Gibbs free energy of DCBNT in different solvents were calculated from the solubility data by using the Apelblat model. The results indicate that the dissolution process of DCBNT in these solvents is driven by entropy, which provides theoretical guidance for further research on the crystallization of DCBNT.

Although amorphous alloys possess many excellent properties, their practical application is limited due to the difficulty of plastic forming. In this work, an effective shear punching of amorphous alloys under high-frequency vibrations was proposed. Under the high-frequency vibration of the punch, the plastic powder was melted into a flexible punch due to the frictional heat generation effect and the viscoelastic heat effect and continued to flow downward under the extrusion of the ultrasonic head to plastically deform the amorphous alloy ribbon. The disordered structure of the amorphous alloys helps them get soft in a localized region during high-frequency vibrations, which can result in low-stress deformations that are different from amorphous alloys in the conventional state. We manufactured various shapes with area of 5 mm2 using high-frequency vibrations and a molten plastic viscous medium. The molds were shaped into the letters “B”, “M”, and “G” and the Chinese characters “工” and “大”. The shapes were made from Fe-based, Al-based, La-based, and Cu-based amorphous alloys. Our results show that shear punching of amorphous alloys under high-frequency vibrations is an effective and low-cost production method of amorphous alloy, which also provides a basis for the wide application of amorphous alloy.

Crystallization is one of the most important methods in the crystal habit control of explosive products. For this study, the antisolvent crystallization experiments were carried out to tune the crystal habits of 2,6-dimaino-3,5-dinitropyrazine-1-oxid (LLM-105). Dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO) was used as an organic solvent. Water, methanol, acetic acid, nitromethane, acetone, ethanol, methylene chloride, o-dichlorobenzene, and toluene were selected as antisolvents. The X-shaped, spherical cluster-like, rod-like, needle-like, and dendritic crystals were successfully produced by varying the kind of the antisolvent. These results manifested that the polarity and functional groups of antisolvent molecules played important roles in the crystal habits of LLM-105 explosive. The powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) measurements indicated that these antisolvents just tuned the crystal habit of LLM-105 but did not change the crystal structure. The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetry (TG) results of the obtained crystals showed that the crystal habits significantly affected the thermal properties. This study can contribute to the investigation of the mechanism of antisolvent-induced crystal habit modification and screen out the efficient antisolvents.

In vitro toxicological assessment helps explore key fractions of particulate matter (PM) in association with the toxic mechanism. Previous studies mainly discussed the toxicity effects of the water-soluble and organic-soluble fractions of PM. However, the toxicity of insoluble fractions is relatively poorly understood, and the adsorption of proteins is rarely considered. In this work, the formation of protein corona on the surface of insoluble particles during incubation in a culture medium was investigated. It was found that highly abundant proteins in fetal bovine serum were the main components of the protein corona. The adsorbed proteins increased the dispersion stability of insoluble particles. Meanwhile, the leaching concentrations of some metal elements (e.g., Cu, Zn, and Pb) from PM increased in the presence of proteins. The toxicity effects and potential mechanisms of the PM insoluble particle–protein corona complex on macrophage cells RAW264.7 were discussed. The results revealed that the PM insoluble particle–protein corona complex could influence the phagosome pathway in RAW264.7 cells. Thus, it promoted the intracellular reactive oxygen species generation and induced a greater degree of cell differentiation, significantly altering cell morphology. Consequently, this work sheds new light on the combination of insoluble particles and protein corona in terms of PM cytotoxicity assessment.

Abstract Background and purpose Research to date has lacked definitive evidence to determine whether mirror therapy promotes the recovery of upper extremity function after stroke. Considering that previous studies did not stratify patients based on structural retention, this may be one of the reasons for the negative results obtained in many trials. The goal evaluates the efficacy of TBMT (utilizing an innovatively designed mirror) versus standard occupational therapy for stroke patient’s upper limb functionality. Methods and analysis This single-center randomized controlled trial will involve 50 patients with stroke. All patients will be randomly assigned to either the task-based mirror therapy or the control group. The interventions will be performed 5 days per week for 4 weeks. The primary outcomes will be the mean change in scores on both the FMA-UE and modified Barthel Index (MBI) from baseline to 4 weeks intervention and at 12 weeks follow-up between the two groups and within groups. The other outcomes will include the Action Research Arm Test (ARAT), the Nine Hole Peg Test (9HPT), the Functional Independence Measure, and MRI. Discussion This trial will not only to establish that task-based mirror therapy (TBMT) could improve the recovery of hand function after stroke but also to explore the underlying mechanisms. We expect that this finding will clarify the brain activation and brain network mechanisms underlying the improvement of hand function with task-oriented mirror therapy and lead to new ideas for stroke hand function rehabilitation. Trial registration URL: https://www.chictr.org.cn ; Unique identifier: ChiCTR2300068855. Registered on March 1, 2023