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This study aimed to evaluate the shape-memory effect (SME) of wood (Populus x beijingensis W. Y. Hsu) and identify the net-points and switches in its molecular and morphological structures. During several cycles of deformation and subsequent recovery, a high shape recovery rate and ratio were maintained. The transverse compression tests of wet and dry wood reveal that the hydrothermal coupling stimulation can considerably reduce the strength of wood. The X-ray diffraction characterization of wood under hydrothermal stimulation shows that the role of network nodes in the SME of wood is influenced by temperature. The wavenumber shifting and changes in the intensity ratio of the characteristic Fourier transform infrared peaks showed that hydrogen bonds acted as switches for the water-stimulated shape-memory behavior. By taking into account viscoelastic relaxation, a kinetic model derived from nonequilibrium thermodynamic fluctuation theory was used to describe the shape recovery process. The effects of hydration on recovery kinetics, activation, and dynamic mechanical behaviors were also studied. To explain the shape-memory mechanism of wood under hydrothermal stimulation, a hybrid-structure network model based on a single three-dimensional switch network was proposed in this study.

Aim. Hyperuricemia (HUA) has received increased attention in the last few decades due to its global prevalence. Our previous study found that administration of a macroporous resin extract of Dendrobium officinale leaves (DoMRE) to rats with HUA that was induced by exposure to potassium oxazine combined with fructose and a high-purine diet led to a significant reduction in serum uric acid (SUA) levels. The aim of this study was to explore the effects of DoMRE on hyperuricemia induced by anthropomorphic unhealthy lifestyle and to elucidate its possible mechanisms of action. Methods. Dosages (5.0 and 10.0 g/kg/day) of DoMRE were administered to rats daily after induction of HUA by anthropomorphic unhealthy lifestyle for 12 weeks. The levels of UA in the serum, urine, and feces; the levels of creatinine (Cr) in the serum and urine; and the levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) in serum were all measured using an automatic biochemical analyzer. The activities of xanthine oxidase (XOD) and adenosine deaminase (ADA) in the serum, liver, and intestine tissue supernatant were measured using appropriate kits for each biological target. The expressions levels of UA transporters (ABCG2 and GLUT9), tight junction (TJ) proteins (ZO-1 and occludin), and inflammatory factors (IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-α) in the intestine were assayed by immunohistochemical (IHC) staining. Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining was used to assess histological changes in the renal and intestinal tissues. Results. DoMRE treatment significantly reduced SUA levels and concomitantly increased fecal UA (FUA) levels and the fractional excretion of UA (FEUA) in HUA rats. Furthermore, DoMRE significantly reduced both the XOD activity in the serum, liver, and intestine and the ADA activity in the liver and intestine. DoMRE also effectively regulated the expression of GLUT9 and ABCG2 in the intestine, and it significantly upregulated the expression of the intestinal TJ proteins ZO-1 and occludin. Therefore, DoMRE reduced the damage to the intestinal barrier function caused by the increased production of inflammatory factors due to HUA to ensure normal intestinal UA excretion. Conclusion. DoMRE demonstrated anti-HUA effects in the HUA rat model induced by an anthropomorphic unhealthy lifestyle, and the molecular mechanism appeared to involve the regulation of urate transport-related transporters (ABCG2 and GLUT9) in the intestine, protection of the intestinal barrier function to promote UA excretion, and inhibition of XOD and ADA activity in the liver and intestine to inhibit UA production in the HUA-induced rats.

This study examined empirical correlations among several horizontal and vertical ground-motion intensity measures (IMs), including spectral acceleration (SA), peak ground acceleration (PGA), peak ground velocity, acceleration spectrum intensity, velocity spectrum intensity, displacement spectrum intensity, spectrum intensity, effective peak acceleration (EPA), effective peak velocity (EPV), and effective peak displacement (EPD). The theoretical basis for the prediction equations of EPA, EPV, and EPD were developed based on the ground-motion model (GMM) of SA(T). Horizontal and vertical Next Generation Attenuation (NGA)-West2 GMMs and associated ground motions from active shallow crustal earthquakes in the NGA-West2 database were used to calculate empirical correlations. Fisher ? transformation and nonparametric bootstrapping methods were able to accurately describe the uncertainty caused by the limited sample size. The multivariate normality of the total residuals of the horizontal and vertical ground-motion IMs was verified. The results have shown a moderate correlation between the same IMs of horizontal and vertical ground motions. The difference in correlations between the IMs for two different combination cases (IMi,H–IMj,V and IMj,H–IMi,V) was not significant. The trends of ρlnIMV,lnSAH and ρlnIMH,lnSAV were almost the same, except that ρlnIMV,lnSAH was greater than ρlnIMH,lnSAV in the 0–0.3 s period, except for ρlnPGAV,lnSAH. Moreover, the median correlation coefficients were parametrically fitted to establish a correlation coefficient prediction model. Finally, an example of constructing the conditional distribution using the correlation coefficient models for horizontal and vertical ground motions IMs was given. The correlation coefficient models by this study provide the theoretical basis for the selection of horizontal and vertical ground motions using generalized conditional intensity measure.

To analyze myocardial fibrosis in dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) patients with no late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) on cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) using T1 mapping and extracellular volume (ECV) and investigate the potential correlation with left ventricular (LV) dilation and dysfunction.The study included 41 DCM patients without LGE and 79 healthy controls. T1 and ECV were compared between the two groups using multivariable logistic regression analysis. The correlations between histological and functional parameters were evaluated using Pearson's correlation.Mean native myocardial T1 and ECV were significantly higher in the DCM group compared to controls (p ≤ 0.001, respectively). Multivariable logistic regression revealed that ECV (mean, minimum), LV ejection fraction (LVEF), and LV end-diastolic diameter (LVEDD) were independent discriminators for LGE-negative DCM; the area under the curve (AUC) of LVEF, LVEDD, ECV mean, and ECV minimum were 0.97, 0.96, 0.88, and 0.68, respectively. In the DCM group, LVEDD and LVEF were positively and negatively correlated with ECV, respectively. LVEDV index and LV end-systolic volume (LVESV) index were positively correlated with native-T1 and ECV, and the absolute value of LV global strain had a negative correlation with ECV.Early myocardial fibrosis in DCM could be detected by prolonged native T1 and elevated ECV despite the absence of LGE on CMR. Moreover, the change of histological characteristics of myocardium in DCM was correlated with LV dilation and dysfunction.• At an early stage, patients with DCM may have myocardial fibrosis despite the absence of LGE. • T1 mapping and ECV are efficient methods for early detection of potential myocardial fibrosis. • Increased native T1 and ECV are correlated with left ventricular dilation and dysfunction in LGE-negative DCM patients.

Dual-phenotype hepatocellular carcinoma (DPHCC) is highly aggressive and difficult to distinguish from hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).To develop and validate clinical and radiomics models based on contrast-enhanced MRI for the preoperative diagnosis of DPHCC.Retrospective.A total of 87 patients with DPHCC and 92 patients with non-DPHCC randomly divided into a training cohort (n = 125: 64 non-DPHCC; 61 DPHCC) and a validation cohort (n = 54: 28 non-DPHCC; 26 DPHCC).A 3.0 T; dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI with time-resolved T1-weighted imaging sequence.In the clinical model, the maximum tumor diameter and hepatitis B virus (HBV) were independent risk factors of DPHCC. In the radiomics model, a total of 1781 radiomics features were extracted from tumor volumes of interest (VOIs) in the arterial phase (AP) and portal venous phase (PP) images. For feature reduction and selection, Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC) and recursive feature elimination (RFE) were used. Clinical, AP, PP, and combined radiomics models were established using machine learning algorithms (support vector machine [SVM], logistic regression [LR], and logistic regression-least absolute shrinkage and selection operator [LR-LASSO]) and their discriminatory efficacy assessed and compared.The independent sample t test, Mann-Whitney U test, Chi-square test, regression analysis, receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis, Pearson correlation analysis, the Delong test. A P value 0.05 was considered statistically significant.In the validation cohort, the combined radiomics model (area under the curve [AUC] = 0.908, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.831-0.985) showed the highest diagnostic performance. The AUCs of the PP (AUC = 0.879, 95% CI: 0.779-0.979) and combined radiomics models were significantly higher than that of clinical model (AUC = 0.685, 95% CI: 0.526-0.844). There were no significant differences in AUC between AP or PP radiomics model and combined radiomics model (P = 0.286, 0.180 and 0.543).MRI radiomics models may be useful for discriminating DPHCC from non-DPHCC before surgery.4 TECHNICAL EFFICACY: Stage 2.

Jian Wang,1,&ast; Zhan-Fang Zhu,2,&ast; Fu-Qiang Liu,3 Cun Liu,4 Ai-Mei Ou-Yang,1 Wei-Wei Chen,1 En-Guo Wang,1 Xi-Ming Wang5,6 1Department of Radiology, Jinan Central Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, 250013, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Internal Medicine, The Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710049, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Cardiovascular, Shaanxi Provincial People’s Hospital, Xi’an, 710068, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Ultrasound, Jinan Central Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, 250013, People’s Republic of China; 5Department of Radiology, Shandong Provincial Hospital, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, 250021, People’s Republic of China; 6Department of Radiology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, Shandong, 250021, People’s Republic of China&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Xi-Ming Wang Tel/Fax +86 531-68776846Email wangximing_dr@outlook.comObjective: Earlobe crease (ELC) has been considered as a skin sign of atherosclerosis, and its pathophysiological mechanism is still unclear. Our study aims to test the hypothesis that ELC patients with lower serum levels of the age-suppressing hormone Klotho, which is not only associated with premature aging but also with endothelial dysfunction, may be associated with atherosclerosis.Methods: A total of 135 patients aged 40– 68 years underwent coronary angiography. According to the presence or absence of coronary heart disease (CAD) and ELC, they were divided into three groups: CAD group and ELC group (ELC group, n = 45); no ELC group (non-ELC group, n = 45). There was no ELC or CAD in the control group (control group, n = 45). Serum Klotho concentration was obtained by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).Results: The Klotho level in the ELC group was 365.6 ± 38.1 pg/mL, while the Klotho level in the non-ELC group was 568.8 ± 44.9 pg/mL. It is worth noting that the Klotho level of the ELC group was significantly lower than that of the non-ELC group (P < 0.001). The serum Klotho level of the control group was higher than that of the non-ELC group (593.3± 45.3 vs 568.8± 44.9 pg/mL, P = 0.702), but the difference was not statistically significant. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that the Klotho level is a parameter that affects the appearance of ELC.Conclusion: Serum Klotho levels were considerably lower in patients with ELC. We concluded that the perturbations of Klotho in patients might be associated with ELC and with CAD.Keywords: earlobe crease, Klotho, atherosclerosis, premature aging

Background For individualized clinical treatment of patients,The differentiation between brain glial cell hyperplasia and low-grade glioma is of significant importance. Objective Based on Multiparametric MRI images,combining with clinical risk factors,we construct a radiomics-clinical model and nomogram for the differentiation of brain glial cell hyperplasia from low-grade glioma. Methods We retrospectively included patients with brain glial cell hyperplasia and low-grade glioma who underwent surgery at the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University from March 2016 to March 2022.A total of 41 patients of brain glial cell hyperplasia and 87 patients of low-grade glioma were included in this study,then divide them into training group and validation group randomly with a ratio of 7: 3.We extracted radiomics features from T1-weighted imaging(T1WI),T2-weighted imaging(T2WI), diffusion-weighted imaging(DWI), contrast-enhanced T1-weighted imaging (T1-enhanced),then built LASSO, SVM and RF model,and we selected a model with higher efficiency to calculate the Rad-score (radiomics score) of every patient. To obtain the independent risk factors,we screened the Rad-score and clinical risk factors by univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis in turn, then we constructed radiomics-clinical model, and evaluated their performance. Results Of the included 128 cases ,brain glial cell hyperplasia and low-grade gliomas were randomly divided into 10 groups, and 7 of them were used as training group and 3 as validation group. The radiomics-clinical model were constructed with two independent risk factors——mass effect and Rad-score,which AUCs of the training group and validation group were 0.847 and 0.858. The diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of the validation group were 0.821,0.750,0.852. Conclusion Combining with radiomics constructed by multiparametric MRI images and clinical features,the radiomics-clinical model and nomogram which were constructed to differentiate between brain glial cell hyperplasia and low-grade glioma had a good performance.

Background Coronary artery calcification (CAC) is an independent risk factor of major adverse cardiovascular events; however, the impact of CAC on in-hospital death and adverse clinical outcomes in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) remains unclear. Objective To explore the association between CAC and in-hospital mortality and adverse events in patients with COVID-19. Methods This multicenter retrospective cohort study enrolled 2067 laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 patients with definitive clinical outcomes (death or discharge) admitted from 22 tertiary hospitals in China between January 3, 2020 and April 2, 2020. Demographic, clinical, laboratory results, chest CT findings, and CAC on admission were collected. The primary outcome was in-hospital death and the secondary outcome was composed of in-hospital death, admission to intensive care unit (ICU), and requiring mechanical ventilation. Multivariable Cox regression analysis and Kaplan–Meier plots were used to explore the association between CAC and in-hospital death and adverse clinical outcomes. Results The mean age was 50 years (SD,16) and 1097 (53.1%) were male. A total of 177 patients showed high CAC level, and compared with patients with low CAC, these patients were older (mean age: 49 vs. 69 years, P

The high tunability of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) provides attractive flexibility to tailor their surface properties for practical demands. Here we report the regulation of the surface properties (hydrophilicity and charge characteristics) of Co-based MOFs by exploiting different organic building units and tailor them as efficient adsorbents for specific protein enrichment. Compared with the pristine Co-based MOF (Co-MOF) and the aminated MOF (Co-MOF-NH2), the MOF decorated with abundant hydroxyl groups (Co-MOF-OH) exhibits superior adsorption selectivity and enriched efficiency toward immunoglobulin G (IgG) in the physiological state (pH 7.4) by taking advantage of the favorable hydrogen-bonding interactions and electrostatic force between IgG and Co-MOF-OH. The enrichment factor for IgG is high, up to 97.7 for enriching IgG from the IgG/human serum albumin mixture with a mass ratio of 1:50, and circular dichroism indicates that the enrichment process poses no influence on the protein structure. Moreover, Co-MOF-OH proves its practicability in complex biological samples by the selective extraction of IgG from complex human serum samples.

Ba0.70Ca0.30Ti1-x (Nb0.5Fe0.5)xO3 lead-free ceramics (abbreviated as BCTNFx, x = 0–0.12) were prepared by solid-state reaction method. The influence of B-site (Fe0.5Nb0.5)4+ substitution on phase structure, microstructure, dielectric, ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties of Ba0.70Ca0.30TiO3 ceramics were systematically studied. The BCTNFx ceramics consist of diphasic tetragonal (T) and orthorhombic (O) phases at x = 0–0.04, pseudocubic (PC) and O phases at x = 0.05–0.08, cubic (C) and O phases at 0.08 e r = 1268, tan δ = 0.03, Tm = 102 °C, Pmax = 12.8 μC/cm2, Pr = 6.1 μC/cm2, EC = 6.0 kV/cm, d33 = 117 pC/N, kp% = 0.18%, Qm = 236, bipolar Smax% = 0.20%, unipolar Smax% = 0.16% and d 33 ∗ = 314 pm/V. The variation of electrical properties of BCTNFx ceramics is attributed to the combined action of grain size effect, phase transition, weakness of octahedral distortion, clamping effects of the internal bias electric field Ei on domain wall motion induced by B-site cations (Fe0.5Nb0.5)4+ displacement.

This study explored a new model of Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System (PIRADS) and adjusted prostate-specific antigen density of peripheral zone (aPSADPZ) for predicting the occurrence of prostate cancer (PCa) and clinically significant prostate cancer (csPCa). The demographic and clinical characteristics of 853 patients were recorded. Prostate-specific antigen (PSA), PSA density (PSAD), PSAD of peripheral zone (PSADPZ), aPSADPZ, and peripheral zone volume ratio (PZ-ratio) were calculated and subjected to receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. The calibration and discrimination abilities of new nomograms were verified with the calibration curve and area under the ROC curve (AUC). The clinical benefits of these models were evaluated by decision curve analysis and clinical impact curves. The AUCs of PSA, PSAD, PSADPZ, aPSADPZ, and PZ-ratio were 0.669, 0.762, 0.659, 0.812, and 0.748 for PCa diagnosis, while 0.713, 0.788, 0.694, 0.828, and 0.735 for csPCa diagnosis, respectively. All nomograms displayed higher net benefit and better overall calibration than the scenarios for predicting the occurrence of PCa or csPCa. The new model significantly improved the diagnostic accuracy of PCa (0.945 vs 0.830, P0.01) and csPCa (0.937 vs 0.845, P0.01) compared with the base model. In addition, the number of patients with PCa and csPCa predicted by the new model was in good agreement with the actual number of patients with PCa and csPCa in high-risk threshold. This study demonstrates that aPSADPZ has a higher predictive accuracy for PCa diagnosis than the conventional indicators. Combining aPSADPZ with PIRADS can improve PCa diagnosis and avoid unnecessary biopsies.

A prenatal diagnosis of coarctation of the aorta (CoA) is challenging. This study aimed to develop a coarctation probability model incorporating prenatal cardiac sonographic markers to estimate the probability of an antenatal diagnosis of CoA.We reviewed 89 fetuses as an investigation cohort with prenatal suspicion for CoA and categorized them into three subgroups: severe CoA: symptomatic CoA and surgery within the first 3 months; mild CoA: surgery within 4 months to 1 year (29); and false-positive CoA: not requiring surgery (45). Logistic regression was used to create a multiparametric model, and a validation cohort of 86 fetuses with suspected CoA was used to validate the model.The prediction model had an optimal criterion0.25 (sensitivity of 97.7%; specificity of 59.1%), and the area under the receiver operator curve was 0.85. The parameters and their cut-off values were as follows: left common carotid artery to left subclavian artery distance/distal transverse arch (LCCA-LSCA)/DT Index1.77 (sensitivity 62%, specificity 88%, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.6-0.8), and z-score of AAo peak Doppler-1.7 (sensitivity 77%, specificity 56%, 95% CI: 0.6-0.8). The risk assessment demonstrated that fetuses with a model probability60% should have inpatient observation for a high risk of CoA, whereas fetuses with a model probability15% should not undergo clinical follow-up.The probability model performs well in predicting CoA outcomes postnatally and can also improve the accuracy of risk assessment. The objectivity of its parameters may allow its implementation in multicenter studies of fetal cardiology.

Aim and Objective. Hyperlipidemia is a public health matter of global scale, contributing to a wide range of diseases that can result in severe complications and significant annual mortality. Dendrobium officinale (DO) is an edible plant with a long medicinal history in China. Our previous studies revealed that DO may have therapeutic benefits in lipid disorders. However, the mechanism of its active compounds is still unclear. This research aimed at uncovering the hidden anti-hyperlipidemia mechanisms of DO through network pharmacology and experimental validation. Materials and Methods. The active compounds in DO, their targets, and targets associated with hyperlipidemia were screened across various databases, and the hidden targets of DO in treating hyperlipidemia were forecast. The compound-target (C-T), protein-protein interaction (PPI), and compound-target-pathway (C-T-P) networks of DO were set up with Cytoscape software. The hub genes and core clusters of DO predicted to be active against hyperlipidemia were calculated by Cytoscape. The DAVID database was adopted for Gene Ontology (GO) analysis and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis. Next, we used the high-sucrose-fat diet and alcohol (HFDA)-induced hyperlipidemia rats to evaluate the hypolipidemic effect of DO. Results. In this study, we obtained 264 compounds from DO, revealed 11 bioactive compounds, and predicted 89 potential targets of DO. The network analysis uncovered that naringenin, isorhamnetin, and taxifolin might be the compounds in DO that are mainly in charge of its roles in hyperlipidemia and might play a role by modulating the targets (including PPARG, ADIPOQ, AKT1, TNF, and APOB). The pathway analysis showed that DO might affect diverse signaling pathways related to the pathogenesis of hyperlipidemia, including PPAR signaling pathway, insulin resistance, AMPK signaling pathway, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease simultaneously. Meanwhile, in the HFDA-induced hyperlipidemia rat model, DO could significantly decrease the level of TC, TG, LDL-c, and ALT in serum, and increase HDL-c as well. The liver pathological section indicated that DO could ease liver damage and lipid cumulation. Conclusion. In summary, the biological targets of the main bioactive compounds in DO were found to distribute across multiple metabolic pathways. These findings suggest that a mutual regulatory system consisting of multiple components, targets, and pathways is a likely mechanism through which DO may improve hyperlipidemia. Validation experiments indicated that DO may treat hyperlipidemia by affecting NAFLD-related signaling pathways.

The active compounds in DO, their targets, and targets associated with hyperlipidemia were screened across various databases, and the hidden targets of DO in treating hyperlipidemia were forecast. The compound-target (C-T), protein-protein interaction (PPI), and compound-target-pathway (C-T-P) networks of DO were set up with Cytoscape software. The hub genes and core clusters of DO predicted to be active against hyperlipidemia were calculated by Cytoscape. The DAVID database was adopted for Gene Ontology (GO) analysis and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis. Next, we used the high-sucrose-fat diet and alcohol (HFDA)-induced hyperlipidemia rats to evaluate the hypolipidemic effect of DO.In this study, we obtained 264 compounds from DO, revealed 11 bioactive compounds, and predicted 89 potential targets of DO. The network analysis uncovered that naringenin, isorhamnetin, and taxifolin might be the compounds in DO that are mainly in charge of its roles in hyperlipidemia and might play a role by modulating the targets (including PPARG, ADIPOQ, AKT1, TNF, and APOB). The pathway analysis showed that DO might affect diverse signaling pathways related to the pathogenesis of hyperlipidemia, including PPAR signaling pathway, insulin resistance, AMPK signaling pathway, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease simultaneously. Meanwhile, in the HFDA-induced hyperlipidemia rat model, DO could significantly decrease the level of TC, TG, LDL-c, and ALT in serum, and increase HDL-c as well. The liver pathological section indicated that DO could ease liver damage and lipid cumulation.In summary, the biological targets of the main bioactive compounds in DO were found to distribute across multiple metabolic pathways. These findings suggest that a mutual regulatory system consisting of multiple components, targets, and pathways is a likely mechanism through which DO may improve hyperlipidemia. Validation experiments indicated that DO may treat hyperlipidemia by affecting NAFLD-related signaling pathways.

A novel dimercaptosuccinic acid-functionalized mesoporous alumina (DMSA–MA) is synthesized by the dicarboxylic acid groups of dimercaptosuccinic acid molecules coordinating to the Al3+ ions located...

Functionality of wood has to evolve with time to adapt to the emerging needs in society. In this work, endowing electrical conductivity to the insulating wood by adding graphene into the wood matrix to form a conductive wood-graphene composite (conductive wood) via a facile and environmentally benign fabrication technique. The rationale of fabricating conductive wood is of two folds: (1) The high suitability of wood as a renewable matrix due to its porous network and mechanically robust monolithic structure. (2) The need to explore reasonable strategy to adequately translate the properties of graphene from microscopic level to macroscopic level. The conductive wood is able to preserve both the natural features of wood (to function as mechanical scaffold) and the conductivity of graphene. An outstanding electrical conductivity (volume resistivity of 36.7 Ω·cm) is achieved for the conductive wood, while it can maintain a low bulk density of 0.44 g cm-1. More significantly, the conductive wood demonstrates a highly three-dimensional anisotropic conductivity that makes it a highly versatile conductor in various applications. Hence, this lightweight conductive wood may contribute towards a great electronic revolution and as an encouraging strategy to repurpose the function of wood in this new era.

Background: A pretreatment risk stratification of prostate cancer (PCa) is important for determining appropriate treatment option and prognostic prediction. Although numerous quantifiable approaches can provide fundamental insights in PCa, a clinical tool should leverage the integration of all data representations to enables detailed assessment. We developed a generalizable machine learning platform, designated PI-Risk, which incorporates clinicians’ prior identifications with deep transferrable imaging feature representations into predictive models for PCa Gleason grade. Methods: A retrospective study included 1442 biopsy-naïve patients from two tertiary care medical centers between January 2014 and December 2019. Model performance was typically evaluated against a “ground truth” with imaging-histopathologic annotations using receiver operating characteristic (ROC). Detection rates such as true positive, true negative, false positive and false negative rate were reported using a confusion matrix analysis. The Cox model’s performance was evaluated based on Harrell’s concordance index (C-index), calibration curves and Kaplan–Meier survival analysis. Results: In multinomial regression analyzing model, predicted IntraT-Rad G0 (odds ratio [OR], 3.01; 95% confidence intervals [CIs], 2.74–3.34, p < 0.001) and PI-RADS score 2 (OR, 2.88; 95% CIs, 2.47–3.17, p = 0.002) were two independent predictors of G0 stage. Predicted IntraT-Rad G1 (OR, 2.42; 95% CIs, 2.13–2.86, p < 0.001) and PSA 4-10 ng/ml (OR, 1.29; 95% CIs, 1.06–1.43, p = 0.037) were two independent predictors of G1 stage. PSA 10-20 ng/ml (OR, 1.52; 95% CIs, 1.32–1.67, p = 0.005), Predicted PeriT-DLR-SqueezeNet G1 (OR, 1.31; 95% CIs, 1.14–1.52, p = 0.009) and Predicted IntraT-Rad G3 (OR, 1.29; 95% CIs, 1.07–1.44, p = 0.011) were three independent predictors of G2 stage. PI-RADS score 5 (OR, 1.84; 95% CIs, 1.74–2.31, p < 0.001) were the independent predictor of G3 stage. PI-RADS score 5 (OR, 2.84; 95% CIs, 2.62–3.17, p < 0.001) and PSA > 100 ng/ml (OR, 1.69; 95% CIs, 1.36–1.83, p = 0.007) were two independent predictors of G4 stage. And the multivariate Cox analysis model shows that, among the 5 pretreatment risk factors (age, PSA, PCa location, PI-RADS score and PI-Risk score), PSA ≥ 20 ng/ml (OR, 1.58; 95% CI, 1.20-2.08; p = 0.001) and PI-Risk ≥ G3 (OR, 1.45; 95% CI, 1.12-1.88; p = 0.005) were the independent predictors of BCR.Conclusions: We concluded that the PI-Risk can offer a noninvasive alternative tool to stratify PCa aggressiveness. This enables a step towards PCa risk stratification.

In classical machine learning, a set of weak classifiers can be adaptively combined for improving the overall performance, a technique called adaptive boosting (or AdaBoost). However, constructing a combined classifier for a large data set is typically resource consuming. Here we propose a quantum extension of AdaBoost, demonstrating a quantum algorithm that can output the optimal strong classifier with a quadratic speedup in the number of queries of the weak classifiers. Our results also include a generalization of the standard AdaBoost to the cases where the output of each classifier may be probabilistic. We prove that the query complexity of the non-deterministic classifiers is the same as those of deterministic classifiers, which may be of independent interest to the classical machine-learning community. Additionally, once the optimal classifier is determined by our quantum algorithm, no quantum resources are further required. This fact may lead to applications on near term quantum devices.

A new type of boric acid derivative-modified molybdenum disulfide nanosheet was prepared by amination and sulfur chemical grafting, where lipoic acid, lysine, and 5-carboxybenzoboroxole were used as reactants. The two-dimensional composite, abbreviated as MoS2-Lys-CBX, is an ultrathin nanosheet with a minimum unit of single or few layers. Compared with the original molybdenum disulfide, the nonspecific adhesion of interfering proteins on the surface was reduced, and the adsorption capacity of glycoproteins was enhanced, which was 1682.2 mg g-1 represented by IgG. The adsorbed IgG can be easily eluted with 0.3 wt % CTAB with an elution efficiency of 94.1%. Circular dichroism spectra indicate no obvious conformation change of IgG during the purification process by the MoS2-Lys-CBX nanosheets. The as-prepared MoS2-Lys-CBX nanosheets were then employed for the isolation of IgG from human serum sample, obtaining high-purity light and heavy chains of IgG, as demonstrated by SDS-PAGE assays.

Background: The risk factors for adverse events of Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) have not been well described. We aimed to explore the predictive value of clinical, laboratory and CT imaging characteristics on admission for short-term outcomes of COVID-19 patients. Methods: This multicenter, retrospective, observation study enrolled 703 laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 patients admitted to 16 tertiary hospitals from 8 provinces in China between January 10, 2020 and March 13, 2020. Demographic, clinical, laboratory data, CT imaging findings on admission and clinical outcomes were collected and compared. The primary endpoint was in-hospital death, the secondary endpoints were composite clinical adverse outcomes including in-hospital death, admission to intensive care unit (ICU) and requiring invasive mechanical ventilation support (IMV). Multivariable Cox regression, Kaplan-Meier plots and log-rank test were used to explore risk factors related to in-hospital death and in-hospital adverse outcomes. Results: Of 703 patients, 55 (8%) developed adverse outcomes (including 33 deceased), 648 (92%) discharged without any adverse outcome. Multivariable regression analysis showed risk factors associated with in-hospital death included ≥ 2 comorbidities (hazard ratio [HR], 6.734; 95% CI; 3.239-14.003, p < 0.001), leukocytosis (HR, 9.639; 95% CI, 4.572-20.321, p < 0.001), lymphopenia (HR, 4.579; 95% CI, 1.334-15.715, p = 0.016) and CT severity score > 14 (HR, 2.915; 95% CI, 1.376-6.177, p = 0.005) on admission, while older age (HR, 2.231; 95% CI, 1.124-4.427, p = 0.022), ≥ 2 comorbidities (HR, 4.778; 95% CI; 2.451-9.315, p < 0.001), leukocytosis (HR, 6.349; 95% CI; 3.330-12.108, p < 0.001), lymphopenia (HR, 3.014; 95% CI; 1.356-6.697, p = 0.007) and CT severity score > 14 (HR, 1.946; 95% CI; 1.095-3.459, p = 0.023) were associated with increased odds of composite adverse outcomes. Conclusion: The risk factors of older age, multiple comorbidities, leukocytosis, lymphopenia and higher CT severity score could help clinicians identify patients with potential adverse events.

Highly selective adsorption of protein species interested from complicated biological samples is an extremely important prerequisite for in-depth proteomic analysis. Herein, a novel dual-hydrophilic material is fabricated by grafting Zr-based metal-organic framework (Zr-MOF) onto the surface of magnetic microspheres, and subsequent modifying with fructose-1,6-bisphosphate (FBP) molecules by taking advantage of multivalent binding between the phosphate backbone of FBP and Zr centers. Owing to the favorable dual-hydrophilicity derived from the abundant amino groups in Zr-MOF and the hydroxyl groups in FBP molecules, the obtained magnetic microspheres (mMOF-FBP) provide high adsorption efficiency, favorable selectivity and excellent capturing capacity (555.6 mg g−1) towards immunoglobulin G (IgG). The captured IgG could be collected from the mMOF-FBP by using 0.5% (m/v) NH3·H2O as elution reagent with a recovery of 88.4%. The dual-hydrophilic microspheres demonstrate their practicability by selective isolation of IgG from human serum.

FexOy and ZrO2 nanoparticles co-doped layered porous polyimide, polyimide-FexOy-ZrO2 is prepared with a one-step strategy, shortly termed as PI-FexOy-ZrO2. The layered and porous structure of the polymer offers a supported platform for metallic oxide anchoring, exhibiting a mesopore size of 3.93 nm and providing a surface area of 198.47 m2 g−1. The metallic oxides were uniformly and highly dispersed in the PI-FexOy-ZrO2 nanocomposite with percentages of 15.81 and 20.53 wt% for Fe and Zr, respectively. The magnetic FexOy provides driving force for rapid separation. The high doping of ZrO2 facilitates effective enrichment of phosphopeptides, even at a very low mass ratio of 1:1000 for tryptic digest of phosphopeptides/non-phosphopeptides, e.g., β-casein/BSA in this particular case. In addition, the PI-FexOy-ZrO2 nanocomposite exhibits better adsorption performance to phosphopeptides with respect to commercial titanium dioxide nanoparticles. The effectiveness of low-abundant phosphopeptides isolation and enrichment from human serum is further identified and demonstrated by means of MALDI-TOF MS and LC-ESI-MS/MS.

A novel organic-inorganic hybrid was prepared by anchoring (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (APTES) on the surface of monolayer titanate nanosheets and subsequent modification with hydrophilic polyethylene glycol (PEG). The PEGylated hydrophilic monolayer titanate nanosheets were abbreviated as PEG-APTES-TiNSs, and they exhibit a lateral dimension of dozens of nanometers and a thickness of ca. 1.9 nm. PEGylation of the titanate nanosheets significantly improved their selectivity toward the adsorption of glycoproteins through strong hydrophilic interaction, providing an adsorption capacity of 2540.9 mg g-1 for immunoglobulin G (IgG). The retained IgG is readily collected at a recovery rate of 83.4% with 0.5% (m/v) ammonium hydroxide (NH4OH) as the stripping reagent. PEG-APTES-TiNSs are applied for the selective adsorption of IgG from human serum, which is further confirmed by SDS-PAGE assay.

// Xiao-Shun He 1, * , Ling-Chuan Guo 1, * , Ming-Zhan Du 1, * , Shan Huang 1 , Ren-Peng Huang 1 , Sheng-Hua Zhan 1 , Dong-Mei Gu 1 , Wei-Shuo Liu 1 , Xi-Ming Wang 3 , Hua Wu 2 and Wen-Juan Gan 1 1 Department of Pathology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, China 2 Pathology Center and Department of Pathology, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China 3 Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, China * These authors have contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Wen-Juan Gan, email: ganwenjuan@suda.edu.cn Hua Wu, email: wuhua@suda.edu.cn Xi-Ming Wang, email: wangximing1998@163.com Keywords: LncRNA NONHSAT062994, colorectal cancer, growth, Akt signaling Abbreviations: lncRNA, long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs); qPCR, Quantitative PCR; CRC, Colorectal Cancer; ISH, In Situ Hybridization; FISH, fluorescent in situ hybridization Received: May 05, 2017 Accepted: June 28, 2017 Published: August 02, 2017 ABSTRACT The aberrant expression of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) is implicated in cancer development and progression. However, the clinical significance and mechanism by which NONHSAT062994 regulates colorectal cancer (CRC) is unknown. We here reported that NONHSAT062994 was significantly downregulated in human CRC tissues and cell lines. Moreover, its expression was inversely correlated with tumor size and overall survival (OS) time in CRC patients. In CRC cells, the overexpression and knockdown of NONHSAT062994 inhibited and enhanced CRC cell growth, respectively, in vitro and in vivo . Mechanistically, NONHSAT062994 functioned as a tumor suppressor to inhibit CRC cell growth by inactivating Akt signaling. Notably, the NONHSAT062994 expression status was negatively correlated with the Akt downstream targets c-Myc and Cyclin D1 in clinical CRC samples. The current findings suggest that NONHSAT062994 plays a critical role in the development of CRC by regulating Akt signaling, and identified a candidate prognostic biomarker or potential therapeutic target for CRC patients.

Nitrogen-doped flower-like carbon superstructures (NPC-F) are prepared via carbonizing self-assembled polyimide nanosheets. SEM, TEM, XPS, and N2 sorption methods are adopted to characterize the flower-like structure. NPC-F exhibits adsorption selectivity for hemoglobin (Hb) because the specific pyridinic N groups of NPC-F could coordinate with the sixth vacancy of ferrous ion in hemoglobin. The adsorption behavior fits well with Langmuir model with a maximum adsorption capacity of 360.0 mg g−1 and the adsorbed Hb could be lightly stripped from the NPC-F nanospheres surface by 0.5 wt% CTAB solution. Circular dichroism spectra indicate no obvious conformation changing of Hb during purification process by NPC-F nanospheres. Five cycles of a continuous adsorption/desorption experiment demonstrate the reusability of NPC-F as adsorbent for Hb. The prepared NPC-F superstructures are then employed for the isolation of Hb from human whole blood sample, obtaining high-purity Hb as demonstrated by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis assays.

Boron-titanate monolayer nanosheets were prepared through a scalable step by step intercalation approach for anchoring 3-mercaptopropyltriethoxysilane (MPTS) on the surface. MPTS provides clickable sites with 4-vinylphenylboronic acid (VPBA) via a thiol-ene (TE) click reaction to obtain monolayer titanate nanosheets with boronic acid ligands immobilized on the surface. The nanosheets obtained are denoted as VPBA-MPTS-TiNSs, with a lateral dimension of a few dozen nanometers and with a thickness of ca. 3.5 nm. The nanosheets exhibit a superior adsorption capacity of 1669.7 mg g-1 and favorable selectivity for the adsorption of glycoproteins by employing immunoglobulin G (IgG) as the protein model. The adsorbed IgG is thereafter readily collected by using 0.1% (m/v) cetane trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) as the eluent. The practical applications of VPBA-MPTS-TiNSs are further demonstrated by the selective adsorption/purification of IgG from human serum.

The current study reports the case of a 15-year-old male who presented to The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University (Suzhou, Jiangsu, China) with a 3-day history of anergy and epistaxis. The patient was diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia according to the results of a bone marrow examination and received chemotherapy. During the agranulocytosis period, the patient developed pneumonia of the right upper lung (RUL). Once complete remission was achieved, the patient underwent a lobectomy of the RUL, together with amphotericin B therapy, following the confirmation of pulmonary mucormycosis by the histopathological results. The patient experienced 12 months of uneventful follow-up post-surgery.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have been gaining extensive popularity in the field of sample pretreatment due to their designable structures and easy-modifiable surfaces. Herein, zirconium-based MOFs UiO-66-NH2 is first coated with graphene oxide (GO) layer to enhance the stability, and then grafted with hydrophilic polyethylene glycol (PEG) via amidation reaction to give a product of hydrophilic MOF-based nanomaterial UiO@GO@PEG. The obtained nanoparticles exhibit typical hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) behavior towards glycoproteins, making itself powerful adsorbent for the extraction of glycoproteins from complex matrices. Under pH 9.0, an adsorption capacity of 139.6 mg g−1 for glycoprotein immunoglobulin G (IgG) is achieved, and the retained IgG could be recovered by 0.5% (m/v) ammonium hydroxide (NH4OH) as stripping reagent with a recovery rate of 82.6%. Moreover, the UiO@GO@PEG shows excellent reusability in IgG isolation. The practicability of UiO@GO@PEG is verified by the selective isolation of IgG from human serum, demonstrating the purity of isolated IgG with SDS-PAGE assay.