Probing the Atomic Erosion Wear Characteristics of TiC-Coated Fe in Oil and Gas Drilling Environments.

The titanium carbide (TiC) coating is considered one of the key coating materials to resist erosion wear in oil and gas drilling environments due to its excellent impact and wear resistance. Based on molecular dynamics, the erosion wear resistance of TiC coatings and the pure Fe system in the simulation of nanoindentation, scratch, and particle impact was studied at the microscale. The results indicate that TiC coatings can effectively enhance the load-bearing capacity of the Fe substrate within the critical load range and exhibit low friction characteristics and erosion resistance. However, the protection is lost after the TiC coating cracks, leading to an increase in the tangential force. In addition, when TiC coatings and pure Fe systems exhibit typical erosion characteristics of brittle materials, the TiC coating will significantly reduce the erosion wear of the substrate.

Molecular Mechanism of Sevoflurane Preconditioning Based on Whole-transcriptome Sequencing of Lipopolysaccharide-induced Cardiac Dysfunction in Mice.

ABSTRACT: Sevoflurane, a widely used inhalation anesthetic, has been shown to be cardioprotective in individuals with sepsis and myocardial dysfunction. However, the exact mechanism has not been completely explained. In this study, we performed whole-transcriptome profile analysis in the myocardium of lipopolysaccharide-induced septic mice after sevoflurane pretreatment. RNA transcriptome sequencing showed that 97 protein coding RNAs (mRNAs), 64 long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), and 27 microRNAs (miRNAs) were differentially expressed between the lipopolysaccharide and S_L groups. Functional enrichment analysis revealed that target genes for the differentially expressed mRNAs between the 2 groups participated in protein processing in the endoplasmic reticulum, antigen processing and presentation, and the mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathway. The bioinformatics study of differentially expressed mRNAs revealed that 13 key genes including Hsph1, Otud1, Manf, Gbp2b, Stip1, Gbp3, Hspa1b, Aff3, Med12, Kdm4a, Gatad1, Cdkn1a, and Ppp1r16b are related to the heart or inflammation. Furthermore, the competing endogenous RNA network revealed that 3 of the 13 key genes established the lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA network (ENSMUST00000192774 --- mmu-miR-7a-5p --- Hspa1b, TCONS_00188587 --- mmu-miR-204-3p --- Aff3 and ENSMUST00000138273 --- mmu-miR-1954 --- Ppp1r16b) may be associated with cardioprotection in septic mice. In general, the findings identified 11 potential essential genes (Hsph1, Otud1, Manf, Gbp2b, Stip1, Gbp3, Hspa1b, Aff3, Med12, Kdm4a, Gatad1, Cdkn1a, and Ppp1r16b) and mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathway involved in sevoflurane-induced cardioprotection in septic mice. In particular, sevoflurane may prevent myocardial injury by regulating the lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA network, including (ENSMUST00000192774-mmu-miR-7a-5p-Hspa1b, TCONS_00188587-mmu-miR-204-3p-Aff3, and ENSMUST00000138273-mmu-miR-1954-Ppp1r16b networks), which may be a novel mechanism of sevoflurane-induced cardioprotection.

Characterization of phosphofructokinase (PFK) from mud crab Scylla paramamosain and its role in mud crab dicistrovirus-1 proliferation.

Phosphofructokinase (PFK), the key enzyme of glycolysis, can catalyze the irreversible transphosphorylation of fructose-6-phosphate forming fructose-1, 6-biphosphate. In the present study, a PFK gene from the mud crab Scylla paramamosain, named SpPFK, was cloned and characterized. The full length of SpPFK contained a 5'untranslated region (UTR) of 249 bp, an open reading frame of 2,859 bp, and a 3'UTR of 1,248 bp. The mRNA of SpPFK was highly expressed in the gill, followed by the hemocytes and muscle. The expression of SpPFK was significantly up-regulated after mud crab dicistrovirus-1 (MCDV-1) infection. Knocking down SpPFK in vivo by RNA interference significantly reduced the expression of lactate dehydrogenase after MCDV-1 infection. Furthermore, silencing of SpPFK in vivo increased the survival rate of mud crabs and decreased the MCDV-1 copies in the gill and hepatopancreas after MCDV-1 infection. All these results suggested that SpPFK could play an important role in the process of MCDV-1 proliferation in mud crab.

Response of microbial community to different land-use types, nutrients and heavy metals in urban river sediment.

Nutrients and heavy metals (HM) in the sediment have an impact on microbial diversity and community structure. In this study, the distribution characteristics of nutrients, HM, and microbial community in the sediments along the Longsha River, a tributary of the Pearl River (or Zhu Jiang), China were investigated by analyzing samples from 11 sites. On the basis of the HM-contamination level, the 11 sampling sites were divided into three groups to explore the changes in microbial communities at different ecological risk levels. Results indicated that nutrient concentrations were higher near farmlands and residential lands, while the ecological risk of HM at the 11 sampling sites was from high to low as S10 > S2 > S9 > S6 > S11 > S7 > S5 > S8 > S3 > S4 > S1. Among these HM, Cu, Cr, and Ni had intense ecological risks. In addition, the results of Variance Partitioning Analysis (VPA) revealed a higher contribution of HM (35.93%) to microbial community variation than nutrients (12.08%) and pH (4.08%). Furthermore, the HM-tolerant microbial taxa (Clostridium_sensu_stricto_1, Romboutsia, norank_o__Gaiellales, and etc.) were the dominant genera, and they were more dynamic around industrial lands, while microbes involved in the C, N, and S cycles (e.g., Smithella, Thiobacillus, Dechloromonas, Bacter oidetes_vadinHA17, and Syntrophorhabdus) were inhibited by HM, while their abundance was lower near industrial lands and highway but higher around residential lands. A three-unit monitoring program of land-use types, pollutants, and microbial communities was proposed. These results provide a new perspective on the control of riparian land-use types based on contaminants and microbes, and different microbial community response patterns may provide a reference for contaminant control in sediments with intensive industrial activities.

Recombinant human thyrotropin (rhTSH)-aided radioiodine treatment for non-toxic multinodular goitre.

BACKGROUND: Multinodular goitre is common in women. Treatments for non-toxic multinodular goitre include surgery, levothyroxine suppressive therapy, and radioiodine. Radioiodine therapy is the only non-surgical alternative for non-toxic multinodular goitre. However, a high amount of radioiodine is needed to enable the thyroid nodules to adequately take up the radioiodine, because the multinodular goitre takes up a low amount of iodine. Recombinant human thyrotropin (rhTSH) has been used to increase radioiodine uptake and reduce thyroid volume of the multinodular goitre. Whether the improved reduction of the goitre resulting from rhTSH-stimulated radioiodine therapy is beneficial to the person remains controversial. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effects of recombinant human thyrotropin-aided radioiodine treatment for non-toxic multinodular goitre. SEARCH METHODS: We searched the CENTRAL, MEDLINE, Scopus as well as ICTRP Search Portal and ClinicalTrials.gov. The date of the last search of all databases was 18 December 2020. SELECTION CRITERIA: We included randomised controlled clinical trials (RCTs) comparing the effects of rhTSH-aided radioiodine treatment compared with radioiodine alone for non-toxic multinodular goitre, with at least 12 months of follow-up. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two review authors independently screened titles and abstracts for relevance. Screening for inclusion, data extraction, and risk of bias assessment were carried out by one review author and checked by a second. Our main outcomes were health-related quality of life (QoL), hypothyroidism, adverse events, thyroid volume, all-cause mortality, and costs. We used a random-effects model to perform meta-analyses, and calculated risk ratios (RRs) for dichotomous outcomes, and mean differences (MDs) for continuous outcomes, using 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for effect estimates. We evaluated the certainty of the evidence using the GRADE approach. MAIN RESULTS: We included six RCTs. A total of 197 participants were allocated to rhTSh-aided radioiodine therapy, and 124 participants were allocated to radioiodine. A single dose of radioiodine was administered 24 hours after the intramuscular injection of a single dose of rhTSH. The duration of follow-up ranged between 12 and 36 months. Low-certainty evidence from one study, with 85 participants, showed uncertain effects for QoL for either intervention. RhTSH-aided radioiodine increased hypothyroidism compared with radioiodine alone (64/197 participants (32.5%) in the rhTSH-aided radioiodine group versus 15/124 participants (12.1%) in the radioiodine alone group; RR 2.53, 95% CI 1.52 to 4.20; 6 studies, 321 participants; moderate-certainty evidence in favour of radioiodine alone). A total of 118/197 participants (59.9%) in the rhTSH-aided radioiodine group compared with 60/124 participants (48.4%) in the radioiodine alone group experienced adverse events (random-effects RR 1.24, 95% CI 0.94 to 1.63; 6 studies, 321 participants; fixed-effect RR 1.23, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.49 in favour of radioiodine only; low-certainty evidence). RhTSH-aided radioiodine reduced thyroid volume with a MD of 11.9% (95% CI 4.4 to 19.4; 6 studies, 268 participants; moderate-certainty evidence). One study with 28 participants reported one death in the radioiodine alone group (very-low certainty evidence). No study reported on costs. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: RhTSH-aided radioiodine treatment for non-toxic multinodular goitre, compared to radioiodine alone, probably increased the risk of hypothyroidism but probably led to a greater reduction in thyroid volume. Data on QoL and costs were sparse or missing.

[Prediction of Response to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer Based on Histomorphology Analysis of Needle Biopsy Images].

OBJECTIVE: The deep learning method was used to automatically segment the tumor area and the cell nucleus based on needle biopsy images of breast cancer patients prior to receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC), and then, the features of the cell clusters in the tumor area were identified to predict the level of pathological remission of breast cancer after NAC. METHODS: 68 breast cancer patients who were to receive NAC at Jiangsu Province Hospital were recruited and the hematoxylin-eosin (HE) stained preoperative biopsy sections of these patients were collected. Unet++ was used to establish a segmentation model and the tumor area and nucleus of the needle biopsy images were automatically segmented accordingly. Then, according to the nuclei in the automatically segmented tumor area, the features of the cells in the tumor were constructed. After that, effective features were selected through the feature selection method and the classifier model was constructed and trained with five-fold cross validation to predict the degree of post-NAC pathological remission. RESULTS: Predictions were made based on the needle biopsy images of the 68 patients. The model that combined the 10-dimensional features selected with the minimal redundancy-maximum-relevancy approach (mRMR) and training with the random forest (RF) classifier had the highest prediction accuracy, reaching 82.35%, and an area under curve ( AUC) value of 0.908 2. CONCLUSION: This model automatically segments tumor areas and cell nucleus on the biopsy images. The features of the cell clusters which are analyzed and identified in the tumor area can be used to predict the pathological response of the patient to NAC. The method is reliable and replicable. In addition, we found that the textural features of cells in the tumor area was a useful predictor of patient response to NAC, which further confirmed that cell cluster in the tumor area is of great significance to the prediction of treatment outcome.

[Automated grading of glioma based on density and atypia analysis in whole slide images].

Glioma is the most common malignant brain tumor and classification of low grade glioma (LGG) and high grade glioma (HGG) is an important reference of making decisions on patient treatment options and prognosis. This work is largely done manually by pathologist based on an examination of whole slide image (WSI), which is arduous and heavily dependent on doctors' experience. In the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria, grade of glioma is closely related to hypercellularity, nuclear atypia and necrosis. Inspired by this, this paper designed and extracted cell density and atypia features to classify LGG and HGG. First, regions of interest (ROI) were located by analyzing cell density and global density features were extracted as well. Second, local density and atypia features were extracted in ROI. Third, balanced support vector machine (SVM) classifier was trained and tested using 10 selected features. The area under the curve (AUC) and accuracy (ACC) of 5-fold cross validation were 0.92 ± 0.01 and 0.82 ± 0.01 respectively. The results demonstrate that the proposed method of locating ROI is effective and the designed features of density and atypia can be used to predict glioma grade accurately, which can provide reliable basis for clinical diagnosis.

Ammonia toxicity in the mud crab (Scylla paramamosain): The mechanistic insight from physiology to transcriptome analysis.

Ammonia is a major aquatic environmental pollutants. However, the underlying molecular mechanism of ammonia-induced toxicity is not fully understood. In this study, we investigated the physiological response and molecular mechanism in mud crab (Scylla paramamosain) exposed to the acute total ammonia (30 mg L-1) for 48 h. The results shown that ammonia exposure induced oxidative stress, and subsequently led to cytological damage and DNA damage. Transcriptome analysis was applied to investigate the key genes and pathways involved in the responses to ammonia exposure. A total of 722 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) (526 up-regulated and 196 down-regulated) were identified. DEGs mainly involved in pathways including metabolism, cellular processes, signal transduction and immune functions. Additionally, transcriptome analysis revealed that ATM/p53-Caspase3 pathway involved in apoptosis induced by ammonia stress. These results provided a new insight into the mechanism of the potential toxic effects of ammonia on crustaceans.

Radioiodine therapy versus antithyroid medications for Graves' disease.

BACKGROUND: Graves' disease is the most common cause of hyperthyroidism. Both antithyroid medications and radioiodine are commonly used treatments but their frequency of use varies between regions and countries. Despite the commonness of the diagnosis, any possible differences between the two treatments with respect to long-term outcomes remain unknown. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effects of radioiodine therapy versus antithyroid medications for Graves' disease. SEARCH METHODS: We performed a systematic literature search in the Cochrane Library, MEDLINE and EMBASE and the trials registers ICTRP Search Portal and ClinicalTrials.gov. The date of the last search was September 2015 for all databases. SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) comparing the effects of radioiodine therapy versus antithyroid medications for Graves' disease with at least two years follow-up. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two authors independently screened titles and abstracts for relevance. One author carried out screening for inclusion, data extraction and 'Risk of bias' assessment and a second author checked this. We presented data not suitable for meta-analysis as descriptive data. We analysed the overall quality of evidence utilising the GRADE instrument. MAIN RESULTS: We included two RCTs involving 425 adult participants with Graves' disease in this review. Altogether 204 participants were randomised to radioiodine therapy and 221 to methimazole therapy. A single dose of radioiodine was administered. The duration of methimazole medication was 18 months. The period of follow-up was at least two years, depending on the outcome measured. For most outcome measures risk of bias was low; for the outcomes health-related quality of life as well as development and worsening of Graves' ophthalmopathy risks of performance bias and detection bias were high in at least one of the two RCTs.Health-related quality of life appeared to be similar in the radioiodine and methimazole treatment groups, however no quantitative data were reported (425 participants; 2 trials; low quality evidence). The development and worsening of Graves' ophthalmopathy was observed in 76 of 202 radioiodine-treated participants (38%) and in 40 of 215 methimazole-treated participants (19%): risk ratio (RR) 1.94 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.40 to 2.70); 417 participants; 2 trials; low quality evidence. A total of 35% to 56% of radioiodine-treated participants and 42% of participants treated with methimazole were smokers, which is associated with the risk of worsening or development of Graves' ophthalmopathy. Euthyroidism was not achieved by any participant being treated with radioiodine compared with 64/68 (94%) of participants after methimazole treatment (112 participants; 1 trial). In this trial thyroxine therapy was not introduced early in both treatment arms to avoid hypothyroidism. Recurrence of hyperthyroidism (relapse) in favour of radioiodine treatment showed a RR of 0.20 (95% CI 0.01 to 2.66); P value = 0.22; 417 participants; 2 trials; very low quality evidence. Heterogeneity was high (I² = 91%) and the RRs were 0.61 or 0.06 with non-overlapping CIs. Adverse events other than development of worsening of Graves' ophthalmopathy for radioiodine therapy were hypothyroidism (39 of 41 participants (95%) compared with 0% of participants receiving methimazole, however thyroxine treatment to avoid hypothyroidism was not introduced early in the radioiodine group - 104 participants; 1 trial; very low quality evidence) and drug-related adverse events for methimazole treatment (23 of 215 participants (11%) reported adverse effects likely related to methimazole therapy - 215 participants; 2 trials; very low quality evidence). The outcome measures all-cause mortality and bone mineral density were not reported in the included trials. One trial (174 participants) reported socioeconomic effects: costs based on the official hospital reimbursement system in Sweden for patients without relapse and methimazole treatment were USD 1126/1164 (young/older methimazole group) and for radioiodine treatment USD 1862. Costs for patients with relapse and methimazole treatment were USD 2284/1972 (young/older methimazole group) and for radioiodine treatment USD 2760. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: The only antithyroid drug investigated in the two included trials was methimazole, which might limit the applicability of our findings with regard to other compounds such as propylthiouracil. Results from two RCTs suggest that radioiodine treatment is associated with an increased risk of Graves' ophthalmopathy. Our findings suggest some benefit from radioiodine treatment for recurrence of hyperthyroidism (relapse) but there is uncertainty about the magnitude of the effect size.

Root Reduction Caused Directly or Indirectly by High Application of Nitrogen Fertilizer Was the Main Cause of the Decline in Biomass and Nitrogen Accumulation in Citrus Seedlings.

Citrus is the largest fruit crop around the world, while high nitrogen (N) application in citrus orchards is widespread in many countries, which results not only in yield, quality and environmental issues but also slows down the establishment of citrus canopies in newly cultivated orchards. Thus, the objective of this study was to investigate the physiological inhibitory mechanism of excessive N application on the growth of citrus seedlings. A pot experiment with the citrus variety Orah (Orah/Citrus junos) at four N fertilization rates (0, 50, 100, and 400 mg N/kg dry soil, denoted as N0, N50, N100, and N400, respectively) was performed to evaluate the changes of root morphology, biomass, N accumulation, enzyme activities, and so on. The results showed that the N400 application significantly reduced the total biomass (from 14.24 to 6.95 g/Plant), N accumulation (from 0.65 to 0.33 g/Plant) and N use efficiency (92.69%) in citrus seedlings when compared to the N100 treatment. The partial least squares pathway model further showed that the decline of biomass and N accumulation by high N application were largely attributed to the reduction of root growth through direct and indirect effects (the goodness of fit under the model was 0.733.) rather than just soil N transformation and activity of root N uptake. These results are useful to optimize N management through a synergistic N absorption and utilization by citrus seedlings.

HIF-1-mediated regulation of LDH gene unravels key insights into MCDV-1 pathogenesis in mud crabs Scylla paramamosain.

Hypoxia-inducible factors -1 (HIF-1) is a crucial transcription factor that regulates the expression of glycolytic genes. Our previous study proved that the Mud crab dicistrovirus-1 (MCDV-1) can induce aerobic glycolysis that favors viral replication in mud crab Scylla paramamosain. However, the role of HIF-1 on key glycolytic genes during the MCDV-1 infection has not been examined. In this study, the intricate interplay between HIF-1 and the key glycolysis enzyme, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), was investigated after MCDV-1 infection. The expression of LDH was significant increased after MCDV-1 infection. Additionally, the expression of HIF-1α was upregulated following MCDV-1 infection, potentially attributed to the downregulation of prolyl hydroxylase domains 2 expression. Subsequent examination of the SpLDH promoter identified the presence of hypoxia response elements (HREs), serving as binding sites for HIF-1α. Intriguingly, experimental evidence demonstrated that SpHIF-1α actively promotes SpLDH transcription through these HREs. To further elucidate the functional significance of SpHIF-1α, targeted silencing was employed, resulting in a substantial reduction in SpLDH expression, activity, and lactate concentrations in MCDV-1-infected mud crabs. Notably, SpHIF-1α-silenced mud crabs exhibited higher survival rates and lower viral loads in hepatopancreas tissues following MCDV-1 infection. These results highlight the critical role of SpHIF-1α in MCDV-1 pathogenesis by regulating LDH gene dynamics, providing valuable insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying the virus-host interaction.

Long-term field application of manure induces deep selection of antibiotic resistomes in leaf endophytes of Chinese cabbage.

Antibiotic resistomes in leaf endophytes of vegetables threaten human health through the food chain. However, little is known about the ability of long-term manure fertilization to impact the deep selection of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in leaf endophytes of vegetables planted in different types of soils. Here, by high-throughput quantitative PCR, we characterized the ARGs of leaf endophytes of Chinese cabbage (Brassica pekinensis (Lour.) Rupr.) grown in long-term (14 year) manure-amended acidic, neutral and calcareous soils. In total, 87 ARGs and 4 mobile genetic elements (MGEs) were detected in all the samples. Manure fertilization significantly increased the ARG numbers and normalized abundance in leaf endophytes, especially in acidic soil. Moreover, in acidic soil, manure application also led to a higher increase in the normalized abundance of opportunist and specialist ARGs, and more opportunist and specialist ARGs posed a high risk according to their risk ranks. Random forest analysis revealed that Proteobacteria and MGEs were the major drivers affecting the normalized abundance of opportunist and specialist ARGs in both acidic and neutral soils, respectively. In calcareous soil, Cyanobacteria and Actinobacteria were the most important contributors. Collectively, this study expands our knowledge about the deep selection of plant resistomes under long-term manure application.

A feasibility investigation of a pilot-scale bioelectrochemical coupled anaerobic digestion system with centric electrode module for real membrane manufacturing wastewater treatment.

The large-scale application of bioelectrochemical coupled anaerobic digestion (BES-AD) is limited by the matching of electrode configuration and the applicability of real wastewater. In this study, a pilot-scale BES-AD system with an effective system volume of 5 m3 and a 1 m3 volume of a carbon fiber brush electrode module was constructed and tested for treatment of the membrane manufacturing wastewater. The results showed that the BOD5/COD of the wastewater was increased from 0.238 to 0.398 when the applied voltage was 0.9 V. The pollutants such as N, N-Dimethylacetamide and glycerol in wastewater were degraded significantly. The microorganisms in the electrode modules were spatially enriched. The fermenters (Norank_f__ML635J-40_aquatic_group, 6.55 %; unclassified_f__Propionibacteriaceae, 5.25 %) and degraders (Corynebacterium, 29.31 %) were mostly enriched at the bottom, while electroactive bacteria (Pseudomonas, 29.39 %, Geobacter, 7.86 %) were mostly enriched at the top. Combined with the economical construction and operation cost ($1708.8/m3 and $0.76/m3) of the BES-AD system.

The microbial synergy and response mechanisms of hydrolysis-acidification combined microbial electrolysis cell system with stainless-steel cathode for textile-dyeing wastewater treatment.

Microbial electrolysis cell (MEC) has been existing problems such as poor applicability to real wastewater and lack of cost-effective electrode materials in the practical application of refractory wastewater. A hydrolysis-acidification combined MEC system (HAR-MECs) with four inexpensive stainless-steel and conventional carbon cloth cathodes for the treatment of real textile-dyeing wastewater, which was fully evaluated the technical feasibility in terms of parameter optimization, spectral analysis, succession and cooperative/competition effect of microbial. Results showed that the optimum performance was achieved with a 12 h hydraulic retention time (HRT) and an applied voltage of 0.7 V in the HAR-MEC system with a 100 µm aperture stainless-steel mesh cathode (SSM-100 µm), and the associated optimum BOD5/COD improvement efficiency (74.75 ± 4.32 %) and current density (5.94 ± 0.03 A·m-2) were increased by 30.36 % and 22.36 % compared to a conventional carbon cloth cathode. The optimal system had effective removal of refractory organics and produced small molecules by electrical stimulation. The HAR segment could greatly alleviate the imbalance between electron donors and electron acceptors in the real refractory wastewater and reduce the treatment difficulty of the MEC segment, while the MEC system improved wastewater biodegradability, amplified the positive and specific interactions between degraders, fermenters and electroactive bacteria due to the substrate complexity. The SSM-100 µm-based system constructed by phylogenetic molecular ecological network (pMEN) exhibited moderate complexity and significantly strong positive correlation between electroactive bacteria and fermenters. It is highly feasible to use HAR-MEC with inexpensive stainless-steel cathode for textile-dyeing wastewater treatment.

4-Acetyl-1H-pyrrole-2-carbaldehyde.

The title compound, C(7)H(7)NO(2), was synthesized via a one-pot Vilsmeier-Haack and subsequent Friedel-Crafts reaction. The pyrazole ring makes dihedral angles of 4.50 (9) and 2.06 (8)°, respectively, with the aldehyde and acetyl groups. In the crystal, classical N-H⋯O hydrogen bonds and weak C-H⋯O inter-actions assemble the mol-ecules into a chain along the b axis.

Preparation of Molecularly Imprinted Polymer Microspheres for Selective Solid-Phase Extraction of Capecitabine in Urine Samples.

Molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction to treat biological samples has attracted considerable attention. Herein, molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) microspheres with porous structures were prepared by a combined suspension-iniferter polymerization method using capecitabine (CAP) as a template molecule. This material was subsequently used as a solid-phase extraction agent to separate and enrich drug molecules in urine samples. UV analysis revealed that methacrylate (MAA) was an ideal functional monomer, and 1H Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (1H NMR), Ultraviolet (UV), and Fourier transform-infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopic analyses were used to study the interaction forces between MAA and CAP, demonstrating that hydrogen bonding was the primary interaction force. MIPs with outstanding selectivity were successfully prepared, and the analysis of their surface morphology and chemical structure revealed a spherical morphology with small holes distributed across a rough surface. This surface morphology significantly reduced the mass transfer resistance of template molecules, providing an ideal template recognition effect. Using the molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction method, CAP and the structural analog cytidine (CYT) were pretreated in urine samples and quantified by HPLC. The results showed that CAP and CYT recoveries reached 97.2% and 39.8%, respectively, with a limit of detection of 10.0-50.0 µg·mL-1. This study provides a novel approach to drug molecule pretreatment that can be applied in drug separation and functional materials science fields.

Small biochar addition enhanced anammox granular sludge system for practical wastewater treatment: Performance and microbial community.

Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (Anammox) granular sludge (AnGS) has poor strength and is prone to disintegration under complex environmental conditions, especially in the presence of complex organic carbon, which renders the Anammox process instable. Herein, with a mixture of landfill leachate and domestic sewage as wastewater, the effect on the properties of AnGS with two small particle size (0.1-0.2 mm) biochars (coconut and peach biochars) addition were investigated at different COD concentrations (150 mg·L-1, 200 mg·L-1, and 250 mg·L-1), as well as at different BOD/TN (B/N) (0.3 and 0.5). Results showed that the nitrogen removal efficiencies decreased from 89 % to 72 % as the COD concentration increased by 100 mg·L-1, while peach biochar reactor had better nitrogen removal performance. Excessive organic carbon supply inhibits AnAOB proliferation and B/N had the most significant effect on AnAOB (p < 0.05). The Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) indicated peach biochar reactor get higher activity of anammox-related functional genes (hzsA, hdh).

Hybrid brain model accurately predict human procrastination behavior.

Procrastination behavior is quite ubiquitous, and should warrant cautions to us owing to its significant influences in poor mental health, low subjective well-beings and bad academic performance. However, how to identify this behavioral problem have not yet to be fully elucidated. 1132 participants were recruited as distribution of benchmark. 81 high trait procrastinators (HP) and matched low trait procrastinators (LP) were screened. To address this issue, we have built upon the hybrid brain model by using hierarchical machine learning techniques to classify HP and LP with multi-modalities neuroimaging data (i.e., grey matter volume, fractional anisotropy, static/dynamic amplitude of low frequency fluctuation and static/dynamic degree centrality). Further, we capitalized on the multiple Canonical Correlation Analysis (mCCA) and joint Independent Component Analysis algorithm (mCCA + jICA) to clarify its fusion neural components as well. The hybrid brain model showed high accuracy to discriminate HP and LP (accuracy rate = 87.04%, sensitivity rate = 86.42%, specificity rate = 85.19%). Moreover, results of mCCA + jICA model revealed several joint-discriminative neural independent components (ICs) of this classification, showing wider co-variants of frontoparietal cortex and hippocampus networks. In addition, this study demonstrated three modal-specific discriminative ICs for classification, highlighting the temporal variants of brain local and global natures in ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and PHC in HP. To sum-up, this research developed a hybrid brain model to identify trait procrastination with high accuracy, and further revealed the neural hallmarks of this trait by integrating neuroimaging fusion data. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11571-021-09765-z.

Effect of glioma-derived immunoglobulin on biological function of glioma cells.

INTRODUCTION: Glioma is the most common and most invasive primary central nervous system tumour, and it is urgent to develop new specific therapeutic targets. Studies have confirmed that epithelial-derived tumour cells promote tumour cell proliferation and metastasis by secreting a large number of immunoglobulins (Igs), but the role of tumour-derived Igs in glioma has never been reported. METHODS: The Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis and Chinese Glioma Genome Atlas databases were used to analyse the Ig transcription and its correlation with the prognosis of patients with glioma. Immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence were used to detect the protein expression of IgG and IgM in the glioma tissues of patients and glioma cell lines. When IgG was knocked down by small interfering RNA or knocked out by CRISPR-Cas9, the function of proliferation and migration of glioma cells were analysed by CCK-8, clone formation, wound healing, and transwell assays. Changes in proteins and their phosphorylation in signalling pathways were detected by western blotting. The nude mouse subcutaneous tumour-bearing model was established to analyse the effect of IgG in vivo. RESULTS: The transcriptional level of IgG was pretty high in glioma tissues and was positively correlated with high WHO grade, recurrence, and poor prognosis. The expression of IgG and IgM was found in tumour tissues and human glioma cell lines U87 and U251, and the main expression form was secreted. Decreased IgG inhibited the proliferation and migration of glioma cells. Knockout or knockdown of IgG downregulated the phosphorylation of the key molecules in the MAPK and PI3K/Akt pathway through the HGF/SF-Met or FAK/Src pathway. In vivo tumourigenesis mouse model confirmed that reduced IgG expression inhibited glioma growth. CONCLUSION: Ig was expressed in glioma tissues and cell lines, and a high expression level predicted a poor prognosis of patients. Glioma-derived IgG promoted glioma cell proliferation and migration through the HGF/SF-Met or FAK/Src pathway.

Survival prediction on intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma with histomorphological analysis on the whole slide images.

Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) is cancer that originates from the liver's secondary ductal epithelium or branch. Due to the lack of early-stage clinical symptoms and very high mortality, the 5-year postoperative survival rate is only about 35%. A critical step to improve patients' survival is accurately predicting their survival status and giving appropriate treatment. The tumor microenvironment of ICC is the immediate environment on which the tumor cell growth depends. The differentiation of tumor glands, the stroma status, and the tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in such environments are strictly related to the tumor progress. It is crucial to develop a computerized system for characterizing the tumor environment. This work aims to develop the quantitative histomorphological features that describe lymphocyte density distribution at the cell level and the different components at the tumor's tissue level in H&E-stained whole slide images (WSIs). The goal is to explore whether these features could stratify patients' survival. This study comprised of 127 patients diagnosed with ICC after surgery, where 78 cases were randomly chosen as the modeling set, and the rest of the 49 cases were testing set. Deep learning-based models were developed for tissue segmentation and lymphocyte detection in the WSIs. A total of 107-dimensional features, including different type of graph features on the WSIs were extracted by exploring the histomorphological patterns of these identified tumor tissue and lymphocytes. The top 3 discriminative features were chosen with the mRMR algorithm via 5-fold cross-validation to predict the patient's survival. The model's performance was evaluated on the independent testing set, which achieved an AUC of 0.6818 and the log-rank test p-value of 0.03. The Cox multivariable test was used to control the TNM staging, γ-Glutamytransferase, and the Peritumoral Glisson's Sheath Invasion. It showed that our model could independently predict survival risk with a p-value of 0.048 and HR (95% confidence interval) of 2.90 (1.01-8.32). These results indicated that the composition in tissue-level and global arrangement of lymphocytes in the cell-level could distinguish ICC patients' survival risk.