Clinicopathological Analysis of Epstein-Barr Virus-Positive Inflammatory Follicular Dendritic Cell Sarcoma of the Spleen: A Case Report.

OBJECTIVE: The present study aims to explore the clinicopathological characteristics of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-positive inflammatory follicular dendritic cell sarcoma (IFDCS; EBV+ IFDCS). CASE REPORT: The case involved a 32-year-old woman who underwent surgical resection of a splenic nodule. Histological examination and immunohistochemistry were performed using cluster of differentiation (CD) markers, and in-situ hybridization was conducted to detect EBV-encoded RNA (EBER). RESULTS: A microscopic analysis revealed neoplastic cells with various morphologies, including round, ovoid, or spindled shapes, dispersed within a prominent lymphoplasmacytic infiltrate. The tumor cells exhibited nuclear atypia, with some resembling Reed-Sternberg cells. The immunohistochemistry demonstrated focal positivity for follicular dendritic cell markers, such as CD21, CD23 and CD35, and focal negativity for other markers, including CD3, CD34, CD20, CD79a, myeloperoxidase and HMB45. Additionally, the EBER staining showed strongly positive results. The patient showed no local recurrence or metastasis during the 13-month follow-up. CONCLUSION: A comprehensive understanding of EBV+IFDCS, including its clinicopathological features and immunohistochemical characteristics, is crucial for accurate diagnosis and differential diagnosis of this rare tumor.

A Frequent Diagnostic Pitfall: Dermatological Clinical Features and Pathological Results in Diagnosing Pagetoid Squamous Cell Carcinoma in situ (Case Series).

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) in situ can occur on any skin or mucus surface and is more commonly found in elderly patients on areas of skin that have been sunburnt. Most previous case reports are from dermatologists, with few published reports from pathologists. In this study, three patients underwent pathological routine and auxiliary immunohistochemical (IHC) examination and were ultimately diagnosed with pagetoid SCC in situ - a different diagnosis from the initial clinical assessment. All three patients received a complete resection of the skin mass. After follow-up, as of June 2023, the patients had no tumour recurrence or metastasis. Pagetoid SCC in situ is a particular type of SCC in situ that has no specific features in clinical manifestations, gross diagnosis or histopathological sections. The final diagnosis depends on IHC staining. Pagetoid SCC in situ expresses EMA, CK5/6 and p63 but not CEA, CK8 or S-100, which are expressed in extramammary Paget's disease. Pagetoid SCC in situ is usually only locally invasive, and the main treatment is complete surgical resection. The prognosis is related to human papillomavirus infection, surgical margin closure, disease location, tumour thickness and other factors.

IGSF6 is a novel biomarker to evaluate immune infiltration in mismatch repair-proficient colorectal cancer.

Immunotherapy has dramatically changed the landscape of treatment for colorectal cancer (CRC), but currently lack of effective predictive biomarker, especially for tumors with mismatch repair (MMR) proficiency. The response of immunotherapy is associated with the cell-cell interactions in tumor microenvironment, encompassing processes such as cell-cell recognition, binding, and adhesion. However, the function of immunoglobulin superfamily (IGSF) genes in tumor immune microenvironment remains uncharacterized. This study quantified the immune landscape by leveraging a gene expression matrix from publicly accessible databases. The associations between IGSF6 gene expression and immune cell infiltration were assessed. The expression levels of IGSF6, CD8+ T cells, CD4+ T cells and CD68+ macrophage cells in cancer tissues from CRC patients and CRC cell lines were evaluated. IGSF6 was more highly expressed in CRC tumor tissues than adjacent normal tissues. And IGSF6 was significantly correlated with immune cell infiltration in MMR-proficient patients. Remarkably, MMR-proficient patients with high IGSF6 expression showed more sensitive to immunotherapy and chemotherapy than those with low IGSF6 expression. In summary, IGSF6 could be a novel biomarker to evaluate immune infiltration and predict therapeutic effect for MMR-proficient CRC.

Voltage-Mode Ferroelectric Synapse for Neuromorphic Computing.

Ferroelectric materials with a modulable polarization extent hold promise for exploring voltage-driven neuromorphic hardware, in which direct current flow can be minimized. Utilizing a single active layer of an insulating ferroelectric polymer, we developed a voltage-mode ferroelectric synapse that can continuously and reversibly update its states. The device states are straightforwardly manifested in the form of variable output voltage, enabling large-scale direct cascading of multiple ferroelectric synapses to build a deep physical neural network. Such a neural network based on potential superposition rather than current flow is analogous to the biological counterpart driven by action potentials in the brain. A high accuracy of over 97% for the simulation of handwritten digit recognition is achieved using the voltage-mode neural network. The controlled ferroelectric polarization, revealed by piezoresponse force microscopy, turns out to be responsible for the synaptic weight updates in the ferroelectric synapses. The present work demonstrates an alternative strategy for the design and construction of emerging artificial neural networks.

Reducing Contact Resistance in Organic Field-Effect Transistors: A Comprehensive Comparison between 2D and Microrod Single Crystals.

A comprehensive comparison of organic single crystals based on a single material but with different dimensions provides a unique approach to probe their carrier injection mechanism. In this report, both two-dimensional (2D) and microrod single crystals with the same crystalline structure of an identical thiopyran derivative, 7,14-dioctylnaphtho[2,1-f:6,5-f']bis(cyclopentane[b]thiopyran) (C8-SS), are grown on a glycerol surface with the space-confined method. Organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) based on the 2D C8-SS single crystal exhibit superior performance compared with those based on the microrod single crystal, particularly in their contact resistance (RC). It is demonstrated that the resistance of the crystal bulk in the contact region plays a key role in RC of the OFETs. Thus, among the 30 devices tested, the microrod OFETs typically appear contact-limited, whereas the 2D OFETs possess significantly reduced RC arising from the tiny thickness of the 2D single crystal. The 2D OFETs show high operational stability and high channel mobility up to 5.7 cm2/V·s. The elucidation of the contact behavior highlights the merits and great potential of 2D molecular single crystals in organic electronics.

Co-incidence of BA.1 and BA.2 at the start of Singapore's Omicron wave revealed by Community and University Campus wastewater surveillance.

Wastewater surveillance (WWS) has been globally recognised to be a useful tool in quantifying SARS-CoV-2 RNA at the community and residential levels without biases associated with case-reporting. The emergence of variants of concern (VOCs) have given rise to an unprecedented number of infections even though populations are increasingly vaccinated. This is because VOCs have been reported to possess higher transmissibility and can evade host immune responses. The B.1.1.529 lineage (Omicron) has severely disrupted global plans to return to normalcy. In this study, we developed an allele-specific (AS) RT-qPCR assay which simultaneously targets the stretch of deletions and mutations in the spike protein from position 24-27 for quantitative detection of Omicron BA.2. Together with previous assays that detect mutations associated with Omicron BA.1 (deletion at position 69 and 70) and all Omicron (mutation at position 493 and 498), we report the validation and time series of these assays from September 2021 to May 2022 using influent samples from two wastewater treatment plants and across four University campus sites in Singapore. Viral RNA concentrations at the treatment plants corroborate with locally reported clinical cases, AS RT-qPCR assays revealed co-incidence of Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 on 12 January 2022, almost two months after initial BA.1 detection in South Africa and Botswana. BA.2 became the dominant variant by the end of January 2022 and completely displaced BA.1 by mid-March 2022. University campus sites were similarly positive for BA.1 and/or BA.2 in the same week as first detection at the treatment plants, where BA.2 became rapidly established as the dominant lineage within three weeks. These results corroborate clinical incidence of the Omicron lineages in Singapore and indicate minimal silent circulation prior to January 2022. The subsequent simultaneous spread of both variant lineages followed strategic relaxation of safe management measures upon meeting nationwide vaccination goals.

[Spatiotemporal Distribution and Driving Factors of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Inland Sediments of China].

This study reviewed the spatial and temporal distributions of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) during 2000-2010 in inland sediments of China and quantified the underlying socioeconomic determinants based on the structural equation model and gravity model. We found that PAHs concentrations in the sediments of eight different regions followed the order of Northern coast>Northeast>Eastern coast>Southern coast>Middle Yellow River>Middle Yangtze River>Southwest>Northwest. The Southern coast, Middle Yangtze River, and Southern coast regions showed large contributions to the high-molecular weight PAHs, whereas the Northeast, Northwest, and Middle Yellow River regions showed high contributions to the low-molecular weight PAHs. PAHs concentrations continuously increased from the year 2000 followed by a gradual decline after 2006, with significant differences in the year when PAHs levels reached their peak. PAHs concentrations of sediment in developed regions declined in recent years following a continuous increase in the 2000s; however, they still increased rapidly in developing regions owing to fast economic development. In addition, the increment rate of PAHs concentrations in sediment at the remote or less-developed regions was slower than that at the developed regions. Urbanization and industrialization had an important effect on PAHs in the sediments, and the largest influencing factor was the economic development.

Crohn's disease patients with L4-esophagogastroduodenal phenotype is associated with a better prognosis: A retrospective cohort study.

Background: In the Montreal classification, L4 Crohn's disease (CD) is defined as an ileal disease, including L4-esophagogastric duodenum (EGD), L4-jejunum, and L4-proximal ileal involvement. According to the previous studies, the prognosis of L4 disease was worse than that of non-L4 disease. Among L4 diseases, the phenotypes of L4-jejunum and L4-proximal ileum indicated that the risk of abdominal surgery was higher. However, the prognosis of L4-esophagogastroduodenal remains largely elusive. Therefore, we aim to investigate whether the prognosis differs between CD patients with and without esophagogastroduodenal involvement. Methods: In this study, patients with L4-EGD phenotype (n = 74) who underwent gastroscopy, ileocolonoscopy, biopsies, and CTE from 2018 to 2020 were compared with L4 non-EGD controls (n = 148) who were randomly selected at a ratio of 1:2 in the same period. Demographic information inclusive of disease conduct and location, important points of the surgery, and hospitalization have been collected. The distinction between L4-EGD patients and non-L4-EGD patients was identified by way of multivariable logistic regression analysis. The Kaplan-Meier technique was used to consider the possibility of abdominal surgical operation and complications, observed by means of Cox percentage hazard fashions to decide if L4 EGD independently estimated the endpoints inclusive of the abdominal surgery and the occurrences of complications. Results: L4-EGD group (n = 74) had a lower proportion of intestinal fistula than the control group (n = 148) (17.6% versus 34.5%; p = 0.009), and the probabilities of requiring abdominal surgery and multiple abdominal surgeries were also lower (21.6% versus 36.5%; p = 0.025), (6.8% versus 18.9%; p = 0.016), respectively. The frequency of hospitalization was lower in the L4-EGD group than in the control group (3-7 versus 4-9; p = 0.013). L4-EGD phenotype was found to be an independent protective factor for abdominal surgery and intestinal fistula in the Cox regression model, with HRs of 0.536 (95%CI: 0.305-0.940; p = 0.030) and 0.478 (95%CI: 0.259-0.881; p = 0.018), respectively. Conclusion: Our data suggest that the L4-EGD phenotype may have a better prognosis compared to the Non-L4-EGD phenotype. Our data may advocate a revision of the Montreal classification including separate designations for L4-EGD disease.

Identification of an Autophagy-Related Gene Signature for the Prediction of Prognosis in Early-Stage Colorectal Cancer.

Purpose: A certain number of early-stage colorectal cancer (CRC) patients suffer tumor recurrence after initial curative resection. In this context, an effective prognostic biomarker model is constantly in need. Autophagy exhibits a dual role in tumorigenesis. Our study aims to develop an autophagy-related gene (ATG) signature-based on high-throughput data analysis for disease-free survival (DFS) prognosis of patients with stage I/II CRC. Methods: Gene expression profiles and clinical information of CRC patients extracted from four public datasets were distributed to discovery and training cohort (GSE39582), validation cohort (TCGA CRC, n = 624), and meta-validation cohort (GSE37892 and GSE14333, n = 420). Autophagy genes significantly associated with prognosis were identified. Results: Among 655 autophagy-related genes, a 10-gene ATG signature, which was significantly associated with DFS in the training cohort (HR, 2.76[1.56-4.82]; p = 2.06 × 10-4), was constructed. The ATG signature, stratifying patients into high and low autophagy risk groups, was validated in the validation (HR, 2.29[1.15-4.55]; p = 1.5 × 10-2) and meta-validation cohorts (HR, 2.5[1.03-6.06]; p = 3.63 × 10-2) and proved to be prognostic in a multivariate analysis. Functional analysis revealed enrichment of several immune/inflammatory pathways in the high autophagy risk group, where increased infiltration of T regulatory cells (Tregs) and decreased infiltration of M1 macrophages were observed. Conclusion: Our study established a prognostic ATG signature that effectively predicted DFS for early-stage CRC patients. Meanwhile, the study also revealed the possible relationship among autophagy process, immune/inflammatory response, and tumorigenesis.

An 11-gene signature for the prediction of systemic recurrences in colon adenocarcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Prognosis varies among patients within the same colon adenocarcinoma (COAD) stage, indicating the need for reliable molecular markers to enable individualized treatment. This study aimed to investigate gene signatures that can be used for better prognostic prediction of COAD. METHODS: Gene-expression profiles of COAD patients were obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus database (n = 332) and The Cancer Genome Atlas database (n = 431). The relationship between gene signature and relapse-free survival was analysed in the training set (n = 93) and validated in the internal validation set (n = 94) and external validation sets (n = 145 and 431). RESULTS: Overall, 11 genes (N-myc downstream regulated gene 1 [NDRG1], fms-like tyrosine kinase 1 [FLT1], lipopolysaccharide binding protein [LBP], fatty acid binding protein 4 [FABP4], adiponectin gene [ADIPOQ], angiotensinogen gene [AGT], activin A receptor, type II-like kinase 1 [ACVRL1], CC chemokine ligand 11 [CCL11], cell division cycle 42 [CDC42], T-cell receptor alpha variable 9_2 [TRAV9_2], and proopiomelanocortin [POMC]) were identified by univariable and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) Cox regression analyses. Based on the risk-score model, the patients were grouped into the high-risk or low-risk groups using the median risk score as the cut-off. The area under the curve (AUC) values for 1-, 3-, and 5-year recurrence were 0.970, 0.849, and 0.859, respectively. Patients in the high-risk group had significantly poorer relapse-free survival than did those in the low-risk group. The predictive accuracy of the 11-gene signature was proven in the validation sets. Our gene signature showed better predictive performance for 1-, 3-, and 5-year recurrence than did the other four models. CONCLUSIONS: The 11-gene signature showed good performance in predicting recurrence in COAD. The accuracy of the signature for prognostic classification requires further confirmation.

Glioblastoma in a female neurofibromatosis 1 patient without IDH1, BRAF V600E, and TERT promoter mutations: A case report.

RATIONALE: Glioblastoma is the most lethal and common malignant brain tumor but rare in patients with neurofibromatosis type 1. The clinical findings and pathological findings with gene signatures in female patients have not been well clarified. PATIENT CONCERNS: A 51-year-old female patient complained of headache and left limb weakness lasting for 20 days. The patient underwent a cesarean section 20 years ago and hysterectomy 1 year ago because of uterine leiomyomas. Multiple café-au-lait spots and neurofibromas were found over patient's chest, neck, back, and arms. The myodynamia of left distant and proximate epipodite were grade 0 and grade 1 respectively. The myodynamia of lower left limb was grade 3. DIAGNOSES: Magnetic resonance imaging revealed a malignant lesion which was most likely a glioblastoma in the right temporo-parietal lobe, approximately 5.6 × 5.9 × 6.9 cm in size with a rounded boundary. INTERVENTIONS: A right temporo-parietal craniotomy was performed to resect the space-occupying lesion for gross total removal. Then, the patient received concurrent chemoradiotherapy. Histological examination confirmed a glioblastoma without v-RAF murine sarcoma viral oncogene homolog B1 gene, isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 gene, and telomerase reverse transcriptase gene promoter mutations. OUTCOMES: After surgery, the headache was relieved and the muscular strength of left limbs did improve. After receiving the standard treatment regimen, the patient was alive at 13 months follow-up. LESSONS: This is the first reported glioblastoma in female neurofibromatosis type 1 patient without v-RAF murine sarcoma viral oncogene homolog B1 gene, isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 gene, and telomerase reverse transcriptase gene promoter mutations. Tumors in adult patients with these signatures were less aggressive with well-circumscribed border and had long-term survivals which strengthened the evidence that these patients may comprise a unique subset in glioblastoma.

[Emission Characteristics and Toxicity Effects of Halogenated Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons from Coal-Fired and Waste Incineration Power Plants].

Coal-fired power plants (CFPPs) and waste incineration power plants (WIPPs) represent a large portion of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) sources in the environment, among which halogenated PAHs (HPAHs) are more toxic to the human body compared with their corresponding parent PAHs. In the current work, we investigated the occurrence, formation mechanism, and toxicity effects of HPAHs in the coal and waste combustion products from three CFPPs and one WIPP. The results indicate that the contents of chlorinated PAHs (Cl-PAHs) in the fly ash from the CFPPs and WIPP were 1.06-1.67 ng·g-1 and 2.76 ng·g-1, respectively, and the contents of brominated PAHs (Br-PAHs) in the fly ash from the CFPPs and WIPP were 26.4-44.2 ng·g-1 and 6.31 ng·g-1, respectively. The HPAH contents in the fly ash from the WIPP were significantly higher than those from the CFPPs primarily due to the abundant plastics in the domestic waste, represented by polyvinyl chloride, resulting in the formation of Cl-PAHs during combustion. The HPAH contents in the fly ash from the pulverized coal-fired (PC) boiler were significantly higher than those from the circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boiler mostly due to the higher combustion temperature operated in the PC boiler. The HPAHs in the fly ash from coal combustion were predominantly 7-BrBaA and 9-ClPhe, and those from domestic combustion were predominantly 9-BrPhe and 2-ClAnt. In addition, the contents of 7-BrBaA and 9,10-Br2 Ant in the coal combustion fly ash were significantly higher than those in domestic waste combustion fly ash, whereas 2-BrFle exhibited a contrasting profile. The content of Br-PAHs in the fly ash treated by semi-dry deacidification was twice that in dust removal fly ash but significantly increased in the chelating agent stabilization fly ash. The Pearson correlation analysis indicated the the formation mechanism of Cl-PAHs and Br-PAHs were the same but a secondary formation of HPAHs during the chelating agent stabilization of the fly ash was deduced. The TEQ values of the HPAHs in the fly ash (8.87×10-3-15.0×10-3 ng·g-1) from the WIPP were similar to those in the fly ash from the CFPPs (10.0×10-3 ng·g-1), which were significantly reduced in the fly ash treated by semi-dry deacidification due to the removal of 7-BrBaA. Moreover, the TEQ values of the HPAHs in the fly ash increased 5.4 times after the chelating agent stabilization. The ecological risk should be considered for the CFPP fly ash due to their massive amount of discharge and high TEQ values.

Field-induced slow magnetic relaxation from linear trinuclear CoIII-CoII-CoIII to grid [2 × 2] tetranuclear mixed-valence cobalt complexes.

By employing the ligand azotetrazolyl-2,7-dihydroxynaphthalene (H3ATD), two linear trinuclear mixed-valence cobalt complexes [CoIICoIII2(HATD)4(H2O)4]·4DMA·3H2O (1, DMA = N,N-dimethylacetamide) and [CoIICoIII2(HATD)4(DMF)2(H2O)2]·2DMF·2H2O (2, DMF = N,N-dimethylformamide) were synthesized. Two [2 × 2] grid-like tetranuclear ion-pair complexes [CoII2CoIII2(HATD)4(bpp)2(H2O)2][CoIII(HATD)2]2·8DMF·6H2O (3, bpp = 2,6-di(pyrazol-1-yl)pyridine) and [CoII2CoIII2(HATD)4(bpp)2(H2O)2][CoIII(HATD)2]2·8DMSO·4MeOH (4, DMSO = dimethyl sulphoxide) were obtained by the reaction of complex 1/2 with tridentate-chelating bpp in DMF and DMSO, respectively. The single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis indicated that complexes 1 and 2 have a similar core, in which the DMA in 1 acts as a guest molecule, and the DMF in 2 acts as a coordinated molecule and guest molecule. Complexes 3 and 4 are isostructural. All the Co(ii) ions in 1-4 are present in a distorted octahedral geometry. The ac susceptibility measurements show that all complexes display frequency-dependent peaks in the out-of-phase (χm'') component of the alternating-current (ac) magnetic susceptibility data, which is the characteristic behavior of single molecule magnets (SMMs).