Isolation, identification and whole-genome analysis of an Achromobacter strain with a novel sulfamethazine resistance gene and sulfamethazine degradation gene cluster.

A sulfamethazine (SM2) degrading strain, Achromobacter mucicolens JD417, was isolated from sulfonamide-contaminated sludge using gradient acclimation. Optimal SM2 degradation conditions were pH 7, 36 °C, and 5 % inoculum, achieving a theoretical maximum degradation rate of 48 % at 50 ppm SM2. Cell growth followed the Haldane equation across different SM2 concentrations. Whole-genome sequencing of the strain revealed novel functional annotations, including a sulfonamide resistance gene (sul4) encoding dihydropteroate synthase, two flavin-dependent monooxygenase genes (sadA and sadB) crucial for SM2 degradation, and unique genomic islands related to metabolism, pathogenicity, and resistance. Comparative genomics analysis showed good collinearity and homology with other Achromobacter species exhibiting organics resistance or degradation capabilities. This study reveals the novel molecular resistance and degradation mechanisms and genetic evolution of an SM2-degrading strain, providing insights into the bioremediation of sulfonamide-contaminated environments.

THADA inhibits autophagy and increases 5-FU sensitivity in gastric cancer cells via the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway.

Objectives: 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) is currently the main drug used in chemotherapy for gastric cancer (GC). The main clinical problems of 5-FU therapy are insensitivity and acquired resistance to 5-FU. The mechanism of GC cell resistance to 5-FU is currently unknown. Materials and Methods: This study employed next-generation sequencing (NGS) to analyze the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in chemotherapy-sensitive and non-sensitive GC tissues. In addition, a bioinformatics analysis was conducted using the GC dataset of GEO, and further validated and explored through in vitro experiments. Results: Thyroid adenoma-associated gene (THADA) was highly expressed in GC tissues from chemotherapy-sensitive patients and was an independent prognostic factor in GC patients receiving postoperative 5-FU adjuvant chemotherapy. Notably, heightened THADA expression in GC cells was associated with the down-regulation of autophagy-related proteins (LC-3, ATG13, ULK1, and TFEB). Furthermore, the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway and mTORC1 signaling pathway were remarkably increased in patients with elevated THADA expression. THADA expression was associated with mTOR, the core protein of the mTOR signaling pathway, and related proteins involved in regulating the mTORC1 signaling pathway (mLST8, RHEB, and TSC2). THADA exhibited inhibitory effects on autophagy and augmented the sensitivity of GC cells to 5-FU through the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway. Conclusion: The findings suggest that THADA may be involved in the regulatory mechanism of GC cell sensitivity to 5-FU. Consequently, the detection of THADA in tumor tissues may bring clinical benefits, specifically for 5-FU-related chemotherapy administered to GC patients with elevated THADA expression.

CCR9-CCL25 mediated plasmacytoid dendritic cell homing and contributed the immunosuppressive microenvironment in gastric cancer.

OBJECTIVES: Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) play a crucial role in the microenvironment of tumor. Evidences has been shown that chemokine receptor 9 (CCR9) is an important molecule that attracts pDCs homing to the digestive tract and the latter are involved in the formation of digestive tract immune tolerance. The aim of this study was to explore the role of CCR9-CCL25 interaction in pDC-mediated immunosuppression microenvironment of gastric cancer (GC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Regulatory T cells (Tregs) and pDCs were detected by immunohistochemistry. CCR9, which expressed on pDC was visualized by immunofluorescence. Western Blot was applied to evaluate the expression of CCL-25. Total pDCs, CCR9+pDCs, CCR9-pDCs, total Tregs, inducible costimulator + (ICOS) Tregs and ICOS-Tregs in peripheral blood and draining lymph nodes were analyzed by flow cytometry. Plasma concentration of the cytokines were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay RESULTS: Total Tregs, pDCs and CCR9+pDCs were higher in GC tissue. CCL-25 was over-expressed in carcinoma tissue. Peripheral total pDCs, CCR9-pDCs, total Tregs, ICOS+ Tregs, ICOS- Tregs were significantly increased in GC patients. More total pDCs, CCR9+ pDCs, total Tregs, ICOS+ Tregs were found in metastatic lymph nodes. Plasma concentrations of IL-6 and IL-10 were significantly higher in GC patients. More CCR9+ pDCs were found infiltrating carcinoma tissue in patients with later T staging and lymph node metastasis and conferred a poor prognosis. CONCLUSION: CCR9-CCL25 interaction might play an important role in mediating PDC homing to metastatic lymph nodes and carcinoma tissue, which contributed to the formation of tumor immunosuppressive microenvironment and poor prognosis.

Efficient Stereo Depth Estimation for Pseudo-LiDAR: A Self-Supervised Approach Based on Multi-Input ResNet Encoder.

Perception and localization are essential for autonomous delivery vehicles, mostly estimated from 3D LiDAR sensors due to their precise distance measurement capability. This paper presents a strategy to obtain a real-time pseudo point cloud from image sensors (cameras) instead of laser-based sensors (LiDARs). Previous studies (such as PSMNet-based point cloud generation) built the algorithm based on accuracy but failed to operate in real time as LiDAR. We propose an approach to use different depth estimators to obtain pseudo point clouds similar to LiDAR to achieve better performance. Moreover, the depth estimator has used stereo imagery data to achieve more accurate depth estimation as well as point cloud results. Our approach to generating depth maps outperforms other existing approaches on KITTI depth prediction while yielding point clouds significantly faster than other approaches as well. Additionally, the proposed approach is evaluated on the KITTI stereo benchmark, where it shows effectiveness in runtime.

Analysis of high risk factors for chronic atrophic gastritis.

Background: Screening for chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG) is crucial for the prevention and early detection of gastric cancer. Endoscopy is the main method of CAG diagnosis, with high training requirements and limited accuracy, making it difficult to popularize. The study attempts to improve the positive rate and accuracy of CAG screening through non-invasive testing. Methods: A total of 2564 patients who underwent gastroscopy were included in this study. The results of gastroscopic evaluation, histological biopsy results (including H. pylori biopsy), urea breath test (UBT) results, serum pepsinogen, and testosterone were statistically analyzed. Results: We found significant differences in the diagnosis of CAG between endoscopy and histological biopsy. Pepsinogen II and pepsinogen I/II ratio were more useful for the diagnosis of CAG compared with pepsinogen I. The risk of CAG was increased when pepsinogen II exceeded 11.05 µg/L, and the pepsinogen I/II ratio was less than 3.75. CAG positivity was higher in patients with positive H. pylori infection on UBT screening. In addition, higher levels of testosterone, SHBG and HSD17B2, and lower level of GNRH1 were found in CAG mucosa. Patients with high serum testosterone had a higher risk of CAG. Conclusion: CAG screening should be combined with endoscopic evaluation, biopsy, and other non-invasive tests. Non-invasive tests include the combination of serum pepsinogen II protein and pepsinogen I/II ratio and high level of serum testosterone. UBT combined with serum pepsinogen testing may improve the positive rate of CAG and reduce gastric mucosal damage from multiple biopsies.

Green remediation of cadmium-contaminated soil by cellulose nanocrystals.

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) were used as a novel, green eluent to remediate Cd-contaminated soil in this study. The influence of washing conditions on the removal of Cd, including CNC concentration, pH value, liquid/solid (L/S) ratio, contact time and temperature were investigated. The effect of CNC remediation of Cd-contaminated soil on soil health and the possible remediation mechanism were also explored. The results showed that CNC concentration, pH value and contact time had a significant effect on the removal efficiency of Cd. CNC rapidly removed heavy metals in soil within 30 min. When the pH value of the eluent was 9.0, the removal efficiency of Cd could reach 86.3 %. The eluent mainly removed exchangeable and reducible fractions of Cd, which could effectively reduce the bioavailability of heavy metals. CNC washing had no negative effects on seed growth, species abundance and Shannon index. C-O, -COO- groups on CNC played an important role in the reaction between CNC and soil Cd, and other oxygen-containing functional groups on CNC could also assist in adsorption, ion exchange and chemical complexation processes. Therefore, cellulose nanocrystals had the potential to remediate heavy metal-contaminated soils in a green and efficient manner.

Elevated preoperative controlling nutritional status (CONUT) scores as a predictor of postoperative recurrence in gastrointestinal stromal tumors.

BACKGROUND: The controlling nutritional status (CONUT) score is associated with the postoperative outcomes in various types of tumors, and its prognostic role in gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) needs to be clarified. METHODS: Patients with completely resected primary GISTs in the absence of imatinib adjuvant therapy were included. Recurrence-free survival (RFS) was estimated with the Kaplan-Meier method and compared using log-rank test. Prognostic factors were compared using Cox proportional hazards model. RESULTS: A total of 455 patients were included. The median follow-up time was 132.0 months (range: 7.0-253.0). Recurrence/metastasis developed in 92 (20.2%) patients. Patients were assigned to three groups: 219 (48.1%) were in normal nutrition group (CONUT = 0-1), 196 (43.1%) were in mild malnutrition group (CONUT = 2-4) and 40 (8.8%) were in moderate-severe malnutrition group (CONUT ≥ 5). Nongastric primary tumor site, large tumor size, high mitotic index, tumor rupture and high CONUT score were independent prognostic factors for shorter RFS using multivariate analysis (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Elevated preoperative CONUT score was a predictor of recurrence for patients with resected GIST. The clinical application of the CONUT score is simple and feasible, and might contribute to the individualized treatment of GIST patients.

Battery health evaluation using a short random segment of constant current charging.

Accurately evaluating the health status of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is significant to enhance the safety, efficiency, and economy of LIBs deployment. However, the complex degradation processes inside the battery make it a thorny challenge. Data-driven methods are widely used to resolve the problem without exploring the complex aging mechanisms; however, random and incomplete charging-discharging processes in actual applications make the existing methods fail to work. Here, we develop three data-driven methods to estimate battery state of health (SOH) using a short random charging segment (RCS). Four types of commercial LIBs (75 cells), cycled under different temperatures and discharging rates, are employed to validate the methods. Trained on a nominal cycling condition, our models can achieve high-precision SOH estimation under other different conditions. We prove that an RCS with a 10mV voltage window can obtain an average error of less than 5%, and the error plunges as the voltage window increases.

A control strategy for cabin temperature of electric vehicle considering health ventilation for lowering virus infection.

A cooperative control strategy is proposed for the air conditioning (AC) system and ventilation system to reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection and save the energy of the AC system. This strategy integrates the dynamic model of the AC-cabin system, infection risk assessment, model predictive control (MPC) of the thermal environment inside the cabin, and ventilation control that considers passengers' sneezing. Unlike other existing AC system models, the thermal-health model established can describe not only the system performance but also the virus concentration and risk of COVID-19 infection using the Wells-Riley assessment model. Experiments are conducted to verify the prediction accuracy of the AC-cabin model. The results prove that the proposed model can accurately predict the evolution of cabin temperature under different cases. The cooperative control strategy of the AC system integrates the MPC-based refrigeration algorithm for the cabin temperature and intermittent ventilation strategy to reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection. This strategy well balances the control accuracy, energy consumption of the AC system, and the risk of COVID-19 infection, and greatly reduces the infection risk at the expense of a little rise in the energy consumption.

Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cells and ICOS+ Regulatory T Cells Predict Poor Prognosis in Gastric Cancer: A Pilot Study.

Background: Regulatory T cells (Tregs) and plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) are the main immunosuppressive cells in tumor microenvironment of gastric cancer (GC). In this prospective study, the association of prognosis with Tregs subsets and pDCs were further analyzed. Methods: pDCs, Tregs population and its expression of inducible costimulator (ICOS) were analyzed in peripheral blood from 41 GC patients by multicolor flow cytometry. These cell populations in carcinoma tissue, peritumor tissue and normal gastric mucosa from 87 GC patients were also detected by immunohistochemistry and double immunofluorescence. Results: Both ICOS+Foxp3+Treg cells (P=0.0341 and P=0.0298, respectively) and pDC (P=0.0237 and P=0.0083, respectively) in peripheral blood and tumor tissue could predict poor clinical outcome in GC patients. However, the total Foxp3+Tregs in the GC tissue didn't correlated with the outcome (P=0.4299). No correlation of CD4+ T cell or CD8+ T cell frequency could be found with clinical outcome neither in peripheral blood nor in tumor tissue. Conclusions: ICOS+Tregs and pDCs could predict poor prognosis of GC, targeting ICOS-L/ICOS costimulation axis may be a potential treatment for GC.

Isolated palmar dislocation of distal radioulnar joint: a new mechanism of injury: a case report.

BACKGROUND: Isolated palmar dislocation of distal radioulnar joint is a rare injury. It can easily lead to misdiagnosis. Previous literature reports were all rotation violence. We reported a patient with direct impact violence. CASE PRESENTATION: We report a 31-year-old male laborer presented to our hospital with an acute trauma. Severe tenderness and limited mobility were seen in his right wrist. He received an x-ray film examination and diagnosed as the isolated palmar dislocation of distal radioulnar joint. The treatment was closed reduction and splint fixation. After half a year, the patient gained a functional recovery of his previously afflicted wrist. CONCLUSIONS: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of isolated palmar dislocation of distal radioulnar joint caused by a direct impact violence. Patients and physicians should be aware of the properties of this mechanism of injury so that early diagnosis and treatment can be achieved.

Regulatory T Cells Promote Overexpression of Lgr5 on Gastric Cancer Cells via TGF-beta1 and Confer Poor Prognosis in Gastric Cancer.

Background: The leucine-rich repeat containing G protein-coupled receptor 5 (Lgr5) is considered a cancer stem cell marker, and is often overexpressed in tumors. The interaction between Lgr5 and the immune-related tumor microenvironment is not completely understood. The aim of this study was to examine the role of Lgr5 in the microenvironment of gastric cancer (GC), and to explore possible immunological mechanisms influencing Lgr5 expression that are governed by regulatory T cells. Methods: Lgr5 expression was examined in 180 GC tumors by immunohistochemistry, and in 80 pairs of GC tumors for analysis of Th1/Th2 cytokines by ELISA. In addition, SGC7901 cells were co-cultured with patient-derived Tregs, varying concentrations of TGF-ß1, TGF-ß1 neutralizing antibody, or TGF-ß receptor inhibitor SB431542, and Lgr5 and ß-catenin expression were examined by qRT-PCR and western blot. Results: In this study, an immunosuppressive microenvironment was associated with high Lgr5 expression in GC. Furthermore, Lgr5 expression was up-regulated in GC cells co-cultured with Tregs or treated with exogenous TGF-ß1. This up-regulation was partially inhibited by the TGF-ß1 neutralizing antibody, or TGF-ß1 receptor antagonist SB431542. ß-catenin was up-regulated with high Lgr5 expression induced by exogenous TGF-ß1, and this up-regulation was inhibited by SB431542. An increased number of Tregs and high Lgr5 expression in GC tissues were significantly associated with low overall survival. Conclusion: Tregs promoted increased Lgr5 expression in GC cells via TGF-ß1 and TGF-ß1 signaling pathway, which may involve activation of the Wnt signaling pathway. High Lgr5 expression via TGF-ß confer poor prognosis in gastric cancer.

Biochar and crushed straw additions affect cadmium absorption in cassava-peanut intercropping system.

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) intercropped with peanut (Arachis hypogaea) has good complementary effects in time and space. In the field plot test, the land equivalent ratio (LER) of cassava-peanut intercropping system was 1.43, showing obvious intercropping yield advantage. Compared with monocropping, Cd contents in the roots of cassava and seeds of peanut were significantly reduced by 20.00% and 31.67%, respectively (p < 0.05). Under the unit area of hectare, compared with monocropping of cassava and peanut, the bioconcentration amount (BCA) of Cd in the intercropping system increased significantly by 24.98% and 25.59%, respectively (p < 0.05), and the metal removal equivalent ratio (MRER) of Cd was 1.25, indicating that the intercropping pattern had advantage in Cd removal. In the cement pool plot test, compared with the control, cassava intercropped with peanut under biochar and crushed straw additions did not only enhance the available nutrients and organic matter contents in rhizosphere soil but also promoted the crop growth and increased the content of chlorophyll (SPAD values) of plant leaves. The peanut seeds biomass under biochar and straw additions were significantly increased by 112.34% and 59.38% (p < 0.05), respectively, while the cassava roots biomass under biochar addition was significantly increased by 63.54% (p < 0.05). Applying biochar significantly decreased the content of Cd which extracted by diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA-Cd) in soil and reduced Cd uptake as well as translocation into plant tissues. The BCA of Cd of cassava under biochar addition decreased significantly by 53.87% in maturity stage (p < 0.05), thus reduced the ecological risk of Cd to crops and was of great significance to produce high quality and safe agricultural products. Besides, the crushed straw enhanced the biomass of crops, reduced Cd content in all tissues and maintained Cd uptake in the intercropping system. Therefore, it can realize the integration of ecological remediation and economic benefit of two energy plants in Cd contaminated soil after applied crushed straw in cassava-peanut intercropping system.

Primary gastrointestinal stromal tumor of the liver treated with sequential therapy.

A 67-year-old female presented with a primary hepatic gastrointestinal stromal tumor that was detected by computed tomography and diagnosed based on histopathological and genetic analyses. The tumor was microscopically composed of spindle cells and epithelioid cells, and immunohistochemistry results showed positive staining for CD117 and CD34 expression. A genetic analysis revealed a heterozygous point mutation and deletion in exon 11 of c-KIT. After an R0 resection, imatinib mesylate was administered for 1 year until its use was discontinued due to severe side effects. Two years after the original operation, the tumor recurred in the residual liver and was completely resected again. Imatinib mesylate was administered for 2 years until it was replaced by sunitinib malate because of disease progression. The patient has survived for 53 mo after undergoing a sequential therapy consisting of surgical excision, imatinib and sunitinib.

Intratumor IL-17-positive mast cells are the major source of the IL-17 that is predictive of survival in gastric cancer patients.

Interleukin-17 (IL-17) is prevalent in tumor tissue and suppresses effective anti-tumor immune responses. However, the source of the increased tumor-infiltrating IL-17 and its contribution to tumor progression in human gastric cancer remain poorly understood. In this study, we enrolled 112 gastric cancer patients, immunofluorescence was used to evaluate the colocalization of CD3, CD4, CD56, CD20, CD68, and mast cell tryptase (MCT) with IL-17. Immunohistochemistry was used to evaluate the distribution of microvessel density (CD34), CD66b(+), CD68(+), and FoxP3(+) cells in different microanatomical areas. Prognostic value was determined by Kaplan-Meier analysis and a Cox regression model. The results showed that mast cells, but not T cells or macrophages, were the predominant cell type producing IL-17 in gastric cancer. Significant positive correlations were detected between densities of mast cell-derived IL-17 and microvessels, neutrophils, and regulatory T cells (Tregs). Furthermore, we found that the majority of vascular endothelial cells expressing Interleukin-17 receptor (IL-17R). Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that increasing intratumor infiltrated mast cells and IL-17(+) cells, as well as MCT(+) IL-17(+) cells, were significantly associated with worse overall survival. These findings indicated that mast cells were the major source of IL-17 in gastric cancer, and intratumor IL-17 infiltration may have promoted tumor progression by enhancing angiogenesis in the tumor microenvironment through the axis of IL-17/IL-17R. IL-17-positive mast cells showed a prognostic factor in gastric cancer, indicating that immunotherapy targeting mast cells might be an effective strategy to control intratumor IL-17 infiltration, and consequently reverse immunosuppression in the tumor microenvironment, facilitating cancer immunotherapy.

Oxygen vacancies lead to loss of domain order, particle fracture, and rapid capacity fade in lithium manganospinel (LiMn2O4) batteries.

Spinel-structured lithium manganese oxide (LiMn2O4) has attracted much attention because of its high energy density, low cost, and environmental impact. In this article, structural analysis methods such as powder neutron diffraction (PND), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and high-resolution transmission and scanning electron microscopies (TEM & SEM) reveal the capacity fading mechanism of LiMn2O4 as it relates to the mechanical degradation of the material. Micro-fractures form after the first charge (to 4.45 V vs. Li(+/0)) of a commercial lithium manganese oxide phase, best represented by the formula LiMn2O3.88. Diffraction methods show that the grain size decreases and multiple phases form after 850 electrochemical cycles at 0.2 C current. The microfractures are directly observed through microscopy studies as particle cracks propagate along the (1 1 1) planes, with clear lattice twisting observed along this direction. Long-term galvanostatic cycling results in increased charge-transfer resistance and capacity loss. Upon preparing samples with controlled oxygen contents, LiMn2O4.03 and LiMn2O3.87, the mechanical failure of the lithium manganese oxide can be correlated to the oxygen vacancies in the materials, providing guidance for better synthesis methods.

Role of plasmacytoid dendritic cells and inducible costimulator-positive regulatory T cells in the immunosuppression microenvironment of gastric cancer.

Regulatory T cells (Tregs) and plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) play important roles in the immune escape of cancer. In this study, we investigated pDCs and pDC-induced inducible costimulator (ICOS)(+) Treg populations in peripheral blood from gastric cancer (GC) patients and healthy donors by flow cytometry. The distribution of these cells in carcinoma tissue, peritumor tissue, and normal gastric mucosa was detected by immunohistochemistry. Plasma and tissue concentration of the cytokines such as interleukin-10 and transforming growth factor-ß1 were also measured. We found that the numbers of pDCs, Tregs, and ICOS(+) Tregs in peripheral blood were increased in GC patients compared with healthy donors. In tissue, Tregs and ICOS(+) Tregs were found distributing mainly in carcinoma tissue, whereas pDCs were mainly found in peritumor tissue. Moreover, the Foxp3(+) ICOS(+) /Foxp3(+) cell ratio in carcinoma and peritumor tissue were higher than that in normal tissue. There were more ICOS(+) Tregs in tumor and peritumor tissue of late-stage GC patients. There was a positive correlation between pDCs and ICOS(+) Tregs in peripheral blood and peritumor tissue from GC patients. In conclusion, pDCs may play a potential role in recruiting ICOS(+) Tregs, and both participate in the immunosuppression microenvironment of GC.

Anti-tumor effects of Mfn2 in gastric cancer.

Mitofusin-2 (Mfn2) is a mitochondrial outer membrane protein involved in mitochondrial fusion. Its mutation can cause Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. Recent studies of Mfn2 in cancer research have not included gastric cancer. We confirmed that Mfn2 expression was lower in tumor tissue than in normal gastric mucosal tissue and that it was negatively correlated with tumor size, indicating an anti-tumor role for Mfn2. In vitro experiments showed that Mfn2 overexpression suppressed gastric cancer cell proliferation and colony formation, weakened the invasion and migratory ability of cancer cells by downregulating MMP-2 and MMP-9, halted the cell cycle and induced apoptosis. Western blotting indicated the likely involvement of P21 and PI3K/Akt signaling. Therefore, Mfn2 is a potential anti-tumor gene and a potential therapeutic target for treating gastric cancer. The progress of gastric cancer may be delayed by controlling Mfn2 expression.

Large displacement vertical translational actuator based on piezoelectric thin films.

A novel vertical translational microactuator based on thin-film piezoelectric actuation is presented, using a set of four compound bend-up/bend-down unimorphs to produce translational motion of a moving platform or stage. The actuation material is a chemical-solution deposited lead-zirconate-titanate (PZT) thin film. Prototype designs have shown as much as 120 µm of static displacement, with 80-90 µm displacements being typical, using four 920 µm long by 70 µm legs. Analytical models are presented that accurately describe nonlinear behavior in both static and dynamic operation of prototype stages when the dependence of piezoelectric coefficients on voltage is known. Resonance of the system is observed at a frequency of 200 Hz. The large displacement and high bandwidth of the actuators at low-voltage and low-power levels should make them useful to a variety of optical applications, including endoscopic microscopy.