Cancer-associated fibroblast-secreted FGF7 as an ovarian cancer progression promoter.

BACKGROUND: Ovarian cancer (OC) is distinguished by its aggressive nature and the limited efficacy of current treatment strategies. Recent studies have emphasized the significant role of cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) in OC development and progression. METHODS: Employing sophisticated machine learning techniques on bulk transcriptomic datasets, we identified fibroblast growth factor 7 (FGF7), derived from CAFs, as a potential oncogenic factor. We investigated the relationship between FGF7 expression and various clinical parameters. A series of in vitro experiments were undertaken to evaluate the effect of CAFs-derived FGF7 on OC cell activities, such as proliferation, migration, and invasion. Single-cell transcriptomic analysis was also conducted to elucidate the interaction between FGF7 and its receptor. Detailed mechanistic investigations sought to clarify the pathways through which FGF7 fosters OC progression. RESULTS: Our findings indicate that higher FGF7 levels correlate with advanced tumor stages, increased vascular invasion, and poorer prognosis. CAFs-derived FGF7 significantly enhanced OC cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. Single-cell analysis and in vitro studies revealed that CAFs-derived FGF7 inhibits the ubiquitination and degradation of hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha (HIF-1α) via FGFR2 interaction. Activation of the FGF7/HIF-1α pathway resulted in the upregulation of mesenchymal markers and downregulation of epithelial markers. Importantly, in vivo treatment with neutralizing antibodies targeting CAFs-derived FGF7 substantially reduced tumor growth. CONCLUSION: Neutralizing FGF7 in the medium or inhibiting HIF-1α signaling reversed the effects of FGF7-mediated EMT, emphasizing the dependence of FGF7-mediated EMT on HIF-1α activation. These findings suggest that targeting the FGF7/HIF-1α/EMT axis may offer new therapeutic opportunities to intervene in OC progression.

A chaotic map with two-dimensional offset boosting.

A chaotic map with two-dimensional offset boosting is exhaustively studied, which is derived from the Lozi map and shows the controllability of amplitude control. The mechanism of two-dimensional offset boosting is revealed based on the cancelation of offset-involved feedback terms. Furthermore, the coexistence of homogeneous multistability and heterogeneous multistability is disclosed when the offset boosting turns to the initial condition. It is also found that the independent constant term rescales the amplitude of all the sequences without changing the Lyapunov exponents. More strikingly, the parameters for amplitude control and offset boosting are bound together introducing hybrid control. The circuit implementation based on the microcontroller unit is used to validate the theoretical analysis and numerical simulations. This chaotic map is applied for particle swarm optimization showing its stronger performance and robustness in solving optimization problems.

Grade IV Radiation Skin Injury on the Neck of a Patient with Tonsillar Carcinoma: A Case Report.

ABSTRACT: Radiation therapy is often accompanied by skin toxicity in the irradiated area and radiation-induced DNA damage to skin tissue cells in the surrounding pigmented area. This case report describes a patient with radiation-induced skin injury who received wound treatment and psychological intervention with satisfactory results. A 60-year-old woman was admitted to the authors' hospital on January 18, 2021, with radiation-induced skin injury caused by carbon ion radiotherapy for tonsillar carcinoma. The patient underwent wound repair combined with psychological intervention (30 minutes per dressing change). Over a period of 1 month, the wound area was reduced from 11 × 12 cm2 to 1 × 1 cm2, and wound symptoms (exudate, blood odor, wound infection, wound edge dehydration and curling, periwound skin peeling, dryness, and hyperkeratosis) improved. The patient's anxiety factor scores decreased from 18 to 1, and her depression factor scores decreased from 16 to 3. When the patient was discharged from the hospital after 1 month of treatment, she had a satisfactory self-image and normal social activities.

Association of smoking, alcohol, and coffee consumption with the risk of ovarian cancer and prognosis: a mendelian randomization study.

OBJECTIVE: Currently, the association between smoking, alcohol, and coffee intake and the risk of ovarian cancer (OC) remains conflicting. In this study, we used a two-sample mendelian randomization (MR) method to evaluate the association of smoking, drinking and coffee consumption with the risk of OC and prognosis. METHODS: Five risk factors related to lifestyles (cigarettes per day, smoking initiation, smoking cessation, alcohol consumption and coffee consumption) were chosen from the Genome-Wide Association Study, and 28, 105, 10, 36 and 36 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were obtained as instrumental variables (IVs). Outcome variables were achieved from the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium. Inverse-variance-weighted method was mainly used to compute odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (Cl). RESULTS: The two-sample MR analysis supported the causal association of genetically predicted smoking initiation (OR: 1.15 per SD, 95%CI: 1.02-1.29, P = 0.027) and coffee consumption (OR: 1.40 per 50% increase, 95%CI: 1.02-1.93, P = 0.040) with the risk of OC, but not cigarettes per day, smoking cessation, and alcohol consumption. Subgroup analysis based on histological subtypes revealed a positive genetical predictive association between coffee consumption and endometrioid OC (OR: 3.01, 95%CI: 1.50-6.04, P = 0.002). Several smoking initiation-related SNPs (rs7585579, rs7929518, rs2378662, rs10001365, rs11078713, rs7929518, and rs62098013), and coffee consumption-related SNPs (rs4410790, and rs1057868) were all associated with overall survival and cancer-specific survival in OC. CONCLUSION: Our findings provide the evidence for a favorable causal association of genetically predicted smoking initiation and coffee consumption with OC risk, and coffee consumption is linked to a greater risk of endometrioid OC.

DFT Studies on the Mechanisms of Carboamination/Diamination of Unactivated Alkenes Mediated by Pd(IV) Intermediates.

Density functional theory (DFT) calculations have been employed to investigate the mechanism of carboamination and diamination of unactivated alkenes mediated by Pd(IV) intermediates. Both reactions share a common Pd(IV) intermediate, serving as the starting point for either the carboamination or the diamination pathway. The formation of this Pd(IV) intermediate encompasses a transition state that substantially impacts the turnover frequency (TOF) of catalytic cycles, with an apparent activation free-energy barrier of 26.1 kcal mol-1. Carboamination of unactivated alkenes proceeds through the coordination of a toluene molecule, C-H activation, inner reductive elimination, and the separation of the carboamination product from this intermediate, while diamination of unactivated alkenes involves the formation of the ion nucleophile, SN2 attack, and the separation of the diamination product. A comparison of the free-energy profiles for carboamination and diamination of unactivated alkenes can elucidate the origin of the chemoselectivity, and Bader's atoms in molecules (AIM) wave function analyses have been performed to analyze the contributions of the outer C-N bonding in the diamination process.

The treatment of dispersion terms for solution systems.

DFT calculations of reaction mechanisms in solution have always been a hot topic, especially for transition-metal-catalyzed reactions, in which the traditional DFT-D3 method has been extensively employed. The overestimation of the dispersion from the traditional DFT-D3 method leads to a quite low activation free-energy barrier, so it is worth finding a proper way to deal with the dispersion for solution systems. The solvent-solute dispersion is also important for solution systems, and thus it should be calculated together with the solute dispersion. The newly generated solute-solute dispersion energy should be shared equally with the newly formed cavity between two interacting species; therefore, only half of the solute-solute and solvent-solute dispersion terms belong to the solute molecule. The detailed treatment of dispersion correction for solution systems has been fully addressed, and this method has been confirmed with the examples of ligand exchange reactions and catalytic reactions.

DFT calculations in solution systems: solvation energy, dispersion energy and entropy.

DFT calculations of reaction mechanisms in solution have always been a hot topic, especially for transition-metal-catalyzed reactions. The calculation of solvation energy is performed using either the polarizable continuum model (PCM) or the universal solvation model SMD. The PCM calculation is very sensitive to the choice of atomic radii to form a cavity, where the self-consistent isodensity PCM (SCI-PCM) has been recognized as the best choice and our IDSCRF radii can provide a similar cavity. Moving from a gas-phase case to a solution case, dispersion energy and entropy should be carefully treated. The solvent-solute dispersion is also important in solution systems, and it should be calculated together with the solute dispersion. Only half of the solvent-solute dispersion energy from the PCM calculation belongs to the solute molecules to maintain a thermal equilibrium between a solute molecule and its cavity, similar to the treatment of electrostatic energy. Relative solute dispersion energy should also be shared equally with the newly formed cavity. The entropy change from a gas phase to a liquid phase is quite large, but the modern quantum chemistry programs can only calculate the gas-phase translational entropy based on the idea-gas equation. In this review, we will provide an operable method to calculate the solution translational entropy, which has been coded in our THERMO program.

Neurobehavioral measures of coincidence anticipation timing.

Coincidence anticipation (CA) refers to the ability to coordinate responses to the arrival of a moving object. This study investigates the neurobehavioral processes that underlie CA through the measurement of electroencephalography (EEG) recorded during a CA task on a 17-foot plastic rail with evenly spaced LED lights. Participants responded at the anticipated moment a sequence of successively lit LEDs coincided with a stationary target. Healthy young adult participants (Mage = 21) performed six blocks with movement at 20, 30, or 40 mph and the direction either inbound or outbound relative to the participant. Behavioral results demonstrated a main effect of speed and an interaction between speed and direction, with outbound motion producing early responses and inbound motion producing delayed responses that increased at greater speeds. EEG demonstrated characteristic P1, N2, and P3-like visual evoked potentials (VEPs). VEP amplitudes revealed a significant direction by channel interaction for the P1, indicative of more medial responses for inbound motion. Significant laterality differences were present in the N2, whereas the P3 component produced significant main effects and interactions of speed and direction. This novel combination of three-dimensional CA with EEG demonstrates systematic brain responses that are tuned for motion speed and sensitive to different egocentric motion patterns thereby shedding new light on the mechanism of human visual-motor control.

Characterization of Stromatolite Organic Sedimentary Structure Based on Spectral Image Fusion.

This paper evaluates the potential application of Raman baselines in characterizing organic deposition. Taking the layered sediments (Stromatolite) formed by the growth of early life on the Earth as the research object, Raman spectroscopy is an essential means to detect deep-space extraterrestrial life. Fluorescence is the main factor that interferes with Raman spectroscopy detection, which will cause the enhancement of the Raman baseline and annihilate Raman information. The paper aims to evaluate fluorescence contained in the Raman baseline and characterize organic sedimentary structure using the Raman baseline. This study achieves spectral image fusion combined with mapping technology to obtain high spatial and spectral resolution fusion images. To clarify that the fluorescence of organic matter deposition is the main factor causing Raman baseline enhancement, 5041 Raman spectra were obtained in the scanning area of 710 µm × 710 µm, and the correlation mechanism between the gray level of the light-dark layer of the detection point and the Raman baseline was compared. The spatial distribution of carbonate minerals and organic precipitations was detected by combining mapping technology. In addition, based on the BI-IHS algorithm, the spectral image fusion of Raman fluorescence mapping and reflection micrograph, polarization micrograph, and orthogonal polarization micrograph are realized, respectively. A fusion image with high spectral resolution and high spatial resolution is obtained. The results show that the Raman baseline can be used as helpful information to characterize stromatolite organic sedimentary structure.

Nonlinear optical properties and passively Q-switched laser application of a layered molybdenum carbide at 639 nm.

Molybdenum carbide (Mo2C) exhibits enormous potential applications in various optoelectronic and photonic fields due to its remarkably electrical and optical characteristics. Here, we fabricate a high-quality Mo2C film by the radio frequency magnetron sputtering deposition method. The nonlinear optical response and ultrafast dynamics are thoroughly studied based on open-aperture Z-scan and nondegenerate pump-probe experimental measurements. The open-aperture Z-scan experimental result exhibits a modulation depth of 8.5% and a saturation fluence of 0.28 mJ/cm2. Simultaneously, the relaxation time constant is fitted by a biexponential decay function, showing an ultrafast intraband carrier recovery time of 0.58 ps at 530 nm. Consequently, by employing the Mo2C film as a saturable absorber (SA), stable Q-switched Pr:YLF laser pulses with the shortest pulse width of 160 ns are generated at 639 nm. Our experimental results demonstrate excellent nonlinear optical properties of the layered Mo2C in the visible region and will further advance their potential applications in visible nonlinear optics.

Memristor-type chaotic mapping.

In this letter, a compact memristor structure unit is applied for constructing the discrete chaotic system and, consequently, a memristor-type chaotic mapping is designed. Two independent system parameters are proven to be partial and total amplitude controllers. Meanwhile, the internal memristor parameter returns the map a typical bifurcation. Finally, a hardware experiment based on STM32 is carried out by verifying the theoretical finding. To the best of our knowledge, the memristor-type chaotic mapping has not been previously reported.

Power Line Communication with Robust Timing and Carrier Recovery against Narrowband Interference for Smart Grid.

Power line communication (PLC) is an important interconnection technology for the smart grid, but the robustness of PLC transmission is faced with a great challenge due to strong non-Gaussian noise and interference. In this paper, a narrowband interference (NBI) resistant preamble is designed, and an effective timing and frequency synchronization method is proposed for OFDM-based PLC systems in the smart grid, which is capable of simultaneously conveying some bits of transmission parameter signaling (TPS) as well. In the time domain, the cyclic extension of the training OFDM symbol is scrambled, which makes it feasible to combat against NBI contamination. More accurate timing detection and sharper correlation peak can be implemented under the power line channel and the AWGN channel in the presence of NBI, compared with the conventional Schmidl's and Minn's methods with the same preamble length. Furthermore, the TPS transmitted using the proposed method is also immune from the NBI. The proposed method is capable of improving the synchronization performance of the PLC transmission significantly, which is verified by theoretical analysis and computer simulations.

Investigation of the determinants for misinformation correction effectiveness on social media during COVID-19 pandemic.

The rapid dissemination of misinformation in social media during the COVID-19 pandemic triggers panic and threatens the pandemic preparedness and control. Correction is a crucial countermeasure to debunk misperceptions. However, the effective mechanism of correction on social media is not fully verified. Previous works focus on psychological theories and experimental studies, while the applicability of conclusions to the actual social media is unclear. This study explores determinants governing the effectiveness of misinformation corrections on social media with a combination of a data-driven approach and related theories on psychology and communication. Specifically, referring to the Backfire Effect, Source Credibility, and Audience's role in dissemination theories, we propose five hypotheses containing seven potential factors (regarding correction content and publishers' influence), e.g., the proportion of original misinformation and warnings of misinformation. Then, we obtain 1487 significant COVID-19 related corrections on Microblog between January 1st, 2020 and April 30th, 2020, and conduct annotations, which characterize each piece of correction based on the aforementioned factors. We demonstrate several promising conclusions through a comprehensive analysis of the dataset. For example, mentioning excessive original misinformation in corrections would not undermine people's believability within a short period after reading; warnings of misinformation in a demanding tone make correction worse; determinants of correction effectiveness vary among different topics of misinformation. Finally, we build a regression model to predict correction effectiveness. These results provide practical suggestions on misinformation correction on social media, and a tool to guide practitioners to revise corrections before publishing, leading to ideal efficacies.

Psychophysiological Markers of Performance and Learning during Simulated Marksmanship in Immersive Virtual Reality.

The fusion of immersive virtual reality, kinematic movement tracking, and EEG offers a powerful test bed for naturalistic neuroscience research. Here, we combined these elements to investigate the neuro-behavioral mechanisms underlying precision visual-motor control as 20 participants completed a three-visit, visual-motor, coincidence-anticipation task, modeled after Olympic Trap Shooting and performed in immersive and interactive virtual reality. Analyses of the kinematic metrics demonstrated learning of more efficient movements with significantly faster hand RTs, earlier trigger response times, and higher spatial precision, leading to an average of 13% improvement in shot scores across the visits. As revealed through spectral and time-locked analyses of the EEG beta band (13-30 Hz), power measured prior to target launch and visual-evoked potential amplitudes measured immediately after the target launch correlated with subsequent reactive kinematic performance in the shooting task. Moreover, both launch-locked and shot/feedback-locked visual-evoked potentials became earlier and more negative with practice, pointing to neural mechanisms that may contribute to the development of visual-motor proficiency. Collectively, these findings illustrate EEG and kinematic biomarkers of precision motor control and changes in the neurophysiological substrates that may underlie motor learning.

Uncertainty of Interval Type-2 Fuzzy Sets Based on Fuzzy Belief Entropy.

Interval type-2 fuzzy sets (IT2 FS) play an important part in dealing with uncertain applications. However, how to measure the uncertainty of IT2 FS is still an open issue. The specific objective of this study is to present a new entropy named fuzzy belief entropy to solve the problem based on the relation among IT2 FS, belief structure, and Z-valuations. The interval of membership function can be transformed to interval BPA [Bel,Pl]. Then, Bel and Pl are put into the proposed entropy to calculate the uncertainty from the three aspects of fuzziness, discord, and nonspecificity, respectively, which makes the result more reasonable. Compared with other methods, fuzzy belief entropy is more reasonable because it can measure the uncertainty caused by multielement fuzzy subsets. Furthermore, when the membership function belongs to type-1 fuzzy sets, fuzzy belief entropy degenerates to Shannon entropy. Compared with other methods, several numerical examples are demonstrated that the proposed entropy is feasible and persuasive.

[Structural design and biomechanical numerical analysis of body-fitted stent in stenotic vessels].

To solve the problem of stent malapposition of intravascular stents, explore the design method of intravascular body-fitted stent structure and to establish an objective apposition evaluation method, the support and apposition performance of body-fitted stent in the stenotic vessels with different degrees of calcified plaque were simulated and analyzed. The traditional tube-mesh-like stent model was constructed by using computational aided design tool SolidWorks, and based on this model, the body-fitted stent model was designed by means of projection algorithm. Abaqus was used to simulate the crimping-expansion-recoil process of the two stents in the stenotic vessel with incompletely calcified plaque and completely calcified plaque respectively. A comprehensive method for apposition evaluation was proposed considering three aspects such as separation distance, fraction of non-contact area and residual volume. Compared with the traditional stent, the separation distances of the body-fitted stent in the incompletely calcified plaque model and the completely calcified plaque model were decreased by 21.5% and 22.0% respectively, the fractions of non-contact areas were decreased by 11.3% and 11.1% respectively, and the residual volumes were decreased by 93.1% and 92.5% respectively. The body-fitted stent improved the apposition performance and was effective in both incompletely and completely calcified plaque models. The established apposition performance evaluation method of stent considered more geometric factors, and the results were more comprehensive and objective.

Resolving time-varying attitude jitter of an optical remote sensing satellite based on a time-frequency analysis.

Attitude jitter is a crucial factor that limits the imaging quality and geo-positioning accuracy of high-resolution optical satellites, which has attracted significant research interests in recent years. However, few researchers have attempted to retrieve the dynamic characteristics and time-varying trends of a satellite attitude jitter. This paper presents a novel processing framework for detecting, estimating, and investigating time-varying attitude jitter in long strips based on a time-frequency analysis with the input from either an attitude sensor or an optical imaging sensor. Attitude angle signals containing attitude jitter information are detected from attitude data through generating the Euler angles relative to the orbit coordinate system, or from image data through high-accuracy dense matching between parallax observations, correction of integration time variation and frequency domain-based deconvolution. Variational mode decomposition is adopted to extract the separate band-limited periodic components, and Hilbert spectral analysis is integrated to estimate the instantaneous attributes for each time sample and the varying trends for the entire duration. Experiments with three sets of ZiYuan-3 long-strip datasets were carried out to test the novel processing framework of attitude jitter. The experimental results indicate that the processing framework could reveal the dynamic jitter characteristics, and the mutual validations of different data sources demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of 2-arylaminopyrimidine derivatives bearing 1,3,8-triazaspiro[4,5]decan-4-one or piperidine-3-carboxamide moiety as novel Type-I1/2 ALK inhibitors.

Aiming to develop novel Type-I1/2 inhibitors of ALK to overcome extensive resistance mutations, especially the L1196M mutation surrounding the ATP pocket, two series of 2-arylaminopyrimidine derivatives (11a-f and 22a-t) were designed based on scaffold hopping. The extensive structural elaboration discovered compound 22o which possessed excellent IC50 values of 0.06 and 0.23 µM against ALK-positive Karpas299 and H2228 cell lines, respectively. Meanwhile, 22o displayed encouraging inhibitory potency in the ALKWT (2.5 nM) and ALKL1196M (6.5 nM) enzymatic assays. Furthermore, the AO/EB and Hoechst 33258 assays illustrated 22o could induce cell apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner. Eventually, the molecular docking of 22o with ALK clearly presented the vital interactions within the active site, which was in accordance with Type-I1/2 inhibitor binding mode.

Visual-motor expertise in athletes: Insights from semiparametric modelling of 2317 athletes tested on the Nike SPARQ Sensory Station.

Elite athletes not only run faster, hit harder, and jump higher, but also see and react better. However, the specific visual-motor skills that differentiate high-achieving athletes are still not well understood. In this paper we examine 2317 athletes (1871 male) tested on the Nike SPARQ Sensory Station, a digital test battery measuring visual, perceptual and motor skills relevant for sports performance. We develop a multivariate Gaussian transformation model to robustly estimate visual-motor differences by level, gender, and sport type. Results demonstrate that visual-motor performance is superior for athletes at higher levels, with males faster at near-far eye movements and females faster at eye-hand reaction times. Interestingly, athletes who play interceptive sports such as baseball and tennis exhibit better measures of visual clarity, contrast sensitivity and simple reaction time, while athletes from strategic sports like soccer and basketball have higher measures of spatial working memory. These findings provide quantitative evidence of domain-specific visual expertise in athletes.

Robust Fine Registration of Multisensor Remote Sensing Images Based on Enhanced Subpixel Phase Correlation.

Automatic fine registration of multisensor images plays an essential role in many remote sensing applications. However, it is always a challenging task due to significant radiometric and textural differences. In this paper, an enhanced subpixel phase correlation method is proposed, which embeds phase congruency-based structural representation, L1-norm-based rank-one matrix approximation with adaptive masking, and stable robust model fitting into the conventional calculation framework in the frequency domain. The aim is to improve the accuracy and robustness of subpixel translation estimation in practical cases. In addition, template matching using the enhanced subpixel phase correlation is integrated to realize reliable fine registration, which is able to extract a sufficient number of well-distributed and high-accuracy tie points and reduce the local misalignment for coarsely coregistered multisensor remote sensing images. Experiments undertaken with images from different satellites and sensors were carried out in two parts: tie point matching and fine registration. The results of qualitative analysis and quantitative comparison with the state-of-the-art area-based and feature-based matching methods demonstrate the effectiveness and reliability of the proposed method for multisensor matching and registration.