Systematic study of Cr3+ substitution into octahedra-based microporous aluminoborates.

Single crystals of pure aluminoborate PKU-1 (Al3B6O11(OH)5·nH2O) were obtained, and the structure was redetermined by X-ray diffraction. There are three independent Al atoms in the R3 structure model, and Al3 locates in a quite distorted octahedral environment, which was evidenced by (27)Al NMR results. This distortion of Al3O6 octahedra release the strong static stress of the main framework and leads to a symmetry lowering from the previously reported R3 to the presently reported R3. We applied a pretreatment to prepare Al(3+)/Cr(3+) aqueous solutions; as a consecquence, a very high Cr(3+)-to-Al(3+) substitution content (∼50 atom %) in PKU-1 can be achieved, which is far more than enough for catalytic purposes. Additionally, the preference for Cr(3+) substitution at the Al1 and Al2 sites was observed in the Rietveld refinements of the powder X-ray data of PKU-1:0.32Cr(3+). We also systematically investigated the thermal behaviors of PKU-1:xCr(3+) (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.50) by thermogravimetric-differential scanning calorimetry, in situ high-temperature XRD in vacuum, and postannealing experiments in furnace. The main framework of Cr(3+)-substituted PKU-1 could be partially retained at 1100 °C in vacuum. When 0.04 ≤ x ≤ 0.20, PKU-1:xCr(3+) transferred to the PKU-5:xCr(3+) (Al4B6O15:xCr(3+)) structure at ∼750 °C by a 5 h annealing in air. Further elevating the temperature led to a decomposition into the mullite phase, Al4B2O9:xCr(3+). For x > 0.20 in PKU-1:xCr(3+), the heat treatment led to a composite of Cr(3+)-substituted PKU-5 and Cr2O3, so the doping upper limit of Cr(3+) in PKU-5 structure is around 20 atom %.

T cells in pancreatic cancer stroma: Tryptophan metabolism plays an important role in immunoregulation.

Several studies have shown that the immune system is highly regulated by tryptophan metabolism, which serves as an immunomodulatory factor. The indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1), as an intracellular enzyme that participates in metabolism of the essential amino acid tryptophan in the kynurenine pathway, is an independent prognostic marker for pancreatic cancer (PC). First, overexpression of IDO1 inhibits the maturation of dendritic cells and T-cell proliferation in the liver and spleen. Second, the high expression of kynurenine induces and activates the aryl hydrocarbon receptor, resulting in upregulated programmed cell death protein 1 expression. Third, the induction of IDO1 can lead to loss of the T helper 17 cell/regulatory T cell balance, mediated by the proximal tryptophan catabolite from IDO metabolism. In our study, we found that overexpression of IDO1 upregulated CD8+ T cells and reduced natural killer T cells in pancreatic carcinoma in mice. Hence, it may be essential to pay more attention to tryptophan metabolism in patients, especially those who are tolerant to immunotherapy for PC.

A dual deep neural network for auto-delineation in cervical cancer radiotherapy with clinical validation.

BACKGROUND: Artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms are capable of automatically detecting contouring boundaries in medical images. However, the algorithms impact on clinical practice of cervical cancer are unclear. We aimed to develop an AI-assisted system for automatic contouring of the clinical target volume (CTV) and organs-at-risk (OARs) in cervical cancer radiotherapy and conduct clinical-based observations. METHODS: We first retrospectively collected data of 203 patients with cervical cancer from West China Hospital. The proposed method named as SegNet was developed and trained with different data groups. Quantitative metrics and clinical-based grading were used to evaluate differences between several groups of automatic contours. Then, 20 additional cases were conducted to compare the workload and quality of AI-assisted contours with manual delineation from scratch. RESULTS: For automatic CTVs, the dice similarity coefficient (DSC) values of the SegNet trained with incorporating multi-group data achieved 0.85 ± 0.02, which was statistically better than the DSC values of SegNet independently trained with the SegNet(A) (0.82 ± 0.04), SegNet(B) (0.82 ± 0.03) or SegNet(C) (0.81 ± 0.04). Moreover, the DSC values of the SegNet and UNet, respectively, 0.85 and 0.82 for the CTV (P < 0.001), 0.93 and 0.92 for the bladder (P = 0.44), 0.84 and 0.81 for the rectum (P = 0.02), 0.89 and 0.84 for the bowel bag (P < 0.001), 0.93 and 0.92 for the right femoral head (P = 0.17), and 0.92 and 0.91 for the left femoral head (P = 0.25). The clinical-based grading also showed that SegNet trained with multi-group data obtained better performance of 352/360 relative to it trained with the SegNet(A) (334/360), SegNet(B) (333/360) or SegNet(C) (320/360). The manual revision time for automatic CTVs (OARs not yet include) was 9.54 ± 2.42 min relative to fully manual delineation with 30.95 ± 15.24 min. CONCLUSION: The proposed SegNet can improve the performance at automatic delineation for cervical cancer radiotherapy by incorporating multi-group data. It is clinically applicable that the AI-assisted system can shorten manual delineation time at no expense of quality.

Donafenib treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma: A case report.

RATIONALE: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common liver cancer. The efficacy of the present treatment is disappointing, and the prognosis is poor. Donafenib, a novel multikinase inhibitor, is a new deuterated derivative of sorafenib. It can improve overall survival in patients with advanced HCC, with a favorable safety and tolerability profile over sorafenib. PATIENT CONCERNS: Here, we report the case of a 51-year-old male patient who presented with experienced epigastric discomfort for the prior several days. He had a history of untreated chronic hepatitis B virus infection for >29 years and no other underlying diseases. Based on further investigations, he was diagnosed with advanced HCC and refused surgery. DIAGNOSIS: Based on the patient's performance status, tumor status assessed by computed tomography, liver function, and percutaneous liver biopsy, he was diagnosed with advanced HCC Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer Stage C. INTERVENTIONS: The patient was administered a 200-mg oral dose of donafenib twice-daily. OUTCOMES: The patient was followed-up from the time of diagnosis. He received donafenib for 31 months, and the progression-free survival time was 31 months (from May 2017 to December 2019); the overall survival time was not reached. The patient reported little abdominal distension with no other obvious discomfort while taking the medication. LESSON: Donafenib showed good efficacy for the treatment of advanced HCC, with mild side effects. Deuterium-containing drugs seem to be a promising avenue for medical innovation.

d10 or d0? Theoretical and experimental comparison between rutile GeO2 and TiO2 for photocatalytic water splitting.

Rutile GeO2 with d10 metal in octahedral coordination possesses both a high charge separation rate and carrier mobility because the partial charge density is dominated by Ge-O anti-bonding for CBM. GeO2 is capable of photocatalytic water splitting, even visible light water splitting through combination with the sensitizer melon.

The complete chloroplast genome of Tripsacum laxum (Gramineae).

Tripsacum laxum (Guatemalan grass) is a perennial fodder grasses, which is commonly growing in large parts of Africa for a source of livestock feed. It has a high economic value as a forage. In this study, we obtained a complete chloroplast genome of T. laxum by Illumina sequencing. The results showed a circular genome of 140,556 bp, including the large single copy region (LSC, 82,939 bp), the small single-copy region (SSC, 12,573 bp), and a pair of 22,522 bp inverted repeat regions (IRs). The circular genome contained 120 genes, including 74 protein-coding genes, eight ribosomal RNA genes and 38 tRNA genes. Evolutionary relationship analysis indicates that T. laxum is more closely related to previously reported T. dactyloides.

Gastric cancer patients have elevated plasmacytoid and CD1c+ dendritic cells in the peripheral blood.

Dendritic cells (DCs) are important in tumor immunology. Identifying DC subset markers in the peripheral blood, which are informative for gastric cancer stages, is not only useful for prognosis but may also provide mechanistic insights into processes facilitating therapy. The present study investigated plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) and myeloid CD1c+ dendritic cells (mDC1s) in the peripheral blood of patients with gastric cancer and healthy controls using flow cytometry. Using peripheral DC staining and subset analysis, patients with gastric cancer were identified to have substantially higher numbers of peripheral pDCs and mDC1s. In addition, there was a trend of elevated circulating pDCs with advanced stages and lymph node metastasis in gastric cancer, whereas no differences in circulating mDC1s were observed among the various groups. The results suggested that circulating pDCs are a positive prognostic indicator in patients with gastric cancer of different stages and highlighted the critical role of pDCs immunity in the development of gastric cancer.

Tuning selectivity via electronic interaction: Preparation and systematic evaluation of serial polar-embedded aryl stationary phases bearing large polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

Aromatic stationary phases showing complementary selectivity to their alkyl counterparts are extremely useful for certain challenging separation tasks. Herein, a series of polar-embedded aryl stationary phases were synthesized from reactive derivatives of large polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), including anthracene (three-ring, catacondensed), pyrene (four-ring, pericondensed) and triphenylene (four-ring, fully-benzenoid). These PAHs were functionalized with hydroxymethyl group (PAH-CH2OH), then catalytically converted to carbamates (PAH-CH2OC(=O)NH-R) using isocyanate, and finally covalently grafted onto silica to produce corresponding carbamate-embedded PAH stationary phases. To gain insight into the connection and difference among the attached species, the chromatographic behaviors of these new adsorbents were systematically evaluated in terms of surface coverage, hydrophobic and aromatic features, shape selectivity and charge-transfer property, using different classes of analytes, such as alkylbenzenes, PAH congeners and isomeric multi-substituted benzenes, and the results were further compared with conventional octadecyl ones (C18). The relationships between the shape selectivity and the surface chemistry revealed unique behavioral patterns of theses immobilized conjugated ligands, as well as marked differences amongst them, which formed sharp contrast to the case of C18. The effects of temperature and mobile phase compositions on the shape selectivity were further studied. The charge-transfer characteristics demonstrated the great potential of such polar-embedded PAH materials for highly selective separation of electron-deficient compounds through electron donor-acceptor complexation.

A versatile polar-embedded polyphenyl phase for multimodal separation in liquid chromatography.

A new polar-embedded aromatic stationary phase has been prepared by covalently attaching p-biphenylacetamide silane to silica spheres. The retention behavior of this phase was compared with an alkylamide counterpart and octadecyl phases using different classes of analytes, including geometric isomers and congeners from Standard Reference Materials 869b, 870 and 1647e, positional isomers of electron-deficient benzenes, as well as alkylbenzenes and alkylbiphenyls. The relationship between shape selectivity and surface chemistry of stationary phase was comparatively studied. Influences of the embedded group and ligand length and/or size on the chromatographic selectivity towards various congeners were established. The new polar-embedded aromatic phase possessed unique benzenoid affinity, enhanced aromatic selectivity, distinct charge-transfer properties, as well as good water-wettablity, as a result it can be employed in normal phase, reversed-phase and per-aqueous modes.