Evaluation of multiparametric MRI differentiating pleomorphic adenoma from schwannoma in parapharyngeal space.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to investigate whether multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) including dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) and diffusion weighted (DW) MRI can differentiate pleomorphic adenoma (PA) from schwannoma in the parapharyngeal space. METHODS: Forty-six patients with pathologically proven PAs and 47 schwannomas in the parapharyngeal space were enrolled. All patients underwent conventional MRI, and DW-MRI and DCE-MRI were performed in 30 and 33 patients, respectively. Fisher's exact, Mann-Whitney-U tests and Independent samples t-test were used to compare variables between PAs and schwannomas. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to examine the diagnostic performance of MRI parameters. RESULTS: The PAs usually show lobulation sign, posterior displacement of ICA and attached to the parotid gland deep leaf, while bird beak configuration, anterior displacement of ICA and involvement of foramen jugular were more commonly seen in the schwannomas(all p < 0.001). The washout rate of PAs was found to be higher than that of schwannomas (p = 0.035), whereas no significance was found in the other DCE-MRI parameters and in ADCs(p > 0.05). Using a combination of conventional MRI features including lobulation sign, bird beak configuration, direction of internal carotid artery(ICA) displacement and attached to the parotid gland in multivariate logistic regression analysis, sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy in differential diagnosis of PAs and schwannomas were 97.8%, 91.5% and 94.6%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Conventional MRI can effectively differentiate PAs from schwannomas in the parapharyngeal space with a high diagnostic accuracy. The DCE-MRI and DWI have limited added diagnostic value to conventional MRI in the differential diagnosis.

Fully adiabatic polarization rotator-splitter based on thin-film lithium niobate platform.

A Polarization Rotator-Splitter (PRS) based on thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) is demonstrated in this work. The PRS consists of a partially etched polarization rotating taper and an adiabatic coupler, which enables the input TE0 and TM0 to be output as TE0 from two ports, respectively. The fabricated PRS using standard i-line photolithography achieved large polarization extinction ratios (PERs) of > 20 dB across the whole C-band. Excellent polarization characteristics are maintained when the width is changed by ±150 nm. The on-chip insertion losses of TE0 and TM0 are less than 1.5 dB and 1 dB, respectively.

Low-power consumption InP-based optical phase arrays with non-uniformly spaced output waveguides.

Optical Phase Arrays (OPAs) are expected to be an ideal solution to achieve beam shaping, laser radar (LIDAR), free-space optical communications, and spatially resolved optical sensors, etc. We demonstrated a low-power consumption 32-channel OPA with non-uniformly spaced waveguides based on InP substrate. The phase shifters are based on a p-i-n structure which are operated with reverse bias and have a low power consumption. Besides, in order to improve the performance especially to obtain larger steering angle and narrower beam divergence without increasing the number of channels, we have optimized the spacing between the output waveguides. The fabricated OPA achieved a steering angle of 35° with the side lobe suppression ratio more than 8.2 dB across the angle range from -20° to 20° in the far field, which is the largest phase tuning steering angle reported by InP-based OPAs as far as we know. The divergence angle is about 0.46° in the phase steering dimension and the power consumption of the OPA at each steering angle is lower than 7.5 mW.

Current status and influencing factors of policy identification in health impact assessment: a case study of Zhejiang Province.

BACKGROUND: Health impact assessment (HIA) is a procedure, method and tool for evaluating the potential health impacts of policies, plans and construction projects, as well as the distribution of these impacts on population. Majority of international studies on health impact assessment have focussed on conceptual papers or case evaluations, neglecting participants' views on policies. METHODS: A semi-structured interview with 30 health impact assessment experts was employed in this study, and the Nvivo software was utilized to analyse factors that influence policy identification. Subsequently, a multi-stage stratified random sampling method was adopted to survey 655 pilot staff members involved in health impact assessment in Zhejiang Province. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the current status and identify the factors influencing policy identification. In addition, hierarchical linear regression analysis and structural equation modelling were employed to determine the relationship between policy identification and influencing factors. RESULTS: Statistically significant differences were found among participants in the level of identification of policies across three dimensions. The policy sentiment dimension had the highest score (4.137 ± 0.664), followed by policy cognition (4.075 ± 0.632) and policy evaluation (3.631 ± 0.797) dimensions. Subject trust had a positive impact on policy cognition (ß = 0.503, P < 0.001), policy sentiment (ß = 0.504, P < 0.001) and policy evaluation (ß = 0.465, P < 0.001). Procedural justice had a positive impact on policy sentiment (ß = 0.085, P < 0.01) and policy evaluation (ß = 0.084, P < 0.05), but not policy cognition (ß = 0.056, P > 0.05). Policy identification is influenced by age and average monthly salary among other factors. CONCLUSION: These results highlight the importance of subjective trust and procedural justice in policy identification of health impact assessment. They provide valuable insights to developing interventions to overcome barriers to the implementation and enhancement of global identification of policies. Going forward, cross-sectoral synergies, enhanced international communication and training to increase participants' trust in the policy should be optimized to improve health impact assessment. Additional measures should be taken, such as ensuring seamless communication channels, embedding health impact assessment in administrative mechanisms, and establishing strong oversight and grievance mechanisms to improve fairness and transparency in the implementation and results of health impact assessment.

Large-area SnTe nanofilm: preparation and its broadband photodetector with ultra-low dark current.

Photodetectors are receiving increasing attention because of their widely important applications. Therefore, developing broadband high-performance photodetectors using new materials that can function at room temperature has become increasingly important. As a functional material, tin telluride (SnTe), has been widely studied as a thermoelectric material. Furthermore, because of its narrow bandgap, it can be used as a novel infrared photodetector material. In this study, a large-area SnTe nanofilm with controllable thickness was deposited onto a quartz substrate using magnetron sputtering and was used to fabricate a photodetector. The device exhibited a photoelectric response over a broad spectral range of 400-1050 nm. In the near-infrared band of 940 nm, the detectivity (D*) and responsivity (R) of the photodetector were 3.46×1011 cmHz1/2w-1 and 1.71 A/W, respectively, at an optical power density of 0.2 mWcm-2. As the thickness of the SnTe nanofilm increased, a transition from semiconducting to metallic properties was experimentally observed for the first time. The large-area (2.5cm × 2.5cm) high-performance nanofilms show important potential for application in infrared focal plane array (FPA) detectors.

Transcriptome expression profiles associated with diabetic nephropathy development.

The objective of this study was to identify different transcriptome expression profiles involved in the pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy (DN) and to illustrate the diagnostic and therapeutic potential of mRNAs, long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), and circular RNAs (circRNAs) in DN progression. The participants were divided into four groups: normoalbuminuria (group DM), microalbuminuria (group A2), macroalbuminuria (group A3) and healthy controls (group N). There were three individuals in each group for sequencing. Transcriptome sequencing analysis was performed on the peripheral blood of all the participants to identify the differential expression of mRNAs, lncRNAs, and circRNAs between intervention groups and controls. The functional enrichment analysis, the short time-series expression miner (STEM) program, and the miRNA-circRNA-mRNA network were further conducted. To verify the reproducibility of transcriptome sequencing, 10 and 30 blood samples were collected from the control and diseased groups, respectively. Four candidate biomarkers were selected from differentially expressed circRNAs (circ_0005379, circ_0002024, and circ_0000567, and circ_0001017) and their concentrations in the blood were measured using quantitative PCR (qPCR). In the comparison of A2 with N, 549 mRNAs, 1259 lncRNAs, and 12 circRNAs were screened. In the comparison of A3 with N, 1217 mRNAs, 1613 lncRNAs, and 24 circRNAs were screened. Moreover, in the comparison of diabetes mellitus (DM) with N, 948 mRNAs, 1495 lncRNAs, and 25 circRNAs were screened. Functional enrichment analysis showed that differentially expressed mRNAs were related to insulin secretion, insulin resistance, and inflammation, while differentially expressed lncRNAs were mainly associated with crossover junction endodeoxyribonuclease activity. In STEM analysis, a total of 481 mRNAs and 152 differential expression circRNAs showed a significant tendency. The key relationships in the miRNA-circRNA-mRNA network were identified, such as hsa-miR-103a-3p-circ_0005379-PTEN, hsa-miR-497-5p-circ_0002024-IGF1R and hsa-miR-1269a-circ_0000567-SOX6. In addition, qPCR showed consistent results with RNA sequencing. We found that differentially expressed mRNAs, lncRNAs, and circRNAs participated in DN development. Circ_0005379, circ_0002024, and circ_0000567 could be adopted as potential biomarkers for DN.

Broadband photodetector based on SnTe nanofilm/n-Ge heterostructure.

Combining novel two-dimensional materials with traditional semiconductors to form heterostructures for photoelectric detection have attracted great attention due to their excellent photoelectric properties. In this study, we reported the formation of a heterostructure comprising of tin telluride (SnTe) and germanium (Ge) by a simple and efficient one-step magnetron sputtering technique. A photodetector was fabricated by sputtering a nanofilm of SnTe on to a pre-masked n-Ge substrate.J-Vmeasurements obtained from the SnTe/n-Ge photodetector demonstrated diode and photovoltaic characteristics in the visible to near-infrared (NIR) band (i.e. 400-2050 nm). Under NIR illumination at 850 nm with an optical power density of 13.81 mW cm-2, the SnTe/n-Ge photodetector exhibited a small open-circuit voltage of 0.05 V. It also attained a high responsivity (R) and detectivity (D*) of 617.34 mA W-1(at bias voltage of -0.5 V) and 2.33 × 1011cmHz1/2W-1(at zero bias), respectively. Therefore, SnTe nanofilm/n-Ge heterostructure is highly suitable for used as low-power broadband photodetector due to its excellent performances and simple device configuration.

Expression signature, prognosis value and immune characteristics of cathepsin F in non-small cell lung cancer identified by bioinformatics assessment.

BACKGROUND: In recent years, immunotherapies and targeted therapies contribute to population-level improvement in NSCLC cancer-specific survival, however, the two novel therapeutic options have mainly benefit patients containing mutated driven genes. Thus, to explore other potential genes related with immunity or targeted therapies may provide novel options to improve survival of lung cancer patients without mutated driven genes. CTSF is unique in human cysteine proteinases. Presently, CTSF has been detected in several cell lines of lung cancer, but its role in progression and prognosis of lung cancer remains unclear. METHODS: CTSF expression and clinical datasets of lung cancer patients were obtained from GTEx, TIMER, CCLE, THPA, and TCGA, respectively. Association of CTSF expression with clinicopathological parameters and prognosis of lung cancer patients was analyzed using UALCAN and Kaplan-Meier Plotter, respectively. LinkedOmics were used to analyze correlation between CTSF and CTSF co-expressed genes. Protein-protein interaction and gene-gene interaction were analyzed using STRING and GeneMANIA, respectively. Association of CTSF with molecular markers of immune cells and immunomodulators was analyzed with Immunedeconv and TISIDB, respectively. RESULTS: CTSF expression was currently only available for patients with NSCLC. Compared to normal tissues, CTSF was downregulated in NSCLC samples and high expressed CTSF was correlated with favorable prognosis of NSCLC. Additionally, CTSF expression was correlated with that of immune cell molecular markers and immunomodulators both in LUAD and LUSC. Noticeably, high expression of CTSF-related CTLA-4 was found to be associated with better OS of LUAD patients. Increased expression of CTSF-related LAG-3 was related with poor prognosis of LUAD patients while there was no association between CTSF-related PD-1/PD-L1 and prognosis of LUAD patients. Moreover, increased expression of CTSF-related CD27 was related with poor prognosis of LUAD patients while favorable prognosis of LUSC patients. CONCLUSIONS: CTSF might play an anti-tumor effect via regulating immune response of NSCLC.

Value of quantitative multiparametric MRI in differentiating pleomorphic adenomas from malignant epithelial tumors in lacrimal gland.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the diagnostic performance of the quantitative parameters derived from diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRI in differentiating lacrimal gland pleomorphic adenomas (LGPAs) from lacrimal gland malignant epithelial tumors (LGMETs). METHODS: Seventy-seven cases with LG epithelial tumors confirmed by histopathology (47 LGPAs and 30 LGMETs) underwent DWI and DCE-MRI. The quantitative parameters including the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), the volume transfer constant (Ktrans), the efflux rate constant from the extravascular extracellular space (EES) to blood plasma (Kep), and the extravascular extracellular volume fraction (Ve) were used to differentiate LGPAs from LGMETs. Independent-samples t test was conducted to compare these parameters. The diagnostic performance was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. RESULTS: Compared with LGPAs, LGMETs had significantly lower ADC value (1.090 ± 0.169mm2/s) (P < 0.001), higher Ktrans value (0.892 ± 0.517/min) (P = 0.001), and Kep value (1.300 ± 1.131/min) (P = 0.002). ADC as a diagnostic index showed a better diagnostic efficacy in predicting malignant tumors (AUC 0.914, sensitivity 90.0%, specificity 85.1%, and accuracy 87.0%) than Ktrans and Kep alone. The combination of ADC and Ktrans presented the optimal diagnostic performance for the differentiation (AUC 0.938, sensitivity 93.3%, specificity 87.2%, accuracy 89.6%). CONCLUSION: The quantitative parameters including ADC, Ktrans, and Kep derived from DWI and DCE-MRI might be potential imaging biomarkers in differentiating LGPAs from LGMETs. The combination of ADC and Ktrans is superior to other quantitative parameters in distinguishing LGPAs from LGMETs.

Multiparametric MRI findings of sinonasal rhabdomyosarcoma in adults with comparison to carcinoma.

PURPOSE: To identify magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features of sinonasal rhabdomyosarcoma in adults, including diffusion-weighted (DW) and dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRI features as compared with carcinomas. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty-four patients were included in this study, including 12 sinonasal rhabdomyosarcomas and 52 sinonasal carcinomas. MRI was completed in all 64 patients with a 3T MR scanner. Conventional MR (nonenhanced and static contrast-enhanced) imaging features, DCE-MRI parameters, and the apparent diffusion coefficients (ADCs) were analyzed by two authors independently (X.Y.W. and Y.Z.W.). RESULTS: Compared with gray matter, sinonasal rhabdomyosarcomas appeared isointense on T1 -weighted images in 11 cases (91.7%, 11 of 12), and hyperintense on T2 -weighted images in 9 patients (75%, 9 of 12). After contrast, sinonasal rhabdomyosarcomas showed inhomogeneous enhancement in 10 cases (83.3%, 10 of 12). Skull involvement was found in eight patients (66.7%) with rhabdomyosarcomas. On T2 -weighted images, sinonasal carcinomas demonstrated isointense in 31 cases (59.6%, 31/52), hyperintense in 14 (26.9%, 14/52), and hypointense in 7 (13.5%, 7/52). Skull involvement was detected in 14 cases (14/52, 26.9%). There were significant differences in T2 signal intensity (P = 0.005) and skull involvement (P = 0.016) between sinonasal rhabdomyosarcoma and carcinomas. There was a marginal difference in time to peak enhancement (P = 0.061), while no difference in time to maximum enhancement (P = 0.403), maximum contrast index (P = 0.368), and time-intensity curve types (P = 0.138) between rhabdomyosarcoma and carcinomas. The ADCs of sinonasal rhabdomyosarcoma were significantly lower than those of sinonasal carcinomas (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: A multiparametric approach using conventional MRI with added ADCs had the potential to improve the diagnostic accuracy of sinonasal rhabdomyosarcoma in adults. Evidence level: 4 J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2017;45:998-1004.

Lymphoma and inflammation in the orbit: Diagnostic performance with diffusion-weighted imaging and dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI.

PURPOSE: To investigate the diagnostic performance of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and the combination of both in the differential diagnosis of lymphoma and inflammation in the orbit. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective study was approved by the Institutional Review Board and the informed consent requirement was waived. A total of 53 patients underwent preoperative 3T MRI. Parameters of DWI and DCE MRI were evaluated in these 30 patients with orbital lymphoma and 23 patients with orbital inflammation. The diagnostic performance was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. RESULTS: Apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values and parameters derived from DCE MRI of orbital lymphoma and orbital inflammation differed significantly (ADC, Tmax , contrast index [CI], enhancement ratio [ER], and washout ratio [WR]: P < 0.001, P = 0.008, P < 0.001, P < 0.001, and P = 0.005 for reviewer 1, respectively; P < 0.001, P = 0.004, P < 0.001, P < 0.001, and P < 0.001 for reviewer 2, respectively). Sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy values of DWI were 76.67%, 100%, and 86.79% for reviewer 1; 70%, 95.65%, and 81.13% for reviewer 2, respectively. The combination of both were 90%, 86.96%, and 88.68% for reviewer 1; 93.33%, 78.26%, and 86.79% for reviewer 2, respectively. The combination of both was significantly superior to DWI for differentiation of orbital lymphoma from orbital inflammation (P = 0.016 for reviewer 1; P = 0.001 for reviewer 2). CONCLUSION: The combination of DWI and DCE MRI can improve diagnostic performance in differentiating lymphoma from inflammation in the orbit compared with DWI alone. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 3 J. MAGN. RESON. IMAGING 2017;45:1438-1445.

The correlation between pancreatic steatosis and metabolic syndrome in a Chinese population.

BACKGROUND: Type 2 diabetes mellitus, obesity and hepatic steatosis showed a strong correlation with metabolic syndrome. However, data on the influence of pancreatic steatosis on metabolic syndrome are lacking. OBJECTIVE: Our aim is to perform the prevalence of pancreatic steatosis in adults and its association with metabolic syndrome in a Chinese population. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study, randomly selected. A total of 1190 health examination subjects were recruited. Pancreatic steatosis or hepatic steatosis was diagnosed via trans-abdominal sonography. The clinical and metabolic parameters were compared between the two groups, and their associations with pancreatic steatosis were examined. RESULTS: The prevalence of pancreatic steatosis was 30.7%. The presence of pancreatic steatosis was significantly increased by age, gender, central obesity, hepatic steatosis, hypertriglyceridemia and hyperglycemia. In the logistic regression analysis, age (P < 0.05), central obesity (P < 0.01), diabetes (P < 0.05), hypertriglyceridemia (P < 0.05) and hepatic steatosis (P < 0.01) were independently associated with pancreatic steatosis. The number of the parameters of the metabolic syndrome in pancreatic steatosis group was more than that in non-pancreatic steatosis group [(2.5 ± 1.1) vs (1.4 ± 1.2)] (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: The pancreatic steatosis is strongly associated with the parameters of metabolic syndrome, such as central obesity, diabetes, and hepatic steatosis.

Research on fabric surface defect detection algorithm based on improved Yolo_v4.

In industry, the task of defect classification and defect localization is an important part of defect detection system. However, existing studies only focus on one task and it is difficult to ensure the accuracy of both tasks. This paper proposes a defect detection system based on improved Yolo_v4, which greatly improves the detection ability of minor defects. For K_Means algorithm clustering prianchors question with strong subjectivity, the paper proposes the Density Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise (DBSCAN) algorithm to determine the number of Anchors. To solve the problem of low detection rate of small targets caused by insufficient reuse rate of low-level features in CSPDarknet53 feature extraction network, this paper proposes an ECA-DenseNet-BC-121 feature extraction network to improve it. And the Dual Channel Feature Enhancement (DCFE) module is proposed to improve the local information loss and gradient propagation obstruction caused by quad chain convolution in PANet networks to improve the robustness of the model. The experimental results on the fabric surface defect detection datasets show that the mAP of the improved Yolo_v4 is 98.97%, which is 7.67% higher than SSD, 3.75% higher than Faster_RCNN, 10.82% higher than Yolo_v4 tiny, and 5.35% higher than Yolo_v4, and the detection speed reaches 39.4 fps. It can meet the real-time monitoring needs of industrial sites.

Gastrointestinal stromal tumor with small cell carcinoma infiltration: a case report.

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are the most common mesenchymal tumors of the digestive system. They usually occur in the gastrointestinal tract. However, we discovered a rare phenomenon in which small cell carcinoma infiltrated the GIST of a patient. The patient came to the hospital and presented with chest tightness and shortness of breath for 2 months and a dry cough for half a month. As the ancillary tests were refined, it was discovered that he also had a lesion in the pelvic cavity. After pathological examination of the core needle biopsy (CNB) samples from the pelvic cavity lesion, the patient was diagnosed with GIST with small cell carcinoma infiltration. The patient is currently receiving a chemotherapy regimen of etoposide combined with cisplatin.

Transcriptome analyses of betta fish (Betta splendens) provide novel insights into fin regeneration and color-related genes.

The betta fish (Betta splendens), an important ornamental fish, haswell-developed and colorful fins.After fin amputation, betta fish can easily regenerate finssimilar to the originalsin terms of structureand color. The powerful fin regeneration ability and a variety of colors in the betta fish are fascinating. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms are still not fully understood. In this study, tail fin amputation and regeneration experiments were performed on two kinds of betta fish: red and white color betta fish. Then, transcriptome analyseswere conducted to screen out fin regeneration and color-relatedgenes in betta fish. Through enrichment analyses of differentially expressed genes (DEGs), we founda series of enrichment pathways and genes related to finregeneration, including cell cycle (i.e. plcg2), TGF-beta signaling pathway (i.e. bmp6), PI3K-Akt signaling pathway (i.e. loxl2aand loxl2b), Wnt signaling pathway(i.e. lef1), gap junctions (i.e. cx43), angiogenesis (i.e. foxp1), and interferon regulatory factor (i.e. irf8). Meanwhile, some fin color-related pathways and genes were identified in betta fish, especially melanogenesis (i.e. tyr, tyrp1a, tyrp1b, and mc1r) and carotenoid color genes (i.e. pax3, pax7, sox10, and ednrba). In conclusion, this studycan not only enrich the research onfish tissue regeneration, but also has a potential significance for the aquaculture and breeding of the betta fish.

Common mtDNA variations at C5178a and A249d/T6392C/G10310A decrease the risk of severe COVID-19 in a Han Chinese population from Central China.

BACKGROUND: Mitochondria have been shown to play vital roles during severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) development. Currently, it is unclear whether mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variants, which define mtDNA haplogroups and determine oxidative phosphorylation performance and reactive oxygen species production, are associated with COVID-19 risk. METHODS: A population-based case-control study was conducted to compare the distribution of mtDNA variations defining mtDNA haplogroups between healthy controls (n = 615) and COVID-19 patients (n = 536). COVID-19 patients were diagnosed based on molecular diagnostics of the viral genome by qPCR and chest X-ray or computed tomography scanning. The exclusion criteria for the healthy controls were any history of disease in the month preceding the study assessment. MtDNA variants defining mtDNA haplogroups were identified by PCR-RFLPs and HVS-I sequencing and determined based on mtDNA phylogenetic analysis using Mitomap Phylogeny. Student's t-test was used for continuous variables, and Pearson's chi-squared test or Fisher's exact test was used for categorical variables. To assess the independent effect of each mtDNA variant defining mtDNA haplogroups, multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to calculate the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) with adjustments for possible confounding factors of age, sex, smoking and diseases (including cardiopulmonary diseases, diabetes, obesity and hypertension) as determined through clinical and radiographic examinations. RESULTS: Multivariate logistic regression analyses revealed that the most common investigated mtDNA variations (> 10% in the control population) at C5178a (in NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 gene, ND2) and A249d (in the displacement loop region, D-loop)/T6392C (in cytochrome c oxidase I gene, CO1)/G10310A (in ND3) were associated with a reduced risk of severe COVID-19 (OR = 0.590, 95% CI 0.428-0.814, P = 0.001; and OR = 0.654, 95% CI 0.457-0.936, P = 0.020, respectively), while A4833G (ND2), A4715G (ND2), T3394C (ND1) and G5417A (ND2)/C16257a (D-loop)/C16261T (D-loop) were related to an increased risk of severe COVID-19 (OR = 2.336, 95% CI 1.179-4.608, P = 0.015; OR = 2.033, 95% CI 1.242-3.322, P = 0.005; OR = 3.040, 95% CI 1.522-6.061, P = 0.002; and OR = 2.890, 95% CI 1.199-6.993, P = 0.018, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to explore the association of mtDNA variants with individual's risk of developing severe COVID-19. Based on the case-control study, we concluded that the common mtDNA variants at C5178a and A249d/T6392C/G10310A might contribute to an individual's resistance to developing severe COVID-19, whereas A4833G, A4715G, T3394C and G5417A/C16257a/C16261T might increase an individual's risk of developing severe COVID-19.

Rapid identification and analysis of the major chemical constituents from the fruits of Sapindus mukorossi by HPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS/MS.

In the present work, high performance liquid chromatography coupled to electrospray ionization and quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS/MS) has been used for the identification of the major chemical constituents from the fruits of Sapindus mukorossi. A total of 31 peaks were identified based on their accurate masses and fragmentation characteristics. Among these 9 acyclic sesquiterpene oligoglycosides and 8 triterpenoid saponins were reported from the fruits of Sapindus mukorossi for the first time. This study demonstrates the potential of HPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS/MS for analysis and identification of acyclic sesquiterpene oligoglycosides and triterpenoid saponins.

ZNF300 promotes chemoresistance and aggressive behaviour in non-small-cell lung cancer.

OBJECTIVES: Chemoresistance induced by cisplatin has become the major impediment to lung cancer chemotherapy. This study explored the potential chemoresistant genes and underlying mechanisms of chemoresistance in NSCLC. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Gene expression profile was integrated with DNA methylation profile to screen the candidate chemoresistant genes. Bioinformatic analysis and immunohistochemistry were used to analyse the association of a candidate gene with the characteristics of NSCLC patients. Recombinant lentivirus vectors were utilized to overexpress or silence candidate gene. Microarrays and immunoblotting were applied to explore the downstream targets of candidate gene. Xenograft models were established to validate the findings in vitro. RESULTS: An increased ZNF300 expression was detected in three chemoresistant cell lines of NSCLC, and the higher expression of ZNF300 was associated with poor OS of NSCLC patients. Cells with upregulated ZNF300 presented chemoresistance and enhanced aggressive growth compared to cells with downregulated ZNF300. ZNF300 inhibited MAPK/ERK pathways and activated CDK1 through inhibiting WEE1 and MYT1 and modulating MYC/AURKA/BORA/PLK1 axis. ICA and ATRA improved the anti-tumour effect of cisplatin on chemoresistant cells by inducing differentiation. CONCLUSIONS: ZNF300 promotes chemoresistance and aggressive behaviour of NSCLC through regulation of proliferation and differentiation by downregulating MAPK/ERK pathways and regulation of slow-cycling phenotype via activating CDK1 by inhibiting WEE1/MYT1 and modulating MYC/AURKA/BORA/PLK1 axis. Cisplatin, combined with ATRA and ICA, might be beneficial in chemoresistant cases of NSCLC.

Implementation and security analysis of practical quantum secure direct communication.

Rapid development of supercomputers and the prospect of quantum computers are posing increasingly serious threats to the security of communication. Using the principles of quantum mechanics, quantum communication offers provable security of communication and is a promising solution to counter such threats. Quantum secure direct communication (QSDC) is one important branch of quantum communication. In contrast to other branches of quantum communication, it transmits secret information directly. Recently, remarkable progress has been made in proof-of-principle experimental demonstrations of QSDC. However, it remains a technical feat to bring QSDC into a practical application. Here, we report the implementation of a practical quantum secure communication system. The security is analyzed in the Wyner wiretap channel theory. The system uses a coding scheme of concatenation of low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes and works in a regime with a realistic environment of high noise and high loss. The present system operates with a repetition rate of 1 MHz at a distance of 1.5 kilometers. The secure communication rate is 50 bps, sufficient to effectively send text messages and reasonably sized files of images and sounds.