CT-based delta-radiomics nomogram to predict pathological complete response after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma patients.

BACKGROUND: This study developed a nomogram model using CT-based delta-radiomics features and clinical factors to predict pathological complete response (pCR) in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) patients receiving neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT). METHODS: The study retrospectively analyzed 232 ESCC patients who underwent pretreatment and post-treatment CT scans. Patients were divided into training (n = 186) and validation (n = 46) sets through fivefold cross-validation. 837 radiomics features were extracted from regions of interest (ROIs) delineations on CT images before and after nCRT to calculate delta values. The LASSO algorithm selected delta-radiomics features (DRF) based on classification performance. Logistic regression constructed a nomogram incorporating DRFs and clinical factors. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) and area under the curve (AUC) analyses evaluated nomogram performance for predicting pCR. RESULTS: No significant differences existed between the training and validation datasets. The 4-feature delta-radiomics signature (DRS) demonstrated good predictive accuracy for pCR, with α-binormal-based and empirical AUCs of 0.871 and 0.869. T-stage (p = 0.001) and differentiation degree (p = 0.018) were independent predictors of pCR. The nomogram combined the DRS and clinical factors improved the classification performance in the training dataset (AUCαbin = 0.933 and AUCemp = 0.941). The validation set showed similar performance with AUCs of 0.958 and 0.962. CONCLUSIONS: The CT-based delta-radiomics nomogram model with clinical factors provided high predictive accuracy for pCR in ESCC patients after nCRT.

Particle morphology and soil properties affect the retention of copper oxide nanoparticles in agricultural soils.

The interaction between nanoscale copper oxides (nano-CuOs) and soil matrix significantly affects their fate and transport in soils. This study investigates the retention of nano-CuOs and Cu2+ ions in ten typical agricultural soils by employing the Freundlich adsorption model. Retention of nano-CuOs and Cu2+ in soils was well fitted by the Freundlich model. The retention parameters (KD, KF, and N) followed an order of CuO NTs > CuO NPs > Cu2+, highlighting significant impact of nano-CuOs morphology. The KF and N values of CuO NPs/Cu2+ were positively correlated with soil pH and electrical conductivity (EC), but exhibited a weaker correlation for CuO NTs. Soil pH and/or EC could be used to predict KF and N values of CuO NPs or CuO NTs, with additional clay content should be included for Cu2+.The different relationship between retention parameters and soil properties may suggest that CuO NTs retention mainly caused by agglomeration, whereas adsorption and agglomeration were of equal importance to CuO NPs. The amendment of Ca2+ at low and medium concentration promoted retention of nano-CuOs in alkaline soils, but reduced at high concentration. These findings provided critical insights into the fate of nano-CuOs in soil environments, with significant implications for environmental risk assessment and soil remediation strategies.

EF24 exerts cytotoxicity against NSCLC via inducing ROS accumulation.

BACKGROUND: The role of Diphenyldifluoroketone (EF24), a synthetic analogue of curcumin with noteworthy antitumor potential, remains unclear in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Herein, the inhibitory effect of EF24 on NSCLC and its mechanism were studied. METHODS: Cytotoxicity was measured by MTT assay, colony formation assay and xenograft model. Cell apoptosis and reactive oxygen species (ROS) level were quantified by flow cytometer. Protein level was detected by western blot assay. Mitochondria and autophagosomes were observed using transmission electron microscope and confocal microscopy. RESULTS: In-vitro, EF24 significantly induced proliferation inhibition, apoptosis, mitochondrial fission and autophagy of NSCLC cell lines. These cytotoxic effects were significantly attenuated by two reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavengers, indicating its anti-cancer effects largely depend on ROS accumulation. In-vivo, EF24 inhibited tumor growth in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, no pathological changes of heart, lung, spleen, kidney and liver of mice were observed. Collectively, EF24 induced ROS accumulation, in turn activates cell apoptosis, and then exerts its cytotoxicity on NSCLC cells. CONCLUSIONS: The results showed that EF24 exerted cytotoxicity against NSCLC via ROS accumulation. Thus, EF24 might serve as a potential anti-cancer agent for the treatment of NSCLC.

Effect of Soil Properties and Aging Time on Oral and Inhalation Bioaccessibility of Copper Oxide Nanoparticles in Soils.

In this study, soils spiked with copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO NPs) or Cu(NO3)2 and aged as long as 90 days were utilized to investigate effect of soil properties and aging on oral and inhalation bioaccessibility of CuO NPs. Results showed that oral bioaccessibility of CuO NPs in gastric phase (GP) ranged from 70% to 84%, it significantly decreased to 50%-70% in intestinal phase (IP). The inhalation bioaccessibility of CuO NPs in artificial lysosomal fluid (ALF) ranged from 66% to 85%, and much higher than that in Gamble's solution (GS, 3.3%-23%). By comparing CuO NPs to Cu(NO3)2 bioaccessibility, insignificant difference was found. The aging time (D15 and D90) had limited effect on their oral and inhalation bioaccessibility. CEC and free Al were positively and clay content was negatively correlated with CuO NPs inhalation bioaccessibility, while Cu(NO3)2 inhalation bioaccessibility decreased with increasing soil clay content and pH. Our findings provide an essential basis to evaluate the human health risks of CuO NPs.

Efficient Compressive Strength Prediction of Alkali-Activated Waste Materials Using Machine Learning.

This study explores the integration of machine learning (ML) techniques to predict and optimize the compressive strength of alkali-activated materials (AAMs) sourced from four industrial waste streams: blast furnace slag, fly ash, reducing slag, and waste glass. Aimed at mitigating the labor-intensive trial-and-error method in AAM formulation, ML models can predict the compressive strength and then streamline the mixture compositions. By leveraging a dataset of only 42 samples, the Random Forest (RF) model underwent fivefold cross-validation to ensure reliability. Despite challenges posed by the limited datasets, meticulous data processing steps facilitated the identification of pivotal features that influence compressive strength. Substantial enhancement in predicting compressive strength was achieved with the RF model, improving the model accuracy from 0.05 to 0.62. Experimental validation further confirmed the ML model's efficacy, as the formulations ultimately achieved the desired strength threshold, with a significant 59.65% improvement over the initial experiments. Additionally, the fact that the recommended formulations using ML methods only required about 5 min underscores the transformative potential of ML in reshaping AAM design paradigms and expediting the development process.

A novel offset cancellation based on parasitic-insensitive switched-capacitor sensing circuit for the out-of-plane single-Gimbaled decoupled CMOS-MEMS gyroscope.

This paper presents a novel parasitic-insensitive switched-capacitor (PISC) sensing circuit design in order to obtain high sensitivity and ultra linearity and reduce the parasitic effect for the out-of-plane single-gimbaled decoupled CMOS-MEMS gyroscope (SGDG). According to the simulation results, the proposed PISC circuit has better sensitivity and high linearity in a wide dynamic range. Experimental results also show a better performance. In addition, the PISC circuit can use signal processing to cancel the offset and noise. Thus, this circuit is very suitable for gyroscope measurement.

Variation of lead bioaccessibility in soil reference materials: Intra- and inter-laboratory assessments.

Standard reference materials (SRMs) have been commonly used to perform quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) in soil total metal concentration analyses or bioaccessibility assessment. In this study, 10 experimenters from 4 laboratories determined bioaccessibility of lead (Pb) in 4 widely-used SRMs (NIST 2710a, NIST 2587, BGS 102, and GBW 07405). Based on the gastric phase (GP) of the unified BARGE bioaccessibility method (UBM) and the Solubility Bioavailability Research Consortium procedure (SBRC), Pb bioaccessibility in SRMs was compared within and between laboratories to assess their intra-laboratory repeatability and inter-laboratory reproducibility. Lead bioaccessibility was 14.1 ± 2.44%-101 ± 2.48% in the 4 SRMs. The values were in vivo validated based on a mouse model in previous studies (R2 = 0.97-0.98), suggesting the reliability of Pb bioaccessibility data. Strong correlations were observed for Pb bioaccessibility among 7 experimenters (R2 = 0.94-0.99) at the Nanjing University (NJU) laboratory and similar strong correlations were also found between each two of the 4 laboratories (R2 = 0.94-0.98), illustrating consistency in intra- and inter-laboratory performance. The intra-laboratory repeatability and inter-laboratory reproducibility were generally acceptable with relative standard deviations (RSDs) of Pb bioaccessibility being ≤10% within laboratory and ≤20% between laboratories, except in a soil with low bioaccessible Pb (BSG 102). Our study suggested that measurements of Pb bioaccessibility in SRMs based on the two in vivo validated methods were repeatable and reproducible within and between laboratories, further verified their reliability being used as QA/QC samples during Pb bioaccessibility assessment.

Development of bio-mechanical rice straw pulp by high consistency kneader with thermal and Alkaline.

The purpose of this study was to develop a bio-mechanical pulp from rice straw with thermal and low chemical dosage. The process is carried out by thermal alkali kneading pretreatment (0-5% NaOH) with a high concentration kneader, enzyme pretreatment (0.2-4%) and Hollander beater. The results showed that the addition of NaOH was the main factor affecting the properties of pulp and paper, and the best properties of straw pulp could be obtained when NaOH and enzyme dosage were 5% and 0.2%, respectively. Although the optimum rice straw pulp is inferior to straw soda pulp in terms of tensile, burst and ring crush index, it is superior to old corrugated cardboard pulp and partially meets the CNS standards of corrugated medium paper and linerboard without the addition of chemicals. Therefore, the bio-mechanical rice straw pulp in this study has the potential to be produced as industrial paper.

Plasmon-Enhanced Fluorescence Emission of an Electric Dipole Modulated by a Nanoscale Silver Hemisphere.

The spontaneous emission of a fluorophore is altered by the surrounding electromagnetic field. Therefore, the radiation of the fluorophore can be engineered by inter-coupling with the nanoscale plasmons. This work proposes a nanoscale hemisphere structure that enhances the electric field and further modulates its effects on fluorophores by adjusting the radius of the hemisphere. A full-wave simulation is carried out using the finite element method, and the radiation characteristics of the nanoscale hemisphere are studied in detail. Compared with free space, the structure has generated significant enhancement exceeding 30. Through curve fitting, the relationship between the enhanced peak wavelength and the radius of the hemisphere is obtained.

Liensinine Inhibits Cell Growth and Blocks Autophagic Flux in Nonsmall-Cell Lung Cancer.

Liensinine is a bioactive component of Plumula Nelumbinis extracted from the green embryo of the mature seeds of Nelumbonaceae and exhibits therapeutic functions and noteworthy anti-tumor effects in recent studies. However, the potential anti-tumor property and the underlying mechanisms of liensinine in nonsmall-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have not been illustrated. In this study, we demonstrated that liensinine has the potential anti-tumor property, and it could inhibit growth of NSCLC in vitro and in vivo. In addition, we found that although it induced significant accumulation of autophagosomes, liensinine could quench them for degradation and blocked autophagic flux. Importantly, we observed that liensinine inhibited the normal function of mitochondrial energy supply and impaired the lysosomal function. This research firstly provides a possibility insight that liensinine could be a novel therapeutic strategy for NSCLC.

Coupling in vitro assays with sequential extraction to investigate cadmium bioaccessibility in contaminated soils.

To understand how Cd in different fractions contributes to Cd bioaccessibility by in vitro assays, Cd bioaccessibility in 12 contaminated soils was determined by four assays (UBM, SBRC, IVG, and PBET) and correlated with different Cd fractions based on a sequential extraction scheme. The Cd bioaccessibility in the gastric phase (GP) was high (35-107%, averaging at 77%), implicating high risk to human health, while it decreased to 19-88% averaging at 47% in the intestinal phased (IP). From the GP to IP, the reduction of extractable Cd (0.45-48 mg kg-1) and Fe (118-3884 mg kg-1) showed significant correlation (R = 0.54-0.74) via UBM, SBRC, and IVG, suggesting co-precipitation with Fe and/or sorption onto Fe oxides maybe responsible for decrease in Cd bioaccessibility. Although Cd bioaccessibility varied among assays, their results show some consistency based on their correlation in the GP (R = 0.56-0.90) and IP (0.34-0.73, excluding UBM-IP and PBET-IP). Sequential extraction data show that Cd was primarily associated with the exchangeable fraction (E1; 7.05-72.9%, averaging 39.4%). The carbonate (C2; 6.86-44.8%, 21.9%) and Fe/Mn oxides fraction (F3; 12.5-53.6%, 28.2%) were similar, while organic (O4; 0.62-25.0%, 7.91%) and residual fraction (R5; 0.22-8.54%, 2.62%) were the lowest. Significant correlation (R = 0.59-0.88) between the first two fractions (E1+C2) and bioaccessible Cd suggest they were the main sources of bioaccessible Cd in those contaminated soils.

Feasibility of substituting old corrugated carton pulp with thermal alkali and enzyme pretreated semichemical mechanical rice straw pulp.

In this study, we separately used a laboratory Hollander beater, a pilot scale 12″ single-disc refiner and an expanded trial with a commercial paper mold mill to investigate the feasibility of using thermal-alkali/enzyme pretreated rice straw semi-chemical mechanical pulp to substitute portions of old corrugated carton board (OCC) pulp in the paper industry. In the laboratory plan, sequential treatments of NaOH at a 5-10% dosage and enzymes at a 0.2-4% dosage were applied to rice straw, followed by beating using a Hollander beater for 1-2 h to complete the rice straw semi-chemical mechanical pulping process. When the NaOH dosage, enzyme dosage and refining time were 10%, 0.2% and 1 h, the best quality rice straw pulp was obtained. Along with the increase in NaOH dosage, the pulp freeness decreased significantly, and the pulp accepted rate increased. Enzymatic treatment enhanced rice straw quality only after NaOH dosage treatment, which then reacted with rice straw to increase the quality of pulp. In the expanded trial, the rice straw semi-chemical mechanical pulp was blended with OCC pulp (0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%) to form handsheets. Along with an increase in rice straw proportions, the tensile index, burst index, and ring-crush index increased by 109-200%, 13-196%, and 124-187%, respectively. In an online commercial paper mold mill trial, blending rice straw pulp with OCC could successfully make paper-mold egg cartons, with both mill operation and product smoothness appearance being highly acceptable.

Chip implementation with a combined wireless temperature sensor and reference devices based on the DZTC principle.

This paper presents a novel CMOS wireless temperature sensor design in order to improve the sensitivity and linearity of our previous work on such devices. Based on the principle of CMOS double zero temperature coefficient (DZTC) points, a combined device is first created at the chip level with two voltage references, one current reference, and one temperature sensor. It was successfully fabricated using the 0.35 µm CMOS process. According to the chip results in a wide temperature range from -20 °C to 120 °C, two voltage references can provide temperature-stable outputs of 823 mV and 1,265 mV with maximum deviations of 0.2 mV and 8.9 mV, respectively. The result for the current reference gives a measurement of 23.5 µA, with a maximum deviation of 1.2 µA. The measurements also show that the wireless temperature sensor has good sensitivity of 9.55 mV/°C and high linearity of 97%. The proposed temperature sensor has 4.15-times better sensitivity than the previous design. Moreover, to facilitate temperature data collection, standard wireless data transmission is chosen; therefore, an 8-bit successive-approximation-register (SAR) analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and a 433 MHz wireless transmitter are also integrated in this chip. Sensing data from different places can be collected remotely avoiding the need for complex wire lines.

Plasma miR-1247-5p, miR-301b-3p and miR-105-5p as potential biomarkers for early diagnosis of non-small cell lung cancer.

BACKGROUND: Accumulating evidence shows that microRNAs are aberrantly expressed and exert essential roles in the tumorigenesis and tumor progression of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). METHODS: The plasma miRNAs from five healthy donors and four NSCLC patients were profiled by miRNA microarray. The differentially expressed miRNAs from 154 primary NSCLC patients and 146 healthy donors were subjected to RNA isolation and verified by quantitative PCR (qPCR). RESULTS: The miRNA microarray analysis revealed that 40 differential miRNAs between NSCLC patients and healthy donors were selected. We found that the plasma miR-1247-5p, miR-301b-3p and miR-105-5p levels of patients were significantly higher than those of healthy controls. The receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analyses revealed higher area under the ROC curve (AUC) values and higher sensitivity/specificity of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in combination with miR-1247-5p, miR-301b-3p, or miR-105-5p were superior to that of CEA alone. CONCLUSIONS: High miR-1247-5p, miR-301b-3p and miR-105-5p expression have been demonstrated to accelerate tumorigenesis, and these three miRNAs in plasma act as novel biomarkers for the early diagnosis of NSCLC patients. KEY POINTS: Plasma miR-1247-5p, miR-301b-3p and miR-105-5p act as novel biomarkers for early NSCLC and NSCLC.

Tumor-educated platelet SNORD55 as a potential biomarker for the early diagnosis of non-small cell lung cancer.

BACKGROUND: Despite the emerging insights into many snoRNAs (small nucleolar RNAs) which are detectable in body fluids and serve as noninvasive biomarkers, few studies have previously discussed the role of snoRNAs in tumor-educated platelets (TEPs). Herein, we systematically estimated dysregulation of snoRNAs in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and clarified the biomarker potential of SNORD55 in platelets. METHODS: We compared expression of snoRNAs between NSCLC and normal tissues using SNORic datasets. Platelets were isolated from plasma using low-speed centrifugation and subjected to quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) for SNORD55 detection. RESULTS: SNORD55 was significantly decreased in TEPs from NSCLC patients especially in early-stage patients compared with healthy controls. Importantly, we validated that TEP SNORD55 was capable of acting as a promising biomarker for NSCLC. It exerted diagnostic performance for NSCLC diagnosis, possessing an AUC of 0.803, as well as for early NSCLC diagnosis, possessing an AUC of 0.784. Moreover, the combination of TEP SNORD55 and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) improved the diagnostic efficiency of cancer progression. In addition, TEP SNORD55 also potentially acts as a noninvasive early biomarker for lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) and lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC) with favorable diagnostic efficiencies. CONCLUSIONS: In summary, TEP SNORD55 could potentially serve as a noninvasive biomarker for NSCLC diagnosis and early diagnosis. KEY POINTS: SNORD55 was significantly decreased in TEPs from NSCLC patients compared to healthy controls and acted as a novel biomarker for early NSCLC.

TIPE1 Suppresses Growth and Metastasis of Ovarian Cancer.

TIPE1, a newly identified member in TIPE (TNFAIP8) family, plays an important role in tumorigenesis and immune regulation, but its role in ovarian cancer, especially in tumor metastasis, remains unknown. In the current study, we aimed to reveal the protein expression spectrum of TIPE1 in normal human tissues and explored its relationship with metastasis in ovarian cancer. The results of IHC staining showed that TIPE1 protein was not only detected in cytoplasm in most human tissues but also expressed in both cytoplasm and nucleus in squamous epithelium and some epithelial-derived cells with secretory functions, such as esophagus, cervix uteri and ovary, and thyroid gland. Moreover, TIPE1 protein was downregulated in ovarian cancer tissues compared with that in the paracancerous. More importantly, TIPE1 suppressed tumorigenesis and metastasis of ovarian cancer in vitro and in vivo, as evidence shows its ability to suppress growth, colony formation, migration, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of ovarian cancer. Taken together, our results demonstrate the suppressor role of TIPE1 in ovarian cancer metastasis, indicating TIPE1 might be a metastasis predictor and a novel therapeutic target for ovarian cancer.

Chemical compositions and source apportionment of PM2.5 during clear and hazy days: Seasonal changes and impacts of Youth Olympic Games.

Seasonal changes in chemical compositions and source apportionment of PM2.5 during clear and hazy days help to develop effective control policy, but limited information is available in megacity Nanjing. In this study, 102 PM2.5 samples were collected during clear and hazy days from 4 seasons in 2014-2015. Their chemical compositions (organic and elemental carbon, 8 water-soluble ions, and 22 inorganic elements) were determined, which were used for PM2.5 source apportionment using the PMF model. The mean PM2.5 concentration was lower during clear days than hazy days (42 vs. 122 µg m-3), so were mean concentrations of metals (0.48 vs. 0.82 ng m-3 for Co and 2.0 vs. 2.4 µg m-3 for Na), water soluble ions (0.10 vs. 0.16 µg m-3 for Mg2+ and 12 vs. 23 µg m-3 for SO42-), and carbon species (3.2 vs. 5.4 µg m-3 for elemetal C and 20 vs. 35 µg m-3 for organic C). Based on the PMF model, five main sources of PM2.5 were identified including secondary aerosols (31%), coal combustion (27%), road & construction dust (26%), oil combustion (8.5%), and iron & steel industry (5.1%) for all samples. The PM2.5 concentrations from the 5 sources were 0.01-46.5, averaging 9.8 µg m-3 during clear days (PM2.5 < 75 µg m-3), which increased to 1.83-60.1, averaging 18 µg m-3 during hazy days. However, based on their contributions to PM2.5, only secondary aerosols increased during hazy days compared to clear days in all seasons (11 vs. 42%), indicating its dominant contribution to haze in Nanjing. For different seasons, road & construction dust was a major contributor to PM2.5 in the summer, while oil combustion (4.86 vs.16.8%) contributed more in spring. However, coal combustion became the main source of PM2.5 during the summer (44-85%) due to the pollution controls for the Youth Olympic Games. Our results suggest that secondary aerosols play an important role in haze formation and season-dependent pollution measures should be implemented for effective control of air pollution.

NEO212 induces mitochondrial apoptosis and impairs autophagy flux in ovarian cancer.

BACKGROUND: Temozolomide-perillyl alcohol conjugate (NEO212), a novel temozolomide (TMZ) analog, was previously reported to exert its anti-cancer effect in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and human nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), etc.. In the current study, we intend to illuminate the potential anticancer property and the underly mechanisms of NEO212 in ovarian cancer cells. METHODS: The cytotoxicity of NEO212 was detected by MTT, colony formation analysis and xenograft model. The proteins involved in cell proliferation, DNA damage, autophagy and lysosomal function were detected by western blots; mitochondria, lysosome and autophagosome were visualized by TEM and/or immunofluorescence; Apoptosis, cell cycle analysis and mitochondrial transmembrane potential were detected by flow cytometry. TFEB translocation was detected by immunofluorescence and western blot. RESULTS: NEO212 has the potential anticancer property in ovarian cancer cells, as evidence from cell proliferation inhibition, G2/M arrest, DNA damage, xenograft, mitochondrial dysfunction and apoptosis. Importantly, we observed that although it induced significant accumulation of autophagosomes, NEO212 quenched GFP-LC3 degradation, down-regulated a series of lysosome related gene expression and blocked the autophagic flux, which significantly facilitated it induced apoptosis and was largely because it inhibited the nuclear translocation of transcription factor EB (EB). CONCLUSIONS: NEO212 inhibited TFEB translocation, and impaired the lysosomal function, implying NEO212 might avoid from autophagy mediated chemo-resistance, thus proposing NEO212 as a potential therapeutic candidate for ovarian cancer.