Exploration of lymph node recurrence patterns and delineation guidelines of radiation field in middle thoracic oesophageal carcinomas after radical surgery: a real-world study.

BACKGROUND: Oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma is one of the most commonly diagnosed carcinomas in China, and postoperative radiotherapy plays an important role in improving the prognosis of patients. Carcinomas in different locations of the oesophagus could have different patterns of lymph node metastasis after surgery. METHODS: In this multicentric retrospective study, we enrolled patients with middle thoracic oesophageal squamous cell carcinomas from 3 cancer centres, and none of the patients underwent radiotherapy before or after surgery. We analysed the lymph node recurrence rates in different stations to explore the postoperative lymphatic recurrence pattern. RESULTS: From January 1st, 2014, to December 31st, 2019, 132 patients met the criteria, and were included in this study. The lymphatic recurrence rate was 62.1%. Pathological stage (P = 0.032) and lymphadenectomy method (P = 0.006) were significant predictive factors of lymph node recurrence. The recurrence rates in the supraclavicular, upper and lower paratracheal stations of lymph nodes were 32.6%, 28.8% and 16.7%, respectively, showing a high incidence. The recurrence rate of the subcarinal node station was 9.8%, while 8.3% (upper, middle and lower) thoracic para-oesophageal nodes had recurrences. CONCLUSIONS: We recommend including the supraclavicular, upper and lower paratracheal stations of lymph nodes in the postoperative radiation field in middle thoracic oesophageal carcinomas. Subcarinal station is also potentially high-risk, while whether to include thoracic para-oesophageal or abdominal nodes needs careful consideration.

All-fiber laser system for all-optical 87Rb Bose Einstein condensate to space application.

In the development of the Cold Atom Physics Research Rack (CAPR) on board the Chinese Space Station, the laser system plays a critical role in preparing the all-optical 87 R b Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs). An all-fiber laser system has been developed for CAPR to provide the required optical fields for atom interaction and to maintain the beam pointing in long-term operation. The laser system integrates a 780 nm fiber laser system and an all-fiber optical control module for sub-Doppler cooling, as well as an all-fiber 1064 nm laser system for evaporative cooling. The high-power, single-frequency 780 nm lasers are achieved through rare-Earth doped fiber amplification, fiber frequency-doubling, and frequency stabilization technology. The all-fiber optical control module divides the output of the 780 nm laser system into 15 channels and regulates them for cooling, trapping, and probing atoms. Moreover, the power consistency of each pair of cooling beams is ensured by three power tracking modules, which is a prerequisite for maintaining stable MOT and molasses. A high-power, compact, controlled-flexible, and highly stable l064 nm all-fiber laser system employing two-stage ytterbium-doped fiber amplifier (YDFA) technology has been designed for evaporative cooling in the optical dipole trap (ODT). Finally, an all-optical 87 R b BEC is realized with this all-fiber laser system, which provides an alternative solution for trapping and manipulating ultra-cold atoms in challenging environmental conditions.

Inter-satellite laser-ranging based on intradyne coherent detection.

With the development of laser communication networking, laser-ranging technology is becoming more and more applicable. In this paper, high-accuracy ranging is implemented based on intradyne coherent detection at a communication rate of 1048.576 Mbps. The ranging accuracy is affected by clock phase calculation error and code loop track error. Parallel clock phase difference calculation, frame head correlation, and ranging ambiguity region handle are combined with the ranging calibration method, realizing millimeter-level corrected distance measurement. Dynamic range measurement above 1 m is proven to be continuous through the ranging ambiguity region handle. In addition, high-precision clock frequency deviation between two asynchronous terminals can be obtained through derivation of one-way distance at static ranging or by derivative of distance difference at bidirectional ranging. The methods proposed in this paper are verified by inter-satellite laser-ranging on orbit, and the results are analyzed.

CK19 stabilizes CFTR at the cell surface by limiting its endocytic pathway degradation.

Protein interactions that stabilize the cystic fibrosis (CF) transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) at the apical membranes of epithelial cells have not yet been fully elucidated. We identified keratin 19 (CK19 or K19) as a novel CFTR-interacting protein. CK19 overexpression stabilized both wild-type (WT)-CFTR and Lumacaftor (VX-809)-rescued F508del-CFTR (where F508del is the deletion of the phenylalanine residue at position 508) at the plasma membrane (PM), promoting Cl- secretion across human bronchial epithelial (HBE) cells. CK19 prevention of Rab7A-mediated lysosomal degradation was a key mechanism in apical CFTR stabilization. Unexpectedly, CK19 expression was decreased by ∼40% in primary HBE cells from homogenous F508del patients with CF relative to non-CF controls. CK19 also positively regulated multidrug resistance-associated protein 4 expression at the PM, suggesting that this keratin may regulate the apical expression of other ATP-binding cassette proteins as well as CFTR.-Hou, X., Wu, Q., Rajagopalan, C., Zhang, C., Bouhamdan, M., Wei, H., Chen, X., Zaman, K., Li, C., Sun, X., Chen, S., Frizzell, R. A., Sun, F. CK19 stabilizes CFTR at the cell surface by limiting its endocytic pathway degradation.

[Establishment of quality control model for high performance liquid chromatography fingerprint based on ultraviolet full-wavelength scanning spectrum: case study on different grades of Scrophulariae Radix].

High performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet(HPLC-UV) fingerprint is one of the most important methods for the quality control of Chinese medicines in Chinese Pharmacopoeia. However, certain subjectivity is present in selection of specific band of UV, and the inherent quality differences of Chinese medicine can't be well characterized by this method. Therefore, with different grades of Scrophulariae Radix were taken as the research object in this study, a new quality control model of HPLC-UV was established in this study based on the ultraviolet full-wavelength scanning spectrum. Firstly, different grades of Scrophulariae Radix samples were collected, and the full-wavelength ultraviolet absorption spectra of all the samples were established at the bands of 200-400 nm. In order to analyze the differences among samples, the analysis model was built following multivariate statistical analysis methods such as principal component analysis(PCA) and partial least squares discrimination analysis(PLS-DA) after the pretreatment of spectral data. The result showed that the ultraviolet band at 251 nm may contribute most to distinguish the quality differences among different grades of samples. Then, the HPLC fingerprints of samples were established with the band at 251 nm. The multivariate statistical analysis showed that there was a more significant classification trend in HPLC fingerprints than that in the original UV fingerprints, which could be used to distinguish different grades of samples, and could better reflect the differences among different grades. The method reported in this study can be of a great guidance and reference for the establishment of specific fingerprints of Chinese medicines as well as for the quality control of Chinese medicine.

Experimental verification of coherent tracking system based on fiber nutation.

We report a coherent tracking system based on fiber nutation for inter-satellite beaconless laser communication, which uses a piezo-electric ceramic tube (PCT) to drive the end face of single mode fiber (SMF) for nutation, and uses coherent demodulation method to directly calculate the boresight error from the intensity envelope fluctuation of signal light. The method is given theoretically and verified experimentally. Under the condition of fiber nutation frequency is 2000Hz and nutation radius is 1.1um, the experimental verification results in our interested range of signal light power (1nW-10nW) meet our design requirements. The receiving field of view (FOV) of tracking system is more than 300urad, and the closed-loop tracking bandwidth (-3dB) is about 115 Hz. When the boresight error is fixed at 80urad, the real calculation error is less than 10%. The closed-loop performance of tracking system is insensitive to the change of signal light power. Our coherent tracking system is of great significance to the inter-satellite beaconless laser communication.

Inter-satellite laser communication system based on double Risley prisms beam steering.

We designed an intensity modulation direct detection free-space laser communication terminal. In this system, the output power of the signal-modulated semiconductor laser amplified by two-stage fiber amplifier is 2 W, and the modulation contrast is 15 dB. Tracking of the incident beam and demodulation of the communication signal are realized by using a quadrant avalanche photodiode (APD). By means of rotating double Risley prisms, the ranges of the pitching angle and azimuth angle are ±35 and ±180 deg, respectively. The focal length of the transceiver lens is 125 mm, and the final communication field of view is 4 mrad. Without error correction coding, the sensitivity of -44.5 dBm was achieved, while the bit-error rate was below 10-3 at 70 Mbps. We also established a laser communication experiment at the laboratory; the platform jitter below 5 Hz can be effectively suppressed. The laser communication system has a compact structure, low power consumption, and effective suppression of low-frequency and high-amplitude angle jitter of the platform. The experiments demonstrate that the laser communication terminal can be used in an inter-satellite laser communication with a distance of thousands of kilometers. The theoretical analysis and experimental results are presented in the paper.

Homodyne coherent optical receiver for intersatellite communication.

For increasing the data rate and reducing the power consumption in satellite communication systems, free-space optical communication technology has been verified as an attractive alternative to traditional radiofrequency communication systems. In this study, a high-sensitivity homodyne coherent optical receiver was demonstrated. A sensitivity of -59.2 dBm was achieved with an unencoded bit-error rate below 10-3 at a bit rate of 1 Gbps (9.4 photons/bit does not include any overhead for forward error correction). To achieve homodyne detection, a modified decision-driven Costas optical phase-locked loop and a digital control algorithm were used to suppress the phase error and track the Doppler shift. Test experiments show that the receiver sensitivity penalty caused by the phase error is approximately 1 dB and that the receiver can track a Doppler shift at the speed of 100 MHz/s. Test experiments demonstrate that the receiver has a robust adaptive capacity to received-power fluctuation. The theoretical analysis and experimental results are presented in this paper.

Toll-like Receptor (TLR) Signaling Interacts with CREBH to Modulate High-density Lipoprotein (HDL) in Response to Bacterial Endotoxin.

Bacterial endotoxin can induce inflammatory and metabolic changes in the host. In this study, we revealed a molecular mechanism by which a stress-inducible, liver-enriched transcription factor, cAMP-responsive element-binding protein hepatic-specific (CREBH), modulates lipid profiles to protect the liver from injuries upon the bacterial endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS). LPS challenge can activate CREBH in mouse liver tissues in a toll-like receptor (TLR)/MyD88-dependent manner. Upon LPS challenge, CREBH interacts with TNF receptor-associated factor 6 (TRAF6), an E3 ubiquitin ligase that functions as a key mediator of TLR signaling, and this interaction relies on MyD88. Further analysis demonstrated that TRAF6 mediates K63-linked ubiquitination of CREBH to facilitate CREBH cleavage and activation. CREBH directly activates expression of the gene encoding Apolipoprotein A4 (ApoA4) under LPS challenge, leading to modulation of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) in animals. CREBH deficiency led to reduced production of circulating HDL and increased liver damage upon high-dose LPS challenge. Therefore, TLR/MyD88-dependent, TRAF6-facilitated CREBH activation represents a mammalian hepatic defense response to bacterial endotoxin by modulating HDL.

SUMOylation represses the transcriptional activity of the Unfolded Protein Response transducer ATF6.

The Unfolded Protein Response (UPR) is a cascade of intracellular stress signaling from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) that protect the cells from the stress caused by accumulation of unfolded or misfolded proteins in the ER. Activating transcription factor 6 (ATF6) is one of primary UPR transducers that remodels the stressed cells through transcriptional regulation. Although the activation mechanism and biological roles of ATF6 have been well studied, the understanding of the negative or feedback regulation of ATF6 remains elusive. In this report, we showed that ATF6 protein can be modified by small ubiquitin-like modification (SUMOylation) and that the transcriptional activity of ATF6 is negatively regulated by SUMOylation. We identified that SUMOylation of ATF6 is significantly increased in the cells expressing misfolded cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) encoded by the mutant human CFTR gene (dF508CFTR). Further analyses revealed two highly conserved SUMOylation motifs within the trans-activation domain of ATF6 protein of human, mouse, or rat specie. The human ATF6 protein can be SUMOylated mediated through the small ubiquitin-like modifier protein 1 (SUMO-1) and E3 SUMO-protein ligase 1 (PIAS1) at the conserved sumoylation residue Lys149 that is located at the N-terminal of the activated form of ATF6 protein. Bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) analysis confirmed that the activated ATF6 protein can be SUMOylated and that the ATF6 sumoylation occurs in the nuclei. Moreover, trans-activation reporter analysis demonstrated that SUMOylation of the ATF6 protein at the conserved residue Lys149 represses the transcriptional activity of ATF6. In summary, our study revealed a negative regulation of the UPR transducer ATF6 through post-translational SUMOylation. The information from this study will not only increase our understanding of the fine-tuning regulation of the UPR signaling but will also be informative to the modulation of the UPR for therapeutic benefits.

Design and simulation of a biconic multipass absorption cell for the frequency stabilization of the reference seeder laser in IPDA lidar.

The design process and simulation method of a multipass absorption cell used for the frequency stabilization of the reference seeder laser in integrated path differential absorption (IPDA) lidar are presented. On the basis of the fundamental theory of the Herriott multipass cell comprising two spherical mirrors, the initial parameters of the multipass cell, which has an optical path greater than 10 m and consists of two biconic mirrors, were calculated. More than 30 light spots were distributed on each mirror, and the distance between adjacent spots was mostly optimized to greater than six times the beam waist. After optimization, the simulated transmittance spectrum and associated differential signal were obtained. The interference induced by surface scattering was also simulated, and its influence on the differential signal was analyzed. A correspondence between the simulated results and the testing data was observed.

Fiber laser-based scanning lidar for space rendezvous and docking.

Lidar systems have played an important role in space rendezvous and docking (RVD). A new type of scanning lidar is developed using a high-repetition-rate pulsed fiber laser and a position detector. It will be a candidate for autonomous space RVD between two spacecrafts. The lidar can search and track cooperative targets in a large region without artificial guidance. The lidar's operational range spans from 18 m to 20 km, and the relative angle between two aircrafts can be measured with high accuracy. A novel fiber laser with tunable pulse energy and repetition rate is developed to meet the wide dynamic detection range of the lidar. This paper presents the lidar system's composition, performance, and experimental results in detail.

In-band pumped polarized, narrow-linewidth Er:YAG laser at 1645 nm.

We report a polarized, narrow-linewidth Er:YAG laser operating at 1645 nm, in-band pumped by a continuous-wave (CW), narrowband 1532 nm fiber-coupled laser diode (LD). A maximum polarized continuous wave output power of 8.45 W was obtained, resulting in an optical conversion efficiency of 56% with respect to the absorbed pump power. The central wavelength was measured to be 1645.45 nm, with a full width at half-maximum of 0.13 nm. For Q-switched operation, pulse energy of 12 mJ at 100 Hz pulse repetition frequency and 95 ns pulse duration was yielded. To the best of our knowledge, this polarized pulse energy is the highest energy reported for a Q-switched Er:YAG laser pumped by a CW LD.

High efficiency, linearly polarized, directly diode-pumped Er:YAG laser at 1617 nm.

An efficient, directly diode-pumped Er:YAG laser at 1617 nm was demonstrated. A folding mirror with high reflectivity for the s-polarized light at the laser wavelength was used to achieve a linearly polarized laser. A maximum continuous-wave output power of 7.73 W was yielded under incident pump power of 50.57 W, and the optical conversion efficiency with respect to incident pump power was ∼15.28%, which was the highest optical conversion efficiency with directly diode-pumped Er:YAG lasers up to now; in Q-switched operation, the maximum pulse energy of 7.82 mJ was generated with pulse duration of about 80 ns at a pulse repetition frequency of 500 Hz.

Eye-safe single-frequency single-mode polarized all-fiber pulsed laser with peak power of 361 W.

An all-fiber, single-frequency, single-mode linearly polarized, high peak power pulsed laser at 1540 nm for coherent Doppler wind lidar is demonstrated. A narrow-linewidth seed laser is pulse modulated by an acousto-optic modulator and then amplified by two-stage cascade amplifiers. An 0.8 m long erbium/ytterbium co-doped polarization-maintaining fiber with a core diameter of 10 µm is used as the gain fiber of a power amplifier, and longitudinally varied strains are applied on the gain fiber to realize approximately 3.4 times enhancement of the stimulated Brillouin scattering threshold. Peak power of 361 W pulse width of 200 ns at 10 kHz repetition rate is achieved with transform-limited linewidth and diffraction-limited beam quality. To the best of our knowledge, it is the highest peak power of an eye-safe, single-mode narrow-linewidth pulsed fiber laser based on 10 µm core diameter silica fiber.

TalkingStyle: Personalized Speech-Driven 3D Facial Animation with Style Preservation.

It is a challenging task to create realistic 3D avatars that accurately replicate individuals' speech and unique talking styles for speech-driven facial animation. Existing techniques have made remarkable progress but still struggle to achieve lifelike mimicry. This paper proposes "TalkingStyle", a novel method to generate personalized talking avatars while retaining the talking style of the person. Our approach uses a set of audio and animation samples from an individual to create new facial animations that closely resemble their specific talking style, synchronized with speech. We disentangle the style codes from the motion patterns, allowing our method to associate a distinct identifier with each person. To manage each aspect effectively, we employ three separate encoders for style, speech, and motion, ensuring the preservation of the original style while maintaining consistent motion in our stylized talking avatars. Additionally, we propose a new style-conditioned transformer decoder, offering greater flexibility and control over the facial avatar styles. We comprehensively evaluate TalkingStyle through qualitative and quantitative assessments, as well as user studies demonstrating its superior realism and lip synchronization accuracy compared to current state-of-the-art methods. To promote transparency and further advancements in the field, we also make the source code publicly available at https://github.com/wangxuanx/TalkingStyle.

Distinct metabolic profiles and pathway alterations in myocardial infarction and unstable angina revealed by metabolomics.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Myocardial infarction (MI) and unstable angina (UA) exhibit overlapping symptoms, yet they require distinct management approaches. Identifying the metabolic differences between MI and UA may facilitate more precise diagnosis and treatment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Metabolomic analysis was conducted on 95 patients, comprising 33 UA patients, 38 MI patients, and 24 normal controls. Serum metabolites were profiled using tandem mass spectrometry coupled with liquid chromatography. RESULTS: Metabolic analysis revealed notable differences in several metabolites, including xylidine, hydroxycaproic acid, butylbenzenesulfonamide, octanetriol, phosphocholine, and medronic acid, between MI and UA. These metabolites displayed promising diagnostic capabilities for distinguishing between MI and UA. Pathway analysis identified connections with cardiac hypertrophy, Wnt signaling, and fatty acid oxidation. CONCLUSION: Potential metabolite biomarkers and pathways differentially altered in MI compared to UA were identified in this metabolomics study. The results provide new insights into the metabolic signatures of these ischemic heart diseases. With further confirmation, improved early diagnosis and personalized treatment approaches could be facilitated.

The influence of vermicompost on atrazine microbial degradation performance and pathway in black soil, Northeast China.

The atrazine (ATR) is extensively used in dryland crops like corn and sorghum in black soil region of Northeast China, posing ecological risks due to toxic metabolites. Vermicompost are known for soil organic pollution remediation but their role in pesticide degradation in black soil remains understudied. The influence of vermicompost on the microbial degradation pathway of atrazine was assessed in this study. Although vermicompost didn't significantly boost atrazine removal, they notably aided in primary metabolite degradation, hydroxyatrazine (HYA), deisopropylatrazine (DIA), and deethylatrazine (DEA), reducing their content by 38.67 %. They also altered the soil microbial community structure, favoring atrazine-degrading bacteria like Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Actinobacteria. Five secondary degradation products were identified in vermicompost treatments. Atrazine degradation occurred via dechlorination, dealkylation, and deamination pathways mainly by Nocardioidacea, Streptomycetaceae, Bacillaceae, Sphingomonadaceae, Comamonadaceae and Nitrososphaeraceae. pH and available nitrogen (AN) influenced microbial community structure and atrazine degradation, correlating with vermicompost application rates. Future black soil remediation should optimize application rates based on atrazine content and soil properties.

Sotagliflozin attenuates liver-associated disorders in cystic fibrosis rabbits.

Mutations in the cystic fibrosis (CF) transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene lead to CF, a life-threating autosomal recessive genetic disease. While recently approved Trikafta dramatically ameliorates CF lung diseases, there is still a lack of effective medicine to treat CF-associated liver disease (CFLD). To address this medical need, we used a recently established CF rabbit model to test whether sotagliflozin, a sodium-glucose cotransporter 1 and 2 (SGLT1/2) inhibitor drug that is approved to treat diabetes, can be repurposed to treat CFLD. Sotagliflozin treatment led to systemic benefits to CF rabbits, evidenced by increased appetite and weight gain as well as prolonged lifespan. For CF liver-related phenotypes, the animals benefited from normalized blood chemistry and bile acid parameters. Furthermore, sotagliflozin alleviated nonalcoholic steatohepatitis-like phenotypes, including liver fibrosis. Intriguingly, sotagliflozin treatment markedly reduced the otherwise elevated endoplasmic reticulum stress responses in the liver and other affected organs of CF rabbits. In summary, our work demonstrates that sotagliflozin attenuates liver disorders in CF rabbits and suggests sotagliflozin as a potential drug to treat CFLD.

[Retracted] MicroRNA­509 targets PAX6 to inhibit cell proliferation and invasion in papillary thyroid carcinoma.

Following the publication of this paper, it was drawn to the Editors' attention by a concerned reader that several of the panels shown for the cell invasion assays in Figs. 2C and 5D were strikingly similar to data appearing in different form in other articles by different authors. Owing to the fact that the contentious data in the above article had already been published elsewhere, or were already under consideration for publication, prior to its submission to Molecular Medicine Reports, the Editor has decided that this paper should be retracted from the Journal. The authors were asked for an explanation to account for these concerns, but the Editorial Office did not receive a reply. The Editor apologizes to the readership for any inconvenience caused. [Molecular Medicine Reports 19: 1403­1409, 2019; DOI: 10.3892/mmr.2018.9750].