Safety of inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in patients with allergic diseases.

BACKGROUND: Considering the considerable prevalence of allergic disease in the general population, an urgent need exists for inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccines that can be safely administered to those subjects. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study including 1926 participants who received inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, compared their local and systemic reactions in 7 days after each dose of inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, and anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG after vaccination in all participants. RESULTS: Pain at the injection site within seven days after the first injection was the most commonly reported local reaction, occurring in 31.0% of the patients with allergic disease and 18.9% in the control group, respectively (P < 0.001). After the first dose, systemic events were more frequently reported in patients with allergic disease than control group (30.2% vs. 22.9%, P < 0.001). After the second dose, systemic events occurred less often, affecting 17.1% of the patients with allergic disease and 11.1% of the control group (P < 0.002). The occurrence of fatigue, vertigo, diarrhea, skin rash, sore throat were the most frequent systemic reactions. Overall, a lower incidence of local and systemic reactive events was observed after the second dose than the first dose in patients with allergic disease and control group. Nearly all participants had positive IgG antibodies, and participants with allergic disease had higher frequencies compared with control group (100.0 vs.99.4%). CONCLUSIONS: Although local and systemic reactions were more frequently reported in patients with allergic disease than control group, administration of the inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine was safe and well tolerated by all participants; no participants experienced a serious adverse event, and none were hospitalized. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, ChiCTR2100048549. Registered Jul 10, 2021.

Arachidin-1, a Prenylated Stilbenoid from Peanut, Induces Apoptosis in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Cells.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is unresponsive to typical hormonal treatments, causing it to be one of the deadliest forms of breast cancer. Investigating alternative therapies to increase survival rates for this disease is essential. The goal of this study was to assess cytotoxicity and apoptosis mechanisms of prenylated stilbenoids in TNBC cells. The prenylated stilbenoids arachidin-1 (A-1) and arachidin-3 (A-3) are analogs of resveratrol (RES) produced in peanut upon biotic stress. The anticancer activity of A-1 and A-3 isolated from peanut hairy root cultures was determined in TNBC cell lines MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-436. After 24 h of treatment, A-1 exhibited higher cytotoxicity than A-3 and RES with approximately 11-fold and six-fold lower IC50, respectively, in MDA-MB-231 cells, and nine-fold and eight-fold lower IC50, respectively, in MDA-MB-436 cells. A-1 did not show significant cytotoxicity in the non-cancerous cell line MCF-10A. While A-1 blocked cell division in G2-M phases in the TNBC cells, it did not affect cell division in MCF-10A cells. Furthermore, A-1 induced caspase-dependent apoptosis through the intrinsic pathway by activating caspase-9 and PARP cleavage, and inhibiting survivin. In conclusion, A-1 merits further research as a potential lead molecule for the treatment of TNBC.

Tumor microenvironment characterization identifies two lung adenocarcinoma subtypes with specific immune and metabolic state.

The tumor microenvironment (TME) is a vital component of tumor tissue. Increasing evidence suggests their significance in predicting outcomes and guiding therapies. However, no studies have reported a systematic analysis of the clinicopathologic significance of TME in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). Here, we inferred tumor stromal cells in 1184 LUAD patients using computational algorithms based on bulk tumor expression data, and evaluated the clinicopathologic significance of stromal cells. We found LUAD patients showed heterogeneous abundance in stromal cells. Infiltration of stromal cells was influenced by clinicopathologic features, such as age, gender, smoking, and TNM stage. By clustering stromal cells, we identified 2 clinically and molecularly distinct LUAD subtypes with immune active and immune repressed features. The immune active subtype is characterized by repressed metabolism and repressed proliferation of tumor cells, while the immune repressed subtype is characterized by active metabolism and active proliferation of tumor cells. Differentially expressed gene analysis of the two LUAD subtypes identified an immune activation signature. To diagnose TME subtypes practically, we constructed a TME score using principal component analysis based on the immune activation signature. The TME score predicted TME subtypes effectively in 3 independent datasets with areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves of 0.960, 0.812, and 0.819, respectively. In conclusion, we proposed 2 clinically and molecularly distinct LUAD subtypes based on tumor microenvironment that could be valuable in predicting clinical outcome and guiding immunotherapy.

Production of Prenylated Stilbenoids in Hairy Root Cultures of Peanut (Arachis hypogaea) and its Wild Relatives A. ipaensis and A. duranensis via an Optimized Elicitation Procedure.

Prenylated stilbenoids are phenolic compounds produced in a small number of plants such as peanut (Arachis hypogaea) to counteract biotic and abiotic stresses. In addition to their role in plant defense, they exhibit biological activities with potential application in human health. Whereas non-prenylated stilbenoids such as resveratrol are commercially available, the availability of prenylated stilbenoids is limited. To this end, hairy root cultures of peanut were developed as an elicitor-controlled bioproduction platform for prenylated stilbenoids. An orthogonal array design approach led to the elucidation of an optimized elicitation procedure consisting of co-treatment of the hairy root cultures with 18 g/L methyl-ß-cyclodextrin, 125 µM methyl jasmonate, 3 mM hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and medium supplementation with additional 1 mM magnesium chloride. After 168-h of elicitor treatment, the combined yield of the prenylated stilbenoids arachidin-1, arachidin-2, arachidin-3 and arachidin-5 reached approximately 750 mg/L (equivalent to 107 mg/g DW). Moreover, hairy root cultures from the wild Arachis species A. duranensis and A. ipaensis were developed and shown to produce prenylated stilbenoids upon elicitor treatment. These wild Arachis hairy root lines may provide a platform to elucidate the biosynthetic origin of prenylated stilbenoids in peanut.

Stilbenoid prenyltransferases define key steps in the diversification of peanut phytoalexins.

Defense responses of peanut (Arachis hypogaea) to biotic and abiotic stresses include the synthesis of prenylated stilbenoids. Members of this compound class show several protective activities in human disease studies, and the list of potential therapeutic targets continues to expand. Despite their medical and biological importance, the biosynthetic pathways of prenylated stilbenoids remain to be elucidated, and the genes encoding stilbenoid-specific prenyltransferases have yet to be identified in any plant species. In this study, we combined targeted transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses to discover prenyltransferase genes in elicitor-treated peanut hairy root cultures. Transcripts encoding five enzymes were identified, and two of these were functionally characterized in a transient expression system consisting of Agrobacterium-infiltrated leaves of Nicotiana benthamiana We observed that one of these prenyltransferases, AhR4DT-1, catalyzes a key reaction in the biosynthesis of prenylated stilbenoids, in which resveratrol is prenylated at its C-4 position to form arachidin-2, whereas another, AhR3'DT-1, added the prenyl group to C-3' of resveratrol. Each of these prenyltransferases was highly specific for stilbenoid substrates, and we confirmed their subcellular location in the plastid by fluorescence microscopy. Structural analysis of the prenylated stilbenoids suggested that these two prenyltransferase activities represent the first committed steps in the biosynthesis of a large number of prenylated stilbenoids and their derivatives in peanut. In summary, we have identified five candidate prenyltransferases in peanut and confirmed that two of them are stilbenoid-specific, advancing our understanding of this specialized enzyme family and shedding critical light onto the biosynthesis of bioactive stilbenoids.

Nanosecond-Laser-Based Charge Transfer Plasmon Engineering of Solution-Assembled Nanodimers.

The ability to re-engineer self-assembled functional structures with nanometer accuracy through solution-processing techniques represents a big challenge in nanotechnology. Herein we demonstrate that Ag+-soldered nanodimers with a steric confinement coating of silica can be harnessed to realize an in-solution nanosecond laser reshaping to form interparticle conductive pathway with finely controlled conductance. The high structural purity of the nanodimers, the rigid silica coating, and the uniform (but still adjustable) sub-1-nm interparticle gap together determine the success of the laser reshaping process. This method is applicable to DNA-assembled nanodimers, and thus promises DNA-based programming toward higher structural complexity. The resulting structures exhibit highly tunable charge transfer plasmons at visible and near-infrared frequencies dictated by the fluence of the laser pulses. Our work provides an in-solution, rapid, and nonperturbative route to realize charge transfer plasmonic coupling along prescribed paths defined by self-assembly, conferring great opportunities for functional metamaterials in the context of chemical, biological, and nanophotonic applications. The ability to continuously control a subnm interparticle gap and the nanomeric width of a conductive junction also provides a platform to investigate modern plasmonic theories involving quantum and nonlocal effects.

Freeze the Moment: High Speed Capturing of Weakly Bonded Dynamic Nanoparticle Assemblies in Solution by Ag Ion Soldering.

Despite the versatile forms of colloidal aggregates, these spontaneously formed structures are often hard to find a suitable application in nanotechnology and materials science. A determinate reason is the lack of a suitable method to capture the transiently formed and quickly evolving colloidal structures in solution. To address this challenge, a simple but highly efficient strategy is herein reported to capture the dynamic and metastable colloidal assemblies formed in an aqueous or nonaqueous solution. This process takes advantage of a recently developed Ag ion soldering reaction to realize a rapid fixation of as-formed metastable assemblies. This method works efficiently for both solid (3D) nanoparticle aggregates and weakly bonded fractal nanoparticle chains (1D). In both cases, very high capturing speed and close to 100% efficiency are achieved to fully retain a quickly growing structure. The soldered nanochains further enable a fabrication of discrete, uniform, and functionalizable nanoparticle clusters with enriched linear conformation by mechanical shearing, which would otherwise be difficult to make. The captured products are water dispersible and mechanically robust, favoring an exploration of their properties toward possible applications. The work paves a way to previously untouched aspects of colloidal science and thus would create new chances in nanotechnology.

A Stilbenoid-Specific Prenyltransferase Utilizes Dimethylallyl Pyrophosphate from the Plastidic Terpenoid Pathway.

Prenylated stilbenoids synthesized in some legumes exhibit plant pathogen defense properties and pharmacological activities with potential benefits to human health. Despite their importance, the biosynthetic pathways of these compounds remain to be elucidated. Peanut (Arachis hypogaea) hairy root cultures produce a diverse array of prenylated stilbenoids upon treatment with elicitors. Using metabolic inhibitors of the plastidic and cytosolic isoprenoid biosynthetic pathways, we demonstrated that the prenyl moiety on the prenylated stilbenoids derives from a plastidic pathway. We further characterized, to our knowledge for the first time, a membrane-bound stilbenoid-specific prenyltransferase activity from the microsomal fraction of peanut hairy roots. This microsomal fraction-derived resveratrol 4-dimethylallyl transferase utilizes 3,3-dimethylallyl pyrophosphate as a prenyl donor and prenylates resveratrol to form arachidin-2. It also prenylates pinosylvin to chiricanine A and piceatannol to arachidin-5, a prenylated stilbenoid identified, to our knowledge, for the first time in this study. This prenyltransferase exhibits strict substrate specificity for stilbenoids and does not prenylate flavanone, flavone, or isoflavone backbones, even though it shares several common features with flavonoid-specific prenyltransferases.

Evidence of dysexecutive syndrome in patients with acromegaly.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to explore different aspects of executive function in patients with acromegaly and investigate the cause of dysexecutive syndrome in these patients. METHODS: We conducted five typical executive function tests (Stroop test, verbal fluency [VF] test, Hayling Sentence Completion Test [HSCT], N-back test, and Sustained Attention to Response Task [SART]) on 42 acromegalic patients and 42 strictly matched healthy controls. Comparative analyses were conducted for five major executive function domains. The Dysexecutive Questionnaire (DEX) was used to assess patients' subjective feelings about their executive function. All patients underwent a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examination and a blood test to determine their pituitary hormone levels before the tests were performed. RESULTS: The patients exhibited worse results on the Stroop test, VF test, HSCT and N-back test compared to the healthy control group. Moreover, part B of the HSCT and the N-back test performance were negatively correlated with IGF-1 concentrations, and the duration of the disease was significantly associated with the Stroop color task results. CONCLUSIONS: Acromegalic patients were severely impaired in semantic inhibition, executive processing, working memory and executive inhibition, and they have realized a portion of these deficits. A high level of IGF-1, disease duration may contribute to the impairment of specific aspects of executive function.

Randomized Comparison of 3 Hemostasis Techniques After Transradial Coronary Intervention.

BACKGROUND: The transradial route for coronary intervention has proven to be a safe and feasible method, and several techniques have been shown to be effective in achieving hemostasis. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of 3 hemostasis techniques on radial artery outcomes after transradial catheterization. METHODS: A total of 1650 patients were randomly assigned to 1 of the 3 hemostasis techniques after the procedure. The outcome measures were local vascular complications, tolerance to the device, and the time taken to achieve hemostasis. RESULTS: Time taken to achieve hemostasis was significantly longer in the pressure dressing (PD) group than in the pneumatic compression device (PCD) group and rotary compression pad device (RCD) group (306 ± 65 vs 263 ± 62 and 237 ± 58 minutes; P < .0001). There were also significant differences between PD, PCD, and RCD groups with respect to the incidence of oozing (8.2% vs 5.1% and 5.1%; P = .047) and discomfort level (1.68 vs 1.43 and 1.40; P < .0001). The incidence of early (24 hours after the procedure) radial artery occlusion was significantly higher in the PD group than in the PCD and RCD groups (15.6% vs 5.8% and 4.5%; P < .0001). Logistic regression analysis showed that independent predictors of radial artery occlusion at 30-day follow-up visit were diabetes (hazard ratio, 2.39), larger radial artery diameter (hazard ratio, 0.52), the use of the PCD (hazard ratio, 0.51, compared with PD) and the RCD (hazard ratio, 0.52, compared with PD), and radial artery patency during compression (hazard ratio, 0.016). CONCLUSIONS: Hemostasis devices have comparative advantages over the conventional pressure dressing. The presence of radial artery flow during compression represents a strong predictor of radial artery patency during follow-up periods.

Dry Sintering Meets Wet Silver-Ion "Soldering": Charge-Transfer Plasmon Engineering of Solution-Assembled Gold Nanodimers From Visible to Near-Infrared†I and II†Regions.

Achieving highly tunable and localized surface plasmon resonance up to near infrared (NIR) regions is a key target in nanoplasmonics. In particular, a self-assembly process capable of producing highly uniform and solution-processable nanomaterials with tailor-made plasmonic properties is lacking. We herein address this problem through a conjunctive use of wet Ag+ soldering and dry thermal sintering to produce nanodimer-derived structures with precisely engineered charge-transfer plasmon (CTP). The sintered dimers are water soluble, featuring gradually shifted CTP spanning an 800 nm wavelength range (up to NIR II). Upon silica removal, the products are grafted by DNA to offer surface functionality. This process is also adaptable to DNA-linked AuNP dimers toward plasmonic meta-materials via DNA-guided soldering and sintering.

Complete feminization of catfish by feeding Limnodilus, an annelid worm collected in contaminated streams.

BACKGROUND: Feminization of animals derived from areas polluted by endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) has been observed in all classes of vertebrates. However, feminization of artificially reared offspring by feeding of specific living organisms has never been reported. METHODS: Different food (including Limnodilus spp collected from the wild) and time treatment were applied to southern catfish. In addition, EDCs in Limnodilus spp., an annelid worm collected from wild contaminated small streams, was detected by LC-MS (Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry). Serum estradiol-17ß and vitellogenin (VTG) levels and gonadal Sf1, Dmrt1, Foxl2, Cyp19a1a expression levels in the catfish were measured through Estradiol/VTG EIA Kit and real-time PCR. RESULTS: Here we report that feeding of Limnodilus spp. resulted in complete feminization of southern catfish, which has a 1:1 sex ratio in wild conditions. Furthermore, HPLC analysis showed that the extraction of Limnodilus spp. contained EDCs, including bisphenol A (BPA), diethylstilbestrol (DES), 4-tert-octylphenol (4-t-OP) and 4-nonylphenol (4-NP), which were further confirmed by LC-MS. Feeding southern catfish using commercial diets sprayed with EDCs cocktail also resulted in 100% female, whereas the control fish displayed approximate 1:1 sex ratio. Limnodilus spp. fed fish displayed similar serum estradiol-17ß and VTG levels and gonadal Sf1, Dmrt1, Foxl2, Cyp19a1a expression levels to those of female control. CONCLUSION: These results demonstrated that EDCs in Limnodilus spp. cause southern catfish feminization by affecting aromatase expression and endogenous estrogen level. This is the first report showing that feeding of any living organism resulted in complete feminization of a vertebrate.

Dual path parallel hierarchical diagnosis model for intracranial tumors based on multi-feature entropy weight.

The grading diagnosis of intracranial tumors is a key step in formulating clinical treatment plans and surgical guidelines. To effectively grade the diagnosis of intracranial tumors, this paper proposes a dual path parallel hierarchical model that can automatically grade the diagnosis of intracranial tumors with high accuracy. In this model, prior features of solid tumor mass and intratumoral necrosis are extracted. Then the optimal division of the data set is achieved through multi-feature entropy weight. The multi-modal input is realized by the dual path structure. Multiple features are superimposed and fused to achieve the image grading. The model has been tested on the actual clinical medical images provided by the Second Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University. The experiment shows that the proposed model has good generalization ability, with an accuracy of 0.990. The proposed model can be applied to clinical diagnosis and has practical application prospects.

Ultrasound-mediated delivery of Pik3cb shRNA using magnetic nanoparticles for the treatment of in-stent restenosis in a rat balloon-injured model.

The aim of the present work was to examine the effect of polyethylene glycol (PEG)-coated superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) nanoparticles carrying Pik3cb short hairpin RNA (shRNA) in the prevention of restenosis with the aid of ultrasound and a magnetic field. SPIO is a type of contrast agent used in medical imaging to enhance the visibility of specific tissues or organs. It consists of tiny iron oxide nanoparticles that can be targeted to specific areas of interest in the body. PEG-coated SPIO nanoparticles carrying Pik3cb shRNA (SPIO-shPik3cb) were prepared, and the particle size and zeta potential of PEG-coated SPIO nanoparticles with and without Pik3cb shRNA were examined. After a right common artery balloon-injured rat model was established, the rats were randomly divided into four groups, and the injured arteries were transfected with SPIO-shPik3cb, saline, SPIO-shcontrol and naked shRNA Pik3cb. During the treatment, each group was placed under a magnetic field and was transfected with the aid of ultrasound. Rats were sacrificed, and the tissue was harvested for analysis after 14 days. The results suggested that the mean particle size and zeta potential of SPIO-shPik3cbs were 151.45 ± 11 nm and 10 mV, respectively. SPIO-shPik3cb showed higher transfection efficiency and significantly inhibited the intimal thickening compared with naked Pik3cb shRNA in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) (*P < 0.05). Moreover, SPIO-shPik3cb could also significantly downregulate the expression of pAkt protein compared with naked Pik3cb shRNA. According to the results, SPIO-shPik3cb can remarkably inhibit the intimal thickening under a combination of magnetic field exposure and ultrasound.

The characteristics and prognosis of different disease patterns of multiple primary lung cancers categorized according to the 8th edition lung cancer staging system.

INTRODUCTION: The 8th edition lung cancer staging system was the first to describe the detailed diagnosis and staging of multiple primary lung cancers (MPLC). However, the characteristics and prognosis of MPLC categorized according to the new system have not been evaluated. METHOD: We retrospectively analyzed data from surgically treated MPLC patients in a single center from 2011 to 2013 and explored the characteristics and outcomes of different MPLC disease patterns. RESULTS: In total, 202 surgically treated MPLC patients were identified and classified into different groups according to disease categories and diagnostic time (multifocal ground glass/lepidic (GG/L) nodules: n = 139, second primary lung cancer (SPLC): n = 63, simultaneous MPLC (sMPLC): n = 171, and metachronous MPLC (mMPLC): n = 31). There were significant differences in clinical characteristics between SPLC and GG/L nodule patients and simultaneous and metachronous MPLC patients. The overall 1-, 3-, and 5-year lung cancer-specific survival rates of MPLC were 97.98%, 90.18%, and 82.81%, respectively. Five-year survival was better in patients with multiple GG/L nodules than in those with SPLC (87.94% vs. 71.29%, P < 0.05). Sex was an independent prognostic factor for sMPLC (5-year survival, female vs. male, 88.0% vs. 69.5%, P < 0.05), and in multiple tumors, the highest tumor stage was an independent prognostic factor for all categories of MPLC. CONCLUSIONS: The different disease patterns of MPLC have significantly different characteristics and prognoses. Clinicians should place treatment emphasis on the tumor with the highest stage as it is the main contributor to the prognosis of all categories of MPLC patients.

Impact of the addition of dexmedetomidine to patient-controlled intravenous analgesia on postoperative pain-sleep interaction cycle and delirium: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Background: The reciprocal nexus between sleep and pain is well-documented, with the deleterious impact of operative trauma potentially playing a pivotal role in the dysregulation of this interplay, which could significantly contribute to the manifestation of postoperative delirium (POD). Studies have investigated the effect of adding dexmedetomidine (DEX) to patient-controlled intravenous analgesia (PCIA) pumps on postoperative pain-sleep interaction cycle and POD, but conclusions remained uncertain. The objective of this investigation is to perform a meta-analysis that thoroughly assesses the impact of integrating DEX into PCIA, focusing on analgesic effectiveness, sleep quality, and the incidence of delirium in postoperative patients. Methods: PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, SinoMed, and Wanfang Data Knowledge Service Platform were searched, for publications in any language, from database inception to September 2023. Our analysis encompassed randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that examine the therapeutic efficacy and risk profile of adding DEX to the PCIA on the postoperative pain-sleep interaction cycle, by focusing on changes in postoperative analgesia (Visual analog scale (VAS) score), sleep efficiency, sleep structure, subjective sleep score (Assen insomnia scale and numerical rating scale) and adverse event rate. Results: 34 RCTs (4324 patients) were analyzed. This study shows DEX improved analgesia and reduced VAS scores at 6, 12, and 24 h after surgery. Sleep efficiency was enhanced on the 1st and 2nd postoperative night. DEX improved sleep structure at the 1st postoperative night by reducing non-rapid eye movement stage 1 (N1) sleep and increasing non-rapid eye movement stage 2 (N2) and non-rapid eye movement stage 3 (N3) sleep. At the 2nd night, DEX reduced N1 sleep and increased N2 sleep, but not N3 sleep. Data from AIS and NRS showed improvement in subjective sleep scores on the 1st postoperative night and 2nd night. Additionally, DEX decreased the occurrence of POD on the 24 h and first-three days. Conclusion: This study shows that the typical DEX doses added to PCIA with sufentanil were 2-5 µg/kg or approximately 200-250 µg, and the addition of DEX to PCIA can improve pain-sleep interaction cycle from multiple perspectives, and further decrease the occurrence of POD.

[Viable myocardium evaluation by two dimensional speckle tracking imaging combined with adenosine stress echocardiography].

OBJECTIVE: Regional left ventricular (LV) function could be detected by measuring peak-systolic strain by speckle tracking imaging (STI). We evaluated the value of STI combined with adenosine stress echocardiography on assessing myocardial viability in patients with myocardial infarction (MI). METHODS: Two dimensional echocardiography was performed at rest and after adenosine stress echocardiography (infused at 140 µg×kg(-1)×min(-1) over a period of 6 min) in 39 stable patients with previous MI. Peak-systolic (Speak-sys) circumferential strain, radial strain and longitudinal strain were assessed by STI. Radionuclide myocardial perfusion/metabolic imaging served as the "gold standard" to detection of myocardial viability. RESULTS: (1) There were 215 viable and 153 non-viable regions among 368 abnormal motion segments out of 624 segments in 39 MI patients according to radionuclide imaging results. (2) Speak-sys was similar between viable and nonviable myocardium at rest (all P > 0.05). After adenosine infusion, radial Speak-sys [(37.98 ± 5.45)% vs. (30.22 ± 5.47)%], longitudinal Speak-sys [(-23.71 ± 4.53)% vs. (-17.52 ± 4.34)%] increased significantly (P < 0.05)in viable segments compared to baseline levels and were significantly higher than in nonviable segments radial Speak-sys [(37.98 ± 5.45)% vs. (30.12 ± 5.37)%] and longitudinal Speak-sys [(-23.71 ± 4.53)% vs. (-16.95 ± 4.62)%] (P < 0.05), while remained unchanged in nonviable segments before and after adenosine infusion. Circumferential Speak-sys was similar before and after adenosine infusion in both viable and nonviable segments (all P > 0.05). (3) Delta radial strain change > 9.8% has a sensitivity of 82.3% and a specificity of 81.1% whereas a delta change of longitudinal strain > 16.5% has a sensitivity of 83.5% and a specificity of 92.3% for detecting viable segments. CONCLUSIONS: Speckle tracking imaging combined with adenosine stress echocardiography could serve as a new and reliable method of assessing myocardial viability.

A Novel Method Based on Nonlinear Binary Grasshopper Whale Optimization Algorithm for Feature Selection.

Feature Selection (FS) is considered as an important preprocessing step in data mining and is used to remove redundant or unrelated features from high-dimensional data. Most optimization algorithms for FS problems are not balanced in search. A hybrid algorithm called nonlinear binary grasshopper whale optimization algorithm (NL-BGWOA) is proposed to solve the problem in this paper. In the proposed method, a new position updating strategy combining the position changes of whales and grasshoppers population is expressed, which optimizes the diversity of searching in the target domain. Ten distinct high-dimensional UCI datasets, the multi-modal Parkinson's speech datasets, and the COVID-19 symptom dataset are used to validate the proposed method. It has been demonstrated that the proposed NL-BGWOA performs well across most of high-dimensional datasets, which shows a high accuracy rate of up to 0.9895. Furthermore, the experimental results on the medical datasets also demonstrate the advantages of the proposed method in actual FS problem, including accuracy, size of feature subsets, and fitness with best values of 0.913, 5.7, and 0.0873, respectively. The results reveal that the proposed NL-BGWOA has comprehensive superiority in solving the FS problem of high-dimensional data.

Long Non-coding RNA KTN1-AS1 Targets miR-505 to Promote Glioblastoma Progression.

Glioblastoma (GBM) is a highly malignant cancer, the prognosis of which is pretty poor. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a class of non-coding RNAs, which play important roles in carcinogenesis process of many cancers including GBM. In this study, we want to clarify the expression, biological function, and molecular mechanism of lncRNA KTN1 antisense RNA 1 (KTN1-AS1) in GBM tumor progression. We found that KTN1-AS1 expression was upregulated in GBM tissues and cell lines. KTN1-AS1 played oncogenic roles to facilitate proliferation, migration, and invasion of GBM cells. Then, we revealed that miR-505 was a target of KTN1-AS1, and its expression was decreased in GBM. KTN1-AS1 contributed to GBM progression by mediating miR-505. Finally, we demonstrated that KTN1-AS1 upregulated some target oncogenes of miR-505 including ZEB2, HMGB1, and RUNX2 in GBM cells. All in all, we concluded that the highly expressed KTN1-AS1 in GBM played oncogenic roles to facilitate GBM progression by targeting miR-505.

Clinic value of two-dimensional speckle tracking combined with adenosine stress echocardiography for assessment of myocardial viability.

BACKGROUND: To evaluate whether myocardial strain under adenosine stress calculated from two-dimensional echocardiography by automatic frame-by-frame tracking of natural acoustic markers enables objective description of myocardial viability in clinic. METHODS AND RESULTS: Two-dimensional echocardiography and two-dimensional speckle tracking imaging (2D STI) at rest were performed first and once again after adenosine was infused at 140 ug/kg/min over a period of 6 minutes in 36 stable patients with previous myocardial infarction. Then radionuclide myocardial perfusion/metabolic imaging served as the "gold standard" to define myocardial viability was given in all patients within 1 day. Two-dimensional speckle tracking images were acquired at rest and after adenosine administration. An automatic frame-by-frame tracking system of natural acoustic echocardiographic markers was used to calculate 2D strain variables including peak-systolic circumferential strain (CS(peak-sys)), radial strain (RS(peak-sys)), and longitudinal strain (LS(peak-sys)). Those segments with abnormal motion from visual assessment of two-dimensional echocardiography were selected for further study. As a result, 126 regions were viable whereas 194 were nonviable among 320 abnormal motion segments in 36 patients according to radionuclide imaging. At rest, there were no significant changes of 2D strain between the viable and nonviable myocardium. After adenosine administration (140 ug/kg/min), CS(peak-sys) had a little change of the viable myocardium while RS(peak-sys) and LS(peak-sys) increased significantly compared with those at rest. In nonviable group, CS(peak-sys), RS(peak-sys), and LS(peak-sys) had no significant changes during adenosine administration. After adenosine administration, RS(peak-sys) and LS(peak-sys) in viable group increased significantly compared with nonviable group. Obtained strain data were highly reproducible and affected in small intraobserver and interobserver variabilities. A change of radial strain more than 9.5% has a sensitivity of 83.9% and a specificity of 81.4% for viable whereas a change of longitudinal strain more than 14.6% allowed a sensitivity of 86.7% and a specificity of 90.2%. CONCLUSIONS: 2D STI combined with adenosine stress echocardiography could provide a new and reliable method to identify myocardium viability.