Radiogenomic analysis for predicting lymph node metastasis and molecular annotation of radiomic features in pancreatic cancer.

BACKGROUND: To provide a preoperative prediction model for lymph node metastasis in pancreatic cancer patients and provide molecular information of key radiomic features. METHODS: Two cohorts comprising 151 and 54 pancreatic cancer patients were included in the analysis. Radiomic features from the tumor region of interests were extracted by using PyRadiomics software. We used a framework that incorporated 10 machine learning algorithms and generated 77 combinations to construct radiomics-based models for lymph node metastasis prediction. Weighted gene coexpression network analysis (WGCNA) was subsequently performed to determine the relationships between gene expression levels and radiomic features. Molecular pathways enrichment analysis was performed to uncover the underlying molecular features. RESULTS: Patients in the in-house cohort (mean age, 61.3 years ± 9.6 [SD]; 91 men [60%]) were separated into training (n = 105, 70%) and validation (n = 46, 30%) cohorts. A total of 1,239 features were extracted and subjected to machine learning algorithms. The 77 radiomic models showed moderate performance for predicting lymph node metastasis, and the combination of the StepGBM and Enet algorithms had the best performance in the training (AUC = 0.84, 95% CI = 0.77-0.91) and validation (AUC = 0.85, 95% CI = 0.73-0.98) cohorts. We determined that 15 features were core variables for lymph node metastasis. Proliferation-related processes may respond to the main molecular alterations underlying these features. CONCLUSIONS: Machine learning-based radiomics could predict the status of lymph node metastasis in pancreatic cancer, which is associated with proliferation-related alterations.

Efficient and Accurate Computed Tomography-Based Stone Volume Determination: Development of an Automated Artificial Intelligence Algorithm.

PURPOSE: Given the shortcomings of current stone burden characterization (maximum diameter or ellipsoid formulas), we sought to investigate the diagnostic accuracy and precision of a University of California, Irvine-developed artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm for determining stone volume determination. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 322 noncontrast CT scans were retrospectively obtained from patients with a diagnosis of urolithiasis. The largest stone in each noncontrast CT scan was designated the "index stone." The 3D volume of the index stone using 3D Slicer technology was determined by a validated reviewer; this was considered the "ground truth" volume. The AI-calculated index stone volume was subsequently compared with ground truth volume as well with the scalene, prolate, and oblate ellipsoid formulas estimated volumes. RESULTS: There was a nearly perfect correlation between the AI-determined volume and the ground truth (R=0.98). While the AI algorithm was efficient for determining the stone volume for all sizes, its accuracy improved with larger stone size. Moreover, the AI stone volume produced an excellent 3D pixel overlap with the ground truth (Dice score=0.90). In comparison, the ellipsoid formula-based volumes performed less well (R range: 0.79-0.82) than the AI algorithm; for the ellipsoid formulas, the accuracy decreased as the stone size increased (mean overestimation: 27%-89%). Lastly, for all stone sizes, the maximum linear stone measurement had the poorest correlation with the ground truth (R range: 0.41-0.82). CONCLUSIONS: The University of California, Irvine AI algorithm is an accurate, precise, and time-efficient tool for determining stone volume. Expanding the clinical availability of this program could enable urologists to establish better guidelines for both the metabolic and surgical management of their urolithiasis patients.

An OBP gene highly expressed in non-chemosensory tissues affects the phototaxis and reproduction of Spodoptera frugiperda.

Insect odorant binding proteins (OBPs) were initially regarded as carriers of the odorants involved in chemosensation. However, it had been observed that a growing number of OBP genes exhibited broad expression patterns beyond chemosensory tissues. Here, an OBP gene (OBP31) was found to be highly expressed in the larval ventral nerve cord, adult brain and male reproductive organ of Spodoptera frugiperda. An OBP31 knockout strain (OBP31-/- ) was generated by CRISPR/Cas9 mutagenesis. For OBP31-/- , the larvae needed longer time to pupate, but there was no difference in the pupal weight between OBP31-/- and wild type (WT). OBP31-/- larvae showed stronger phototaxis than the WT larvae, indicating the importance of OBP31 in light perception. For mating rhythm of adults, OBP31-/- moths displayed an earlier second mating peak. In the cross-pairing of OBP31-/- and WT moths, the mating duration was longer, and hatchability was lower in OBP31-/- group and OBP31+/- ♂ group than that in the WT group. These results suggested that OBP31 played a vital role in larval light perception and male reproductive process and could provide valuable insights into understanding the biological functions of OBPs that were not specific in chemosensory tissues.

Alterations and Significance of Computed Tomography Pulmonary Angiography-Derived Parameters in Older Patients With Acute Pulmonary Embolism.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate changes of computed tomography pulmonary angiography (CTPA)-derived parameters in older adults with acute pulmonary embolism (APE). METHODS: According to the pulmonary artery obstruction index (PAOI), patients with APE were divided into the A1 (PAOI ≥30%, n = 57) and A2 (PAOI <30%, n = 40) groups. Participants without APE were placed in group B (n = 170). The left atrial (LA) and left ventricular (LV) parameters among the three groups were compared, and the parameter changes in the 44 patients with APE were analyzed before and after treatment. The correlation between APE severity and the parameters was analyzed using correlation analysis. RESULTS: The left-to-right diameters (LR) of LA, and LR × anteroposterior diameters (AP) of LA and LV: A1 < A2 < B; LR of LV: A1 < A2, B; AP of LA and LV: A1, A2 < B. After treatment, LR and LR × AP of the LA and LV were significantly increased in the group A1 and LR of the LV and LR × AP of the LA and LV were elevated in the group A2. Acute pulmonary embolism severity was closely associated with LR × AP ( r = -0.557) and LR ( r = -0.477) of LA. CONCLUSIONS: With an increase in the degree of obstruction, older adults had a smaller LA and LV. Furthermore, the LR and LR × AP values of the LA were significantly decreased. These results contribute to in-time risk stratification.

The complete mitochondrial genome of cattle tick clade C reveals the genetic relationship within Rhipicephalus microplus complex.

Cattle ticks (Rhipicephalus microplus) are important economic ectoparasites causing direct and indirect damage to cattle and leading to severe economic losses in cattle husbandry. It is common knowledge that R. microplus is a species complex including five clades; however, the relationships within the R. microplus complex remain unresolved. In the present study, we assembled the complete mitochondrial genome of clade C by next-generation sequencing and proved its correctness based on long PCR amplification. It was 15,004 bp in length and consisted of 13 protein genes, 22 transfer genes, and two ribosomal genes located in the two strains. There were two copies of the repeat region (pseudo-nad1 and tRNA-Glu). Data revealed that cox1, cox2, and cox3 genes were conserved within R. microplus with small genetic differences. Ka/Ks ratios suggested that 12 protein genes (excluding nad6) may be neutral selection. The genetic and phylogenetic analyses indicated that clade C was greatly close to clade B. Findings in the current study provided more data for the identification and differentiation of the R. microplus complex and made up for the lack of information about R. microplus clade C.

Which intervention is optimal to control blood glucose and improve physical performance in the elderly living with type 2 diabetes mellitus? A network meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to find the optimal intervention available to both control blood glucose and improve physical function in the geriatric population with T2DM. METHODS AND STUDY DESIGN: A systemic review and network meta-analysis (NMA) was conducted to assess and rank the comparative efficacy of different interventions on glycosylated hemoglobin A1c (HbAc1), fasting blood glucose (FBG), muscle mass, grip strength, gait speed, lower body muscle strength, and dynamic balance. A total of eight databases were searched for eligible randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that the elderly aged more than 60 years or with mean age ≥ 55 years, the minimal duration of the RCT intervention was 6 weeks, and those lacking data about glycemic level and at least one indicator of physical performance were excluded. The Cochrane risk of bias tool was used to assess the bias of each study included. Bayesian NMA was performed as the main results, the Bayesian meta regression and the frequentist NMA as sensitivity analysis. RESULTS: Of the 2266 literature retrieved, 27 RCTs with a total of 2289 older adults were included. Health management provided by health workers exerts beneficial effects that is superior to other interventions at achieving glycemic control, but less marked improvement in physical performance. Exercise combined with cognitive training showed more pronounced improvement in muscle strength, gait speed, and dynamic balance, but ranked behind in decreasing the HbAc1 and FBG. CONCLUSIONS: Personalized health management combined with physical and cognitive training might be the optimal intervention to both accomplish glycemic control and improvement of physical performance. Further RCTs are needed to validate and assess the confidence of our results from this NMA.

Nanosecond-pulsed plasma protects against bacterial fruit blotch and promotes melon seedling growth.

BACKGROUND: Bacterial fruit blotch (BFB), known as the 'cancer' of cucurbits, is a seed-borne disease of melons caused by Acidovorax citrulli. Traditional chemical treatments for BFB are ineffective and adversely affect the environment. Using dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) nanosecond-pulsed plasma technology, melon seeds were treated to promote germination and growth and to control BFB. RESULTS: Based on the evaluation parameters of seed germination, seedling growth, leaf yellowing and bacterial infection after seed plasma treatments, 9 min at 20 kV was selected as the optimal plasma discharge parameter. In this study, seedling growth was significantly improved after treating melon seeds carrying A. citrulli using this discharge parameter. The number of first true leaves measured on the eighth day was 2.3 times higher and the disease index was reduced by 60.5% compared to the control group. Attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared measurements show that plasma treatments penetrate the seed coat and denature polysaccharides and proteins in the seed kernel, affecting their growth and sterilization properties. CONCLUSION: Pre-sowing treatment of melon seeds carrying A. citrulli using nanosecond-pulsed plasma technology can effectively control seedling BFB disease and promote melon seedling growth by optimizing DBD parameters. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry.

Characterization of the complete mitochondrial genomes of five hard ticks and phylogenetic implications.

Ticks are blood-sucking ectoparasites with significant medical and veterinary importance, capable of transmitting bacteria, protozoa, fungi, and viruses that cause a variety of human and animal diseases worldwide. In the present study, we sequenced the complete mitochondrial (mt) genomes of five hard tick species and analyzed features of their gene contents and genome organizations. The complete mt genomes of Haemaphysalis verticalis, H. flava, H. longicornis, Rhipicephalus sanguineus and Hyalomma asiaticum were 14855 bp, 14689 bp, 14693 bp, 14715 bp and 14722 bp in size, respectively. Their gene contents and arrangements are the same as those of most species of metastriate Ixodida, but distinct from species of genus Ixodes. Phylogenetic analyses using concatenated amino acid sequences of 13 protein-coding genes with two different computational algorithms (Bayesian inference and maximum likelihood) revealed the monophylies of the genera Rhipicephalus, Ixodes and Amblyomma, however, rejected the monophyly of the genus Haemaphysalis. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the complete mt genome of H. verticalis. These datasets provide useful mtDNA markers for further studies of the identification and classification of hard ticks.

Essential Oils from Different Parts of Magnolia laevifolia: Chemical Constituents and Insecticidal Activities against Liposcelis bostrychophila.

Many synthetic pesticides were used to control a severe storage pest, booklouse (Liposcelis bostrychophila). However, considering the environmental impact, plant secondary metabolites were acceptable alternatives. An endemic plant, Magnolia laevifolia, has a significant and unique odour, so its essential oil (EO) could be an option for bio-pesticide development. This study extracted EOs from leaves, flowers, carpels and seeds of M. laevifolia. The common and major compound of EOs was isocapnell-9-en-8-one, which was present at 17.7 to 91.6 % in these four parts. We found no regular pattern in the composition of EO in terms of parts and collection time according to principal component analysis. The contact and repellent activities of EOs against the booklouse were then conducted. Leaves and flowers' EOs collected in the flowering stage had the best contact toxicity. The percent repellency values of the EOs from different parts of M. laevifolia reached above 80 % after 2 and 4 h exposure at 63.17 nL/cm2 , with the same levels as DEET (p<0.05). It was shown that parts of plants and collecting time could influence the insecticidal activities of M. laevifolia EOs against booklouse, but collecting time played a significant decisive role in the contact test.

Construction and validation of the Dalian emotional movement open-source set (DEMOS).

Human body movements are important for emotion recognition and social communication and have received extensive attention from researchers. In this field, emotional biological motion stimuli, as depicted by point-light displays, are widely used. However, the number of stimuli in the existing material library is small, and there is a lack of standardized indicators, which subsequently limits experimental design and conduction. Therefore, based on our prior kinematic dataset, we constructed the Dalian Emotional Movement Open-source Set (DEMOS) using computational modeling. The DEMOS has three views (i.e., frontal 0°, left 45°, and left 90°) and in total comprises 2664 high-quality videos of emotional biological motion, each displaying happiness, sadness, anger, fear, disgust, and neutral. All stimuli were validated in terms of recognition accuracy, emotional intensity, and subjective movement. The objective movement for each expression was also calculated. The DEMOS can be downloaded for free from https://osf.io/83fst/ . To our knowledge, this is the largest multi-view emotional biological motion set based on the whole body. The DEMOS can be applied in many fields, including affective computing, social cognition, and psychiatry.

Development and Validation of a Prediction Model of the Risk of Pneumonia in Patients with SARS-CoV-2 Infection.

Objective: To establish a prediction model of pneumonia risk in SARS-CoV-2-infected patients to reduce unnecessary chest CT scans. Materials and Methods: The model was constructed based on a retrospective cohort study. We selected SARS-CoV-2 test-positive patients and collected their clinical data and chest CT images from the outpatient and emergency departments of Hunan Provincial People's Hospital, China. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression were utilized to identify predictors of pneumonia risk for patients infected with SARS-CoV-2. These predictors were then incorporated into a nomogram to establish the model. To ensure its performance, the model was evaluated from the aspects of discrimination, calibration, and clinical validity. In addition, a smoothed curve was fitted using a generalized additive model (GAM) to explore the association between the pneumonia grade and the model's predicted probability of pneumonia. Results: We selected 299 SARS-CoV-2 test-positive patients, of whom 205 cases were in the training cohort and 94 cases were in the validation cohort. Age, CRP natural log-transformed value (InCRP), and monocyte percentage (%Mon) were found to be valid predictors of pneumonia risk. This predictive model achieved good discrimination of AUC in the training and validation cohorts which was 0.7820 (95% CI: 0.7254-0.8439) and 0.8432 (95% CI: 0.7588-0.9151), respectively. At the cut-off value of 0.5, it had a sensitivity and specificity of 70.75% and 66.33% in the training cohort and 76.09% and 73.91% in the validation cohort, respectively. With suitable calibration accuracy shown in calibration curves, decision curve analysis indicated high clinical value in predicting pneumonia probability in SARS-CoV-2-infected patients. The probability of pneumonia predicted by the model was positively correlated with the actual pneumonia classification. Conclusion: This study has developed a pneumonia risk prediction model that can be utilized for diagnostic purposes in predicting the probability of pneumonia in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2.

Construction of Axially Chiral Arylpyrroles via Atroposelective Diyne Cyclization.

Axially chiral biaryls widely exist in natural products and pharmaceuticals and are used as chiral ligands and catalysts in asymmetric synthesis. Compared to the well-established axially chiral 6-membered biaryl skeletons, examples of 5-membered biaryls have been quite scarce, and mono-substituted 3-arylpyrrole atropisomers have not been reported. Here, we disclose a copper-catalyzed atroposelective diyne cyclization for the construction of a range of axially chiral arylpyrrole biaryls in good to excellent yields with generally excellent enantioselectivities via oxidation and X-H insertion of vinyl cations. Importantly, this protocol not only represents the first synthesis of mono-substituted 3-arylpyrrole atropisomers, but also constitutes the first example of atroposelective diyne cyclization and the first atropisomer construction via vinyl cations. Theoretical calculations further support the mechanism of vinyl cation-involved cyclization and elucidate the origin of enantioselectivity.

Anthocyanin improves kidney function in diabetic kidney disease by regulating amino acid metabolism.

BACKGROUND: Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is among the most important causes for chronic kidney disease. Anthocyanins (ANT) are polyphenolic compounds present in various food and play an important role in ameliorating hyperglycemia and insulin sensitivity. However, the effects of ANT in DKD are still poorly understood. This study aimed to investigate the effect of ANT (cyanidin-3-O-glucoside [C3G]) on the renal function of DKD, and whether the anti-DKD effect of ANT is related to metabolic pathways. METHODS: To explore the role of ANT in DKD, we performed the examination of blood glucose, renal function, and histopathology. As for the mechanism, we designed the label-free quantification proteomics and nontargeted metabolomics analysis for kidney and serum. Subsequently, we revealed the anti-DKD effect of ANT through the bioinformatic analysis. RESULTS: We showed that the fasting blood glucose level (- 6.1 mmol/L, P = 0.037), perimeter of glomerular lesions (- 24.1 µm, P = 0.030), fibrosis score of glomerular (- 8.8%, P = 0.002), and kidney function (Cystatin C: - 701.4 pg/mL, P = 0.043; urine creatinine: - 701.4 mmol/L, P = 0.032) were significantly alleviated in DKD mice after ANT treatment compared to untreated in the 20th week. Further, proteins and metabolites in the kidneys of DKD mice were observed to be dramatically altered due to changes in amino acid metabolism with ANT treatment; mainly, taurine and hypotaurine metabolism pathway was upregulated (P = 0.0001, t value = 5.97). Furthermore, upregulated tryptophan metabolism (P < 0.0001, t value = 5.94) and tyrosine metabolism (P = 0.0037, t value = 2.91) pathways had effects on serum of DKD mice as responsed ANT regulating. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggested that prevention of the progression of DKD by ANT could be related to the regulation of amino acid metabolism. The use of dietary ANT may be one of the dietary strategies to prevent and treat DKD.

Periodontal disease and emotional disorders: A meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship of periodontal disease with depression and anxiety via a systematic review and meta-analysis. METHOD: We systematically searched the EMBASE, PubMed, Web of Science, PsycINFO, and SinoMed databases (until August 4, 2019) with language restricted to English and Chinese. Case-control, cross-sectional, and cohort studies that calculated the risk ratio (RR), odds ratio (OR)/prevalence OR (POR), and hazard ratio (HR) of depression/anxiety with periodontal disease or the OR/POR/RR/HR of periodontal disease caused by depression/anxiety were included. Observational studies that reported the depression/anxiety scale score of patients with periodontal disease and healthy periodontal subjects aged ≥14 years were also included. We used the standard format to extract the following information from each included study: author/s, survey year, study design, age of participants, periodontal disease definition, depression/anxiety measurement, and summary of results. The Newcastle-Ottawa scale was used to ascertain the quality of the included citations. RESULTS: After screening, 40 studies were included. A meta-analysis of the case-control studies showed that periodontal disease was positively associated with depression (OR = 1.70, 95% confidence interval [CI] â€Š= 1.01-2.83). A meta-analysis of 12 studies showed that periodontal disease was significantly correlated with anxiety (OR = 1.36, 95% CI = 1.11-1.66). A meta-analysis of 18 studies showed that subjects with periodontal disease had higher depression scale score (standardized mean difference [SMD] = 1.05, 95% CI = 0.68-1.41) and anxiety scale score (SMD = 0.70, 95% CI = 0.44-0.96). CONCLUSION: Periodontal disease is associated with emotional disorders. However, the high degree of heterogeneity among studies should be considered. More high-quality prospective studies are required to confirm the relationship.

Efficacy and safety of Xiyanping injection in the treatment of COVID-19: A multicenter, prospective, open-label and randomized controlled trial.

Xiyanping (XYP) is a Chinese herbal medicine used in the clinic to treat respiratory infection and pneumonia. Recent evidence identified XYP as a potential inhibitor of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, implying XYP as a possible treatment for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Here, we conducted a prospective, multicenter, open-label and randomized controlled trial to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of XYP injection in patients with mild to moderate COVID-19. We consecutively recruited 130 COVID-19 patients with mild to moderate symptoms from five study sites, and randomized them in 1:1 ratio to receive XYP injection in combination with standard therapy or receive standard supportive therapy alone. We found that XYP injection significantly reduced the time to cough relief, fever resolution and virus clearance. Less patients receiving XYP injection experienced disease progression to the severe stage during the treatment process. No severe adverse events were reported during the study. Taken together, XYP injection is safe and effective in improving the recovery of patients with mild to moderate COVID-19. However, further studies are warranted to evaluate the efficacy of XYP in an expanded cohort comprising COVID-19 patients at different disease stages.

Insecticidal and Repellent Activity of Thymus quinquecostatus Celak. Essential Oil and Major Compositions against Three Stored-Product Insects.

Thymus quinquecostatus Celak. of the Lamiaceae family has a long history of dual use of medicine and food with high economic value, and has been proved to have good antioxidative, antimicrobial, and antidiabetic activities. Essential oil (EO) extracted from the aerial part of T. quinquecostatus was obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and GC. Totally 45 compounds were identified accounting for 98.5 % of the EO. The major constituents of the EO were linalool (52.003 %), borneol (10.911 %) and anethole (5.325 %). Fumigant, contact and repellent activity of T. quinquecostatus essential oil (EO) against Tribolium castaneum (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), Lasioderma Serricorne (Coleoptera: Anobiidae), Liposcelis bostrychophila (Psocoptera: Liposcelididae) were evaluated in this work. T. quinquecostatus EO and three major constituents showed varying degrees of insecticidal and repellent activities to three stored-product insects. Anethole stated the best fumigant and contact activity than others did to all three insect species. EO and compounds showed general repellent activity against three target insects. This work suggests that the EO of T. quinquecostatus has promising potential to be developed into botanical pesticides and repellents controlling pest damage in warehouses and grain stores.

Preimplantation genetic diagnosis and screening (PGD/S) using a semiconductor sequencing platform.

BACKGROUND: Recent advances in semiconductor sequencing platform (SSP) have provided new methods for preimplantation genetic diagnosis/screening (PGD/S). The present study aimed to evaluate the applicability and efficiency of SSP in PGD/S. METHODS: The artificial positive single-cell-like DNAs and normal single-cell samples were chosen to test our semiconductor sequencing platform for preimplantation genetic diagnosis/screening (SSP-PGD/S) method with two widely used whole-genome amplification (WGA) kits. A total of 557 single blastomeres were collected from in vitro fertilization (IVF) couples, and their WGA products were processed and analyzed by our SSP-PGD/S method in comparison with array comparative genomic hybridization (array-CGH). RESULTS: Our SSP-PGD/S method indicated high compatibilities with two commercial WGA kits. For 557 single blastomeres, our method with four million reads in average could detect 24-chromosome aneuploidies as well as microdeletion/microduplication of the size over 4 Mb, providing 100% consistent conclusion with array-CGH method in the classification of whether it was transplantable. CONCLUSIONS: Our studies suggested that SSP-PGD/S represents a valuable alternative to array-CGH and brought PGD/S into a new era of more rapid, accurate, and economic.

Contact toxicity and repellent efficacy of Valerianaceae spp. to three stored-product insects and synergistic interactions between two major compounds camphene and bornyl acetate.

In this work, the essential oil (EO) and supercritical CO2 fluid extract (SF extract) of four Valerianaceae plants (Valeriana officinalis L., Valeriana officinalis L. var. latifolia Miq., Valeriana jatamansi Jones and Nardostachys chinensis Bat.) were chemically characterized. GC-MS analysis identified 74 compounds, representing 35.2%-82.4% of the total EOs and SF extracts. The EO was dominated by low-molecular-weight components while the SF extract was rich in fatty acids. Bornyl acetate and camphene were the characteristic compounds in EO and SF extracts. The efficacy of six extracts against three stored-product insects was investigated. In contact assays, V. officinalis exhibited strongest toxicity to red flour beetle (LD50 = 10.0 µg/adult), and V. jatamansi EO was the most active one against the cigarette beetle (LD50 = 17.6 µg/adult), while V. officinalis var. latifolia EO showed outstanding efficacy against the booklouse (LD50 = 40.2 µg/cm2). Binary mixtures of two major compounds (camphene and bornyl acetate) were assessed for the contact toxicity to the red flour beetle. Additive effect existed in the natural proportion of V. officinalis, and synergism was observed in that of V. officinalis var. latifolia. This work confirmed the insecticidal efficacy of the species of the Valerianaceae family, and it would offer some information for the development of botanical insecticide.

The possible regulatory effect of the PD-1/PD-L1 signaling pathway on Tregs in ovarian cancer.

Aim of this study was to investigate the possible regulatory effect of the programmed death-1 (PD-1)/programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) signaling pathway on Tregs in ovarian cancer. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of PD-L1 and PD-1 and the presence of FOXP3+ Tregs in ovarian cancer. Then, ovarian cancer HO8910 cells were subjected to transfection with PD-L1 siRNA in vitro. CCK-8, Transwell and wound healing assays were performed to detect the biological behaviors of ovarian cancer cells. Human T-cells isolated from human peripheral blood were cocultured with HO8910 cells, which were divided into the Control, TGF-ß, and TGF-ß+ anti-PD-L1 groups. The proportion of differentiated Tregs was detected by flow cytometry. Mouse models of ovarian cancer were established, and PD-L1 antibody therapy was administered. Tumor growth and Treg recruitment were observed. PD-L1, PD-1 and FOXP3+ Tregs were found in ovarian cancer tissue. Patients with tumors with an advanced stage and low differentiation and lymph node metastasis had significantly higher levels of PD-1, PD-L1 and FOXP3+ Tregs. After transfection with PD-L1 siRNA, HO8910 cells showed a significant reduction in PD-L1 expression, proliferation, migration and invasion. After T-cells were cocultured with ovarian cancer cells, the TGF-ß+ anti-PD-L1 group showed a substantial decline in the differentiation of T-cells into Tregs compared with the TGF-ß group. Moreover, mice in the anti-PD-L1 group had significantly reduced tumor growth rates, Treg proportions in the tumor microenvironment, and FOXP3 expression.

Estimating the remaining atmospheric environmental capacity using a single-box model in a high pollution risk suburb of Chengdu, China.

The atmospheric pollution has been the public attention in recent years. In order to better coordinate economic development and atmospheric environmental management, China introduced the concept of atmospheric environmental capacity (AEC). The remaining atmospheric environmental capacity (RAEC) calculated by existing atmospheric pollution sources and AEC is an important basis for regional development and environmental protection. The RAEC of the high-pollution risk suburb of Chengdu in 2015 was estimated by the single-box model and analyzed on multiple time scales. The results show that the RAEC of SO2 and NO2 in this region is 3299 t/a and 2849 t/a, respectively under the annual time scale. However, in the daily time scale, the RAEC of NO2 is negative for 3 days, that is, there are 3 days with serious air pollution. Therefore, it is not appropriate to plan the industrial area only by relying on annual RAEC. Especially, RAEC displays inter-seasonal and monthly variability. On the one hand, in plain areas with low wind speed and little change in wind direction, achieving the prediction of atmospheric mixing layer height could give early warning of atmospheric pollution events. On the other hand, different management measures are taken on different time scales. On a long timescale, the regional energy structure should be optimized. On seasonal and monthly time scales, the production plans should be adapted to RAEC. On the daily time scale, it mainly deals with the serious atmospheric pollution accident timely.