Tumor-associated macrophages trigger MAIT cell dysfunction at the HCC invasive margin.

Mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells represent an abundant innate-like T cell subtype in the human liver. MAIT cells are assigned crucial roles in regulating immunity and inflammation, yet their role in liver cancer remains elusive. Here, we present a MAIT cell-centered profiling of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) using scRNA-seq, flow cytometry, and co-detection by indexing (CODEX) imaging of paired patient samples. These analyses highlight the heterogeneity and dysfunctionality of MAIT cells in HCC and their defective capacity to infiltrate liver tumors. Machine-learning tools were used to dissect the spatial cellular interaction network within the MAIT cell neighborhood. Co-localization in the adjacent liver and interaction between niche-occupying CSF1R+PD-L1+ tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) and MAIT cells was identified as a key regulatory element of MAIT cell dysfunction. Perturbation of this cell-cell interaction in ex vivo co-culture studies using patient samples and murine models reinvigorated MAIT cell cytotoxicity. These studies suggest that aPD-1/aPD-L1 therapies target MAIT cells in HCC patients.

Variant STAT4 and Response to Ruxolitinib in an Autoinflammatory Syndrome.

BACKGROUND: Disabling pansclerotic morphea (DPM) is a rare systemic inflammatory disorder, characterized by poor wound healing, fibrosis, cytopenias, hypogammaglobulinemia, and squamous-cell carcinoma. The cause is unknown, and mortality is high. METHODS: We evaluated four patients from three unrelated families with an autosomal dominant pattern of inheritance of DPM. Genomic sequencing independently identified three heterozygous variants in a specific region of the gene that encodes signal transducer and activator of transcription 4 (STAT4). Primary skin fibroblast and cell-line assays were used to define the functional nature of the genetic defect. We also assayed gene expression using single-cell RNA sequencing of peripheral-blood mononuclear cells to identify inflammatory pathways that may be affected in DPM and that may respond to therapy. RESULTS: Genome sequencing revealed three novel heterozygous missense gain-of-function variants in STAT4. In vitro, primary skin fibroblasts showed enhanced interleukin-6 secretion, with impaired wound healing, contraction of the collagen matrix, and matrix secretion. Inhibition of Janus kinase (JAK)-STAT signaling with ruxolitinib led to improvement in the hyperinflammatory fibroblast phenotype in vitro and resolution of inflammatory markers and clinical symptoms in treated patients, without adverse effects. Single-cell RNA sequencing revealed expression patterns consistent with an immunodysregulatory phenotype that were appropriately modified through JAK inhibition. CONCLUSIONS: Gain-of-function variants in STAT4 caused DPM in the families that we studied. The JAK inhibitor ruxolitinib attenuated the dermatologic and inflammatory phenotype in vitro and in the affected family members. (Funded by the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology Foundation and others.).

Electrical discharge triggers quasicrystal formation in an eolian dune.

We report the discovery of a dodecagonal quasicrystal Mn72.3Si15.6Cr9.7Al1.8Ni0.6-composed of a periodic stacking of atomic planes with quasiperiodic translational order and 12-fold symmetry along the two directions perpendicular to the planes-accidentally formed by an electrical discharge event in an eolian dune in the Sand Hills near Hyannis, Nebraska, United States. The quasicrystal, coexisting with a cubic crystalline phase with composition Mn68.9Si19.9Ni7.6Cr2.2Al1.4, was found in a fulgurite consisting predominantly of fused and melted sand along with traces of melted conductor metal from a nearby downed power line. The fulgurite may have been created by a lightning strike that combined sand with material from downed power line or from electrical discharges from the downed power line alone. Extreme temperatures of at least 1,710 °C were reached, as indicated by the presence of SiO2 glass in the sample. The dodecagonal quasicrystal is an example of a quasicrystal of any kind formed by electrical discharge, suggesting other places to search for quasicrystals on Earth or in space and for synthesizing them in the laboratory.

Selenoprotein I is indispensable for ether lipid homeostasis and proper myelination.

Selenoprotein I (SELENOI) catalyzes the final reaction of the CDP-ethanolamine branch of the Kennedy pathway, generating the phospholipids phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) and plasmenyl-PE. Plasmenyl-PE is a key component of myelin and is characterized by a vinyl ether bond that preferentially reacts with oxidants, thus serves as a sacrificial antioxidant. In humans, multiple loss-of-function mutations in genes affecting plasmenyl-PE metabolism have been implicated in hereditary spastic paraplegia, including SELENOI. Herein, we developed a mouse model of nervous system-restricted SELENOI deficiency that circumvents embryonic lethality caused by constitutive deletion and recapitulates phenotypic features of hereditary spastic paraplegia. Resulting mice exhibited pronounced alterations in brain lipid composition, which coincided with motor deficits and neuropathology including hypomyelination, elevated reactive gliosis, and microcephaly. Further studies revealed increased lipid peroxidation in oligodendrocyte lineage cells and disrupted oligodendrocyte maturation both in vivo and in vitro. Altogether, these findings detail a critical role for SELENOI-derived plasmenyl-PE in myelination that is of paramount importance for neurodevelopment.

CSF-1R+ Macrophages Control the Gut Microbiome-Enhanced Liver Invariant NKT Function through IL-18.

The gut microbiome is an important modulator of the host immune system. In this study, we found that altering the gut microbiome by oral vancomycin increases liver invariant NKT (iNKT) cell function. Enhanced iNKT cytokine production and activation marker expression were observed in vancomycin-treated mice following both Ag-specific and Ag-independent in vivo iNKT stimulations, with a more prominent effect in the liver than in the spleen. Fecal transplantation studies demonstrated that the iNKT functional regulation is mediated by altering the gut microbiome but uncoupled from the modulation of iNKT cell population size. Interestingly, when stimulated in vitro, iNKT cells from vancomycin-treated mice did not show increased activation, suggesting an indirect regulation. iNKT cells expressed high levels of IL-18 receptor, and vancomycin increased the expression of IL-18 in the liver. Blocking IL-18 by neutralizing Ab or using genetically deficient mice attenuated the enhanced iNKT activation. Liver macrophages were identified as a major source of IL-18. General macrophage depletion by clodronate abolished this iNKT activation. Using anti-CSF-1R depletion or LyzCrexCSF-1RLsL-DTR mice identified CSF-1R+ macrophages as a critical modulator of iNKT function. Vancomycin treatment had no effect on iNKT cell function in vivo in IL-18 knockout macrophage reconstituted mice. Together, our results demonstrate that the gut microbiome controls liver iNKT function via regulating CSF-1R+ macrophages to produce IL-18.

A small molecule M1 promotes optic nerve regeneration to restore target-specific neural activity and visual function.

Axon regeneration is an energy-demanding process that requires active mitochondrial transport. In contrast to the central nervous system (CNS), axonal mitochondrial transport in regenerating axons of the peripheral nervous system (PNS) increases within hours and sustains for weeks after injury. Yet, little is known about targeting mitochondria in nervous system repair. Here, we report the induction of sustained axon regeneration, neural activities in the superior colliculus (SC), and visual function recovery after optic nerve crush (ONC) by M1, a small molecule that promotes mitochondrial fusion and transport. We demonstrated that M1 enhanced mitochondrial dynamics in cultured neurons and accelerated in vivo axon regeneration in the PNS. Ex vivo time-lapse imaging and kymograph analysis showed that M1 greatly increased mitochondrial length, axonal mitochondrial motility, and transport velocity in peripheral axons of the sciatic nerves. Following ONC, M1 increased the number of axons regenerating through the optic chiasm into multiple subcortical areas and promoted the recovery of local field potentials in the SC after optogenetic stimulation of retinal ganglion cells, resulting in complete recovery of the pupillary light reflex, and restoration of the response to looming visual stimuli was detected. M1 increased the gene expression of mitochondrial fusion proteins and major axonal transport machinery in both the PNS and CNS neurons without inducing inflammatory responses. The knockdown of two key mitochondrial genes, Opa1 or Mfn2, abolished the growth-promoting effects of M1 after ONC, suggesting that maintaining a highly dynamic mitochondrial population in axons is required for successful CNS axon regeneration.

Regulating Lewis Acidic Sites of 1T-2H MoS2 Catalysts for Solar-Driven Photothermal Catalytic H2 Production from Lignocellulosic Biomass.

Solar-driven photothermal catalytic H2 production from lignocellulosic biomass was achieved by using 1T-2H MoS2 with tunable Lewis acidic sites as catalysts in an alkaline aqueous solution, in which the number of Lewis acidic sites derived from the exposed Mo edges of MoS2 was successfully regulated by both the formation of an edge-terminated 1T-2H phase structure and tunable layer number. Owing to the abundant Lewis acidic sites for the oxygenolysis of lignocellulosic biomass, the 1T-2H MoS2 catalyst shows high photothermal catalytic lignocellulosic biomass-to-H2 transformation performance in polar wood chips, bamboo, rice straw corncobs, and rice hull aqueous solutions, and the highest H2 generation rate and solar-to-H2 (STH) efficiency respectively achieves 3661 µmol·h-1·g-1 and 0.18% in the polar wood chip system under 300 W Xe lamp illumination. This study provides a sustainable and cost-effective method for the direct transformation of renewable lignocellulosic biomass to H2 fuel driven by solar energy.

The Efficacy and Safety of an Intra-articular Dual-Acting Antibacterial Agent (TNP-2092) for Implant Infection-Associated Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

Owing to the presence of microbial biofilm on the implant, the eradication of biofilm-associated infections poses a challenge for antibiotic therapies. The study aimed to investigate the efficacy and safety of the novel antibiotic agent TNP-2092 in the context of implant infections. In vivo, rats with periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) treated with antibiotics showed an increase in body weight and decrease in swelling, temperature, and width of knee, compared with the control group. Meanwhile, inflammatory markers in synovium and serum were decreased in the TNP-2092 group, consistent with the pathological results. Moreover, TNP-2092 was effective in eliminating bacteria and disruption biofilm formation, and further alleviated the abnormal bone absorption and reactive bone changes around the prosthesis. In conclusion, intra-articular injection of TNP-2092 is safe and effective in treating knee PJI in a rat model. The study provides a foundation for the future utilization of TNP-2092 in the management of implant-related infections.

Immunosuppressive CD29+ Treg accumulation in the liver in mice on checkpoint inhibitor therapy.

OBJECTIVE: Liver metastases are often resistant to immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy (ICI) and portend a worse prognosis compared with metastases to other locations. Regulatory T cells (Tregs) are one of several immunosuppressive cells implicated in ICI resistance of liver tumours, but the role played by Tregs residing within the liver surrounding a tumour is unknown. DESIGN: Flow cytometry and single-cell RNA sequencing were used to characterise hepatic Tregs before and after ICI therapy. RESULTS: We found that the murine liver houses a Treg population that, unlike those found in other organs, is both highly proliferative and apoptotic at baseline. On administration of αPD-1, αPD-L1 or αCTLA4, the liver Treg population doubled regardless of the presence of an intrahepatic tumour. Remarkably, this change was not due to the preferential expansion of the subpopulation of Tregs that express PD-1. Instead, a subpopulation of CD29+ (Itgb1, integrin ß1) Tregs, that were highly proliferative at baseline, doubled its size in response to αPD-1. Partial and full depletion of Tregs identified CD29+ Tregs as the prominent niche-filling subpopulation in the liver, and CD29+ Tregs demonstrated enhanced suppression in vitro when derived from the liver but not the spleen. We identified IL2 as a critical modulator of both CD29+ and CD29- hepatic Tregs, but expansion of the liver Treg population with αPD-1 driven by CD29+ Tregs was in part IL2-independent. CONCLUSION: We propose that CD29+ Tregs constitute a unique subpopulation of hepatic Tregs that are primed to respond to ICI agents and mediate resistance.

Loss of USP10 promotes hepatocellular carcinoma proliferation by regulating the serine synthesis pathway through inhibition of LKB1 activity.

Metabolic dysregulation is emerging as a critical factor in tumorigenesis, and reprogramming of serine metabolism has been identified as an essential factor in the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Studies have shown that LKB1 deficiency can activate mTOR to upregulate the serine synthesis pathway (SSP) and promote tumor progression. Our team discovered that ubiquitin-specific protease 10 (USP10) can inhibit HCC proliferation through mTOR, but its relationship with SSP needs further investigation. The metabolite assays revealed a significant increase in serine content in HCC tissues. Through the LKB1/mTOR/activating transcription factor 4 (ATF4) axis, loss of USP10 may increase serine biosynthesis and promote the proliferation of HCC in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, it was found that USP10 could activate LKB1 through deubiquitination. Analyzing clinical HCC tissues revealed a positive correlation between USP10 and LKB1. Additionally, those with high expression of USP10 in HCC tissues showed a better degree of tumor differentiation and longer overall survival time. Moreover, we found increased expression of both serine and its synthase in liver tumor tissues of USP10 liver-specific KO mice. Loss of USP10 inhibits the activity of LKB1, contributing to the stimulation of the mTOR/ATF4 axis and SSP and then promoting the proliferation of HCC. This work presents a novel approach for serine-targeted treatment in HCC.

Prognoses of Patients Treated With Surgical Therapy Versus Continuation of Local-Plus-Systemic Therapy Following Successful Down-Staging of Intermediate-Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Multicenter Real-World Study.

BACKGROUND: The difference in the prognoses between treatment with surgical therapy and continuation of local-plus-systemic therapy following successful down-staging of intermediate-advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains unclear. METHODS: Data of 405 patients with intermediate-advanced HCC treated at 30 hospitals across China from January 2017 to July 2022 were retrospectively reviewed. All patients received local-plus-systemic therapy and were divided into the surgical (n = 100) and nonsurgical groups (n = 305) according to whether they received surgical therapy. The differences between long-term prognoses of the 2 groups were compared. Subgroup analysis was performed in 173 HCC patients who met the criteria for surgical resection following down-staging. RESULTS: Multivariable analysis of all patients showed that surgical therapy, hazard ratio (HR): 0.289, 95% confidence interval, CI, 0.136-0.613) was a protective factor for overall survival (OS), but not for event-free survival (EFS). Multivariable analysis of 173 intermediate-advanced HCC patients who met the criteria for surgical resection after conversion therapy showed that surgical therapy (HR: 0.282, 95% CI, 0.121-0.655) was a protective factor for OS, but not for EFS. Similar results were obtained after propensity score matching. For patients with Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stage B (HR: 0.171, 95% CI, 0.039-0.751) and C (HR: 0.269, 95% CI, 0.085-0.854), surgical therapy was also a protective factor for OS. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, for patients with intermediate-advanced HCC who underwent local-plus-systemic therapies, surgical therapy is a protective factor for long-term prognosis and can prolong OS, and for those who met the surgical resection criteria after conversion therapy, surgical therapy is recommended.

Semi-automatic proximal humeral trabecular bone density assessment tool: technique application and clinical validation.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to apply a newly developed semi-automatic phantom-less QCT (PL-QCT) to measure proximal humerus trabecular bone density based on chest CT and verify its accuracy and precision. METHODS: Subcutaneous fat of the shoulder joint and trapezius muscle were used as calibration references for PL-QCT BMD measurement. A self-developed algorithm based on a convolution map was utilized in PL-QCT for semi-automatic BMD measurements. CT values of ROIs used in PL-QCT measurements were directly used for phantom-based quantitative computed tomography (PB-QCT) BMD assessment. The study included 376 proximal humerus for comparison between PB-QCT and PL-QCT. Two sports medicine doctors measured the proximal humerus with PB-QCT and PL-QCT without knowing each other's results. Among them, 100 proximal humerus were included in the inter-operative and intra-operative BMD measurements for evaluating the repeatability and reproducibility of PL-QCT and PB-QCT. RESULTS: A total of 188 patients with 376 shoulders were involved in this study. The consistency analysis indicated that the average bias between proximal humerus BMDs measured by PB-QCT and PL-QCT was 1.0 mg/cc (agreement range - 9.4 to 11.4; P > 0.05, no significant difference). Regression analysis between PB-QCT and PL-QCT indicated a good correlation (R-square is 0.9723). Short-term repeatability and reproducibility of proximal humerus BMDs measured by PB-QCT (CV: 5.10% and 3.41%) were slightly better than those of PL-QCT (CV: 6.17% and 5.64%). CONCLUSIONS: We evaluated the bone quality of the proximal humeral using chest CT through the semi-automatic PL-QCT system for the first time. Comparison between it and PB-QCT indicated that it could be a reliable shoulder BMD assessment tool with acceptable accuracy and precision. This study developed and verify a semi-automatic PL-QCT for assessment of proximal humeral bone density based on CT to assist in the assessment of proximal humeral osteoporosis and development of individualized treatment plans for shoulders.

Low-dose ionizing radiation promotes motor recovery and brain rewiring by resolving inflammatory response after brain injury and stroke.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) and stroke share a common pathophysiology that worsens over time due to secondary tissue injury caused by sustained inflammatory response. However, studies on pharmacological interventions targeting the complex secondary injury cascade have failed to show efficacy. Here, we demonstrated that low-dose ionizing radiation (LDIR) reduced lesion size and reversed motor deficits after TBI and photothrombotic stroke. Magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated significant reduction of infarct volume in LDIR-treated mice after stroke. Systems-level transcriptomic analysis showed that genes upregulated in LDIR-treated stoke mice were enriched in pathways associated with inflammatory and immune response involving microglia. LDIR induced upregulation of anti-inflammatory- and phagocytosis-related genes, and downregulation of key pro-inflammatory cytokine production. These findings were validated by live-cell assays, in which microglia exhibited higher chemotactic and phagocytic capacities after LDIR. We observed substantial microglial clustering at the injury site, glial scar clearance and reversal of motor deficits after stroke. Cortical microglia/macrophages depletion completely abolished the beneficial effect of LDIR on motor function recovery in stroke mice. LDIR promoted axonal projections (brain rewiring) in motor cortex and recovery of brain activity detected by electroencephalography recordings months after stroke. LDIR treatment delayed by 8 h post-injury still maintained full therapeutic effects on motor recovery, indicating that LDIR is a promising therapeutic strategy for TBI and stroke.

Accelerated Charge Transfer through Interface Chemical Bonds in MoS2/TiO2 for Photocatalytic Conversion of Lignocellulosic Biomass to H2.

Solar photocatalytic H2 production from lignocellulosic biomass has attracted great interest, but it suffers from low photocatalytic efficiency owing to the absence of highly efficient photocatalysts. Herein, we designed and constructed ultrathin MoS2-modified porous TiO2 microspheres (MT) with abundant interface Ti-S bonds as photocatalysts for photocatalytic H2 generation from lignocellulosic biomass. Owing to the accelerated charge transfer related to Ti-S bonds, as well as the abundant active sites for both H2 and ●OH generation, respectively, related to the high exposed edge of MoS2 and the large specific surface area of TiO2, MT photocatalysts demonstrate good performance in the photocatalytic conversion of α-cellulose and lignocellulosic biomass to H2. The highest H2 generation rate of 849 µmol·g-1·h-1 and apparent quantum yield of 4.45% at 380 nm was achieved in α-cellulose aqueous solution for the optimized MT photocatalyst. More importantly, lignocellulosic biomass of corncob, rice hull, bamboo, polar wood chip, and wheat straw were successfully converted to H2 over MT photocatalysts with H2 generation rate of 10, 19, 36, 29, and 8 µmol·g-1·h-1, respectively. This work provides a guiding design approach to develop highly active photocatalysts via interface engineering for solar H2 production from lignocellulosic biomass.

Chemical components characterization and in vivo metabolites profiling of Lingbao Huxin Dan by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

Lingbao Huxin Dan (LBHX) is an effective prescription for treating various cardiovascular diseases. However, its systematic chemical composition analysis and important marker components remain unclear, which hinders the development of standards or guidelines for quality evaluation. Herein, a high-resolution and efficient method was established to comprehensively investigate the chemical ingredients and metabolites of LBHX by using gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry and ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry. AutoDock Vina was applied to conduct visual screening for identifying potential active compounds targeting two important sick sinus syndrome-associated proteins. As a result, 53 volatile compounds, as well as 191 non-volatile chemical components, including bufadienolides, diterpenoids, bile acids, phenolic acids, and triterpenoid saponins, were unambiguously characterized or tentatively identified. Fifty prototypes and 62 metabolites were identified in the plasma of rats, whilst metabolism reactions included phase I reactions (hydrolysis, oxidation, and hydroxylation) and phase II reactions (glucuronidation and methylation). Eleven compounds with good binding affinity have been observed by docking with key proteins. It is the first systematic study on the pharmacodynamic material basis of LBHX and the result consolidates the foundation for further study regarding the mechanism in treating cardiovascular diseases.

A study of the effects of screen exposure on the neuropsychological development in children with autism spectrum disorders based on ScreenQ.

PURPOSE: To investigate the relationship between multi-dimensional aspects of screen exposure and autistic symptoms, as well as neuropsychological development in children with ASD. METHODS: We compared the ScreenQ and Griffiths Development Scales-Chinese Language Edition (GDS-C) of 636 ASD children (40.79 ± 11.45 months) and 43 typically developing (TD) children (42.44 ± 9.61 months). Then, we analyzed the correlations between ScreenQ and Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS), and GDS-C. We further used linear regression model to analyze the risk factors associated with high CARS total scores and low development quotients (DQs) in children with ASD. RESULTS: The CARS of children with ASD was positively correlated with the ScreenQ total scores and "access, frequency, co-viewing" items of ScreenQ. The personal social skills DQ was negatively correlated with the "access, frequency, content, co-viewing and total scores" of ScreenQ. The hearing-speech DQ was negatively correlated with the "frequency, content, co-viewing and total scores" of ScreenQ. The eye-hand coordination DQ was negatively correlated with the "frequency and total scores" of ScreenQ. The performance DQ was negatively correlated with the "frequency" item of ScreenQ. CONCLUSION: ScreenQ can be used in the study of screen exposure in children with ASD. The higher the ScreenQ scores, the more severe the autistic symptoms tend to be, and the more delayed the development of children with ASD in the domains of personal-social, hearing-speech and eye-hand coordination. In addition, "frequency" has the greatest impact on the domains of personal social skills, hearing-speech, eye-hand coordination and performance of children with ASD.

Determinants of macaques' space use: A test for the ecological constraints model using GPS collars.

As a central topic in Behavioral Ecology, animal space use involves dynamic responses to social and ecological factors. We collared 22 rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) from six groups on Neilingding Island, China, and collected 80,625 hourly fixes over a year. Using this high-resolution location data set, we quantified the macaques' space use at the individual level and tested the ecological constraints model while considering various environmental and human interfering factors. As predicted by the ecological constraints model, macaques in larger groups had longer daily path lengths (DPLs) and larger home ranges. We found an inverted U-shape relationship between mean daily temperatures and DPLs, indicating that macaques traveled farther on mild temperature days, while they decreased DPLs when temperatures were too high or too low. Anthropogenic food subsidies were positively correlated to DPLs, while the effect of rainfall was negative. Macaques decreased their DPLs and core areas when more flowers and less leaves were available, suggesting that macaques shifted their space use patterns to adapt to the seasonal differences in food resources. By applying GPS collars on a large number of individuals living on a small island, we gained valuable insights into within-group exploitation competition in wild rhesus macaques.

Error detection using a multi-channel hybrid network with a low-resolution detector in patient-specific quality assurance.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to develop a hybrid multi-channel network to detect multileaf collimator (MLC) positional errors using dose difference (DD) maps and gamma maps generated from low-resolution detectors in patient-specific quality assurance (QA) for Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT). METHODS: A total of 68 plans with 358 beams of IMRT were included in this study. The MLC leaf positions of all control points in the original IMRT plans were modified to simulate four types of errors: shift error, opening error, closing error, and random error. These modified plans were imported into the treatment planning system (TPS) to calculate the predicted dose, while the PTW seven29 phantom was utilized to obtain the measured dose distributions. Based on the measured and predicted dose, DD maps and gamma maps, both with and without errors, were generated, resulting in a dataset with 3222 samples. The network's performance was evaluated using various metrics, including accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, precision, F1-score, ROC curves, and normalized confusion matrix. Besides, other baseline methods, such as single-channel hybrid network, ResNet-18, and Swin-Transformer, were also evaluated as a comparison. RESULTS: The experimental results showed that the multi-channel hybrid network outperformed other methods, demonstrating higher average precision, accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and F1-scores, with values of 0.87, 0.89, 0.85, 0.97, and 0.85, respectively. The multi-channel hybrid network also achieved higher AUC values in the random errors (0.964) and the error-free (0.946) categories. Although the average accuracy of the multi-channel hybrid network was only marginally better than that of ResNet-18 and Swin Transformer, it significantly outperformed them regarding precision in the error-free category. CONCLUSION: The proposed multi-channel hybrid network exhibits a high level of accuracy in identifying MLC errors using low-resolution detectors. The method offers an effective and reliable solution for promoting quality and safety of IMRT QA.

Treatment plan complexity quantification for predicting gamma passing rates in patient-specific quality assurance for stereotactic volumetric modulated arc therapy.

PURPOSE: To investigate the beam complexity of stereotactic Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT) plans quantitively and predict gamma passing rates (GPRs) using machine learning. METHODS: The entire dataset is exclusively made of stereotactic VMAT plans (301 plans with 594 beams) from Varian Edge LINAC. The GPRs were analyzed using Varian's portal dosimetry with 2%/2 mm criteria. A total of 27 metrics were calculated to investigate the correlation between metrics and GPRs. Random forest and gradient boosting models were developed and trained to predict the GPRs based on the extracted complexity features. The threshold values of complexity metric were obtained to predict a given beam to pass or fail from ROC curve analysis. RESULTS: The three moderately significant values of Spearman's rank correlation to GPRs were 0.508 (p < 0.001), 0.445 (p < 0.001), and -0.416 (p < 0.001) for proposed metric LAAM, the ratio of the average aperture area over jaw area (AAJA) and index of modulation, respectively. The random forest method achieved 98.74% prediction accuracy with mean absolute error of 1.23% using five-fold cross-validation, and 98.71% with 1.25% for gradient boosting regressor method, respectively. LAAM, leaf travelling distance (LT), AAJA, LT modulation complexity score (LTMCS) and index of modulation, were the top five most important complexity features. The LAAM metric showed the best performance with AUC value of 0.801, and threshold value of 0.365. CONCLUSIONS: The calculated metrics were effective in quantifying the complexity of stereotactic VMAT plans. We have demonstrated that the GPRs could be accurately predicted using machine learning methods based on extracted complexity metrics. The quantification of complexity and machine learning methods have the potential to improve stereotactic treatment planning and identify the failure of QA results promptly.

Fuzzy Neural Network PID-Based Constant Deceleration Control for Automated Mine Electric Vehicles Using EMB System.

It is urgent for automated electric transportation vehicles in coal mines to have the ability of self-adaptive tracking target constant deceleration to ensure stable and safe braking effects in long underground roadways. However, the current braking control system of underground electric trackless rubber-tired vehicles (UETRVs) still adopts multi-level constant braking torque control, which cannot achieve target deceleration closed-loop control. To overcome the disadvantages of lower safety and comfort, and the non-precise stopping distance, this article describes the architecture and working principle of constant deceleration braking systems with an electro-mechanical braking actuator. Then, a deceleration closed-loop control algorithm based on fuzzy neural network PID is proposed and simulated in Matlab/Simulink. Finally, an actual brake control unit (BCU) is built and tested in a real industrial field setting. The test illustrates the feasibility of this constant deceleration control algorithm, which can achieve constant decelerations within a very short time and maintain a constant value of -2.5 m/s2 within a deviation of ±0.1 m/s2, compared with the deviation of 0.11 m/s2 of fuzzy PID and the deviation of 0.13 m/s2 of classic PID. This BCU can provide electric and automated mine vehicles with active and smooth deceleration performance, which improves the level of electrification and automation for mine transport machinery.