Differential genetic mutations and immune cell infiltration in high- and low-risk STAD: Implications for prognosis and immunotherapy efficacy.

This study investigates genetic mutations and immune cell dynamics in stomach adenocarcinoma (STAD), focusing on identifying prognostic markers and therapeutic targets. Analysis of TCGA-STAD samples revealed C > A as the most common single nucleotide variant (SNV) in both high and low-risk groups. Key mutated driver genes included TTN, TP53 and MUC16, with frame-shift mutations more prevalent in the low-risk group and missense mutations in the high-risk group. Interaction analysis of hub genes such as C1QA and CD68 showed significant correlations, impacting immune cell infiltration patterns. Using ssGSEA, we found higher immune cell infiltration (B cells, CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, DC cells, NK cells) in the high-risk group, correlated with increased risk scores. xCell algorithm results indicated distinct immune infiltration levels between the groups. The study's risk scoring model proved effective in prognosis prediction and immunotherapy efficacy assessment. Key molecules like CD28, CD27 and SLAMF7 correlated significantly with risk scores, suggesting potential targets for high-risk STAD patients. Drug sensitivity analysis showed a negative correlation between risk scores and sensitivity to certain treatments, indicating potential therapeutic options for high-risk STAD patients. We also validated the carcinogenic role of RPL14 in gastric cancer through phenotypic experiments, demonstrating its influence on cancer cell proliferation, invasion and migration. Overall, this research provides crucial insights into the genetic and immune aspects of STAD, highlighting the importance of a risk scoring model for personalized treatment strategies and clinical decision-making in gastric cancer management.

[A new allo-aromadendrane sesquiterpene from Dendrobium nobile].

To study the chemical constituents in the non-alkaloid part of stems of Dendrobium nobile. The macroporous adsorption resin, MCI, silica gel, RP-C_(18), and Sephadex LH-20 gel, preparative thin layer chromatography, and preparative high-performance liquid chromatography(HPLC) were used to isolate and purify the compounds. The structures of the compound were determined according to the spectra data, physicochemical properties, and relevant references. A total of 8 compounds were isolated from D. nobile, which were soltorvum F(1), p-hydroxyphenylpropionic acid(2), vanillic acid(3), p-hydroxybenzoic acid(4), N-trans-cinnamic acid acyl-p-hydroxybenzene ethylamine(5),(+)-(1R,2S,3R,4S,5R,6S,9R)-2,11,12-trihydroxypicrotoxane-3(15)-lactone(6), dendronobilin H(7), soltorvum E(8). Compound 1 was a novel compound, named as soltorvum F. Compound 8 was isolated from Dendrobium species for the first time.

Transcriptome sequencing and signal transduction for the enhanced tanshinone production in Salvia miltiorrhiza hairy roots induced by Trichoderma atroviride D16 polysaccharide fraction.

Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge. is commonly used to treat vascular diseases because of its activity ingredients, phenolic acids, and tanshinones. Polysaccharide fraction (PSF) extracted from Trichoderma atroviride D16 could promote tanshinone accumulation in S. miltiorrhiza hairy roots. Transcriptome sequencing was conducted to describe the global gene expression of PSF-treatment hairy roots, and data analyses showed enzymes of tanshinone biosynthetic pathways were up-regulated, and genes associated to signal molecules and transcription factors were responsive. Endogenous H2O2, abscisic acid, and nitric oxide contents were measured after PSF treatment, while tanshinone accumulations were measured with treatment of exogenous H2O2 or H2O2 inhibitor on PSF-treatment S. miltiorrhiza hairy roots. The results showed H2O2 was important in tanshinone biosynthesis caused by PSF and nitric oxide might be the downstream molecules of H2O2. Taken together, the study indicates that D16 PSF enhances the accumulation of tanshinones through enzymes of tanshinone biosynthetic pathways, signal molecules, and transcription factors.

Discrete emotions discovered by contactless measurement of facial blood flows.

ABSTRACTExperiential and behavioural aspects of emotions can be measured readily but developing a contactless measure of emotions' physiological aspects has been a major challenge. We hypothesised that different emotion-evoking films can produce distinctive facial blood flow patterns that can serve as physiological signatures of discrete emotions. To test this hypothesis, we created a new Transdermal Optical Imaging system that uses a conventional video camera to capture facial blood flows in a contactless manner. Using this and deep machine learning, we analysed videos of the faces of people as they viewed film clips that elicited joy, sadness, disgust, fear or a neutral state. We found that each of these elicited a distinct blood flow pattern in the facial epidermis, and that Transdermal Optical Imaging is an effective contactless and inexpensive tool to the reveal physiological correlates of discrete emotions.

Stress Determined through Heart Rate Variability Predicts Immune Function.

BACKGROUND: Stress is a prevalent health problem in modern society. If experienced for long periods of time it can lead to immune dysfunctions. Thus, public health management practices must include the assessment of stress. In health management settings, electrocardiography (ECG) is routinely used to assess cardiovascular health and make inferences about stress using information from heart rate variability (HRV). However, it is unclear whether stress assessment based on HRV can also be used to index immune function. OBJECTIVES: To compare stress that was determined by a measure of HRV (pNN50) from ECG with immune function indices (neutrophil, monocyte, and lymphocyte percentages) obtained from blood samples. METHODS: A total of 184 healthy adults participated in the study, which took place in an examination room at the Health Management Center of The Affiliated Hospital of Hangzhou Normal University, China. Participants viewed a relaxing video while having a 2-min ECG recorded. They were then taken to have their blood drawn as part of their physical examination. Measures of stress (pNN50) were extracted from ECG, while measures of immune function (percentages of neutrophils, monocytes, and lymphocytes) were extracted from blood samples. RESULTS: Stress correlated positively with neutrophil percentages (r = 0.21) and negatively with monocyte (r = -0.16) and lymphocyte percentages (r = -0.18). CONCLUSIONS: These findings show HRV analysis to be a potentially viable noninvasive and inexpensive method not only for indexing stress, but also predicting immune function, thus managing the health risks associated with stress.

Lymphocyte to monocyte ratio and prognostic nutritional index predict survival outcomes of hepatitis B virus-associated hepatocellular carcinoma patients after curative hepatectomy.

INTRODUCTION: Lymphocytes are an integral part of lymphocyte to monocyte ratio (LMR) and prognostic nutritional index (PNI). Both LMR and PNI which reflect body's inflammatory and nutritional status can be obtained from routine blood and biochemical test conveniently. Little evidence concerning the prognostic value of LMR and PNI in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients has been published. This study aimed to investigate the prognostic value of LMR and PNI in hepatitis B virals (HBV)-associated HCC patients who underwent curative hepatectomy. METHODS: Between January 2008 and June 2013, 450 surgically treated HCC patients were retrospectively analyzed. Clinicopathological parameters, LMR and PNI were collected and compared. The multivariate analysis was performed to indentify independent prognostic factors. Overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) rates were also compared. RESULTS: Tumor size, vascular invasion, alpha fetoprotein level, LMR and PNI were independent prognostic factors for OS. Tumor number, tumor size, vascular invasion, LMR and PNI were independent prognostic factors for RFS. Either a high LMR or PNI could predict favorable OS and RFS in surgically treated HCC patients and vice versa. CONCLUSIONS: Both LMR and PNI were significant independent predictors that can predict survival outcomes in HBV-associated HCC patients who received curative hepatectomy. J. Surg. Oncol. 2016;114:202-210. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Adverse drug reactions of non-statin antihyperlipidaemic drugs in China from 1989 to 2019: a national database analysis.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to understand the adverse drug reactions (ADRs) for non-statin antihyperlipidaemic drugs included in the China Anti-hyperlipidemic Drug Database. DESIGN: An approach of Chinese national database analysis was employed to screen clinical trials involving non-statin antihyperlipidaemic drugs from 1989 to 2019. SETTING: The database was provided by the China National Medical Products Administration Information Centre. PARTICIPANTS: In total, 117 clinical studies with 8800 patients were selected from 2650 clinical trials of the Anti-hyperlipidemic Drug Database. INTERVENTIONS: The non-statin antihyperlipidaemic drugs were divided into three groups: (1) fibrates (fenofibrate, gemfibrozil, bezafibrate, etofylline clofibrate); (2) nicotinic acid and derivatives (niacin, acipimox) and (3) others (probucol, cholestyramine). RESULTS: The results of this study show that first, gastrointestinal symptoms were the most common reactions (6.975%), which account for approximately 50% of the reported cases with ADRs. Second, cholestyramine (16.418%) and gemfibrozil (13.158%) were the most common gastrointestinal side effect-causing non-statin antihyperlipidaemic drugs, which account for one-third of the population. Third, niacin (7.879%) and gemfibrozil (5.000%) were the most likely cause of liver disease symptoms. Finally, niacin (10.909%) and acipimox (18.847%) were the major non-statin antihyperlipidaemic drugs with skin symptoms. CONCLUSION: This study revealed that gastrointestinal symptoms were the most common ADRs of fibrates, probucol and cholestyramine in the Chinese population. For nicotinic acid and derivatives, the ADRs of skin symptoms were the most common in China.

Laparoscopic vs. open cholecystectomy for cirrhotic patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: To compare the safety and effectiveness of laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) versus open cholecystectomy (OC) for cirrhotic patients. METHODOLOGY: The Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, Science Citation Index Expanded, EMBASE and CBM (Chinese Biomedical Database) were searched until August 2011 to indentify relevant and eligible studies. RESULTS: Twenty three articles with 1316 cirrhotic patients were included. All patients were allocated to the LC group (n=694) or the OC group (n=622). They were primarily in Child-Pugh class A (n=957, 72.7%) and class B (n=343, 26.1%). Meta-analysis of 5 randomized controlled trials (n=284) indicated LC group was associated with the following advantages: significant lower surgery-related morbidity, less postoperative complications (e.g. incision hernia, wound infection), shorter hospital stay and less loss of blood. There were no significant differences in the intra-hospital mortality and total operative time between the two groups. Meta-analysis of 19 non-randomized studies (n=1082) showed similar results in favour of LC group. In addition, it showed significant lower intra-hospital mortality and less total operative time in the LC group than the OC group. CONCLUSIONS: LC is safe and offers various significant benefits over OC. Thus, it should be recommended for compensated cirrhotic patients.

Efficacy of ondansetron vs. metoclopramide in prophylaxis of postoperative nausea and vomiting after laparoscopic cholecystectomy: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting is truly high after laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Ondansetron and metoclopramide may be effective in preventing it. Our aim was to estimate the efficacy of ondansetron vs. metoclopramide in preventing postoperative nausea and vomiting after laparoscopic cholecystectomy. METHODOLOGY: We searched MEDLINE (PubMed), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Science Citation Index Expanded, EMBASE etc. to obtain relevant randomized controlled trials until October 2011. Two authors independently assessed the trials for inclusion and extracted the data. The odds ratio (OR) for dichotomous data was used with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Sensitivity and subgroup analysis were performed, if necessary. RESULTS: The total incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting within 24 hours after laparoscopic cholecystectomy was 31% (74 of 235) in the ondansetron group and 56% (127 of 225) in the metoclopramide group (OR=0.33, 95%CI=0.22-0.49, p<0.00001, 12=49%). The total incidences of nausea and vomiting were lower in the ondansetron group (OR=0.28, 95%CI=0.15-0.54, p=0.0002, I²=0%) and (OR=0.31, 95%CI=0.17-0.55, p<0.0001, I²=0%), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the evidence, ondansetron has a better effect than metoclopramide for preventing postoperative nausea and vomiting after laparoscopic cholecystectomy. If we ignore the price factor, ondansetron is recommended for adhibition.

Nickel clusters accelerating hierarchical zinc indium sulfide nanoflowers for unprecedented visible-light hydrogen production.

As a typical two-dimensional (2D) metal chalcogenides and visible-light responsive semiconductor, zinc indium sulfide (ZnIn2S4) has attracted much attention in photocatalysis. However, the high recombination rate of photogenerated electrons and holes seriously limits its performance for hydrogen production. In this work, we report in-situ photodeposition of Ni clusters in hierarchical ZnIn2S4 nanoflowers (Ni/ZnIn2S4) to achieve unprecedented photocatalytic hydrogen production. The Ni clusters not only provide plenty of active sites for reactions as evidenced by in-situ photoluminescence measurement, but also effectively accelerate the separation and migration of the photogenerated electrons and holes in ZnIn2S4. Consequently, the Ni/ZnIn2S4 composites exhibit good stability and reusability with highly enhanced visible-light hydrogen production. In particular, the best Ni/ZnIn2S4 photocatalyst exhibits an unprecedented hydrogen production rate of 22.2 mmol·h-1·g-1, 10.6 times that of the pure ZnIn2S4 (2.1 mmol·h-1·g-1). And its apparent quantum yield (AQY) is as high as 56.14% under 450 nm monochromatic light. Our work here suggests that depositing non-precious Ni clusters in ZnIn2S4 is quite promising for the potential practical photocatalysis in solar energy conversion.

Blood Biomarkers Predict Cardiac Workload Using Machine Learning.

INTRODUCTION: Rate pressure product (the product of heart rate and systolic blood pressure) is a measure of cardiac workload. Resting rate pressure product (rRPP) varies from one individual to the next, but its biochemical/cellular phenotype remains unknown. This study determined the degree to which an individual's biochemical/cellular profile as characterized by a standard blood panel is predictive of rRPP, as well the importance of each blood biomarker in this prediction. METHODS: We included data from 55,730 participants in this study with complete rRPP measurements and concurrently collected blood panel information from the Health Management Centre at the Affiliated Hospital of Hangzhou Normal University. We used the XGBoost machine learning algorithm to train a tree-based model and then assessed its accuracy on an independent portion of the dataset and then compared its performance against a standard linear regression technique. We further determined the predictive importance of each feature in the blood panel. RESULTS: We found a fair positive correlation (Pearson r) of 0.377 (95% CI: 0.375-0.378) between observed rRPP and rRPP predicted from blood biomarkers. By comparison, the performance for standard linear regression was 0.352 (95% CI: 0.351-0.354). The top three predictors in this model were glucose concentration, total protein concentration, and neutrophil count. Discussion/. CONCLUSION: Blood biomarkers predict resting RPP when modeled in combination with one another; such models are valuable for studying the complex interrelations between resting cardiac workload and one's biochemical/cellular phenotype.

Preoperative serum ferritin is an independent prognostic factor for liver cancer after hepatectomy.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Serum ferritin (SF) may have a close relationship with the tumor. But no study has investigated the prognostic value of SF in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients receiving curative resection yet. Aim of this study is to explore the role of preoperative SF in survival outcomes of such patients. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 427 HCC patients who received curative hepatic resection in our medical center. Significant clinical and pathological data along with the association between SF and clinicopathological parameters were compared and analyzed. The prognostic significance of SF was determined by Kaplan-Meier analysis and the Cox proportional hazards regression model. RESULTS: The optimal cut-off value of SF for overall survival (OS) was 267 ng/ml. Preoperative SF level could predict OS (P = 0.001, HR = 1.651, 95%CI: 1.213-2.247) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) (P < 0.001, HR = 1.570, 95%CI: 1.221-2.018) independent of other prognostic factors. Patients with a low SF were more likely to have both favorable OS and RFS (both P < 0.001), and vice versa. The 1-, 3-, and 5-year OS and RFS rates were 91.4%, 80.1%, 71.7%, and 78.0%, 53.0%, 47.3% in low SF group, and 91.6%, 60.2%, 45.2%, and 61.3%, 36.4%, 29.0% in high SF group, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Preoperative SF was a simple, inexpensive, convenient and reliable prognostic factor that could predict survival outcomes in HCC patients who received radical hepatic resection.

Polysaccharide Fraction Extracted from Endophytic Fungus Trichoderma atroviride D16 Has an Influence on the Proteomics Profile of the Salvia miltiorrhiza Hairy Roots.

Trichoderma atroviride develops a symbiont relationship with Salvia miltiorrhiza and this association involves a number of signaling pathways and proteomic responses between both partners. In our previous study, we have reported that polysaccharide fraction (PSF) of T. atroviride could promote tanshinones accumulation in S.miltiorrhiza hairy roots. Consequently, the present data elucidates the broad proteomics changes under treatment of PSF. Furthermore, we reported several previously undescribed and unexpected responses, containing gene expression patterns consistent with biochemical stresses and metabolic patterns inside the host. In summary, the PSF-induced tanshinones accumulation in S.miltiorrhiza hairy roots may be closely related to Ca2+ triggering, peroxide reaction, protein phosphorylation, and jasmonic acid (JA) signal transduction, leading to an increase in leucine-rich repeat (LRR) protein synthesis. This results in the changes in basic metabolic flux of sugars, amino acids, and protein synthesis, along with signal defense reactions. The results reported here increase our understanding of the interaction between T.atroviride and S.miltiorrhiza and specifically confirm the proteomic responses underlying the activities of PSF.

Using Polygraph to Detect Passengers Carrying Illegal Items.

The present study examined the effectiveness of a Modified-Comparison Questions Technique, used in conjunction with the polygraph, to differentiate between common travelers, drug traffickers, and terrorists at transportation hubs. Two experiments were conducted using a mock crime paradigm. In Experiment 1, we randomly assigned 78 participants to either a drug condition, where they packed and lied about illicit drugs in their luggage, or a control condition, where they did not pack or lie about any illegal items. In Experiment 2, we randomly assigned 164 participants to one of the two conditions in Experiment 1 or an additional bomb condition, where they packed and lied about a bomb in their luggage. For both experiments, we assessed participants' RR interval, heart rate, peak-to-peak amplitude of Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) and all three combined, using Discriminant Analyses to determine the classification accuracy of participants in each condition. In both experiments, we found decelerated heart rates and increased peak-to-peak amplitude of GSR in guilty participants when lying in response to questions regarding their crime. We also found accurate classifications of participants, in both Experiment 1 (drug vs. control: 84.2% vs. 82.5%) and Experiment 2 (drug vs. control: 82:1% vs. 95.1%; bomb vs. control: 93.2% vs. 95.1%; drug vs. bomb: 92.3% vs. 90.9%), above chance level. These findings indicate that Modified-CQT, combined with a polygraph test, is a viable method for investigating suspects of drug trafficking and terrorism at transportation hubs such as train stations and airports.

Smartphone-Based Blood Pressure Measurement Using Transdermal Optical Imaging Technology.

BACKGROUND: Cuff-based blood pressure measurement lacks comfort and convenience. Here, we examined whether blood pressure can be determined in a contactless manner using a novel smartphone-based technology called transdermal optical imaging. This technology processes imperceptible facial blood flow changes from videos captured with a smartphone camera and uses advanced machine learning to determine blood pressure from the captured signal. METHODS: We enrolled 1328 normotensive adults in our study. We used an advanced machine learning algorithm to create computational models that predict reference systolic, diastolic, and pulse pressure from facial blood flow data. We used 70% of our data set to train these models and 15% of our data set to test them. The remaining 15% of the sample was used to validate model performance. RESULTS: We found that our models predicted blood pressure with a measurement bias±SD of 0.39±7.30 mm Hg for systolic pressure, -0.20±6.00 mm Hg for diastolic pressure, and 0.52±6.42 mm Hg for pulse pressure, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our results in normotensive adults fall within 5±8 mm Hg of reference measurements. Future work will determine whether these models meet the clinically accepted accuracy threshold of 5±8 mm Hg when tested on a full range of blood pressures according to international accuracy standards.

Molybdenum disulfide quantum dots directing zinc indium sulfide heterostructures for enhanced visible light hydrogen production.

Photocatalytic hydrogen (H2) production based on semiconductors is important to utilize solar light for clean energy and environment. Herein, we report a visible light responsive heterostructure, designed and constructed by molybdenum disulfide quantum dots (MoS2-QDs) in-situ seeds-directing growth and self-assemble of zinc indium sulfide (ZnIn2S4) nanosheet to ensure their full contact through a simple one-step solvothermal method for highly improved visible light H2 production. The MoS2-QDs in-situ seeds-directing ZnIn2S4 heterostructure not only builds heterojunctions between MoS2 and ZnIn2S4 to spatially separate the photogenerated electrons and holes, but also serves as the active sites trapping photogenerated electrons to facilitate H2 evolution. As a result, MoS2-QDs/ZnIn2S4 exhibits high photocatalytic activity for H2 production, and the optimized 2 wt% MoS2-QDs/ZnIn2S4 (2MoS2-QDs/ZnIn2S4) heterostructure exhibits the highest H2 evolution rate of 7152 umol·h-1·g-1 under visible light, ∼9 times of pure ZnIn2S4. Our strategy here could shed some lights on developing noble-metal free heterostructures for highly efficient photocatalytic H2 production.

Transdermal optical imaging revealed different spatiotemporal patterns of facial cardiovascular activities.

Human cardiovascular activities are important indicators of a variety of physiological and psychological activities in human neuroscience research. The present proof-of-concept study aimed to reveal the spatiotemporal patterns of cardiovascular activities from the dynamic changes in hemoglobin concentrations in the face. We first recorded the dynamics of facial transdermal blood flow using a digital video camera and the Electrocardiography (ECG) signals using an ECG system simultaneously. Then we decomposed the video imaging data extracted from different sub-regions of a face into independent components using group independent component analysis (group ICA). Finally, the ICA components that included cardiovascular activities were identified by correlating their magnitude spectrum to those obtained from the ECG. We found that cardiovascular activities were associated with five independent components reflecting different spatiotemporal dynamics of facial blood flow changes. The strongest strengths of these ICA components were observed in the bilateral forehead, the left chin, and the left cheek, respectively. Our findings suggest that the cardiovascular activities presented different dynamic properties within different facial sub-regions, respectively. More broadly, the present findings point to the potential of the transdermal optical imaging technology as a new neuroscience methodology to study human physiology and psychology, noninvasively and remotely in a contactless manner.

The Fusiform Face Area Plays a Greater Role in Holistic Processing for Own-Race Faces Than Other-Race Faces.

Own-race faces are recognized more effectively than other-race faces. This phenomenon is referred to as other-race effect (ORE). Existing behavioral evidence suggests that one of the possible causes of ORE is that own-race faces are processed more holistically than other-race faces. However, little is known about whether such differences in processing also produce distinctive neural responses in the cortical face processing network. To bridge this gap, the present study used fMRI methodology and the composite face paradigm to examine the response patterns of the traditional face-preferential cortical areas (i.e., the bilateral fusiform face areas [FFA] and the bilateral occipital face areas [OFA]) elicited by own-race faces and other-race faces. We found that the right FFA exhibited a neural composite face effect only for own-race faces but not for other-race faces, even with the absence of the race-related difference in behavior composite face effect. These findings suggest that the right FFA plays a greater role in holistic processing of individual own-race faces than other-race faces. They also suggest that the neural composite effect observed in the right FFA is not the exact neural counterpart of the behavioral face composite effect. The findings of the present study revealed that, along the pathway of the bottom-up face processing, own-race faces and other-race faces presented the holistic processing difference as early as when they were processed in the right FFA.

Functional neural networks of honesty and dishonesty in children: Evidence from graph theory analysis.

The present study examined how different brain regions interact with each other during spontaneous honest vs. dishonest communication. More specifically, we took a complex network approach based on the graph-theory to analyze neural response data when children are spontaneously engaged in honest or dishonest acts. Fifty-nine right-handed children between 7 and 12 years of age participated in the study. They lied or told the truth out of their own volition. We found that lying decreased both the global and local efficiencies of children's functional neural network. This finding, for the first time, suggests that lying disrupts the efficiency of children's cortical network functioning. Further, it suggests that the graph theory based network analysis is a viable approach to study the neural development of deception.