SFINN: inferring gene regulatory network from single-cell and spatial transcriptomic data with shared factor neighborhood and integrated neural network.

MOTIVATION: The rise of single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) technology presents new opportunities for constructing detailed cell type-specific gene regulatory networks (GRNs) to study cell heterogeneity. However, challenges caused by noises, technical errors, and dropout phenomena in scRNA-seq data pose significant obstacles to GRN inference, making the design of accurate GRN inference algorithms still essential. The recent growth of both single-cell and spatial transcriptomic sequencing data enables the development of supervised deep learning methods to infer GRNs on these diverse single-cell datasets. RESULTS: In this study, we introduce a novel deep learning framework based on shared factor neighborhood and integrated neural network (SFINN) for inferring potential interactions and causalities between transcription factors and target genes from single-cell and spatial transcriptomic data. SFINN utilizes shared factor neighborhood to construct cellular neighborhood network based on gene expression data and additionally integrates cellular network generated from spatial location information. Subsequently, the cell adjacency matrix and gene pair expression are fed into an integrated neural network framework consisting of a graph convolutional neural network and a fully-connected neural network to determine whether the genes interact. Performance evaluation in the tasks of gene interaction and causality prediction against the existing GRN reconstruction algorithms demonstrates the usability and competitiveness of SFINN across different kinds of data. SFINN can be applied to infer gene regulatory networks from conventional single-cell sequencing data and spatial transcriptomic data. AVAILABILITY: SFINN can be accessed at GitHub: https://github.com/JGuan-lab/SFINN. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Characteristics of Gaseous Elemental Mercury in a Suburban Area of Shanghai, China.

To clarify gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) in suburban megacities in the Yangtze River Delta region, China, we observed GEM concentrations from December 2019 to November 2020 in Wujing town, a suburban area of Shanghai. The annual mean GEM concentration was 1.44 ± 0.88 ng m-3. Compared with the historical monitoring data of GEM in Shanghai over the past 10 years, the concentration of GEM showed a decreasing trend. The monthly mean concentrations of GEM showed clear seasonal variation, with higher values in the spring and winter. In spring and winter, typical Hg pollution events were observed, which could be mostly associated with increased local anthropogenic activity and temperature inversion. The results of the correlation analysis of the daily mean GEM concentrations with the AQI and backward trajectory calculations indicate that mercury pollution at monitoring sites can be affected by local, regional and interregional influences.

Gum arabic coating alleviates chilling injury of cold-stored peach by regulating reactive oxygen species, phenolic, and sugar metabolism.

In this study, gum arabic (GA) coating was employed to mitigate chilling injury in peach fruit, and it was observed that 10% GA coating exhibited the most favorable effect. GA coating significantly inhibited the decline of AsA content and enhanced antioxidant enzyme activity in peach fruit, thereby enhancing reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging rate while reducing its accumulation. Simultaneously, GA coating inhibited the activity of oxidative degradation enzymes for phenolics and enhanced synthase activity, thus maintaining higher levels of total phenolics and flavonoids in fruits. Additionally, compared to the control fruit, GA-coated fruits demonstrated higher concentrations of sucrose and sorbitol, accompanied more robust activity of sucrose synthase and sucrose phosphate synthase, as well as reduced activity of acid invertase and neutral invertase. Our study demonstrates that GA coating can effectively enhance the cold resistance of peach fruit by regulating ROS, phenolics, and sugar metabolism, maintaining high levels of phenolics and sucrose while enhancing antioxidant activity.

Hybrid multimodal fusion for graph learning in disease prediction.

Graph neural networks (GNNs) have gained significant attention in disease prediction where the latent embeddings of patients are modeled as nodes and the similarities among patients are represented through edges. The graph structure, which determines how information is aggregated and propagated, plays a crucial role in graph learning. Recent approaches typically create graphs based on patients' latent embeddings, which may not accurately reflect their real-world closeness. Our analysis reveals that raw data, such as demographic attributes and laboratory results, offers a wealth of information for assessing patient similarities and can serve as a compensatory measure for graphs constructed exclusively from latent embeddings. In this study, we first construct adaptive graphs from both latent representations and raw data respectively, and then merge these graphs via weighted summation. Given that the graphs may contain extraneous and noisy connections, we apply degree-sensitive edge pruning and kNN sparsification techniques to selectively sparsify and prune these edges. We conducted intensive experiments on two diagnostic prediction datasets, and the results demonstrate that our proposed method surpasses current state-of-the-art techniques.

Strong Metal-Support Interaction Modulation between Pt Nanoclusters and Mn3O4 Nanosheets through Oxygen Vacancy Control to Achieve High Activities for Acidic Hydrogen Evolution.

The optimization of metal-support interactions is used to fabricate noble metal-based nanoclusters with high activity for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in acid media. Specifically, the oxygen-defective Mn3O4 nanosheets supported Pt nanoclusters of ≈1.71 nm in diameter (Pt/V·-Mn3O4 NSs) are synthesized through the controlled solvothermal reaction. The Pt/V·-Mn3O4 NSs show a superior activity and excellent stability for the HER in the acidic media. They only require an overpotential of 19 mV to drive -10 mA cm-2 and show negligible activity loss at -10 and -250 mA cm-2 for >200 and >60 h, respectively. Their Pt mass activity is 12.4 times higher than that of the Pt/C and even higher than those of many single-atom based Pt catalysts. DFT calculations show that their high HER activity arises mainly from the strong metal-support interaction between Pt and Mn3O4. It can facilitate the charge transfer from Mn3O4 to Pt, optimizing the H adsorption on the catalyst surface and promoting the evolution of H2 through the Volmer-Tafel mechanism. The oxygen vacancies in the V·-Mn3O4 NSs are found to be inconducive to the high activity of the Pt/V·-Mn3O4 NSs, highlighting the great importance to reduce the vacancy levels in V·-Mn3O4 NSs.

Neoadjuvant PD-(L)1 blockade plus platinum-based chemotherapy for potentially resectable oncogene-positive non-small cell lung cancer.

BACKGROUND: Whether programmed cell death-1/ligand-1 (PD-1/PD-L1) blockade-based neoadjuvant treatment may benefit locally advanced oncogene-mutant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients remains controversial. This retrospective study was designed to observe the efficacy and safety of neoadjuvant PD-1/PD-L1 blockade plus chemotherapy versus chemotherapy and corresponding tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) in patients with resectable oncogene-positive NSCLC. METHODS: Patients with potential resectable NSCLC harbouring oncogene alterations who had received neoadjuvant treatment were retrospectively recruited, and an oncogene-negative cohort of patients who received neoadjuvant PD-(L)1 blockade-based neoadjuvant treatment was reviewed for comparison during the same period. The primary aim was to observe the treatment efficacy and event-free survival (EFS) of these agents. Safety profile, molecular target, and immunologic factor data, including PD-L1 expression and tumour mutational burden (TMB), were also obtained. RESULTS: A total of 46 patients were recruited. Thirty-one of them harboured oncogene alterations, including EGFR, KRAS, ERBB2, ROS1, MET, RET, ALK, and FGFR3 alterations. Among the oncogene-positive patients, 18 patients received neoadjuvant PD-(L)1 blockade immunotherapy plus chemotherapy (oncogene-positive IO group), 13 patients were treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy and/or corresponding TKIs or TKIs alone (oncogene-positive chemo/TKIs group), and the other 15 patients were oncogene negative and received neoadjuvant PD-(L)1 blockade plus chemotherapy (oncogene-negative IO group). The pathological complete response (pCR) and major pathological response (MPR) rates were 22.2% (4 of 18) and 44.4% (8 of 18) in the oncogene-positive IO group, 0% (P = 0.120) and 23.1% (3 of 13) (P = 0.276) in the oncogene-positive chemo/TKIs group, and 46.7% (7 of 15) (P = 0.163) and 80.0% (12 of 15) (P = 0.072) in the oncogene-negative IO group, respectively. By the last follow-up, the median EFS time had not reached in the oncogene-positive IO group, and was 29.5 months in the oncogene-positive chemo/TKIs group and 38.4 months in the oncogene-negative IO group. CONCLUSION: Compared with chemotherapy/TKIs treatment, neoadjuvant treatment with PD-(L)1 blockade plus platinum-based chemotherapy was associated with higher pCR/MPR rates in patients with partially resectable oncogene-mutant NSCLC, while the pCR/MPR rates were lower than their oncogene-negative counterparts treated with PD-(L)1 blockade-based treatment. Specifically, oncogene alteration types and other predictors of response to immunotherapy should be taken into account in clinical practice.

The lateral septum partakes the regulation of propofol-induced anxiety-like behavior.

Repeated exposure to propofol during early brain development is associated with anxiety disorders in adulthood, yet the mechanisms underlying propofol-induced susceptibility to anxiety disorders remain elusive. The lateral septum (LS), primarily composed of γ-aminobutyric acidergic (GABAergic) neurons, serves as a key brain region in the regulation of anxiety. However, it remains unclear whether LS GABAergic neurons are implicated in propofol-induced anxiety. Therefore, we conducted c-Fos immunostaining of whole-brain slices from mice exposed to propofol during early life. Our findings indicate that propofol exposure activates GABAergic neurons in the LS. Selective activation of LS GABAergic neurons resulted in increased anxiety-like behavior, while selective inhibition of these neurons reduced such behaviors. These results suggest that the LS is a critical brain region involved in propofol-induced anxiety. Furthermore, we investigated the molecular mechanism of propofol-induced anxiety in the LS. Microglia activation underlies the development of anxiety. Immunofluorescence staining and Western blot analysis of LS revealed activated microglia and significantly elevated levels of phospho-NF-κB p65 protein. Additionally, a decrease in the number of neuronal spines was observed. Our study highlights the crucial role of the LS in the development of anxiety-like behavior in adulthood following childhood propofol exposure, accompanied by the activation of inflammatory pathways.

Capacitive and Efficient Near-Infrared Stimulation of Neurons via an Ultrathin AgBiS2 Nanocrystal Layer.

Colloidal nanocrystals (NCs) exhibit significant potential for photovoltaic bioelectronic interfaces because of their solution processability, tunable energy levels, and inorganic nature, lending them chemical stability. Silver bismuth sulfide (AgBiS2) NCs, free from toxic heavy-metal elements (e.g., Cd, Hg, and Pb), particularly offer an exceptional absorption coefficient exceeding 105 cm-1 in the near-infrared (NIR), surpassing many of their inorganic counterparts. Here, we integrated an ultrathin (24 nm) AgBiS2 NC layer into a water-stable photovoltaic bioelectronic device architecture that showed a high capacitive photocurrent of 2.3 mA·cm-2 in artificial cerebrospinal fluid (aCSF) and ionic charges over 10 µC·cm-2 at a low NIR intensity of 0.5 mW·mm-2. The device without encapsulation showed a halftime of 12.5 years under passive accelerated aging test and did not show any toxicity on neurons. Furthermore, patch-clamp electrophysiology on primary hippocampal neurons under whole-cell configuration revealed that the device elicited neuron firing at intensity levels more than an order of magnitude below the established ocular safety limits. These findings point to the potential of AgBiS2 NCs for photovoltaic retinal prostheses.

Advances in the Removal of Organic Pollutants from Water by Photocatalytic Activation of Persulfate: Photocatalyst Modification Strategy and Reaction Mechanism.

Environmental pollution caused by persistent organic pollutants has imposed big threats to the health of human and ecological systems. The development of efficient methods to effectively degrade and remove these persistent organic pollutants is therefore of paramount importance. Photocatalytic persulfate-based advanced oxidation technologies (PS-AOTs), which depend on the highly reactive SO4 - radicals generated by the activation of PS to degrade persistent organic pollutants, have shown great promise. This work discusses the application and modification strategies of common photocatalysts in photocatalytic PS-AOTs, and compares the degradation performance of different catalysts for pollutants. Furthermore, essential elements impacting photocatalytic PS-AOTs are discussed, including the water matrix, reaction process mechanism, pollutant degradation pathway, singlet oxygen generation, and potential PS hazards. Finally, the existing issues and future challenges of photocatalytic PS-AOTs are summarized and prospected to encourage their practical application. In particular, by providing new insights into the PS-AOTs, this review sheds light on the opportunities and challenges for the development of photocatalysts with advanced features for the PS-AOTs, which will be of great interests to promote better fundamental understanding of the PS-AOTs and their practical applications.

VGLL2 and TEAD1 fusion proteins drive YAP/TAZ-independent transcription and tumorigenesis by engaging p300.

Studies on Hippo pathway regulation of tumorigenesis largely center on YAP and TAZ, the transcriptional co-regulators of TEAD. Here, we present an oncogenic mechanism involving VGLL and TEAD fusions that is Hippo pathway-related but YAP/TAZ-independent. We characterize two recurrent fusions, VGLL2-NCOA2 and TEAD1-NCOA2, recently identified in spindle cell rhabdomyosarcoma. We demonstrate that, in contrast to VGLL2 and TEAD1, the fusion proteins are strong activators of TEAD-dependent transcription, and their function does not require YAP/TAZ. Furthermore, we identify that VGLL2 and TEAD1 fusions engage specific epigenetic regulation by recruiting histone acetyltransferase p300 to control TEAD-mediated transcriptional and epigenetic landscapes. We showed that small molecule p300 inhibition can suppress fusion proteins-induced oncogenic transformation both in vitro and in vivo. Overall, our study reveals a molecular basis for VGLL involvement in cancer and provides a framework for targeting tumors carrying VGLL, TEAD, or NCOA translocations.

Estimates on age, growth, and mortality of Leuciscus chuanchicus (Kessler 1876) in the Ningxia section of the upper reaches of the Yellow River, China.

To investigate the age structure, growth pattern, mortality and exploitation rates of Leuciscus chuanchicus in the upstream Ningxia section of the Yellow River, four sampling surveys were conducted between 2022 and 2023. A total of 472 individuals were measured for their total length (TL) and body weight (W). Age determination was performed using otoliths. The collected samples had a range of total lengths from 4.52 to 37.45 cm, body weights ranging from 0.68 to 552.43 g, and ages ranging from 1 to 7 years old. The relationship between total length and body weight was expressed as W = 0.0052 L3.19 for all samples, which indicates that the growth of L. chuanchicus adheres to allometry. The Von Bertalanffy growth equation revealed that the fish had an asymptotic total length (L∞) of approximately 37.9 cm with a growth coefficient (K) value of approximately 0.461 yr-1. Using the age-based catch curve method, the calculated total instantaneous mortality rate (Z) for all samples was determined as being equal to approximately 1.1302 yr-1. Additionally, three methods were used to estimate the average instantaneous rate of natural mortality (M), resulting in an approximate value of 0.7167 yr-1 for all samples. Furthermore, the instantaneous rate of fishing mortality (F) for all samples was calculated as 0.4134 yr-1, leading us to determine that the exploitation rate (E) is 0.3658. It was concluded that the growth rate of L. chuanchicus in the upstream of the Yellow River is relatively fast, and L. chuanchicus has not been subjected to excessive exploitation, yet its relatively high natural mortality rate underscores the need for targeted management measures aimed at preserving its habitat.

Hi-C, a chromatin 3D structure technique advancing the functional genomics of immune cells.

The functional performance of immune cells relies on a complex transcriptional regulatory network. The three-dimensional structure of chromatin can affect chromatin status and gene expression patterns, and plays an important regulatory role in gene transcription. Currently available techniques for studying chromatin spatial structure include chromatin conformation capture techniques and their derivatives, chromatin accessibility sequencing techniques, and others. Additionally, the recently emerged deep learning technology can be utilized as a tool to enhance the analysis of data. In this review, we elucidate the definition and significance of the three-dimensional chromatin structure, summarize the technologies available for studying it, and describe the research progress on the chromatin spatial structure of dendritic cells, macrophages, T cells, B cells, and neutrophils.

Effects of Aerobic Exercise Combined With Attentional Bias Modification in the Care of Male Patients With a Methamphetamine Use Disorder.

OBJECTIVE: It remains unclear which individual or combined strategies are most beneficial for methamphetamine use disorders (MUDs). We compared the effects of aerobic exercise, attentional bias modification, and combined intervention on male patients with MUD. METHOD: One hundred male patients with MUD were randomly assigned to combined intervention, aerobic exercise, attentional bias modification, or control groups (25 patients per group). The 8-week intervention protocol included three 60-minute sessions of aerobic exercises per week. Primary outcomes included high- and low-frequency heart rate variability, executive function, and cardiorespiratory fitness measured by customized software, computerized tests, and the Harvard step test, respectively. Secondary outcomes included psychiatric symptoms, drug craving, training acceptability, and persistence. RESULTS: Participant characteristics were matched between groups at baseline. Executive function, heart rate variability, cardiorespiratory fitness, drug craving, and most psychiatric symptoms had significant time-group interactions at posttest (p < .05, η2 = .08-.28). Compared with the attentional bias modification and control groups, the combined intervention and aerobic exercise groups improved significantly in executive function, heart rate variability, cardiorespiratory fitness, and most secondary outcomes. In addition, high-frequency heart rate variability and cardiorespiratory fitness in the aerobic exercise group were significantly higher than those in the combined intervention group. CONCLUSIONS: Combination strategies showed comparable efficacy to aerobic exercise alone in improving executive function, psychiatric symptoms, and drug craving and significantly exceeded other conditions. For heart rate variability and cardiorespiratory fitness, aerobic exercise alone was the most effective. For acceptability and persistence, combination strategies were preferred over single-domain training and health education intervention.

Adherence to oxidative balance score is inversely associated with the prevalence of stroke: results from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999-2018.

Introduction: The relationship between oxidative balance score (OBS), an emerging integrative metric for assessing individual redox homeostasis, and the prevalence of stroke in the general population remains unknown. We aimed to explore these relationships in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). We investigated the relationship between the oxidative balance score (OBS) and stroke prevalence using NHANES data from 1999-2018. Methods: We included eligible individuals from NHANES 1999-2018. OBS calculations were based on previously validated methods, and stroke diagnoses were based on self-reports in questionnaires. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were used to examine the independent associations of overall, dietary, and lifestyle OBS with stroke prevalence. In addition, restricted cubic spline (RCS), stratified analysis, and sensitivity analysis were used. Results: We included 25,258 participants aged 20-85 years, in which the prevalence of stroke was 2.66%. After adjusting for all confounders, overall and dietary OBS, but not lifestyle OBS, were inversely associated with the prevalence of stroke [odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals of 0.97 (0.96, 0.99) and 0.98 (0.96, 0.99) for overall and dietary OBS, respectively, both p < 0.05]. In addition, there was a dose-response relationship between overall and dietary OBS and stroke prevalence. The RCS showed that these relationships were linear. Stratified analyses indicated that socioeconomic status (SES) significantly influenced the relationship between all OBS and stroke prevalence. Conclusion: Dietary OBS, but not lifestyle OBS, had an inverse relationship with the prevalence of stroke in the general population. SES significantly influenced the protective effect of OBS against stroke. These findings emphasize the importance of integrated antioxidant properties from diet for stroke prevention.

Tumor treating fields in glioblastoma: long-term treatment and high compliance as favorable prognostic factors.

Introduction: Tumor treating fields (TTFields) have earned substantial attention in recent years as a novel therapeutic approach with the potential to improve the prognosis of glioblastoma (GBM) patients. However, the impact of TTFields remains a subject of ongoing debate. This study aimed to offer real-world evidence on TTFields therapy for GBM, and to investigate the clinical determinants affecting its efficacy. Methods: We have reported a retrospective analysis of 81 newly diagnosed Chinese GBM patients who received TTFields/Stupp treatment in the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University. Overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were analyzed using Kaplan-Meier method. Cox regression models with time-dependent covariates were utilized to address non-proportional hazards and to assess the influence of clinical variables on PFS and OS. Results: The median PFS and OS following TTFields/STUPP treatment was 12.6 months (95% CI 11.0-14.1) and 21.3 months (95% CI 10.0-32.6) respectively. Long-term TTFields treatment (>2 months) exhibits significant improvements in PFS and OS compared to the short-term treatment group (≤2 months). Time-dependent covariate COX analysis revealed that longer TTFields treatment was correlated with enhanced PFS and OS for up to 12 and 13 months, respectively. Higher compliance to TTFields (≥ 0.8) significantly reduced the death risk (HR=0.297, 95%CI 0.108-0.819). Complete surgical resection and MGMT promoter methylation were associated with significantly lower risk of progression (HR=0.337, 95% CI 0.176-0.643; HR=0.156, 95% CI 0.065-0.378) and death (HR=0.276, 95% CI 0.105-0.727; HR=0.249, 95% CI 0.087-0.710). Conclusion: The TTFields/Stupp treatment may prolong median OS and PFS in GBM patients, with long-term TTFields treatment, higher TTFields compliance, complete surgical resection, and MGMT promoter methylation significantly improving prognosis.

Reduced Viral Shedding Time in High-Risk COVID-19 Patients Infected by Omicron and Treated with Paxlovid: A Real-World Study from China.

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to compare the viral shedding time in patients infected with the Omicron variant during Paxlovid therapy and conventional therapy and to analyze the effects of Paxlovid on patients infected with COVID-19. Methods: In this study, the demographic and clinical characteristics and laboratory data of 3159 patients infected with the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant treated at Jilin Province People's Hospital were collected and analyzed. A total of 362 patients received Paxlovid therapy, and 2797 patients received conventional therapy. After propensity score matching (PSM), 1086 patients were obtained. Results: The difference in platelet (PLT) count between the two groups was statistically significant but within the normal range (P < 0.05). CT value revealed that the nucleic acid test results became negative more quickly in the Paxlovid therapy group. Analysis of the Paxlovid therapy group showed that IgG and IgM levels were increased after Paxlovid therapy administration. Conclusion: The CT value of the Paxlovid therapy group became negative more quickly. This finding suggests that Paxlovid treatment after early diagnosis of the Omicron variant may achieve good therapeutic efficacy.

Involvement of microglia-expressed MS4A6A in the onset of glioblastoma.

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) represents the deadliest form of brain tumour, characterized by its low survival rate and grim prognosis. Cytokines released from glioma-associated microglia/macrophages are involved in establishing the tumour microenvironment, thereby crucially promoting GBM progression. MS4A6A polymorphism was confirmed to be associated with neurodegenerative and polymorphism disease pathobiology, but whether it participates in the regulation of GBM and the underlying mechanisms is still not elucidated. Here, we found that MS4A6A was significantly upregulated in GBM patient samples. The results from the single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) database and immunostaining demonstrated the specific expression of MS4A6A in microglial cells. In vitro, microglial overexpression of MS4A6A stimulated the proliferation and migration of glioblastoma cells. Moreover, high MS4A6A mRNA expression was related to poor prognosis in GBM patients. Our study highlights the potential of MS4A6A as a promising biomarker for GBM, which may provide novel strategies for its prevention, diagnosis and treatment.

Low NT5DC2 expression predicts favorable prognosis and suppresses soft tissue sarcoma progression via ECM-receptor interaction pathway.

BACKGROUND: Soft tissue sarcoma, a malignant tumor arising from mesenchymal tissues with poor prognosis. 5'-Nucleotidase Domain Containing 2 (NT5DC2) is a novel oncogene, and the precise involvement of NT5DC2 in soft tissue sarcoma were still undefined. Hence, our study aims to investigate NT5DC2 functions in soft tissue sarcoma progression. METHODS: The tumor immune single-cell hub 2 (TISCH2) website, The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) pan-cancer or sarcoma and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO, GSE21122) databases were applied to visualize the NT5DC2 status in the sarcoma databases. The NT5DC2 protein expression in sarcoma tissues in our hospital was detected by using immunohistochemistry (IHC) and analyzed the associations between NT5DC2 expression and clinicopathological parameters. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), colony formation, 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine (EdU) assay, wound healing, transwell, flow cytometry and xenograft model were used to elucidate the effects of NT5DC2 downregulated by lentivirus in sarcoma cell. RESULTS: The TISCH2 website detection found that NT5DC2 expression is enriched in malignant cells in sarcoma single-cell database. Furthermore, the TCGA-sarcoma database indicated that NT5DC2 expression correlates with metastasis, positive margin status, prognosis, and diagnostic value. Additionally, IHC staining showed that 40 % of soft tissue sarcoma patients present high expression of NT5DC2, and NT5DC2 upregulation is closely associated with poor prognosis. Functional verification analysis further revealed that downregulating NT5DC2 expression can suppress sarcoma progression through the ECM-receptor interaction pathway. CONCLUSION: Low expression of NT5DC2 predicts a favorable prognosis in soft tissue sarcoma, and downregulated NT5DC2 expression can suppress sarcoma cell progression through the ECM-receptor interaction pathway.

CTH-Net: A CNN and Transformer hybrid network for skin lesion segmentation.

Automatically and accurately segmenting skin lesions can be challenging, due to factors such as low contrast and fuzzy boundaries. This paper proposes a hybrid encoder-decoder model (CTH-Net) based on convolutional neural network (CNN) and Transformer, capitalizing on the advantages of these approaches. We propose three modules for skin lesion segmentation and seamlessly connect them with carefully designed model architecture. Better segmentation performance is achieved by introducing SoftPool in the CNN branch and sandglass block in the bottleneck layer. Extensive experiments were conducted on four publicly accessible skin lesion datasets, ISIC 2016, ISIC 2017, ISIC 2018, and PH2 to confirm the efficacy and benefits of the proposed strategy. Experimental results show that the proposed CTH-Net provides better skin lesion segmentation performance in both quantitative and qualitative testing when compared with state-of-the-art approaches. We believe the CTH-Net design is inspiring and can be extended to other applications/frameworks.

Design and experiment of Panax notoginseng root orientation transplanting device based on YOLOv5s.

Consistent root orientation is one of the important requirements of Panax notoginseng transplanting agronomy. In this paper, a Panax notoginseng orientation transplanting method based on machine vision technology and negative pressure adsorption principle was proposed. With the cut-main root of Panax notoginseng roots as the detection object, the YOLOv5s was used to establish a root feature detection model. A Panax notoginseng root orientation transplanting device was designed. The orientation control system identifies the root posture according to the detection results and controls the orientation actuator to adjust the root posture. The detection results show that the precision rate of the model was 94.2%, the recall rate was 92.0%, and the average detection precision was 94.9%. The Box-Behnken experiments were performed to investigate the effects of suction plate rotation speed, servo rotation speed and the angle between the camera and the orientation actuator(ACOA) on the orientation qualification rate and root drop rate. Response surface method and objective optimisation algorithm were used to analyse the experimental results. The optimal working parameters were suction plate rotation speed of 5.73 r/min, servo rotation speed of 0.86 r/s and ACOA of 35°. Under this condition, the orientation qualification rate and root drop rate of the actual experiment were 89.87% and 6.57%, respectively, which met the requirements of orientation transplanting for Panax notoginseng roots. The research method of this paper is helpful to solve the problem of orientation transplanting of other root crops.