A deep learning method to predict bacterial ADP-ribosyltransferase toxins.

MOTIVATION: ADP-ribosylation is a critical modification involved in regulating diverse cellular processes, including chromatin structure regulation, RNA transcription, and cell death. Bacterial ADP-ribosyltransferase toxins (bARTTs) serve as potent virulence factors that orchestrate the manipulation of host cell functions to facilitate bacterial pathogenesis. Despite their pivotal role, the bioinformatic identification of novel bARTTs poses a formidable challenge due to limited verified data and the inherent sequence diversity among bARTT members. RESULTS: We proposed a deep learning-based model, ARTNet, specifically engineered to predict bARTTs from bacterial genomes. Initially, we introduced an effective data augmentation method to address the issue of data scarcity in training ARTNet. Subsequently, we employed a data optimization strategy by utilizing ART-related domain subsequences instead of the primary full sequences, thereby significantly enhancing the performance of ARTNet. ARTNet achieved a Matthew's correlation coefficient (MCC) of 0.9351 and an F1-score (macro) of 0.9666 on repeated independent test datasets, outperforming three other deep learning models and six traditional machine learning models in terms of time efficiency and accuracy. Furthermore, we empirically demonstrated the ability of ARTNet to predict novel bARTTs across domain superfamilies without sequence similarity. We anticipate that ARTNet will greatly facilitate the screening and identification of novel bARTTs from bacterial genomes. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: ARTNet is publicly accessible at http://www.mgc.ac.cn/ARTNet/. The source code of ARTNet is freely available at https://github.com/zhengdd0422/ARTNet/.

Pan-Cancer Proteomics Analysis Reveals Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome Protein as a Potential Regulator of Programmed Death-Ligand 1.

The programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) is a key mediator of immunosuppression in the tumor microenvironment. The expression of PD-L1 in cancer cells is useful for the clinical determination of an immune checkpoint blockade (ICB). However, the regulatory mechanism of the PD-L1 abundance remains incompletely understood. Here, we integrated the proteomics of 52 patients with solid tumors and examined immune cell infiltration to reveal PD-L1-related regulatory modules. Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein (WASP) was identified as a potential regulator of PD-L1 transcription. In two independent cohorts containing 164 cancer patients, WASP expression was significantly associated with PD-L1. High WASP expression contributed to immunosuppressive cell composition, including cells positive for immune checkpoints (PD1, CTLA4, TIGIT, and TIM3), FoxP3+ Treg cells, and CD163+ tumor-associated macrophages. Overexpression of WASP increased, whereas knockdown of WASP decreased the protein level of PD-L1 in cancer cells without alteration of PD-L1 protein stability. The WASP-mediated cell migration and invasion were markedly attenuated by the silence of PD-L1. Collectively, our data suggest that WASP is a potential regulator of PD-L1 and the WASP/PD-L1 axis is responsible for cell migration and an immunosuppressive microenvironment.

Immune cell patterns before and after neoadjuvant immune checkpoint blockade combined with chemoradiotherapy in locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Neoadjuvant immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) combined with chemoradiotherapy offers high pathologic complete response (pCR) rate for patients with locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinomas (ESCC). But the dynamic tumor immune microenvironment modulated by such neoadjuvant therapy remains unclear. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 41 patients with locally advanced ESCC were recruited. All patients received neoadjuvant toripalimab combined with concurrent chemoradiotherapy. Matched pre- and post-treatment tissues were obtained for fluorescent multiplex immunohistochemistry (mIHC) and IHC analyses. The densities and spatial distributions of immune cells were determined by HALO modules. The differences of immune cell patterns before and after neoadjuvant treatment were investigated. RESULTS: In the pre-treatment tissues, more stromal CD3 + FoxP3 + Tregs and CD86+/CD163 + macrophages were observed in patients with residual tumor existed in the resected lymph nodes (pN1), compared with patients with pCR. The majority of macrophages were distributed in close proximity to tumor nest in pN1 patients. In the post-treatment tissues, pCR patients had less CD86 + cell infiltration, whereas higher CD86 + cell density was significantly associated with higher tumor regression grades (TRG) in non-pCR patients. When comparing the paired pre- and post-treatment samples, heterogeneous therapy-associated immune cell patterns were found. Upon to the treatment, CD3 + T lymphocytes were slightly increased in pCR patients, but markedly decreased in non-pCR patients. In contrast, a noticeable increase and a less obvious decrease of CD86 + cell infiltration were respectively depicted in non-pCR and pCR patients. Furthermore, opposite trends of the treatment-induced alterations of CD8 + and CD15 + cell infiltrations were observed between pN0 and pN1 patients. CONCLUSIONS: Collectively, our data demonstrate a comprehensive picture of tumor immune landscape before and after neoadjuvant ICB combined with chemoradiotherapy in ESCC. The infiltration of CD86 + macrophage may serve as an unfavorable indicator for neoadjuvant toripalimab combined with chemoradiotherapy.

Implications of perceived empathy from spouses during pregnancy for health-related quality of life among pregnant women: a cross-sectional study in Anhui, China.

BACKGROUND: Empathy is a critical component of nursing care, impacting both nurses' and patients' outcomes. However, perceived empathy from spouses during pregnancy and its impact on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) are unclear. This study aimed to examine pregnant women's perceived empathy from their spouses and assess the relation of perceived empathy on HRQoL. METHODS: This cross-sectional study, performed in the obstetric clinics or wards of four well-known hospitals in Anhui Province, China, included 349 pregnant women in the second or third trimester; participants were recruited by convenience sampling and enrolled from October to December 2021. A general information questionnaire, the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), a purpose-designed empathy questionnaire and the Medical Outcomes Study 12-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-12) were used to evaluate the pregnant women's general information, perceptions of empathy and HRQoL. Data were analysed using SPSS 22 at a threshold of P < 0.05. Descriptive analysis, Pearson correlation analysis, Student's t test, ANOVA, and multiple regression analysis were used for analysis. RESULTS: The pregnant women's total empathy, physical component summary (PCS) and mental component summary (MCS) scores were 41.6 ± 9.0, 41.6 ± 7.6, and 47.7 ± 9.1, respectively. Correlation analysis revealed that the purpose-designed empathy questionnaire items were significantly positively correlated with perspective taking and empathic concern but were not correlated with the personal distress dimension and were only partially correlated with the fantasy dimension. Maternal physical condition during pregnancy, planned pregnancy, and occupational stress were predictors of the PCS score (ß = 0.281, P < 0.01; ß = 0.132, P = 0.02; ß = -0.128, P = 0.02). The behavioural empathy item of our purpose-designed empathy questionnaire and empathic concern were important predictors of the MCS score (ß = 0.127, P = 0.02; ß = 0.158, P < 0.01), as well as other demographic and obstetric information, explaining 22.0% of the variance in MCS scores totally (F = 12.228, P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Pregnant women perceived lower empathy from their spouses and reported lower HRQoL. Perceived empathy, particularly behavioural empathy, may significantly impact pregnant women's MCS scores but has no effect on their PCS scores. Strategies that foster perceived empathy from spouses among pregnant women are essential for facilitating healthy pregnancies and potentially improving maternal and child health.

VFDB 2022: a general classification scheme for bacterial virulence factors.

The virulence factor database (VFDB, http://www.mgc.ac.cn/VFs/) is dedicated to presenting a comprehensive knowledge base and a versatile analysis platform for bacterial virulence factors (VFs). Recent developments in sequencing technologies have led to increasing demands to analyze potential VFs within microbiome data that always consist of many different bacteria. Nevertheless, the current classification of VFs from various pathogens is based on different schemes, which create a chaotic situation and form a barrier for the easy application of the VFDB dataset for future panbacterial metagenomic analyses. Therefore, based on extensive literature mining, we recently proposed a general category of bacterial VFs in the database and reorganized the VFDB dataset accordingly. Thus, all known bacterial VFs from 32 genera of common bacterial pathogens collected in the VFDB are well grouped into 14 basal categories along with over 100 subcategories in a hierarchical architecture. The new coherent and well-defined VFDB dataset will be feasible and applicable for future panbacterial analysis in terms of virulence factors. In addition, we introduced a redesigned JavaScript-independent web interface for the VFDB website to make the database readily accessible to all users with various client settings worldwide.

Knowledge, attitude, and practice of patients with major depressive disorder on exercise therapy.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to explore the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) toward exercise therapy of patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted at the First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University between April and October 2023 in patients with MDD. A self-designed questionnaire was used to evaluate the KAP (Cronbach's α = 0.787). The minimum-maximum scores were 2-23 for knowledge, 11-55 for attitude, and 7-35 for practice. RESULTS: A total of 494 valid questionnaires were analyzed. The mean KAP dimension scores were 15.39 ± 3.34/23 (66.91%), 36.54 ± 19.33/55 (66.44%), and 19.33 ± 5.22/35 (55.23%), indicating poor knowledge, negative attitude, and weak practice. Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that female (OR = 0.613, 95%CI: 0.376-1.000, P = 0.050), urban residence (OR = 0.443, 95%CI: 0.259-0.758, P = 0.003), suburban residence (OR = 0.047, 95%CI: 0.016-0.138, P < 0.001), higher income (OR = 3.889-7.928, all P < 0.001), and unclear self-reported depression level (OR = 0.078, 95%CI: 0.027-0.221, P < 0.001) were independently associated with the knowledge scores. Knowledge scores (OR = 1.102, 95%CI: 1.022-1.188, P = 0.011), female gender (OR = 0.437, 95%CI: 0.246-0.776, P = 0.005), city (OR = 0.410, 95%CI: 0.226-0.744, P = 0.003), married (OR = 3.577, 95%CI: 1.751-7.650, P < 0.001), higher income (OR = 0.065-0.392, both P < 0.050), depressive trend (OR = 2.640, 95%CI: 1.110-6.278, P = 0.028), high depression score level (OR = 0.176, 95%CI: 0.104-0.300, P < 0.001), and unclear self-reported depression score (OR = 0.023, 95%CI: 0.007-0.076, P < 0.001) were independently associated with the attitude scores. Finally, knowledge scores (OR = 1.130, 95%CI: 1.051-1.215, P = 0.001), attitude scores (OR = 1.199, 95%CI: 1.124-1.280, P < 0.001), and city (OR = 0.583, 95%CI: 0.352-0.965, P = 0.036) were independently associated with the practice scores. The structural equation modeling analysis showed that knowledge, but not attitude (ß = 0.103, P = 0.092) or practice (ß = 0.034, P = 0.603), influenced the depression level (ß=-0.074, P < 0.001); attitude influenced practice (ß = 0.369, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The KAP toward exercise among MDD patients is poor in Shanxi. Females, people living in urban or suburban areas, with lower income, and self-reported unclear depression levels should be targeted by education interventions.

MU variability in CBCT-guided online adaptive radiation therapy.

PURPOSE: CBCT-guided online-adaptive radiotherapy (oART) systems have been made possible by using artificial intelligence and automation to substantially reduce treatment planning time during on-couch adaptive sessions. Evaluating plans generated during an adaptive session presents significant challenges to the clinical team as the planning process gets compressed into a shorter window than offline planning. We identified MU variations up to 30% difference between the adaptive plan and the reference plan in several oART sessions that caused the clinical team to question the accuracy of the oART dose calculation. We investigated the cause of MU variation and the overall accuracy of the dose delivered when MU variations appear unnecessarily large. METHODS: Dosimetric and adaptive plan data from 604 adaptive sessions of 19 patients undergoing CBCT-guided oART were collected. The analysis included total MU per fraction, planning target volume (PTV) and organs at risk (OAR) volumes, changes in PTV-OAR overlap, and DVH curves. Sessions with MU greater than two standard deviations from the mean were reoptimized offline, verified by an independent calculation system, and measured using a detector array. RESULTS: MU variations relative to the reference plan were normally distributed with a mean of -1.0% and a standard deviation of 11.0%. No significant correlation was found between MU variation and anatomic changes. Offline reoptimization did not reliably reproduce either reference or on-couch total MUs, suggesting that stochastic effects within the oART optimizer are likely causing the variations. Independent dose calculation and detector array measurements resulted in acceptable agreement with the planned dose. CONCLUSIONS: MU variations observed between oART plans were not caused by any errors within the oART workflow. Providers should refrain from using MU variability as a way to express their confidence in the treatment planning accuracy. Clinical decisions during on-couch adaptive sessions should rely on validated secondary dose calculations to ensure optimal plan selection.

Circ_0020887 Silencing Combats Hypoxic-Induced Cardiomyocyte Injury in an MiR-370-3p/CYP1B1-Dependent Manner.

Targeting circular RNA has been a novel approach to preventing and limiting acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Here, we planned to investigate the role and mechanism of circ_0020887 in AMI progression.Hypoxic injury in human cardiomyocytes (AC16) was measured using cell counting kit-8 assay, 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine assay, flow cytometry, and colorimetric assay kits. RNA and protein expressions were determined using real-time quantitative PCR and western blotting. Direct interplay between RNAs was determined using dual-luciferase reporter, RNA pull-down, and RIP assays.In the plasma and hypoxia-induced AC16 cells of patients with AMI, circ_0020887 and miR-370-3p were upregulated and downregulated, respectively, concomitant with the upregulation of cytochrome P450 1B1 (CYP1B1). Circ_0020887 interference could inhibit hypoxia-induced AC16 cell apoptosis, oxidative stress, and inflammatory response. Circ_0020887 could sponge miR-370-3p, and miR-370-3p could target CYP1B1. The inhibition effect of circ_0020887 knockdown on hypoxia-induced AC16 cell injury could be reversed by the miR-370-3p inhibitor. Besides, CYP1B1 overexpression also overturned the suppressive effect of miR-370-3p on hypoxia-induced AC16 cell apoptosis, oxidative stress, and inflammatory response.In conclusion, circ_0020887 regulated the miR-370-3p/CYP1B1 axis to regulate hypoxia-induced cardiomyocyte injury, confirming that circ_0020887 might promote cardiomyocyte injury.

Biallelic CLCN2 mutations cause retinal degeneration by impairing retinal pigment epithelium phagocytosis and chloride channel function.

CLCN2 encodes a two-pore homodimeric chloride channel protein (CLC-2) that is widely expressed in human tissues. The association between Clcn2 and the retina is well-established in mice, as loss-of-function of CLC-2 can cause retinopathy in mice; however, the ocular phenotypes caused by CLCN2 mutations in humans and the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. The present study aimed to define the ocular features and reveal the pathogenic mechanisms of CLCN2 variants associated with retinal degeneration in humans using an in vitro overexpression system, as well as patient-induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells and retinal organoids (ROs). A patient carrying the homozygous c.2257C > T (p.R753X) nonsense CLCN2 mutation was followed up for > 6 years. Ocular features were comprehensively characterized with multimodality imaging and functional examination. The patient presented with severe bilateral retinal degeneration with loss of photoreceptor and RPE. In vitro, mutant CLC-2 maintained the correct subcellular localization, but with reduced channel function compared to wild-type CLC-2 in HEK293T cells. Additionally, patient iPSC-derived RPE cells carrying the CLCN2 mutation exhibited dysfunctional ClC-2 chloride channels and outer segment phagocytosis. Notably, these functions were rescued following the repair of the CLCN2 mutation using the CRISPR-Cas9 system. However, this variant did not cause significant photoreceptor degeneration in patient-derived ROs, indicating that dysfunctional RPE is likely the primary cause of biallelic CLCN2 variant-mediated retinopathy. This study is the first to establish the confirmatory ocular features of human CLCN2-related retinal degeneration, and reveal a pathogenic mechanism associated with biallelic CLCN2 variants, providing new insights into the cause of inherited retinal dystrophies.

Survival benefits associated with being adherent and having longer persistence to adjuvant hormone therapy across up to five years among U.S. Medicare population with breast cancer.

PURPOSE: To assess associations between adherence to and persistence with adjuvant hormone therapy and mortality among older women with breast cancer. METHODS: The surveillance, epidemiology, and end results data linked with U.S. Medicare claims was used. This study included older women diagnosed with stage I-III hormone receptor-positive breast cancer from 2009 through 2017. Adherence was defined as having proportion of days covered (PDC) ≥ 0.80. Persistence was defined as having no discontinuation, i.e., no break of ≥ 180 continuous days. Length of persistence was calculated as time from therapy initiation to discontinuation. Cox models with time-dependent covariates were used to assess associations between adherence and persistence with mortality. RESULTS: This study included 25,796 women. Adherence rates were 78.1 percent, 75.2 percent, 72.4 percent, 70.0 percent, and 61.5 percent from year 1 to year 5 after hormone therapy initiation. Persistence rates were 87.5 percent, 81.7 percent, 77.1 percent, 72.9 percent, and 68.9 percent through cumulative intervals of 1 year up to 5 years. Adherence was associated with all-cause mortality but not associated with breast cancer-specific mortality. Persistent women had lower risk of all-cause mortality and breast cancer-specific mortality. Each additional year of persistence had additional contributions to survival benefits (11% decreased risk of all-cause mortality and 37% decreased risk of breast cancer-specific mortality). CONCLUSION: This study confirms the detrimental effect of nonadherence to adjuvant hormone therapy across up to 5 years on all-cause survival in older U.S. women. It also reveals the survival benefits associated with having longer persistence across up to 5 years.

Targeting MYH9 represses USP14-mediated NAP1L1 deubiquitination and cell proliferation in glioma.

Myosin heavy chain 9 (MYH9) plays an important role in a number of diseases. Nevertheless, the function of MYH9 in glioma is unclear. The present research aimed to investigate the role of MYH9 in glioma and determine whether MYH9 is involved in the temozolomide chemoresistance of glioma cells. Our results showed that MYH9 increased the proliferation and temozolomide resistance of glioma cells. The mechanistic experiments showed that the binding of MYH9 to NAP1L1, a potential promoter of tumor proliferation, inhibited the ubiquitination and degradation of NAP1L1 by recruiting USP14. Upregulation of NAP1L1 increased its binding with c-Myc and activated c-Myc, which induced the expression of CCND1/CDK4, promoting glioma cell temozolomide resistance and proliferation. Additionally, we found that MYH9 upregulation was strongly related to patient survival and is therefore a negative factor for patients with glioma. Altogether, our results show that MYH9 plays a role in glioma progression by regulating NAP1L1 deubiquitination. Thus, targeting MYH9 is a potential therapeutic strategy for the clinical treatment of glioma in the future.

A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Atherectomy Plus Balloon Angioplasty Versus Balloon Angioplasty Alone for Infrapopliteal Arterial Disease.

OBJECTIVE: The article aimed to compare the efficiency and safety of atherectomy plus balloon angioplasty (BA) with BA alone for the treatment of infrapopliteal arterial disease. METHODS: According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library database were searched for studies comparing atherectomy plus angioplasty and angioplasty alone in treating infrapopliteal artery lesions until November 2022. The endpoints included technical success, primary patency, clinically-driven target lesion revascularization (CD-TLR), periprocedural complications, distal embolization, target limb major amputation, and all-cause mortality. RESULTS: Ten studies met the requirements of our meta-analysis, including 7723 patients in the atherectomy plus BA group and 2299 patients in the BA alone group. The meta-analysis showed that atherectomy plus BA was associated with reduced CD-TLR (odds ratio [OR]: 0.51, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.34, 0.78, p=0.002) and target limb major amputation (OR: 0.43, 95% CI: 0.19, 1.01, p=0.05) at 12-month follow-up. No statistically significant difference was found in technical success, primary patency, periprocedural complications, distal embolization, or all-cause mortality. Subgroup analysis found a higher rate of primary patency at 6 and 12 months (6 months: OR: 2.26, 95% CI: 1.11, 4.60, p=0.02; 12 months: OR: 2.38, 95% CI: 1.16, 4.86, p=0.02), and lower rates of CD-TLR (OR: 0.45, 95% CI: 0.25, 0.82, p=0.009) and target limb major amputation (OR: 0.43, 95% CI: 0.19, 1.01, p=0.05) at 12 months in patients treated with atherectomy plus drug-coated balloon (DCB) but not in patients treated with atherectomy plus plain old balloon angioplasty (POBA). CONCLUSIONS: This meta-analysis suggests that compared with BA alone, atherectomy plus BA may reduce the need for CD-TLR and the incidence of target limb major amputation at 12-month follow-up in the treatment of infrapopliteal artery occlusive lesions, even though there are no significant advantages in technical success, primary patency, periprocedural complications, distal embolization, or all-cause mortality. To go further, atherectomy plus DCB shows significant benefits in primary patency, CD-TLR, and target limb major amputation rate but atherectomy plus POBA does not'. However, due to the limitations of this article, more randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are needed to confirm these conclusions. CLINICAL IMPACT: According to our research, atherectomy combined with BA has the advantages of higher primary patency rate, lower CD-TLR and target limb significant amputation rate in treating infrapopliteal artery occlusive lesions, which may replace the current mainstream surgical method ---BA alone. For the clinician, although the surgery may take longer, it will significantly improve the prognosis and quality of life of patients and hold considerable significance for the management of patients with infrapopliteal arterial disease. Based on the characteristics of infrapopliteal artery disease, this study explored the feasibility of atherectomy combined with BA for infrapopliteal artery disease. Moreover, we found that atherectomy combined with DCB had better clinical efficacy, which should be the innovation of this study.

The influence of artificial intelligence assistance on the diagnostic performance of CCTA for coronary stenosis for radiologists with different levels of experience.

BACKGROUND: The interpretation of coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) stenosis may be difficult among radiologists of different experience levels. Artificial intelligence (AI) may improve the diagnostic performance. PURPOSE: To investigate whether the diagnostic performance and time efficiency of radiologists with different levels of experience in interpreting CCTA images could be improved by using CCTA with AI assistance (CCTA-AI). MATERIAL AND METHODS: This analysis included 200 patients with complete CCTA and invasive coronary angiography (ICA) data, using ICA results as the reference. Eighteen radiologists were divided into three levels based on experience (Levels I, II, and III), and the three levels were divided into groups without (Groups 1, 2, and 3) and with (Groups 4, 5, and 6) AI assistance, totaling six groups (to avoid reader recall bias). The average sensitivity, specificity, NPV, PPV, and AUC were reported for the six groups and CCTA-AI at the patient, vessel, and segment levels. The interpretation time in the groups with and without CCTA-AI was recorded. RESULTS: Compared to the corresponding group without CCTA-AI, the Level I group with CCTA-AI had improved sensitivity (75.0% vs. 83.0% on patient-based; P = 0.003). At Level III, the specificity was better with CCTA-AI. The median interpretation times for the groups with and without CCTA-AI were 413 and 615 s, respectively (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: CCTA-AI could assist with and improve the diagnostic performance of radiologists with different experience levels, with Level I radiologists exhibiting improved sensitivity and Level III radiologists exhibiting improved specificity. The use of CCTA-AI could shorten the training time for radiologists.

Rehmannia Glutinosa Polysaccharide Regulates Bone Marrow Microenvironment via HIF-1α/NF-κB Signaling Pathway in Aplastic Anemia Mice.

Aplastic anemia (AA), a rare disorder, is associated with bone marrow microenvironment (BMM). Presently, AA treatment is of great difficulty. This study aimed to explore the mechanism of action of Rehmannia glutinosa polysaccharide (RGP) in AA. Busulfan was used to induce AA in BALB/c mice; blood cell count and Ray's Giemsa staining were used to assess the severity of hematopoietic failure; HE was performed to assess the pathological state of the marrow cavity; ELISA was performed to assess IL-4, IL-10, IL-6, IL-12, IL-1ß, TNF-α, MCP-1, VEGF, and EPO; and WB was performed to evaluate the effects of RGP on the HIF-1α/NF-κB signaling. Significant downregulation of hemocyte levels in the blood and nucleated cells in the bone marrow was reversed by RGP and Cyclosporine A (CA). Compared with the AA group, dilating blood sinusoids, inflammation, hematopoiesis, decreased bone marrow cells and megakaryocytes were alleviated by RGP and CA, and the HIF-1α/NF-κB signaling was inhibited too. Notably, RGP was more effective when used in combination with CA. In this study, we established a relationship between BMM and the HIF-1α/NF-κB signaling pathway and found that RGP regulates BMM by suppressing the activation of the HIF-1α/NF-κB signaling. Thus, RGP exerts a pharmacological effect on AA.

A quick guide on implementing and quality assuring 3D printing in radiation oncology.

As three-dimensional (3D) printing becomes increasingly common in radiation oncology, proper implementation, usage, and ongoing quality assurance (QA) are essential. While there have been many reports on various clinical investigations and several review articles, there is a lack of literature on the general considerations of implementing 3D printing in radiation oncology departments, including comprehensive process establishment and proper ongoing QA. This review aims to guide radiation oncology departments in effectively using 3D printing technology for routine clinical applications and future developments. We attempt to provide recommendations on 3D printing equipment, software, workflow, and QA, based on existing literature and our experience. Specifically, we focus on three main applications: patient-specific bolus, high-dose-rate (HDR) surface brachytherapy applicators, and phantoms. Additionally, cost considerations are briefly discussed. This review focuses on point-of-care (POC) printing in house, and briefly touches on outsourcing printing via mail-order services.

Influence of air mapping errors on the dosimetric accuracy of prostate CBCT-guided online adaptive radiation therapy.

PURPOSE: CBCT-guided online adaptive radiotherapy (oART) plans presently utilize daily synthetic CTs (sCT) that are automatically generated using deformable registration algorithms. These algorithms may have poor performance at reproducing variable volumes of gas present during treatment. Therefore, we have analyzed the air mapping error between the daily CBCTs and the corresponding sCT and explored its dosimetric effect on oART plan calculation. METHODS: Abdominopelvic air volume was contoured on both the daily CBCT images and the corresponding synthetic images for 207 online adaptive pelvic treatments. Air mapping errors were tracked over all fractions. For two case studies representing worst case scenarios, dosimetric effects of air mapping errors were corrected in the sCT images using the daily CBCT air contours, then recalculating dose. Dose volume histogram statistics and 3D gamma passing rates were used to compare the original and air-corrected sCT-based dose calculations. RESULTS: All analyzed patients showed observable air pocket contour differences between the sCT and the CBCT images. The largest air volume difference observed in daily CBCT images for a given patient was 276.3 cc, a difference of more than 386% compared to the sCT. For the two case studies, the largest observed change in DVH metrics was a 2.6% reduction in minimum PTV dose, with all other metrics varying by less than 1.5%. 3D gamma passing rates using 1%/1 mm criteria were above 90% when comparing the uncorrected and corrected dose distributions. CONCLUSION: Current CBCT-based oART workflow can lead to inaccuracies in the mapping of abdominopelvic air pockets from daily CBCT to the sCT images used for the optimization and calculation of the adaptive plan. Despite the large observed mapping errors, the dosimetric effects of such differences on the accuracy of the adapted plan dose calculation are unlikely to cause differences greater than 3% for prostate treatments.

A comprehensive evaluation of advanced dose calculation algorithms for brain stereotactic radiosurgery.

PURPOSE: Accurate dose calculation is important in both target and low dose normal tissue regions for brain stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS). In this study, we aim to evaluate the dosimetric accuracy of the two advanced dose calculation algorithms for brain SRS. METHODS: Retrospective clinical case study and phantom study were performed. For the clinical study, 138 SRS patient plans (443 targets) were generated using BrainLab Elements Voxel Monte Carlo (VMC). To evaluate the dose calculation accuracy, the plans were exported into Eclipse and recalculated with Acuros XB (AXB) algorithm with identical beam parameters. The calculated dose at the target center (Dref), dose to 95% target volume (D95), and the average dose to target (Dmean) were compared. Also, the distance from the skull was analyzed. For the phantom study, a cylindrical phantom and a head phantom were used, and the delivered dose was measured by an ion chamber and EBT3 film, respectively, at various locations. The measurement was compared with the calculated doses from VMC and AXB. RESULTS: In clinical cases, VMC dose calculations tended to be higher than AXB. It was found that the difference in Dref showed > 5% in some cases for smaller volumes < 0.3 cm3 . Dmean and D95 differences were also higher for small targets. No obvious trend was found between the dose difference and the distance from the skull. In phantom studies, VMC dose was also higher than AXB for smaller targets, and VMC showed better agreement with the measurements than AXB for both point dose and high dose spread. CONCLUSION: The two advanced calculation algorithms were extensively compared. For brain SRS, AXB sometimes calculates a noticeable lower target dose for small targets than VMC, and VMC tends to have a slightly closer agreement with measurements than AXB.

Strong Metal Support Effect of Pt/g-C3N4 Photocatalysts for Boosting Photothermal Synergistic Degradation of Benzene.

Catalysis is the most efficient and economical method for treating volatile organic pollutants (VOCs). Among the many materials that are used in engineering, platinized carbon nitride (Pt/g-C3N4) is an efficient and multifunctional catalyst which has strong light absorption and mass transfer capabilities, which enable it to be used in photocatalysis, thermal catalysis and photothermal synergistic catalysis for the degradation of benzene. In this work, Pt/g-C3N4 was prepared by four precursors for the photothermal synergistic catalytic degradation of benzene, which show different activities, and many tests were carried out to explore the possible reasons for the discrepancy. Among them, the Pt/g-C3N4 prepared from dicyanamide showed the highest activity and could convert benzene (300 ppm, 20 mL·min-1) completely at 162 °C under solar light and 173 °C under visible light. The reaction temperature was reduced by nearly half compared to the traditional thermal catalytic degradation of benzene at about 300 °C.

Bottom-up Synthesis of Single-Crystalline Poly (Triazine Imide) Nanosheets for Photocatalytic Overall Water Splitting.

Poly (triazine imide) (PTI/Li+ Cl- ), one of the crystalline versions of polymeric carbon nitrides, holds great promise for photocatalytic overall water splitting. In principle, the photocatalytic activity of PTI/Li+ Cl- is closely related to the morphology, which could be reasonably tailored by the modulation of the polycondensation process. Herein, we demonstrate that the hexagonal prisms of PTI/Li+ Cl- could be converted to hexagonal nanosheets by adjusting the binary eutectic salts from LiCl/KCl or NaCl/LiCl to ternary LiCl/KCl/NaCl. Results reveal that the extension of in-plane conjugation is preferred, when the polymerisation was performed in the presence of ternary eutectic salts. The hexagonal nanosheets bears longer lifetimes of charge carriers than that of hexagonal prisms due to lower intensity of structure defects and shorter hopping distance of charge carriers along the stacking direction of triazine nanosheets. The optimized hexagonal nanosheets exhibits a record apparent quantum yield value of 25 % (λ=365 nm) for solar hydrogen production by one-step excitation overall water splitting.

Rh/Cr2 O3 and CoOx Cocatalysts for Efficient Photocatalytic Water Splitting by Poly (Triazine Imide) Crystals.

In situ photo-deposition of both Pt and CoOx cocatalysts on the facets of poly (triazine imide) (PTI) crystals has been developed for photocatalytic overall water splitting. However, the undesired backward reaction (i.e., water formation) on the noble Pt surface is a spontaneously down-hill process, which restricts their efficiency to run the overall water splitting reaction. Herein, we demonstrate that the efficiency for photocatalytic overall water splitting could be largely promoted by the decoration of Rh/Cr2 O3 and CoOx as H2 and O2 evolution cocatalysts, respectively. Results reveal that the dual cocatalysts greatly extract charges from bulk to surface, while the Rh/Cr2 O3 cocatalyst dramatically restrains the backward reaction, achieving an apparent quantum efficiency (AQE) of 20.2 % for the photocatalytic overall water splitting reaction.