Microbubble-Enhanced Transdermal Drug Delivery Sonoelectric Patch.

Transdermal drug delivery systems are highly appealing as a convenient drug delivery manner applicable to a wide variety of drugs. While most delivery relies on only passive diffusion and suffers low transdermal efficiencies. Ultrasound motivation promotes drug transdermal penetration but still calls for improvement, because only a thin proportion of the ultrasound energy is applied on the drug delivery patch and most ultrasound energy is wasted in deeper portions of biotissues. In this work, we develop a transdermal patch for enhanced drug delivery. The combination of microsized air pockets and the piezoelectric soft structure enable the conversion of an intended proportion of ultrasound energy into electric energy. The intensified drug flow and synergistic ultrasound pressure and electric field function simultaneously to enhance drug transdermal delivery. The delivery efficacy is related to the power of the ultrasound motivation, the size of the microscopic air pockets, and the chemical structure of the drug molecules. The temperature of the patch within the delivery process remains in the safe range, and the mild temperature elevation causes color changes of the thermochromic patch, used to indicate effective ultrasound-patch matching. A model delivery patch for pain release is constructed, and animal experiments indicate that the drug blood concentrations are 100% higher than the delivery using only ultrasound and even more remarkably enhanced when compared to only electric-field-motivated delivery or static delivery without external motivations.

Prognosis poor, immune infiltration of colon adenocarcinoma associated with low expression levels of calcium-activated chloride channel.

The calcium-activated chloride channel (CLCA4) in colon adenocarcinoma (COAD) and immunological infiltration have not been extensively studied. This work thoroughly employed several datasets to assess the expression, prognosis, and association between immune infiltration and clinicopathological characteristics of CLCA4 in cancer, as well as look into potential signalling pathways. The human protein atlas (HPA), TIMER, UALCAN, TISIDB, GSCA, SangerBox, GeneMANIA, and LinkedOmics were among the datasets that were used. The findings demonstrated that, in comparison to normal tissues, COAD tissues had lower levels of CLCA4 expression. The prognosis was worse for those whose levels of CLCA4 expression were lower. For validation, immunohistochemistry (HPA) was used. Positive correlations between CLCA4 mRNA expression and its copy number variation (CNV) were observed, and CLCA4 CNV was linked to immunological infiltration. Subsequent investigation demonstrated the association between immune cell markers, immune checkpoint genes, and immunological infiltration with CLCA4. The overall survival and disease-free survival of M0 patients were considerably better than those of M1 patients, and the groups with tumour stages M0 and M1 had notably different levels of CLCA4 expression. Its substantial enrichment in ion channel activity, transmembrane transporter activity, digestion, and other biological processes was revealed by gene ontology analysis. Oxidative phosphorylation, pancreatic secretion, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases, renin secretion, and other signalling pathways were the primary associations found for CLCA4. It is evident that the immunological microenvironment and functions like ion transport, metabolism, and intestinal digestion are all impacted by CLCA4 expression.

Contact-Electro-Catalysis Through Electret Behavior to Facilitate Electron Transfer.

Contact-electro-catalysis (CEC) usually uses polymer dielectrics as its catalysts under mechanical stimulation conditions, which although has a decent catalytic dye degradation effect still warrants performance improvement. A carrier separation promotion strategy based on an internal electric field by polarization can effectively improve ferroelectric material performance in photocatalysis and piezocatalysis. Therefore, carrier separation as a necessary process of CEC also can be promoted and is largely expected to improve CEC performance theoretically. However, the carrier separation enhancement by the internal electric field strategy has not been achieved in the CEC experiment yet, because of the difficulty of building an internal electric field in an inert polymer dielectric. Herein, a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) dielectric was charged through an electret process, which was believed to establish an internal electric field for CEC catalysts proved by KPFM, XPS, and triboelectric nanogenerator voltage output analysis. The fastest degradation rate of methyl orange reached over 90% at 1.5 h, while the hydroxyl free radical (•OH) yield of the PTFE electret was nearly three times that of the original PTFE. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations verified that the potential barrier of interatomic electron transfer between PTFE and H2O was reduced by 37% under the internal electric field. The electret strategy used herein to optimize the PTFE catalyst provides a base for the use of other general plastics in CEC and facilitates the production of easily prepared, easily recyclable, and inexpensive polymer dielectric catalysts that can promote large-scale pollutant degradation via CEC.

A novel atrial fibrillation automatic detection algorithm based on ensemble learning and multi-feature discrimination.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a prevalent cardiac arrhythmia disorder that necessitates long-time electrocardiogram (ECG) data for clinical diagnosis, leading to low detection efficiency. Automatic detection of AF signals within short-time ECG recordings is challenging. To address these issues, this paper proposes a novel algorithm called Ensemble Learning and Multi-Feature Discrimination (ELMD) for the identification and detection of AF signals. Firstly, a robust classifier, BSK-Model, is constructed using ensemble learning. Subsequently, the ECG R-waves are detected, and the ECG signals are segmented into consecutive RR intervals. Time domain, frequency domain, and nonlinear features are extracted from these intervals. Finally, these features are fed into the BSK-Model to discriminate AF. The proposed methodology is evaluated using the MIT-BIH AF database. The results demonstrate that when RR intervals are employed as classification units, the specificity and accuracy of AF detection in long-time ECG data exceed 99%, showcasing a significant improvement over traditional single-model classification. Additionally, the sensitivity and accuracy achieved by testing cardiac segments are both above 96%. With a minimum requirement of only four cardiac segments, AF events can be accurately identified, thereby enabling rapid discrimination of short-time single-lead ECG AF events. Consequently, this approach is suitable for real-time and accurate AF detection using low-computational-power ECG diagnostic analysis devices, such as wearable devices.

CLCA1 is Poorly Expressed in Stomach Adenocarcinoma and Correlates with Immune Infiltration / CLCA1 se Expresa Deficientemente en el Adenocarcinoma de Estómago y se Correlaciona con la Infiltración Inmune

SUMMARY: Calcium-activated chloride channel regulator 1 (CLCA1) is associated with cancer progression. The expression and immunologic function of CLCA1 in stomach adenocarcinoma (STAD) remain unclear. In this investigation, the expression of CLCA1 in STAD tissues and its involvement in the progression and immune response of STAD were examined using databases such as cBioPortal, TISIDB, and UALCAN. In order to validate the expression level of CLCA1 protein in gastric adenocarcinoma, thirty clinical tissue specimens were gathered for immunohistochemical staining. The findings indicated a downregulation of CLCA1 in STAD patients, which was correlated with race, age, cancer grade, Helicobacter pylori infection, and molecular subtype. Through the examination of survival analysis, it was identified that diminished levels of CLCA1 within gastric cancer cases were linked to decreased periods of post-progression survival (PPS), overall survival (OS), and first progression (FP) (P<0.05). The CLCA1 mutation rate was lower in STAD, but the survival rate was higher in the variant group. The correlation between the expression level of CLCA1 and the levels of immune infiltrating cells in STAD, as well as the immune activating molecules, immunosuppressive molecules, MHC molecules, chemokines, and their receptor molecules, was observed. Gene enrichment analysis revealed that CLCA1 may be involved in STAD progression through systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), proteasome, cell cycle, pancreatic secretion, and PPAR signaling pathways. In summary, CLCA1 is anticipated to function as a prognostic marker for patients with STAD and is linked to the immunization of STAD.

El regulador 1 del canal de cloruro activado por calcio (CLCA1) está asociado con la progresión del cáncer. La expresión y la función inmunológica de CLCA1 en el adenocarcinoma de estómago (STAD) aún no están claras. En esta investigación, se examinó la expresión de CLCA1 en tejidos STAD y su participación en la progresión y respuesta inmune de STAD utilizando bases de datos como cBioPortal, TISIDB y UALCAN. Para validar el nivel de expresión de la proteína CLCA1 en el adenocarcinoma gástrico, se recolectaron treinta muestras de tejido clínico para tinción inmunohistoquímica. Los hallazgos indicaron una regulación negativa de CLCA1 en pacientes con STAD, que se correlacionó con la raza, la edad, el grado del cáncer, la infección por Helicobacter pylori y el subtipo molecular. Mediante el examen del análisis de supervivencia, se identificó que los niveles reducidos de CLCA1 en los casos de cáncer gástrico estaban relacionados con períodos reducidos de supervivencia posterior a la progresión (PPS), supervivencia general (OS) y primera progresión (FP) (P <0,05). La tasa de mutación CLCA1 fue menor en STAD, pero la tasa de supervivencia fue mayor en el grupo variante. Se observó la correlación entre el nivel de expresión de CLCA1 y los niveles de células inmunes infiltrantes en STAD, así como las moléculas activadoras inmunes, moléculas inmunosupresoras, moléculas MHC, quimiocinas y sus moléculas receptoras. El análisis de enriquecimiento genético reveló que CLCA1 puede estar involucrado en la progresión de STAD a través del lupus eritematoso sistémico (LES), el proteasoma, el ciclo celular, la secreción pancreática y las vías de señalización de PPAR. En resumen, se prevé que CLCA1 funcione como un marcador de pronóstico para pacientes con STAD y está vinculado a la inmunización de STAD.

Piezoionic High Performance Hydrogel Generator and Active Protein Absorber via Microscopic Porosity and Phase Blending.

Generating electricity in hydrogel is very important but remains difficult. Hydrogel with electricity generation capability is more capable in bio-relevant tasks such as tissue engineering, artificial skin, or medical treatment, because electricity is indispensable in regulating physiological activities. Here, a porous and phase blending hydrogel structure for effective piezoionic electricity generation is developed. Dynamic electric field is generated taking advantage of the difference in streaming speeds of sodium and chloride in the material. Microscopic porosity and hydrophilic-hydrophobic phase blending are the two key factors for prominent piezoionic performance. Voltages as high as 600 mV are first realized in hydrogels in response to medical ultrasound stimulation. The hydrogel structure is also subjective to effective substance exchange and can actively enrich proteins from surroundings under mechanical stimuli. Preliminary applications in neural stimulation, constructing complex spatial-temporal chemical and electric field distribution patterns, mimetic tactile sensor, sample pretreatment in fast detection, and enzyme immobilization are demonstrated.

Comprehensive Analysis of CLCA1 Expression, Immune Infiltration and Immune Checkpoints in Colon Adenocarcinoma / Análisis Completo de la Expresión de CLCA1, Infiltración Inmune y Puntos de Control Inmunológico en Colonadenocarcinoma

SUMMARY: Colon adenocarcinoma (COAD) is a prevalent disease worldwide, known for its high mortality and morbidity rates. Despite this, the extent of investigation concerning the correlation between COAD's CLCA1 expression and immune cell infiltration remains insufficient. This study seeks to examine the expression and prognosis of CLCA1 in COAD, along with its relationship to the tumor immune microenvironment. These findings will offer valuable insights for clinical practitioners and contribute to the existing knowledge in the field. In order to evaluate the prognostic significance of CLCA1 in individuals diagnosed with colorectal cancers, we conducted a comprehensive analysis using univariate and multivariate Cox regression models along with receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis. This study was performed on the patient data of COAD obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Nomograms were developed to anticipate CLCA1 prognostic influence. Furthermore, the CLCA1 association with tumor immune infiltration, immune checkpoints, immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) response, interaction network, and functional analysis of CLCA1-related genes was analyzed. We found that Colon adenocarcinoma tissues significantly had decreased CLCA1 expression compared to healthy tissues. Furthermore, the study revealed that the group with high expression of CLCA1 demonstrated a significantly higher overall survival rate (OS) as compared to the group with low expression. Multivariate and Univariate Cox regression analysis revealed the potential of CLCA1 as a standalone risk factor for COAD. These results were confirmed using nomograms and ROC curves. In addition, protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis and functional gene enrichment showed that CLCA1 may be associated with functional activities such as pancreatic secretion, estrogen signaling and cAMP signaling, as well as with specific immune cell infiltration. Therefor, as a new independent predictor and potential biomarker of COAD, CLCA1 plays a crucial role in the advancement of colon cancer.

El adenocarcinoma de colon (COAD) es una enfermedad prevalente a nivel mundial, conocida por sus altas tasas de mortalidad y morbilidad. Sin embargo, el alcance de la investigación sobre la correlación entre la expresión de CLCA1 de COAD y la infiltración de células inmunes sigue siendo insuficiente. Este estudio busca examinar la expresión y el pronóstico de CLCA1 en COAD, junto con su relación con el microambiente inmunológico del tumor. Estos hallazgos ofrecerán conocimientos valiosos para los profesionales clínicos y contribuirán al conocimiento existente en el campo. Para evaluar la importancia de pronóstico de CLCA1 en personas diagnosticadas con cáncer colorrectal, realizamos un análisis exhaustivo utilizando modelos de regresión de Cox univariados y multivariados junto con un análisis de la curva característica operativa del receptor (ROC). Este estudio se realizó con los datos de pacientes de COAD obtenidos de la base de datos The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Se desarrollaron nomogramas para anticipar la influencia pronóstica de CLCA1. Además, se analizó la asociación de CLCA1 con la infiltración inmunitaria tumoral, los puntos de control inmunitarios, la respuesta de bloqueo de los puntos de control inmunitarios (ICB), la red de interacción y el análisis funcional de genes relacionados con CLCA1. Descubrimos que los tejidos de adenocarcinoma de colon tenían una expresión significativamente menor de CLCA1 en comparación con los tejidos sanos. Además, el estudio reveló que el grupo con alta expresión de CLCA1 demostró una tasa de supervivencia general (SG) significativamente mayor en comparación con el grupo con baja expresión. El análisis de regresión de Cox multivariado y univariado reveló el potencial de CLCA1 como factor de riesgo independiente de COAD. Estos resultados se confirmaron mediante nomogramas y curvas ROC. Además, el análisis de la red de interacción proteína- proteína (PPI) y el enriquecimiento de genes funcionales mostraron que CLCA1 puede estar asociado con actividades funcionales como la secreción pancreática, la señalización de estrógenos y la señalización de AMPc, así como con la infiltración de células inmunes específicas. Por lo tanto, como nuevo predictor independiente y biomarcador potencial de COAD, CLCA1 desempeña un papel crucial en el avance del cáncer de colon.

Investigating Spillover Energy as a Descriptor for Single-Atom Alloy Catalyst Design.

The identification of thermodynamic descriptors of catalytic performance is essential for the rational design of heterogeneous catalysts. Here, we investigate how spillover energy, a descriptor quantifying whether intermediates are more stable at the dopant or host metal sites, can be used to design single-atom alloys (SAAs) for formic acid dehydrogenation. Using theoretical calculations, we identify NiCu as a SAA with favorable spillover energy and demonstrate that formate intermediates produced after the initial O-H activation are more stable at Ni sites where rate-determining C-H activation occurs. Surface science experiments demonstrated that NiCu(111) SAAs are more reactive than Cu(111) while they still follow the formate reaction pathway. However, reactor studies of silica-supported NiCu SAA nanoparticles showed only a modest improvement over Cu resulting from surface coverage effects. Overall, this study demonstrates the potential of engineering SAAs using spillover energy as a design parameter and highlights the importance of adsorbate-adsorbate interactions under steady-state operation.

[An image classification method for arrhythmias based on Gramian angular summation field and improved Inception-ResNet-v2].

Arrhythmia is a significant cardiovascular disease that poses a threat to human health, and its primary diagnosis relies on electrocardiogram (ECG). Implementing computer technology to achieve automatic classification of arrhythmia can effectively avoid human error, improve diagnostic efficiency, and reduce costs. However, most automatic arrhythmia classification algorithms focus on one-dimensional temporal signals, which lack robustness. Therefore, this study proposed an arrhythmia image classification method based on Gramian angular summation field (GASF) and an improved Inception-ResNet-v2 network. Firstly, the data was preprocessed using variational mode decomposition, and data augmentation was performed using a deep convolutional generative adversarial network. Then, GASF was used to transform one-dimensional ECG signals into two-dimensional images, and an improved Inception-ResNet-v2 network was utilized to implement the five arrhythmia classifications recommended by the AAMI (N, V, S, F, and Q). The experimental results on the MIT-BIH Arrhythmia Database showed that the proposed method achieved an overall classification accuracy of 99.52% and 95.48% under the intra-patient and inter-patient paradigms, respectively. The arrhythmia classification performance of the improved Inception-ResNet-v2 network in this study outperforms other methods, providing a new approach for deep learning-based automatic arrhythmia classification.

Microbial pattern recognition suppresses de novo organogenesis.

De novo root regeneration (DNRR) is a developmental process that regenerates adventitious roots from wounded tissues. Phytohormone signaling pathways involved in microbial resistance are mobilized after cutting and influence de novo root regeneration. Microbes may positively or negatively influence the development and stress responses of a plant. However, most studies on the molecular mechanisms of de novo organogenesis are performed in aseptic conditions. Thus, the potential crosstalk between organ regeneration and biotic stresses is underexplored. Here, we report the development of a versatile experimental system to study the impact of microbes on DNRR. Using this system, we found that bacteria inhibited root regeneration by activation of, but not limited to, pathogen-associated molecular pattern (PAMP)-triggered immunity. Sensing bacteria-derived flagellin 22 peptide (flg22) inhibited root regeneration by interfering with the formation of an auxin maximum at the wound site. This inhibition relies on the receptor complex that recognizes microbial patterns but may bypass the requirement of salicylic acid signaling.

Endogenous salicylic acid suppresses de novo root regeneration from leaf explants.

Plants can regenerate new organs from damaged or detached tissues. In the process of de novo root regeneration (DNRR), adventitious roots are frequently formed from the wound site on a detached leaf. Salicylic acid (SA) is a key phytohormone regulating plant defenses and stress responses. The role of SA and its acting mechanisms during de novo organogenesis is still unclear. Here, we found that endogenous SA inhibited the adventitious root formation after cutting. Free SA rapidly accumulated at the wound site, which was accompanied by an activation of SA response. SA receptors NPR3 and NPR4, but not NPR1, were required for DNRR. Wounding-elevated SA compromised the expression of AUX1, and subsequent transport of auxin to the wound site. A mutation in AUX1 abolished the enhanced DNRR in low SA mutants. Our work elucidates a role of SA in regulating DNRR and suggests a potential link between biotic stress and tissue regeneration.

Application of SERS in In-Vitro Biomedical Detection.

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), as a rapid and nondestructive biological detection method, holds great promise for clinical on spot and early diagnosis. In order to address the challenging demands of on spot detection of biomedical samples, a variety of strategies has been developed. These strategies include substrate structural and component engineering, data processing techniques, as well as combination with other analytical methods. This report summarizes the recent SERS developments for biomedical detection, and their promising applications in cancer detection, virus or bacterial infection detection, miscarriage spotting, neurological disease screening et al. The first part discusses the frequently used SERS substrate component and structures, the second part reports on the detection strategies for nucleic acids, proteins, bacteria, and virus, the third part summarizes their promising applications in clinical detection in a variety of illnesses, and the forth part reports on recent development of SERS in combination with other analytical techniques. The special merits, challenges, and perspectives are discussed in both introduction and conclusion sections.

Adverse childhood experiences and behavioral problems in early adolescence: An empirical study of chinese children.

The aim of the present study was to examine the relationships between ACEs and behavioral problems of children in their early adolescence in Chinese society. Results from bivariate analyses of 2,910 Chinese children in early adolescence indicated that children begin to exhibit behavioral problems being related to the exposure of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Compared to those with 0 ACEs, children with 4 or more ACEs were 4.45 times (p < 0.001), 4.44 times (p < 0.001), 7.80 times (p < 0.001), 4.49 times (p < 0.001), and 6.63 times (p < 0.001) more likely to demonstrate hyperactivity, peer communication problems, pro-social problems, emotional problems and conduct problems, respectively. Rural children, children of mothers with low education, and boys were particularly likely to have been exposed to multiple categories of ACE. This study evidenced that there was a strong association between exposure to ACEs and behavioral problems in early adolescence in China.

Deep Brain Stimulation in Drug Addiction Treatment: Research Progress and Perspective.

Drug addiction is a chronic psychiatric disorder characterized by compulsive drug-seeking and drug-using behavior, and a tremendous socioeconomic burden to society. Current pharmacological and psychosocial methods have shown limited treatment effects for substance abuse. Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is a novel treatment for psychiatric disease and has gradually gained popularity in the treatment of addiction. Addiction is characterized by neuroplastic changes in the nucleus accumbens (NAc), a key structure in the brain reward system, and DBS in this region has shown promising treatment effects. In this paper, the research progress on DBS for drug addiction has been reviewed. Specifically, we discuss the mechanism of NAc DBS for addiction treatment and summarize the results of clinical trials on DBS treatment for addiction to psychoactive substances such as nicotine, alcohol, cocaine, opioids and methamphetamine/amphetamine. In addition, the treatment effects of DBS in other brain regions, such as the substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNr) and insula are discussed.

[Correlation between TOPA2A gene expression and the number of CD4+ T cells in hepatocellular carcinoma and its clinical prognostic significance].

Objective To analyze the correlation between the expression of TOP2A gene and the proportion of CD4+T cells in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and its clinical prognostic significance. Methods The expression of TOP2A mRNA in normal liver tissues and HCC tissues and its significance for survival and prognosis of HCC patients were analyzed by BioGPS, GEPIA and Kaplan-Meier Plotter databases. The coexpression gene of TOP2A and its GO function were analyzed using GENE and Metascape databases, along with the KEGG pathway enrichment analysis. The correlation between TOP2A and microsatellite instability (MSI) and DNA repair gene was analyzed by Sangerbox database. Then, the correlation between TOP2A gene and CD4+ T cells and various immune cells was analyzed by TISIDB and TIMER database, and analysis was also performed regarding the effect of CD4+ T cells on the survival and prognosis of HCC patients. Results TOP2A mRNA is not significantly expressed in normal liver tissues and CD4+ T cells, but is significantly expressed in HCC tissue, which is not conducive to the survival and prognosis of patients. The GO function of TOP2A coexpression gene is mainly enriched in cell mitosis and cell proliferation, while KEGG is mainly enriched in cell cycle and platinum drug resistance pathway. The expression of TOP2A is positively correlated with MSI, MSH2 and MSH6 of DNA repair gene, the purity of tumor cells and the numbers of various immune cells. All kinds of immune cells reported certain copy number variation in HCC, but only the numbers of CD4+ T cells showed a significant effect on the survival and prognosis of HCC patients. Conclusion There is a significant positive correlation between the expression of TOP2A mRNA and the number of CD4+T cells in HCC, which is not conducive to the survival and prognosis of HCC patients.

Topoisomerase â ¡α Gene as a Marker for Prognostic Prediction of Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Bioinformatics Analysis.

Objective To investigate the expression of topoisomeraseⅡα (TOP2α) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and its role in predicting prognosis of HCC patients. Methods We used HCC-related datasets in UALCAN, HCCDB, and cBioPortal databases to analyze the expression and mutation of TOP2α and its co-expressed genes in HCC tissues. GO function and KEGG pathway enrichment of TOP2α and its co-expressed genes were identified. The TIMER database was used to analyze infiltration levels of immune cells in HCC. The impacts of TOP2α and its co-expression genes and the infiltrated immune cells on the survival of HCC patients were assayed by Kaplan-Meier plotter analysis. Results TOP2α and its co-expression genes were highly expressed in HCC (P< 0.001) and detrimental to overall survival of HCC patients (P< 0.001). TOP2α and its co-expression genes were mainly involved in cell mitosis and proliferation, and cell cycle pathway (ID: hsa04110, P = 0.001945). TOP2α and its co-expression genes were mutated in HCC and the mutations were significantly detrimental to overall survival (P = 0.0247) and disease-free survival (P = 0.0265) of HCC patients. High TOP2α expression was positively correlated with the infiltration of B cell (r = 0.459, P< 0.01), CD8+ T cell (r = 0.312, P< 0.01), CD4+ T cell (r = 0.370, P< 0.01), macrophage (r = 0.459, P< 0.01), neutrophil (r = 0.405, P< 0.01), and dendritic cell (r = 0.473, P< 0.01) in HCC. The CD8+ T cell infiltration significantly prolonged the 3- and 5-year survival of HCC patients (all P< 0.05), and CD4+ T cell infiltration significantly shortened the 3-, 5-, and 10-year survival of HCC patients (all P< 0.05). ConclusionTOP2α may be an oncogene, which was associated with poor prognosis of HCC patients and could be used as a biomarker for the prognostic prediction of HCC.

Topoisomerase Ⅱα Gene as a Marker for Prognostic Prediction of Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Bioinformatics Analysis / 中国医学科学杂志(英文版)

Objective To investigate the expression of topoisomeraseⅡα (TOP2α) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and its role in predicting prognosis of HCC patients. Methods We used HCC-related datasets in UALCAN, HCCDB, and cBioPortal databases to analyze the expression and mutation of TOP2α and its co-expressed genes in HCC tissues. GO function and KEGG pathway enrichment of TOP2α and its co-expressed genes were identified. The TIMER database was used to analyze infiltration levels of immune cells in HCC. The impacts of TOP2α and its co-expression genes and the infiltrated immune cells on the survival of HCC patients were assayed by Kaplan-Meier plotter analysis. Results TOP2α and its co-expression genes were highly expressed in HCC (P< 0.001) and detrimental to overall survival of HCC patients (P< 0.001). TOP2α and its co-expression genes were mainly involved in cell mitosis and proliferation, and cell cycle pathway (ID: hsa04110, P = 0.001945). TOP2α and its co-expression genes were mutated in HCC and the mutations were significantly detrimental to overall survival (P = 0.0247) and disease-free survival (P = 0.0265) of HCC patients. High TOP2α expression was positively correlated with the infiltration of B cell (r = 0.459, P< 0.01), CD8+ T cell (r = 0.312, P< 0.01), CD4+ T cell (r = 0.370, P< 0.01), macrophage (r = 0.459, P< 0.01), neutrophil (r = 0.405, P< 0.01), and dendritic cell (r = 0.473, P< 0.01) in HCC. The CD8+ T cell infiltration significantly prolonged the 3- and 5-year survival of HCC patients (all P< 0.05), and CD4+ T cell infiltration significantly shortened the 3-, 5-, and 10-year survival of HCC patients (all P< 0.05). ConclusionTOP2α may be an oncogene, which was associated with poor prognosis of HCC patients and could be used as a biomarker for the prognostic prediction of HCC.

Multispectral image fusion based pedestrian detection using a multilayer fused deconvolutional single-shot detector.

Recent research has demonstrated that effective fusion of multispectral images (visible and thermal images) enables robust pedestrian detection under various illumination conditions (e.g., daytime and nighttime). However, there are some open problems such as poor performance in small-sized pedestrian detection and high computational cost of multispectral information fusion. This paper proposes a multilayer fused deconvolutional single-shot detector that contains a two-stream convolutional module (TCM) and a multilayer fused deconvolutional module (MFDM). The TCM is used to extract convolutional features from multispectral input images. Then fusion blocks are incorporated into the MFDM to combine high-level features with rich semantic information and low-level features with detailed information to generate features with strong a representational power for small pedestrian instances. In addition, we fuse multispectral information at multiple deconvolutional layers in the MFDM via fusion blocks. This multilayer fusion strategy adaptively makes the most use of visible and thermal information. In addition, using fusion blocks for multilayer fusion can reduce the extra computational cost and redundant parameters. Empirical experiments show that the proposed approach achieves an 81.82% average precision (AP) on a new small-sized multispectral pedestrian dataset. The proposed method achieves the best performance on two well-known public multispectral datasets. On the KAIST multispectral pedestrian benchmark, for example, our method achieves a 97.36% AP and a 20 fps detection speed, which outperforms the state-of-the-art published method by 6.82% in AP and is three times faster in its detection speed.

[Bioinformatics analysis and significance of expression of CC chemokine ligand 23 (CCL23) in hepatocellular carcinoma].

Objective To investigate the expression of C-C motif chemokine ligand 23 (CCL23) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and its clinical significance for survival and prognosis. Methods GEPIA, HCCDB, MetaScape, TIMER, TISIDB, Kaplan-Meier Plotter and other online databases were used to analyze the expression level of CCL23 in HCC, the functional notes of co-expression gene and its gene ontology (GO), the enrichment of Kyoto gene and genome encyclopedia (KEGG), the correlation between tumor cell purity, the expression of CCL23 in immune cells and its significance for survival and prognosis of patients. Results The expression of CCL23 in all stages of HCC was negatively correlated with the purity of HCC tumor cells. The short prognosis of HCC patients with low expression of CCL23 was poor. The GO function and KEGG pathway of CCL23 co-expressed gene in HCC were mainly enriched in immune cell activation and complement system activation. CCL23 was the strongest chemokine factor in HCC, and it could bind to multiple receptors including CC chemokine receptor 1 (CCR1), CCR2, CCR7 and CXC chemokine receptor 6 (CXCR6) to exert chemokine effect on immune cells, among which CD8+ T cells and macrophages have the most obvious chemokine effect. Conclusion The low expression of CCL23 in HCC tissue is not conducive to the development of anti-tumor immune defense in HCC patients and significantly shortens the survival of HCC patients.