Multiple-component covalent organic frameworks for simultaneous extraction and determination of multitarget pollutants in sea foods.

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs), such as perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and bisphenols (BPs), have been raising global concerns due to their toxic effects on environment and human health. The monitoring of residues of POPs in seafood is crucial for assessing the accumulation of these contaminants in the study area and mitigating potential risks to human health. However, the diversity and complexity of POPs in seafood present significant challenges for their simultaneous detection. Here, a novel multi-component fluoro-functionalized covalent organic framework (OH-F-COF) was designed as SPE adsorbent for simultaneous extraction POPs. On this basis, the recognition and adsorption mechanisms were investigated by molecular simulation. Due to multiple interactions and large specific surface area, OH-F-COF displayed satisfactory coextraction performance for PFASs, PCBs, and BPs. Under optimized conditions, the OH-F-COF sorbent was employed in a strategy of simultaneous extraction and stepwise elution (SESE), in combination with HPLC-MS/MS and GC-MS method, to effectively determined POPs in seafood collected from coastal areas of China. The method obtained low detection limits for BPs (0.0037 -0.0089 ng/g), PFASs (0.0038 -0.0207 ng/g), and PCBs (0.2308 -0.2499 ng/g), respectively. This approach provided new research ideas for analyzing and controlling multitarget POPs in seafood. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS: Persistent organic pollutants (POPs), such as perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and bisphenols (BPs), have caused serious hazards to human health and ecosystems. Hence, there is a need to develop a quantitative method that can rapidly detect POPs in environmental and food samples. Herein, a novel multi-component fluorine-functionalized covalent organic skeletons (OH-F-COF) were prepared at room temperature, and served as adsorbent for POPs. The SESE-SPE strategy combined with chromatographic techniques was used to achieve a rapid detection of POPs in sea foods from the coastal provinces of China. This method provides a valuable tool for analyzing POPs in environmental and food samples.

Identification of Chronic Pancreatitis Associated microRNAs and Genes for the Diagnosis of Pancreatic Cancer.

OBJECTIVE: The timely identification of both malignant and nonmalignant pancreatic lesions has the potential to significantly enhance prognosis and implement risk management strategies across various levels. microRNAs (miRs) and their corresponding targets play a crucial role in the development of pancreatic lesions and can serve as valuable diagnostic and therapeutic targets. The objective of our study was to investigate potential diagnostic markers that can effectively differentiate between malignant and nonmalignant pancreatic lesions. METHODS: Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database with GSE24279 dataset was utilized to screen differentially expressed miRNAs (DEMs). We utilized the TargetScanHuman database to predict the target genes associated with hsa-miR-150-3p, hsa-miR-150-5p, and hsa-miR-214-3p. Furthermore, a cohort comprising healthy individuals (n = 52), chronic pancreatitis (CP; n = 34), and pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAAD; n = 53) patients was recruited to ascertain the levels of plasma markers. RESULTS: We identified 3 miRNAs (hsa-miR-150-3p, hsa-miR-150-5p, and hsa-miR-214-3p) and 2 proteins (PCDH1 and AMN) as potential diagnostic markers for distinguishing between CP and PAAD. The area under the curve (AUC) values for all markers exceeded .800. Notably, a combination of plasma PCDH1 and AMN demonstrated excellent diagnostic performance (AUC = .921; 95% CI: .866-.977; sensitivity = .792; specificity = .941) in discriminating between CP and PAAD. In addition, the model of hsa-miR-150-3p, hsa-miR-150-5p, and hsa-miR-214-3p yielded an AUC of .928, sensitivity of .830, and specificity of .912, respectively. CONCLUSION: Plasma levels of miRNAs (hsa-miR-150-3p, hsa-miR-150-5p, and hsa-miR-214-3p) and their corresponding targets (PCDH1 and AMN) hold promise as potential biomarkers for predicting PAAD in patients with CP.

Independent association between IVC filter placement and VTE risk in patients with upper gastrointestinal bleeding and isolated distal DVT: A retrospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: The placement of inferior vena cava (IVC) filters often emerges as an alternative preventative measure against pulmonary embolism in patients with upper gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding and isolated distal deep vein thrombosis (DVT). We aimed to investigate the association of IVC filter placement and the incidence of venous thromboembolism (VTE) recurrence in this patient population. METHODS: We performed a retrospective cohort study including 450 patients with upper GI bleeding and isolated distal DVT. Propensity score matching using logistic regression was conducted to mitigate potential selection bias. Logistic regression models and additional sensitivity analyses were conducted to estimate the association between IVC filter implantation and VTE recurrence. Interaction and stratified analyses were also performed according to the background covariates. RESULTS: Patients who underwent IVC filter placement were significantly younger than patients in the surveillance group (55.8 ± 9.0 vs 58.4 ± 11.2 years, p = 0.034). Patients in the IVC filter group demonstrated a higher distal thrombus burden. The VTE recurrence composite was significantly higher in patients who underwent IVC filter placement (44.1% [45/102] vs 25% [87/348], p < 0.001). Unmatched crude logistic regression analysis identified a significant association between IVC filter placement and VTE recurrence composite (OR = 2.37; 95% CI, 1.50-3.75). Sensitivity analyses yielded congruent outcomes. CONCLUSION: This study revealed an increased risk of VTE recurrence among patients receiving IVC filter placement, suggesting that IVC filter placement may not be suitable as a primary treatment for patients with upper GI bleeding and isolated distal DVT.

Examining the Effect of Entrepreneurial Leadership on Nursing Team Creativity in New Hospitals: A Structural Equation Model.

METHODS: This cross-sectional study sampled 833 nurses from 2 new hospitals in Guizhou Province, China. They completed a questionnaire on entrepreneurial leadership, nursing team creativity, innovation climate, creative self-efficacy, team psychological safety, and knowledge sharing. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. RESULTS: Entrepreneurial leadership positively influenced nursing team creativity. Innovation climate, creative self-efficacy, team psychological safety, and knowledge sharing mediated the relationship between entrepreneurial leadership and nursing team creativity in new hospitals. CONCLUSIONS: This study confirmed the significant role of innovation climate, creative self-efficacy, team psychological safety, and knowledge sharing in mediating the relationship between entrepreneurial leadership and nursing team creativity through empirical analysis.

Integrative analysis of network pharmacology and proteomics reveal the protective effect of Xiaoqinglong Decotion on neutrophilic asthma.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Xiaoqinglong Decotion (XQLD) is a commonly used Chinese herbal formula in clinical practice, especially for allergic diseases such as asthma. However, its intrinsic mechanism for the treatment of neutrophilic asthma (NA) remains unclear. AIM OF THE STUDY: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and potential mechanisms of XQLD on NA using network pharmacology and in vivo experiments. MATERIALS AND METHODS: First, the active compounds, potential targets and mechanisms of XQLD against NA were initially elucidated by network pharmacology. Then, OVA/CFA-induced NA mice were treated with XQLD to assess its efficacy. Proteins were then analyzed and quantified using a Tandem Mass Tags approach for differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) to further reveal the mechanisms of NA treatment by XQLD. Finally, the hub genes, critical DEPs and potential pathways were validated. RESULTS: 176 active compounds and 180 targets against NA were identified in XQLD. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) network revealed CXCL10, CX3CR1, TLR7, NCF1 and FABP4 as hub genes. In vivo experiments showed that XQLD attenuated inflammatory infiltrates, airway mucus secretion and remodeling in the lungs of NA mice. Moreover, XQLD significantly alleviated airway neutrophil inflammation in NA mice by decreasing the expression of IL-8, MPO and NE. XQLD also reduced the levels of CXCL10, CX3CR1, TLR7, NCF1 and FABP4, which are closely associated with neutrophil inflammation. Proteomics analysis identified 28 overlapping DEPs in the control, NA and XQLD groups, and we found that XQLD inhibited ferroptosis signal pathway (elevated GPX4 and decreased ASCL3) as well as the expression of ARG1, MMP12 and SPP1, while activating the Rap1 signaling pathway. CONCLUSION: This study revealed that inhibition of ARG1, MMP12 and SPP1 expression as well as ferroptosis pathways, and activation of the Rap1 signaling pathway contribute to the therapeutic effect of XQLD on NA.

Small Molecules Promote the Rapid Generation of Dental Epithelial Cells from Human-Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells.

Human-induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) offer a promising source for generating dental epithelial (DE) cells. Whereas the existing differentiation protocols were time-consuming and relied heavily on growth factors, herein, we developed a three-step protocol to convert hiPSCs into DE cells in 8 days. In the first phase, hiPSCs were differentiated into non-neural ectoderm using SU5402 (an FGF signaling inhibitor). The second phase involved differentiating non-neural ectoderm into pan-placodal ectoderm and simultaneously inducing the formation of oral ectoderm (OE) using LDN193189 (a BMP signaling inhibitor) and purmorphamine (a SHH signaling activator). In the final phase, OE cells were differentiated into DE through the application of Purmorphamine, XAV939 (a WNT signaling inhibitor), and BMP4. qRT-PCR and immunostaining were performed to examine the expression of lineage-specific markers. ARS staining was performed to evaluate the formation of the mineralization nodule. The expression of PITX2, SP6, and AMBN, the emergence of mineralization nodules, and the enhanced expression of AMBN and AMELX in spheroid culture implied the generation of DE cells. This study delineates the developmental signaling pathways and uses small molecules to streamline the induction of hiPSCs into DE cells. Our findings present a simplified and quicker method for generating DE cells, contributing valuable insights for dental regeneration and dental disease research.

Rapidly enrichment and detection of per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances in foods using a novel bifunctional covalent organic framework.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are extensively found in foods, posing potential toxicity to humans. Therefore, rapid analysis and monitoring of PFASs in foods are crucial for public health and also a challenge. To detect trace PFASs in foods, construction of sorbents with multiple interactions could be an effective approach. Herein, a cationic-fluorinated covalent organic framework (CF-COF) was prepared by post-modification and used as a magnetic solid-phase extraction adsorbent for adsorption of PFASs. By combining magnetic solid-phase extraction based on CF-COF with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC - MS/MS), a novel method was developed for determination of eight long-chain PFASs in foods. Under optimized conditions, the method exhibited low detection limits (0.003-0.019 ng/g) and satisfactory recovery rates (73.5-118%) for PFASs. This study introduces a novel idea for the development of adsorbents targeting PFASs, along with a new analytical method for monitoring of PFASs in foods.

Effects of Aloe Gel on Lactating Women with Nipple Trauma.

Background: To investigate the efficacy of aloe gel in reducing pain and promoting wound healing in postpartum women with nipple trauma. Method: There were 80 postpartum women who took part in this study having developed nipple trauma during breastfeeding in the obstetrics department of a tertiary grade A hospital in Suzhou from January to December 2021. Postpartum women with nipple trauma whose hospital bed numbers ranged between 15 and 33 were included in the test group, whereas those whose hospital bed numbers ranged between 35 and 53 were included in the control group. Both groups received health education and breastfeeding guidance. The control group applied lanolin cream to their nipple trauma, whereas the test group used aloe gel. We used a nipple trauma severity assessment table to determine the severity of nipple trauma in lactating women and a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) to determine the level of nipple pain and referred to the Traditional Chinese Medicine Standard for Diagnosis and Therapeutic Efficacy for Diseases and Syndromes to determine the healing time of their wounds. Results: The test group scored 3.70 ± 1.24 and 1.65 ± 0.74 points on the VAS on the first and third days following the intervention, whereas the control group scored 4.30 ± 0.94 and 2.23 ± 1.07 points, respectively. It took 3.75 ± 1.08 days and 4.45 ± 1.15 days for the nipple pain to completely disappear in the test group and the control group, respectively. The healing period for nipple trauma was 5.28 ± 1.26 days for the test group and 6.03 ± 1.61 days for the control group. All of the aforementioned distinctions were statistically significant (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Aloe gel can significantly alleviate the pain associated with nipple trauma in lactating women, accelerate wound healing, and reduce the duration of nipple trauma.

Post-discharge nutritional management for patients with coronary heart disease and frailty: a qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: Frail elderly patients experience physiological function and reserve depletion, leading to imbalances in their internal environment, which increases the risk of coronary heart disease recurrence and malnutrition. However, the majority of these patients, who primarily have a low level of education and lack self-management skills, face difficulties actively dealing with obstacles during the transition period after their discharge from hospitalization. Therefore, it is necessary to understand and discuss in depth the nutrition management experience of discharged elderly patients with coronary heart disease and frailty (ages 65-80 years old) and to analyze the promoting and hindering factors that affect scientific diet behavior during the discharge transition period. METHODS: Fifteen elderly patients with coronary heart disease and frailty who had been discharged from the hospital for 6 months were interviewed using a semistructured method. The directed content analysis approach to descriptive research was used to extract topics from the interview content. RESULTS: All participants discussed the problems in health nutrition management experience of discharged. Five topics and ten subtopics were extracted, such as ①Weak perceptions and behaviors towards healthy eating (personal habit solidification, negative attitudes towards nutrition management), ②Lack of objective factors for independently adjusting dietary conditions (reliance on subjective feelings, times of appetite change), ③Personal hindrance factors (memory impairment, deficiencies in self-nutrition management), ④Expected external support (assistance care support, ways to obtain nutritional information), ⑤Lack of continuous nutrition management (interruption of professional guidance, avoidance of medical treatment behavior). CONCLUSIONS: Nutrition management after discharge places a burden on elderly patients with coronary heart disease and frailty. According to the patients' physical conditions, we should develop a diet support system that is coordinated by individuals, families and society.

Research on safety risk control of prepared foods from the perspective of supply chain.

Prepared foods bring great convenience to people's lives, but they also entail safety risks in all aspects, from production to sales. The cooperation of the supply chain and the supervision of the government are key to promoting the safety management of prepared foods. This paper considers the government's regulation, focuses on the interaction relationship between the producer and the retailer of prepared foods, and builds an evolutionary game model to analyze the influence of collaborative decision-making between prepared food producers and retailers in preventing and controlling food safety risks under the government's regulatory strategy. The research finds that: (1) Under certain conditions, there are three stable equilibrium strategies within the prepared foods supply chain: bilateral low-safety inputs, unilateral high-safety inputs, and bilateral high-safety inputs. (2) Government regulators can influence the safety input behaviors of prepared food supply chain enterprises by adjusting investigation probabilities and punishment severity. (3) The safety input behaviors of these enterprises are influenced by various factors, including costs, revenues, brand image, reputation, and the consequences associated with contractual violations. This paper represents the first systematic analysis of prepared food safety from a supply chain perspective. It fills a gap in the existing literature in this area, offering guidance and suggestions for prepared food supply chain enterprises, as well as references and recommendations for government regulators.

Pig-eRNAdb: a comprehensive enhancer and eRNA dataset of pigs.

Enhancers and the enhancer RNAs (eRNAs) have been strongly implicated in regulations of transcriptions. Based the multi-omics data (ATAC-seq, ChIP-seq and RNA-seq) from public databases, Pig-eRNAdb is a dataset that comprehensively integrates enhancers and eRNAs for pigs using the machine learning strategy, which incorporates 82,399 enhancers and 37,803 eRNAs from 607 samples across 15 tissues of pigs. This user-friendly dataset covers a comprehensive depth of enhancers and eRNAs annotation for pigs. The coordinates of enhancers and the expression patterns of eRNAs are downloadable. Besides, thousands of regulators on eRNAs, the target genes of eRNAs, the tissue-specific eRNAs, and the housekeeping eRNAs are also accessible as well as the sequence similarity of eRNAs with humans. Moreover, the tissue-specific eRNA-trait associations encompass 652 traits are also provided. It will crucially facilitate investigations on enhancers and eRNAs with Pig-eRNAdb as a reference dataset in pigs.

Comparison and Evaluation of the Accuracy for Thoracic and Lumbar Pedicle Screw Fixation in Early-Onset Congenital Scoliosis Children.

BACKGROUND: Compared to adult scoliosis, correcting scoliosis in children often presents greater challenges. This is attributed to two key factors. Firstly, it involves accounting for the growth potential of children. Secondly, the thinner pedicles in children can complicate screw insertion, particularly when dealing with existing deformities. The utilization of intraoperative navigation technology offers a modest improvement in the precision of screw placement but does come with the drawback of increased radiation exposure. The aim of this study is to investigate and assess the accuracy of manually inserting pedicle screws in the thoracic and lumbar spine to rectify deformities in children with early-onset congenital scoliosis. METHODS: In this retrospective study, 26 hospitalized patients diagnosed with early-onset congenital scoliosis between December 2014 and December 2019 were selected. The cohort comprised 16 boys and 10 girls, aged between 2 and 10 years, with an average age of 4.68 ± 2.42 years. Pedicle screw fixation was applied in the segment spanning from T1 to L5. Pedicle screws were inserted manually, guided by the positioning of the C-arm and anatomical markers. The assessment of pedicle screw placement was based on the distance of penetration into the medial, lateral, or anterior bone cortex of the vertebral body, including the pedicle, categorized into three grades: Grade 1 (placement <2 mm), Grade 2 (placement between 2-4 mm), and Grade 3 (placement >4 mm). Grade 1 indicates accurate pedicle screw placement, while Grades 2 and 3 signify abnormal pedicle screw placement. Complications related to pedicle screw insertion were also recorded, both during and after the surgical procedure. RESULTS: A total of 173 pedicle screws were inserted in this study, with an average of 6.65 screws per patient. Accurate screw placement was achieved in 143 cases (82.7%), while 30 pedicle screws were found to be abnormal. Among the abnormal screws, 24 were categorized as Grade 2 (13.9%), and 6 as Grade 3 (3.5%). Grade 2 abnormalities were distributed across 20 thoracic vertebrae and 4 lumbar vertebrae, while Grade 3 abnormalities affected 5 thoracic vertebrae and 1 lumbar vertebra. When comparing the lumbar and thoracic vertebral regions, a significant difference in the rate of abnormal screw placement was observed (χ2 = 5.801, p < 0.05). The rate of abnormal screw placement was higher in the thoracic vertebral region with abnormal vertebral bodies than in the lumbar vertebral regions. Furthermore, a statistically significant difference in the rate of abnormal screw placement was found between the concave and convex sides (χ2 = 23.047, p < 0.05). The concave side of the abnormal vertebral body had a higher rate of abnormal screw placement (55.6%, 15/27) compared to the convex side (20.1%, 7/34), and this difference was statistically significant (p < 0.05). Throughout the intraoperative and postoperative follow-up period, spanning from 12 to 56 months, only one patient experienced issues with wound healing, and no complications related to pedicle screw placement occurred, such as hemopneumothorax, pedicle fracture, nerve root injury, aortic injury, screw loosening, pullout or breakage, or spinal cord injury. CONCLUSIONS: In children under 10 years of age with early-onset congenital scoliosis, the freehand placement of thoracic and lumbar pedicle screws demonstrates a high level of accuracy. Moreover, complications associated with pedicle screw insertion are infrequent following surgery. It is advisable to exercise caution when placing pedicle screws in thoracic vertebral bodies and morphologically abnormal vertebral bodies, with particular attention to the concave side when screw placement is required in these regions.

Enhancing brain metastasis prediction in non-small cell lung cancer: a deep learning-based segmentation and CT radiomics-based ensemble learning model.

BACKGROUND: Brain metastasis (BM) is most common in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. This study aims to enhance BM risk prediction within three years for advanced NSCLC patients by using a deep learning-based segmentation and computed tomography (CT) radiomics-based ensemble learning model. METHODS: This retrospective study included 602 stage IIIA-IVB NSCLC patients, 309 BM patients and 293 non-BM patients, from two centers. Patients were divided into a training cohort (N = 376), an internal validation cohort (N = 161) and an external validation cohort (N = 65). Lung tumors were first segmented by using a three-dimensional (3D) deep residual U-Net network. Then, a total of 1106 radiomics features were computed by using pretreatment lung CT images to decode the imaging phenotypes of primary lung cancer. To reduce the dimensionality of the radiomics features, recursive feature elimination configured with the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regularization method was applied to select the optimal image features after removing the low-variance features. An ensemble learning algorithm of the extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) classifier was used to train and build a prediction model by fusing radiomics features and clinical features. Finally, Kaplan‒Meier (KM) survival analysis was used to evaluate the prognostic value of the prediction score generated by the radiomics-clinical model. RESULTS: The fused model achieved area under the receiver operating characteristic curve values of 0.91 ± 0.01, 0.89 ± 0.02 and 0.85 ± 0.05 on the training and two validation cohorts, respectively. Through KM survival analysis, the risk score generated by our model achieved a significant prognostic value for BM-free survival (BMFS) and overall survival (OS) in the two cohorts (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrated that (1) the fusion of radiomics and clinical features can improve the prediction performance in predicting BM risk, (2) the radiomics model generates higher performance than the clinical model, and (3) the radiomics-clinical fusion model has prognostic value in predicting the BMFS and OS of NSCLC patients.

Berberine promotes lacteal junction zippering and ameliorates diet-induced obesity through the RhoA/ROCK signaling pathway.

BACKGROUND: Obesity has emerged as a global epidemic. Recent research has indicated that diet-induced obesity can be prevented by promoting lacteal junction zippering. Berberine, which is derived from natural plants, is found to be promising in weight reduction, but the underlying mechanism remains unspecified. PURPOSE: To determine whether berberine protects against obesity by regulating the lacteal junction and to explore potential molecular mechanisms. METHODS: Following the induction of the diet-induced obese (DIO) model, mice were administered low and high doses of berberine for 4 weeks. Indicators associated with insulin resistance and lipid metabolism were examined. Various methods, such as Oil Red O staining, transmission electron microscopy imaging, confocal imaging and others were used to observe the effects of berberine on lipid absorption and the lacteal junction. In vitro, human dermal lymphatic endothelial cells (HDLECs) were used to investigate the effect of berberine on LEC junctions. Western Blot and immunostaining were applied to determine the expression levels of relevant molecules. RESULTS: Both low and high doses of berberine reduced body weight in DIO mice without appetite suppression and ameliorated glucolipid metabolism disorders. We also found that the weight loss effect of berberine might contribute to the inhibition of small intestinal lipid absorption. The possible mechanism was related to the promotion of lacteal junction zippering via suppressing the ras homolog gene family member A (RhoA)/Rho-associated kinase (ROCK) signaling pathway. In vitro, berberine also promoted the formation of stable mature junctions in HDLECs, involving the same signaling pathway. CONCLUSION: Berberine could promote lacteal junction zippering and ameliorate diet-induced obesity through the RhoA/ROCK signaling pathway.

Distinct enzyme activities of serine protease p37k in silkworm midgut and molting fluid.

Serine proteases possess various biological functions. The serine protease p37k exhibits gelatinolytic activity in the silkworm midgut and degrades cuticular proteins in the molting fluid. In this study, we analyzed the activity changes of recombinant p37k (re-p37k) and p37k in the midgut and molting fluid of Bombyx mori. Firstly, in vitro-expressed re-p37k was activated when a 22 kDa band was observed by western blot. Re-p37k exhibits strong gelatinolytic activity, with the highest activity observed at pH 7.0-9.0 and 45 °C. Compared to p37k in the midgut, re-p37k loses thermal stability but can be restored by midgut extract or ions. E64, AEBSF, and an inhibitor cocktail inhibited the hydrolytic activity of re-p37k on epidermal proteins but did not inhibit the gelatinolytic activity. Subsequently, zymography showed that the positions of gelatinolytic band produced by p37k in the midgut and molting fluid were different, 35 kDa and 40 kDa, respectively. Finally, when heated midgut extract was added to re-p37k or molting fluid, the gelatinolytic band shifted from 40 kDa to 35 kDa, and the proteolytic activity of p37k in the molting fluid was inhibited. Collectively, our results demonstrate that p37k exhibits different activities in various tissues, suggesting its distinct tissue-specific functions during insect metamorphosis.

Integrating serum pharmacochemistry and network pharmacology to reveal the mechanism of chickpea in improving insulin resistance.

Although chickpea have great potential in the treatment of obesity and diabetes, the bioactive components and therapeutic targets of chickpea to prevent insulin resistance (IR) are still unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate the chemical and pharmacological characteristics of chickpea on IR through serum pharmacochemistry and network pharmacology. The results revealed that compared with other polar fractions, the ethyl acetate extract of chickpea (CE) had the definitive performance on enhancing the capacities of glucose consumption and glycogen synthesis. In addition, we analyzed the components of CE in vivo and in vitro based on UPLC-Q-Orbitrap HRMS technology. There were 28 kinds of in vitro chemical components, among which the isoflavones included biochanin A, formononetin, ononin, sissotrin, and astragalin, etc. Concerningly, the chief prototype components of CE absorbed into the blood were biochanin A, formononetin, loliolide, and lenticin, etc. Furthermore, a total of 209 common targets between IR and active components of CE were screened out by network pharmacology, among which the key targets involved PI3K p85, NF-κB p65 and estrogen receptor 1, etc. Specifically, KEGG pathway analysis indicated that PI3K-AKT signaling pathway, HIF-1 signaling pathway, and AGE-RAGE signaling pathway may play critical roles in the IR remission by CE. Finally, the in vitro validation experiments disclosed that CE significantly balanced the oxidative stress state of IR-HepG2 cells and inhibited expressions of inflammatory cytokines. In conclusion, the present study will be an important reference for clarifying the pharmacodynamic substance basis and underlying mechanism of chickpea to alleviate IR.

Prognostic prediction value of the clinical-radiomics tumour-stroma ratio in locally advanced rectal cancer.

PURPOSE: To develop and validate a radiomics model based on high-resolution T2WI and a clinical-radiomics model for tumour-stroma ratio (TSR) evaluation with a gold standard of TSR evaluated by rectal specimens without therapeutic interference and further apply them in prognosis prediction of locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) patients who received neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy. METHODS: A total of 178 patients (mean age: 59.35, range 20-85 years; 65 women and 113 men) with rectal cancer who received surgery alone from January 2016 to October 2020 were enrolled and randomly separated at a ratio of 7:3 into training and validation sets. A senior radiologist reviewed after 2 readers manually delineated the whole tumour in consensus on preoperative high-resolution T2WI in the training set. A total of 1046 features were then extracted, and recursive feature elimination embedded with leave-one-out cross validation was applied to select features, with which an MR-TSR evaluation model was built containing 6 filtered features via a support vector machine classifier trained by comparing patients' pathological TSR. Stepwise logistic regression was employed to integrate clinical factors with the radiomics model (Fusion-TSR) in the training set. Later, the MR-TSR and Fusion-TSR models were replicated in the validation set for diagnostic effectiveness evaluation. Subsequently, 243 patients (mean age: 53.74, range 23-74 years; 63 women and 180 men) with LARC from October 2012 to September 2017 who were treated with NCRT prior to surgery and underwent standard pretreatment rectal MR examination were enrolled. The MR-TSR and Fusion-TSR were applied, and the Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test were used to compare the survival of patients with different MR-TSR and Fusion-TSR. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to calculate the hazard ratio (HR). RESULTS: Both the MR-TSR and Fusion-TSR models were validated with favourable diagnostic power: the AUC of the MR-TSR was 0.77 (p = 0.01; accuracy = 69.8 %, sensitivity = 88.9 %, specificity = 65.9 %, PPV = 34.8 %, NPV = 96.7 %), while the AUC of the Fusion-TSR was 0.76 (p = 0.014; accuracy = 67.9 %, sensitivity = 88.9 %, specificity = 63.6 %, PPV = 33.3 %, NPV = 96.6 %), outperforming their effectiveness in the training set: the AUC of the MR-TSR was 0.65 (p = 0.035; accuracy = 66.4 %, sensitivity = 61.9 %, specificity = 67.3 %, PPV = 27.7 %, NPV = 90.0 %), while the AUC of the Fusion-TSR was 0.73 (p = 0.001; accuracy = 73.6 %, sensitivity = 71.4 %, specificity = 74.0 %, PPV = 35.73 %, NPV = 92.8 %). With further prognostic analysis, the MR-TSR was validated as a significant prognostic factor for DFS in LARC patients treated with NCRT (p = 0.020, HR = 1.662, 95 % CI = 1.077-2.565), while the Fusion-TSR was a significant prognostic factor for OS (p = 0.005, HR = 2.373, 95 % CI = 1.281-4.396). CONCLUSIONS: We developed and validated a radiomics TSR and a clinical-radiomics TSR model and successfully applied them to better risk stratification for LARC patients receiving NCRT and for better decision making.

All-in-one strategy to construct bifunctional covalent triazine-based frameworks for simultaneous extraction of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and polychlorinated naphthalenes in foods.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) and polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs) are of growing concern due to their toxic effects on the environment and human health. There is an urgent need for strategies to monitor and analyze the coexistence of PFASs and PCNs, especially in food samples at trace levels, to ensure food safety. Herein, a novel ß-cyclodextrin (ß-CD) derived fluoro-functionalized covalent triazine-based frameworks named CD-F-CTF was firstly synthesized. This innovative framework effectively combines the porous nature of the covalent organic framework and the host-guest recognition property of ß-CD enabling the simultaneous extraction of PFASs and PCNs. Under the optimal conditions, a simple and rapid method was developed to analyze PFASs and PCNs by solid-phase extraction (SPE) based simultaneous extraction and stepwise elution (SESE) strategy for the first time. When coupled with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) and gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS), this method achieved impressive detection limits for PFASs (0.020 -0.023 ng/g) and PCNs (0.016 -0.075 ng/g). Furthermore, the excellent performance was validated in food samples with recoveries of 76.7-107 % (for PFASs) and 78.0-108 % (for PCNs). This work not only provides a simple and rapid technique for simultaneous monitoring of PFASs and PCNs in food and environmental samples, but also introduces a new idea for the designing novel adsorbents with multiple recognition sites.

MRI characteristics of H3 G34-mutant diffuse hemispheric gliomas and possible differentiation from IDH-wild-type glioblastomas in adolescents and young adults.

OBJECTIVE: H3 G34-mutant diffuse hemispheric gliomas (G34m-DHGs) are rare and constitute a new infiltrating brain tumor entity whose characteristics require elucidation, and their difference from isocitrate dehydrogenase-wild-type glioblastomas (IDH-WT-GBMs) needs to be clarified. In this study, the authors report the demographic, clinical, and neuroradiological features of G34m-DHG and investigate the capability of quantitative MRI features in differentiating them. METHODS: Twenty-three patients with G34m-DHG and 30 patients with IDH-WT-GBM were included in this retrospective study. The authors reviewed the clinical, radiological, and molecular data of G34m-DHGs and compared their neuroimaging features with those of IDH-WT-GBMs in adolescents and young adults. Visually Accessible Rembrandt Images (VASARI) features were extracted, and the Kruskal-Wallis test was performed. A logistic regression model was constructed to evaluate the diagnostic performance for differentiating between G34m-DHG and IDH-WT-GBM. Subsequently, FeAture Explorer (FAE) was used to generate the machine learning pipeline and select important radiomics features that had been extracted with PyRadiomics. Estimates of the performance were supplied by metrics such as sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and area under the curve (AUC). RESULTS: The mean age of the 23 patients with G34m-DHG was 23.7 years (range 11-45 years), younger than the mean age of patients with IDH-WT-GBM (30.96 years, range 5-43 years). All tumors were hemispheric. Most cases were immunonegative for ATRX (95%) and Olig2 (100%), were immunopositive for p53 (95%), and exhibited MGMT promoter methylation (81%). The radiological presentations of G34m-DHG were different from those of IDH-WT-GBM. The majority of the G34m-DHGs were in the frontal, parietal, and temporal lobes and demonstrated no or only faint contrast enhancement (74%), while IDH-WT-GBMs were mostly seen in the frontal lobe and showed marked contrast enhancement in 83% of cases. The FAE-generated model, based on radiomics features (AUC 0.925) of conventional MR images, had better discriminatory performance between G34m-DHG and IDH-WT-GBM than VASARI feature analysis (AUC 0.843). CONCLUSIONS: G34m-DHGs most frequently occur in the frontal, parietal, and temporal lobes in adolescent and young adults and are associated with radiological characteristics distinct from those of IDH-WT-GBMs. Successful identification can be achieved by using either VASARI features or radiomics signatures, which may contribute to prognostic evaluation and assist in clinical settings.

Range adaptation in schizophrenia: A one-year longitudinal study.

Range adaptation refers to the representation of a stimulus value based on its relative position in the range of pre-experienced values. Altered range adaptation in value representation may be related to motivation and pleasure (MAP) deficit in schizophrenia (SCZ). This follow-up study examined the relationship between range adaptation performance and MAP symptoms in SCZ patients. We recruited 26 schizophrenia patients and followed them for 1 year. They completed an experimental task for estimating their range adaptation to outcome value (OV) and expected value (EV) at baseline and after 1 year. At baseline, we found a marginally significant and negative correlation between OV adaptation and avolition symptoms in SCZ patients. Moreover, the 1-year change of EV adaptation was significantly and negatively correlated with the change of self-report pleasure experience. Our results suggest that range adaptation may track the variations of MAP symptoms in SCZ.