Ant-eating spiders from Xizang, China (Araneae, Zodariidae).

Six species of the ant-eating spider of the family Zodariidae are described from Xizang, China, including five new species: Asceuachayusp. nov. (♀), A.dawaisp. nov. (♂♀), Mallinellamigusp. nov. (♂), M.mеdogsp. nov. (♂♀), and M.yadongsp. nov. (♂♀). The female of Cydrelalinzhiensis (Hu, 2001) is described here for the first time. Descriptions and photographs of all the species are provided.

Influence of perceived social support on detection of social norm violation: evidence from N1 and N400.

Introduction: The perceived social support individuals receive from their others plays a crucial role in shaping conformity with social norms. However, the specific mechanism underlying perceived social support and the detection of social norms remains unclear. Methods: In this study, college students with high and low levels of perceived social support were asked to judge the appropriateness of stranger's behaviors (e.g., singing) in different situations (e.g., library). The participants' electroencephalography activities were analyzed aiming to uncover the neural mechanism underlying how perceived social support influences the detection of others' normative behavior. Results: The ERP results indicate that, for individuals with a lower level of perceived social support, larger amplitudes of the N1 component (related to primary processing) and the N400 component (related to cognitive conflict) were observed when detecting others' social norm violation compared to the conformity condition. However, for individuals with a higher level of perceived social support, no significant differences were found in detecting others' conformity or violation of social norms. Discussion: The results indicate that, when the perceived social support level of the individual is low, detecting others' social norm violation elicits deeper primary processing and stronger cognitive conflict compared to conformity condition.

Construction of a BiVO4/VS-MoS2 S-scheme heterojunction for efficient photocatalytic nitrogen fixation.

Photocatalytic nitrogen (N2) reduction to ammonia (NH3), adopting H2O as the electron source, suffers from low efficiency owing to the sluggish kinetics of N2 reduction and the requirement of a substantial thermodynamic driving force. Herein, we present a straightforward approach for the construction of an S-scheme heterojunction of BiVO4/VS-MoS2 to successfully achieve photocatalytic N2 fixation, which is manufactured by coupling an N2-activation component (VS-MoS2 nanosheet) and water-oxidation module (BiVO4 nanocrystal) through electrostatic self-assembly. The VS-MoS2 nanosheet, enriched with sulfur vacancies, plays a pivotal role in facilitating N2 adsorption and activation. Additionally, the construction of the S-scheme heterojunction enhances the driving force for water oxidation and improves charge separation. Under simulated sunlight irradiation (100 mW cm-2), BiVO4/VS-MoS2 exhibits efficient photocatalytic N2 reduction activity with H2O as the proton source, yielding NH3 at a rate of 132.8 µmol g-1 h-1, nearly 7 times higher than that of pure VS-MoS2. This study serves as a noteworthy example of efficient N2 reduction to NH3 under mild conditions.

Directed Electron Delivery from a Pb-Free Halide Perovskite to a Co(II) Molecular Catalyst Boosts CO2 Photoreduction Coupled with Water Oxidation.

The development of high-performance photocatalytic systems for CO2 reduction is appealing to address energy and environmental issues, while it is challenging to avoid using toxic metals and organic sacrificial reagents. We here immobilize a family of cobalt phthalocyanine catalysts on Pb-free halide perovskite Cs2AgBiBr6 nanosheets with delicate control on the anchors of the cobalt catalysts. Among them, the molecular hybrid photocatalyst assembled by carboxyl anchors achieves the optimal performance with an electron consumption rate of 300±13 µmol g-1 h-1 for visible-light-driven CO2-to-CO conversion coupled with water oxidation to O2, over 8 times of the unmodified Cs2AgBiBr6 (36±8 µmol g-1 h-1), also far surpassing the documented systems (<150 µmol g-1 h-1). Besides the improved intrinsic activity, electrochemical, computational, ex-/in situ X-ray photoelectron and X-ray absorption spectroscopic results indicate that the electrons photogenerated at the Bi atoms of Cs2AgBiBr6 can be directionally transferred to the cobalt catalyst via the carboxyl anchors which strongly bind to the Bi atoms, substantially facilitating the interfacial electron transfer kinetics and thereby the photocatalysis.

The dual facilitatory and inhibitory effects of social pain on physical pain perception.

Pain is a multi-dimensional phenomenon that encompasses both physical pain experienced physiologically and social pain experienced emotionally. The interactions between them are thought to lead to increased pain load. However, the effect of social pain on physical pain perception during interactions remains unclear. Four experiments were conducted merging physical and social pains to examine the behavioral pattern and neural mechanism of the effect of social pain on physical pain perception. Seemingly paradoxical effects of social pain were observed, which both facilitated and inhibited physical pain perception under different attention orientations. Brain imaging revealed that the posterior insula encoded the facilitatory effect, whereas the frontal pole engaged in the inhibitory effect. At a higher level, the thalamus further modulated both processes, playing a switch-like role under different concern statuses of social pain. These results provide direct evidence for the dual-pathway mechanism of the effect of social pain on physical pain.

Dual specific phosphatase 4 suppresses ferroptosis and enhances sorafenib resistance in hepatocellular carcinoma.

AIMS: This investigation aims to elucidate the mechanism underlying sorafenib-induced ferroptosis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS: The role of dual specificity phosphatase 4 (DUSP4) in sorafenib-treated HCC was investigated using comprehensive assessments both in vitro and in vivo, including Western blotting, qRT-PCR, cell viability assay, lipid reactive oxygen species (ROS) assay, immunohistochemistry, and xenograft tumor mouse model. Additionally, label-free quantitative proteomics was employed to identify potential proteins associated with DUSP4. RESULTS: Our study revealed that suppression of DUSP4 expression heightens the susceptibility of HCC cells to ferroptosis inducers, specifically sorafenib and erastin, in both in vitro and in vivo settings. Furthermore, we identified DUSP4-mediated regulation of key ferroptosis-related markers, such as ferritin light chain (FTL) and ferritin heavy chain 1 (FTH1). Notably, label-free quantitative proteomics unveiled the phosphorylation of threonine residue T148 on YTH Domain Containing 1 (YTHDC1) by DUSP4. Further investigations unraveled that YTHDC1, functioning as an mRNA nuclear export regulator, is a direct target of DUSP4, orchestrating the subcellular localization of FTL and FTH1 mRNAs. Significantly, our study highlights a strong correlation between elevated DUSP4 expression and sorafenib resistance in HCC. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings introduce DUSP4 as a negative regulator of sorafenib-induced ferroptosis. This discovery opens new avenues for the development of ferroptosis-based therapeutic strategies tailored for HCC treatment.

Perioperative toripalimab and chemotherapy in locally advanced gastric or gastro-esophageal junction cancer: a randomized phase 2 trial.

Perioperative chemotherapy is the standard treatment for locally advanced gastric or gastro-esophageal junction cancer, and the addition of programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) inhibitor is under investigation. In this randomized, open-label, phase 2 study (NEOSUMMIT-01), patients with resectable gastric or gastro-esophageal junction cancer clinically staged as cT3-4aN + M0 were randomized (1:1) to receive either three preoperative and five postoperative 3-week cycles of SOX/XELOX (chemotherapy group, n = 54) or PD-1 inhibitor toripalimab plus SOX/XELOX, followed by toripalimab monotherapy for up to 6 months (toripalimab plus chemotherapy group, n = 54). The primary endpoint was pathological complete response or near-complete response rate (tumor regression grade (TRG) 0/1). The results showed that patients in the toripalimab plus chemotherapy group achieved a higher proportion of TRG 0/1 than those in the chemotherapy group (44.4% (24 of 54, 95% confidence interval (CI): 30.9%-58.6%) versus 20.4% (11 of 54, 95% CI: 10.6%-33.5%)), and the risk difference of TRG 0/1 between toripalimab plus chemotherapy group and chemotherapy group was 22.7% (95% CI: 5.8%-39.6%; P = 0.009), meeting a prespecified endpoint. In addition, a higher pathological complete response rate (ypT0N0) was observed in the toripalimab plus chemotherapy group (22.2% (12 of 54, 95% CI: 12.0%-35.6%) versus 7.4% (4 of 54, 95% CI: 2.1%-17.9%); P = 0.030), and surgical morbidity (11.8% in the toripalimab plus chemotherapy group versus 13.5% in the chemotherapy group) and mortality (1.9% versus 0%), and treatment-related grade 3-4 adverse events (35.2% versus 29.6%) were comparable between the treatment groups. In conclusion, the addition of toripalimab to chemotherapy significantly increased the proportion of patients achieving TRG 0/1 compared to chemotherapy alone and showed a manageable safety profile. ClinicalTrials.gov registration: NCT04250948 .

The Chinese Society of Clinical Oncology (CSCO): Clinical guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of gastric cancer, 2023.

The 2023 update of the Chinese Society of Clinical Oncology (CSCO) Clinical Guidelines for Gastric Cancer focuses on standardizing cancer diagnosis and treatment in China, reflecting the latest advancements in evidence-based medicine, healthcare resource availability, and precision medicine. These updates address the differences in epidemiological characteristics, clinicopathological features, tumor biology, treatment patterns, and drug selections between Eastern and Western gastric cancer patients. Key revisions include a structured template for imaging diagnosis reports, updated standards for molecular marker testing in pathological diagnosis, and an elevated recommendation for neoadjuvant chemotherapy in stage III gastric cancer. For advanced metastatic gastric cancer, the guidelines introduce new recommendations for immunotherapy, anti-angiogenic therapy and targeted drugs, along with updated management strategies for human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive and deficient DNA mismatch repair (dMMR)/microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) patients. Additionally, the guidelines offer detailed screening recommendations for hereditary gastric cancer and an appendix listing drug treatment regimens for various stages of gastric cancer. The 2023 CSCO Clinical Guidelines for Gastric Cancer updates are based on both Chinese and international clinical research and expert consensus to enhance their applicability and relevance in clinical practice, particularly in the heterogeneous healthcare landscape of China, while maintaining a commitment to scientific rigor, impartiality, and timely revisions.

STAG2 Regulates Homologous Recombination Repair and Sensitivity to ATM Inhibition.

Stromal antigen 2 (STAG2), a subunit of the cohesin complex, is recurrently mutated in various tumors. However, the role of STAG2 in DNA repair and its therapeutic implications are largely unknown. Here it is reported that knockout of STAG2 results in increased double-stranded breaks (DSBs) and chromosomal aberrations by reducing homologous recombination (HR) repair, and confers hypersensitivity to inhibitors of ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATMi), Poly ADP Ribose Polymerase (PARPi), or the combination of both. Of note, the impaired HR by STAG2-deficiency is mainly attributed to the restored expression of KMT5A, which in turn methylates H4K20 (H4K20me0) to H4K20me1 and thereby decreases the recruitment of BRCA1-BARD1 to chromatin. Importantly, STAG2 expression correlates with poor prognosis of cancer patients. STAG2 is identified as an important regulator of HR and a potential therapeutic strategy for STAG2-mutant tumors is elucidated.

Risk factors for delirium among hospitalized adults with COVID-19: A systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies.

OBJECTIVES: This study aims to systematically assess the risk factors, the overall strength of association, and evidence quality related to delirium among adults hospitalized with COVID-19. METHODS: A comprehensive search was conducted in thirteen databases from inception to February 10, 2023. The included databases were thoroughly searched, including PubMed, Web of Science, Proquest, Ovid MEDLINE, CINAHL, Scopus, the Cochrane Library, FMRS, Wanfang Database, Chinese Biomedical Database (CBM), China Knowledge Resource Integrated Database (CNKI), Weipu Database (VIP), and Embase. The search was limited to articles published in English and Chinese. The selected studies were screened, data were extracted, and the quality was evaluated using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.4 software. The certainty of the evidence was assessed using the GRADE criteria. RESULTS: A total of 22 cohort studies with a sample size of 11,957 individuals were included in the analysis. Among these studies, 20 were of high quality, while the remaining 2 were of moderate quality. The risk factors that showed the strongest association with delirium were prior cognitive impairment (including dementia), mechanical ventilation, and ICU admission. Age, frailty (Clinical Frailty Scale score > 5), antipsychotic use, benzodiazepine use, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, and vasopressor use were identified as moderate risk factors for delirium. According to the GRADE evaluation, ICU admission, benzodiazepine use, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, and vasopressor use had a high-quality body of evidence, while antipsychotic usage had an intermediate-quality body of evidence. All other risk factors had a low-quality body of evidence. CONCLUSIONS: This systematic review and meta-analysis identified several medium- to high-intensity risk factors for delirium in hospitalized adults with COVID-19. ICU admission, benzodiazepine usage, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, antipsychotic use, and vasopressor use were associated with delirium and were supported by medium- to high-quality evidence. These findings provide healthcare professionals with an evidence-based basis for managing and treating delirium in hospitalized adults with COVID-19.

Modeling and Insights into the Structural Characteristics of Chemical Mitochondrial Toxicity.

Mitochondria are the energy metabolism center of cells and are involved in a number of other processes, such as cell differentiation and apoptosis, signal transduction, and regulation of cell cycle and cell proliferation. It is of great significance to evaluate the mitochondrial toxicity of drugs and other chemicals. In the present study, we aimed to propose easily available artificial intelligence (AI) models for the prediction of chemical mitochondrial toxicity and investigate the structural characteristics with the analysis of molecular properties and structural alerts. The consensus model achieved good predictive results with high total accuracy at 87.21% for validation sets. The models can be accessed freely via https://ochem.eu/article/158582. Besides, several commonly used chemical properties were significantly different between chemicals with and without mitochondrial toxicity. We also detected the structural alerts (SAs) responsible for mitochondrial toxicity and integrated them into the web-server SApredictor (www.sapredictor.cn). The study may provide useful tools for in silico estimation of mitochondrial toxicity and be helpful to understand the mechanisms of mitochondrial toxicity.

ADCY6 is a potential prognostic biomarker and suppresses OTSCC progression via Hippo signaling pathway.

Oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma (OTSCC) is a malignant tumor. Recently, studies have found that adenylate cyclase 6 (ADCY6) plays a pivotal role in many lethal tumors formation processes. The role of ADCY6 in OTSCC remains unknown. The expression of ADCY6 in OTSCC tissue samples was detected. The clinical significance of ADCY6 in OTSCC was analyzed by statistical methods. OTSCC cell lines were selected to analyze the biological function of ADCY6. Meanwhile, the effect of ADCY6 on the growth of OTSCC in vivo was explored using subcutaneous tumorigenesis assay. WB assay was used to detect the underlying signaling pathway. Cell function recovery test used to investigate the mechanism of ADCY6-promoting OTSCC malignant biological behavior via Hippo signaling pathway. We report that ADCY6 was obviously downregulated in OTSCC tissue samples and cell lines. Importantly, lower expression of ADCY6 indicates a poorer prognosis in patients with OTSCC, and its expression is significantly correlated with TNM stage and tumor size. Functionally, forced expression of ADCY6 can significantly inhibit the proliferation, migration, invasion, and promote apoptosis of OTSCC cells. Mechanistically, we demonstrated that ADCY6 upregulation impaired Hippo signaling pathway to reduce the malignant biological behavior of OTSCC. Generally, our findings suggest that ADCY6 suppressed Hippo signaling pathway to regulate malignant biological behavior in OTSCC, which provide new cues for further exploring the mechanism of occurrence and development of OTSCC.

Improving food security and farmland carbon sequestration in China through enhanced rock weathering: Field evidence and potential assessment in different humid regions.

Enhanced rock weathering (ERW) in farmland is an emerging carbon dioxide removal technology with crushed silicate rocks for soil improvement. However, due to climatic variability and field data limitations, uncertainties remain regarding the influence of ERW on food security and soil carbon pools in temperate regions. This study focused to evaluate the crop productivity and carbon sequestration potential of farmland ERW in China by conducting field monitoring in different humid regions and ERW performance model. Additionally, the contribution of climate, soil, and management factors to ERW-mediated yield and carbon sequestration changes was explored using random forest and correlation networks. Field monitoring indicated that farmland ERW significantly improved crop yield in humid region (13.5 ± 5.2 %), along with notable improvements in soil pH and available nutrients. Precipitation (10.4-16.7 %) and soil pH (9.7-16.8 %) had the highest contribution on ERW mediated yield and carbon sequestration changes, but the contribution of management factors (24-26.2 %), especially N input (2.7-7.0 %), should not be disregarded. The model evaluation demonstrated that the carbon sequestration rate of farmland ERW in China can reach 0.28-0.40 Gt yr-1, thereby presenting an opportunity to expand and accelerate the nationally determined contributions of China. The mean sequestration cost of farmland ERW was 633 ± 161 CNY ¥ t-CO2-1, which was an attractive sequestration price considering the positive benefits of rock powder on soil pH and nutrients. Deploying ERW in acidified and mineral nutrient deficient regions was able to serve as an alternative to lime and part chemical fertilizers to improve yield and maximize agricultural sustainability and resource co-benefits. Farmland ERW also has the potential to resource silicate waste to assist traditional, difficult-to-decarbonize industries to reduce carbon emissions. As a result, a comprehensive assessment of existing artificial silicate waste materials could further expand the application of farmland ERW.

Multimodal recurrence scoring system for prediction of clear cell renal cell carcinoma outcome: a discovery and validation study.

BACKGROUND: Improved markers for predicting recurrence are needed to stratify patients with localised (stage I-III) renal cell carcinoma after surgery for selection of adjuvant therapy. We developed a novel assay integrating three modalities-clinical, genomic, and histopathological-to improve the predictive accuracy for localised renal cell carcinoma recurrence. METHODS: In this retrospective analysis and validation study, we developed a histopathological whole-slide image (WSI)-based score using deep learning allied to digital scanning of conventional haematoxylin and eosin-stained tumour tissue sections, to predict tumour recurrence in a development dataset of 651 patients with distinctly good or poor disease outcome. The six single nucleotide polymorphism-based score, which was detected in paraffin-embedded tumour tissue samples, and the Leibovich score, which was established using clinicopathological risk factors, were combined with the WSI-based score to construct a multimodal recurrence score in the training dataset of 1125 patients. The multimodal recurrence score was validated in 1625 patients from the independent validation dataset and 418 patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas set. The primary outcome measured was the recurrence-free interval (RFI). FINDINGS: The multimodal recurrence score had significantly higher predictive accuracy than the three single-modal scores and clinicopathological risk factors, and it precisely predicted the RFI of patients in the training and two validation datasets (areas under the curve at 5 years: 0·825-0·876 vs 0·608-0·793; p<0·05). The RFI of patients with low stage or grade is usually better than that of patients with high stage or grade; however, the RFI in the multimodal recurrence score-defined high-risk stage I and II group was shorter than in the low-risk stage III group (hazard ratio [HR] 4·57, 95% CI 2·49-8·40; p<0·0001), and the RFI of the high-risk grade 1 and 2 group was shorter than in the low-risk grade 3 and 4 group (HR 4·58, 3·19-6·59; p<0·0001). INTERPRETATION: Our multimodal recurrence score is a practical and reliable predictor that can add value to the current staging system for predicting localised renal cell carcinoma recurrence after surgery, and this combined approach more precisely informs treatment decisions about adjuvant therapy. FUNDING: National Natural Science Foundation of China, and National Key Research and Development Program of China.

Modeling and insights into the structural characteristics of endocrine-disrupting chemicals.

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) can cause serious harm to human health and the environment; therefore, it is important to rapidly and correctly identify EDCs. Different computational models have been proposed for the prediction of EDCs over the past few decades, but the reported models are not always easily available, and few studies have investigated the structural characteristics of EDCs. In the present study, we have developed a series of artificial intelligence models targeting EDC receptors: the androgen receptor (AR); estrogen receptor (ER); and pregnane X receptor (PXR). The consensus models achieved good predictive results for validation sets with balanced accuracy values of 87.37%, 90.13%, and 79.21% for AR, ER, and PXR binding assays, respectively. Analysis of the physical-chemical properties suggested that several chemical properties were significantly (p < 0.05) different between EDCs and non-EDCs. We also identified structural alerts that can indicate an EDC, which were integrated into the web server SApredictor. These models and structural characteristics can provide useful tools and information in the discrimination and mechanistic understanding of EDCs in drug discovery and environmental risk assessment.

How we learn social norms: a three-stage model for social norm learning.

As social animals, humans are unique to make the world function well by developing, maintaining, and enforcing social norms. As a prerequisite among these norm-related processes, learning social norms can act as a basis that helps us quickly coordinate with others, which is beneficial to social inclusion when people enter into a new environment or experience certain sociocultural changes. Given the positive effects of learning social norms on social order and sociocultural adaptability in daily life, there is an urgent need to understand the underlying mechanisms of social norm learning. In this article, we review a set of works regarding social norms and highlight the specificity of social norm learning. We then propose an integrated model of social norm learning containing three stages, i.e., pre-learning, reinforcement learning, and internalization, map a potential brain network in processing social norm learning, and further discuss the potential influencing factors that modulate social norm learning. Finally, we outline a couple of future directions along this line, including theoretical (i.e., societal and individual differences in social norm learning), methodological (i.e., longitudinal research, experimental methods, neuroimaging studies), and practical issues.

Chronic social comparison elicits depression- and anxiety-like behaviors and alterations in brain-derived neurotrophic factor expression in male rats.

Social comparison is a fundamental human characteristic; however, long-term social comparison may induce psychological stress and can lead to depression and anxiety. Recent studies have shown that nonhuman primates compare themselves with others; however, no studies have investigated whether social comparisons exist among rodents. In the present study, we established a rat model of social comparison. This model was subsequently used to examine the effects of the differential environment of a partner on depression- and anxiety-like behaviors in male rats, as well as to assess the changes in serum, medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), and dorsal hippocampus brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels induced by long-term social comparison. Compared to rats whose partners were exposed to the same environment, rats whose partners were exposed to two combined enriched environmental stimuli for 14 days showed significantly decreased social novelty preference and sucrose consumption. No anxiety-like behaviors were observed. Rats whose partners were exposed to one enriched environment for 31 days showed significantly increased immobility time in the forced swimming test, and significantly decreased time spent in the center area in the open-field test. Further, rats whose partners were exposed to one enriched environment for 31 days showed lower BDNF levels in the mPFC and dorsal hippocampus, but not following partner exposure for 14 days. These results suggest that social comparisons exist in rats and can induce psychosocial stress and other negative affect. This model will not only provide the possibility to reveal the neurobiological basis of the emotional impact of social comparison, but could also be used to confirm the conservative evolutionary characteristics of social comparison as a behavioral attribute.