Vibration-Dependent Dual-Phosphorescent Cu4 Nanocluster with Remarkable Piezochromic Behavior.

The dual emission (DE) characteristics of atomically precise copper nanoclusters (Cu NCs) are of significant theoretical and practical interest. Despite this, the underlying mechanism driving DE in Cu NCs remains elusive, primarily due to the complexities of excited state processes. Herein, a novel [Cu4(PPh3)4(C≡C-p-NH2C6H4)3]PF6 (Cu4) NC, shielded by alkynyl and exhibiting DE, was synthesized. Hydrostatic pressure was applied to Cu4, for the first time, to investigate the mechanism of DE. With increasing pressure, the higher-energy emission peak of Cu4 gradually disappeared, leaving the lower-energy emission peak as the dominant emission. Additionally, the Cu4 crystal exhibited notable piezochromism transitioning from cyan to orange. Angle-dispersive synchrotron X-ray diffraction results revealed that the reduced inter-cluster distances under pressure brought the peripheral ligands closer, leading to the formation of new C-H···N and N-H···N hydrogen bonds in Cu4. It is proposed that these strengthened hydrogen bond interactions limit the ligands´ vibration, resulting in the vanishing of the higher-energy peak. In situ high-pressure Raman and vibrationally resolved emission spectra demonstrated that the benzene ring C=C stretching vibration is the structural source of the DE in Cu4.

Telomerase-related advances in hepatocellular carcinoma: A bibliometric and visual analysis.

BACKGROUND: As a critical early event in hepatocellular carcinogenesis, telomerase activation might be a promising and critical biomarker for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients, and its function in the genesis and treatment of HCC has gained much attention over the past two decades. AIM: To perform a bibliometric analysis to systematically assess the current state of research on HCC-related telomerase. METHODS: The Web of Science Core Collection and PubMed were systematically searched to retrieve publications pertaining to HCC/telomerase limited to "articles" and "reviews" published in English. A total of 873 relevant publications related to HCC and telomerase were identified. We employed the Bibliometrix package in R to extract and analyze the fundamental information of the publications, such as the trends in the publications, citation counts, most prolific or influential writers, and most popular journals; to screen for keywords occurring at high frequency; and to draw collaboration and cluster analysis charts on the basis of coauthorship and co-occurrences. VOSviewer was utilized to compile and visualize the bibliometric data. RESULTS: A surge of 51 publications on HCC/telomerase research occurred in 2016, the most productive year from 1996 to 2023, accompanied by the peak citation count recorded in 2016. Up to December 2023, 35226 citations were made to all publications, an average of 46.6 citations to each paper. The United States received the most citations (n = 13531), followed by China (n = 7427) and Japan (n = 5754). In terms of national cooperation, China presented the highest centrality, its strongest bonds being to the United States and Japan. Among the 20 academic institutions with the most publications, ten came from China and the rest of Asia, though the University of Paris Cité, Public Assistance-Hospitals of Paris, and the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) were the most prolific. As for individual contributions, Hisatomi H, Kaneko S, and Ide T were the three most prolific authors. Kaneko S ranked first by H-index, G-index, and overall publication count, while Zucman-Rossi J ranked first in citation count. The five most popular journals were the World Journal of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, Journal of Hepatology, Oncotarget, and Oncogene, while Nature Genetics, Hepatology, and Nature Reviews Disease Primers had the most citations. We extracted 2293 keywords from the publications, 120 of which appeared more than ten times. The most frequent were HCC, telomerase and human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT). Keywords such as mutational landscape, TERT promoter mutations, landscape, risk, and prognosis were among the most common issues in this field in the last three years and may be topics for research in the coming years. CONCLUSION: Our bibliometric analysis provides a comprehensive overview of HCC/telomerase research and insights into promising upcoming research.

[Real-time traking and virtual reality technology-assisted trauma orthopaedic surgery robot for femoral neck fractures].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effectiveness of real-time tracking and virtual reality technology（RTVI） used to assist the intraoperative alignment of the trauma orthopaedic surgery robot for the treatment of femoral neck fractures and its impact on the treatment outcome. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was conducted on 60 patients with femoral neck fractures treated with trauma orthopedic robotic surgery from September 2020 to September 2022. Patients were divided into two groups according to whether RTVI technology was used during surgery to assist robotic surgery. There were 28 patients in the RTVI group （12 males and 16 females）, with an average age of （46.2±9.3） years old ranging from 28 to 60 years old. There were 32 patients in the simple Tianji surgical robot group, including 15 males and 17 females, aged （48.2±7.8） years old ranging from 32 to 58. The number of registered fluoroscopy, operation time, total number of intraoperative fluoroscopy, intraoperative blood loss, and hospitalization time of the two groups of patients were observed and recorded. All patients received regular follow-up after surgery, and hip X-rays were routinely reviewed to record Garden alignment index, fracture healing time, postoperative complications, and Harris score. RESULTS: All 60 patients were followed up. The RTVI group was followed up for 9 to 16 months with an average of （13.0±1.2） months, and the Tianji surgical robot group alone was followed up for 10 to 14 months with an average of （12.0±1.3） months. During the follow-up period, the femoral neck fractures of both groups of patients healed well, and no complications such as internal fixation loosening and incision infection occurred. The number of registered fluoroscopy, operation time, and number of intraoperative fluoroscopy of patients in the RTVI group were significantly better than those in the simple Tianji surgical robot group（P<0.01）. There was no statistically significant difference in intraoperative blood loss, hospital stay, Garden alignment index, fracture healing time, and hip Harris score between two groups（P>0.05）. CONCLUSION: Although RTVI technology assisted by the surgical robot for femoral neck fracture surgery has little impact on its postoperative outcome, it can effectively reduce the operating time, the number of intraoperative X-ray projections, and the risk of intraoperative radiation exposure to patients. It also shortened the learning curve of the operator and better reflected the precision and efficiency of the trauma orthopaedic surgery robot.

Viologen-based ionic conjugated mesoporous polymer as the electron conveyer for efficient polysulfide trapping and conversion.

The commercialization of lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries has been hindered by the shuttle effect and sluggish redox kinetics of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs). Herein, we reported a viologen-based ionic conjugated mesoporous polymer (TpV-Cl), which acts as the cathode host for modifying Li-S batteries. The viologen component serves as a reversible electron conveyer, leading to a comprehensive enhancement in the adsorption of polysulfides and improved conversion rate of polysulfides during the electrochemical process. As a result, the S@TpV-PS cathode exhibits outstanding cycling performance, achieving 300 cycles at 2.0 C (1 C = 1675 mA g-1) with low decay rate of 0.032% per cycle. Even at a high sulfur loading of 4.0 mg cm-2, S@TpV-PS shows excellent cycling stability with a Coulombic efficiency of up to 98%. These results highlight the significant potential of S@TpV-PS in developing high-performance Li-S batteries.

Could the presence and proportion of three/multiple pronuclei (3PN/MPN) zygotes indicate the cytoplasmic maturation state of oocyte cohort in conventional IVF patients?

Although abnormally fertilized zygotes with three or multiple pronuclei (3 PN/MPN) are commonly believed to be associated with improper maturation of the oocyte cytoplasm in conventional IVF cycles, no studies investigated the association between the proportion of MPN zygotes and the maturation state of the oocyte cohort. We compared the cytoplasmic maturity of oocytes from conventional IVF cycles with different proportions of 3 PN/MPN zygotes. A total of 1428 conventional IVF patients with ≥6 oocytes retrieved and fresh embryos transferred were divided into 4 groups according to the proportions of 3 PN/MPN zygotes. The pregnancy outcomes and the proportion of nuclear immature oocytes were analyzed to suggest the cytoplasmic maturation state of the oocyte cohort. Our results showed that the group with a low proportion of 3 PN/MPN zygotes had a higher clinical pregnancy rate (CPR) than those without 3 PN/MPN zygotes (P < 0.05). However, the live birth rate (LBR) was not significantly different between the two groups. The implantation rate (IR), CPR, and LBR did not differ between the low-proportion and high-proportion 3 PN/MPN groups. The proportion of nuclear immature oocytes on day 1 was highest in the group without 3 PN/MPN zygotes (23.8 %) and gradually decreased with an increased proportion of 3 PN/MPN zygotes (P < 0.001). Therefore, the presence of 3 PN/MPN zygotes after conventional IVF may indicate a more mature cytoplasmic state of the oocyte cohort, and the increased proportion of 3 PN/MPN zygotes is associated with an increased maturation state of the whole oocyte cohort. The occurrence and proportion of 3 PN/MPN zygotes may serve as an indicator for the cytoplasmic maturity of the oocyte cohort and help clinicians evaluate the efficiency of ovarian stimulation and optimize the stimulation protocols in subsequent cycles.

Chinese Additive Anti-inflammatory Action for Aortopathy & Arteriopathy (5A) Registry protocol: rationale, design and methodology.

BACKGROUND: Acute aortic syndrome (AAS) is a life-threatening condition. Inflammation plays a key role in the pathogenesis, development and progression of AAS, and is associated with significant mortality and morbidity. Understanding the inflammatory responses and inflammation resolutions is essential for an appropriate management of AAS. METHOD: Thirty Chinese cardiovascular centers have collaborated to create a multicenter observational registry (named Chinese Additive Anti-inflammatory Action for Aortopathy & Arteriopathy [5A] registry), with consecutive enrollment of adult patients who underwent surgery for AAS that was started on Jan 1, 2016 and will be ended on December 31, 2040. Specially, the impact of inflammation and anti-inflammatory strategies on the early and late adverse events are investigated. Primary outcomes are severe systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS), Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) scores at 7 days following this current surgery. Secondary outcomes are SISR, 30-day mortality, operative mortality, hospital mortality, new-onset stroke, acute kidney injury, surgical site infection, reoperation for bleeding, blood transfusion and length of stay in the intensive care unit. DISCUSSION: The analysis of this multicenter registry will allow our better knowledge of the prognostic importance of preoperative inflammation and different anti-inflammatory strategies in adverse events after surgery for AAS. This registry is expected to provide insights into novel different inflammatory resolutions in management of AAS beyond conventional surgical repair. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04398992 (Initial Release: 05/19/2020).

Biological upcycling of nickel and sulfate as electrocatalyst from electroplating wastewater.

Upcycling nickel (Ni) to useful catalyst is an appealing route to realize low-carbon treatment of electroplating wastewater and simultaneously recovering Ni resource, but has been restricted by the needs for costly membranes or consumption of large amount of chemicals in the existing upcycling processes. Herein, a biological upcycling route for synchronous recovery of Ni and sulfate as electrocatalysts, with certain amount of ferric salt (Fe3+) added to tune the product composition, is proposed. Efficient biosynthesis of bio-NiFeS nanoparticles from electroplating wastewater was achieved by harnessing the sulfate reduction and metal detoxification ability of Desulfovibrio vulgaris. The optimal bio-NiFeS, after further annealing at 300 °C, served as an efficient oxygen evolution electrocatalyst, achieving a current density of 10 mA·cm-1 at an overpotential of 247 mV and a Tafel slope of 60.2 mV·dec-1. It exhibited comparable electrocatalytic activity with the chemically-synthesized counterparts and outperformed the commercial RuO2. The feasibility of the biological upcycling approach for treating real Ni-containing electroplating wastewater was also demonstrated, achieving 99.5 % Ni2+removal and 41.0 % SO42- removal and enabling low-cost fabrication of electrocatalyst. Our work paves a new path for sustainable treatment of Ni-containing wastewater and may inspire technology innovations in recycling/ removal of various metal ions.

Thiacalix[4]arene Etching of an Anisotropic Cu70H22 Intermediate for Accessing Robust Modularly Assembled Copper Nanoclusters.

Atom-precise metal nanoclusters (NCs) with large bulk (nuclearity >60) are important species for insight into the embryonic phase of metal nanoparticles and their top-down etching synthesis. Herein, we report a metastable rod-shaped 70-nuclei copper-hydride NC, [Cl@Cu70H22(PhC≡C)29(CF3COO)16]2+ (Cu70), with Cl- as the template, in which the Cl@Cu59 kernel adopts a distinctive metal packing mode along the bipolar direction, and the protective ligand shell exhibits corresponding site differentiation. In terms of metal nuclearity, Cu70 is the largest alkynyl-stabilized Cu-hydride cluster to date. As a typical highly active intermediate, Cu70 could undergo a transformation into a series of robust modularly assembled Cu clusters (B-type Cu8, A-A-type Cu22, A-B-type Cu23, and A-B-A-type Cu38) upon etching by p-tert-butylthiacalix[4]arene (H4TC4A), which could not be achieved by "one-pot" synthetic methods. Notably, the patterns of A and B blocks in the Cu NCs could be effectively modulated by employing appropriate counterions and blockers, and the modular assembly mechanism was illustrated through comprehensive solution chemistry analysis using HR-ESI-MS. Furthermore, catalytic investigations reveal that Cu38 could serve as a highly efficient catalyst for the cycloaddition of propargylic amines with CO2 under mild conditions. This work not only enriched the family of high-nuclear copper-hydride NCs but also provided new insights into the growth mechanism of metal NCs.

Metal Clusters Confined in Chiral Zeolitic Imidazolate Framework for Circularly Polarized-Luminescence Inks.

Chiroptical activities arising in nanoclusters (NCs) are emerging as one of the most dynamic areas of modern science. However, devising an overarching strategy that is capable of concurrently enhancing the photoluminescence (PL) and circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) of metal NCs remains a formidable challenge. Herein, gold and silver nanoclusters (AuNCs, AgNCs) are endowed with CPL, for the first time, through a universal host-guest approach─centered around perturbing a chiral microenvironment within chiral hosts, simultaneously enhancing emissions. Remarkably, the photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) of AuNCs has undergone an increase of over 200 times upon confinement, escalating from 0.05% to 12%, and demonstrates a CPL response. Moreover, a three-dimensional (3D) model termed "NCs@CMOF" featuring CPL activity is created using metal cluster-based assembly inks through the process of 3D printing. This work introduces a potentially straightforward and versatile approach for achieving both PL enhancement and CPL activities in metal clusters.

Causal association between constipation and risk of colorectal cancer: a bidirectional two-sample Mendelian randomization study.

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a globally significant health concern, necessitating effective preventive strategies through identifying modifiable risk factors. Constipation, characterized by infrequent bowel movements or difficulty passing stools, has been proposed as a potential CRC risk factor. However, establishing causal links between constipation and CRC remains challenging due to observational study limitations. Methods: Mendelian randomization (MR) utilizes genetic variants as instrumental variables, capitalizing on genetically determined variation to assess causal relationships. In this dual-sample bidirectional MR study, we extracted genetic data from independent cohorts with CRC (Include colon cancer and rectal cancer) and constipation cases. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) identified constipation and CRC-associated genetic variants used as instruments to infer causality. The bidirectional MR analysis evaluated constipation's impact on CRC risk and the possibility of reverse causation. Results: Employing bidirectional MR, we explored the causal relationship between constipation and CRC using publicly available GWAS data. Analysis of constipation's effect on CRC identified 26 significant SNPs, all with strong instrumental validity. IVW-random effect analysis suggested a potential causal link [OR = 1.002(1.000, 1.004); P = 0.023], although alternative MR approaches were inconclusive. Investigating CRC's impact on constipation, 28 significant SNPs were identified, yet IVW analyses found no causal effect [OR = 0.137(0.007, 2.824); P = 0.198]. Other MR methods also yielded no significant causal association. We analyzed constipation separately from colon and rectal cancer using the same methodology in both directions, and no causal relationship was obtained. Conclusion: Our bidirectional MR study suggests a potential constipation-CRC link, with mixed MR approach outcomes. Limited evidence supports constipation causing CRC. Reliable instruments, minimal heterogeneity, and robust analyses bolster these findings, enriching understanding. Future research should explore additional factors to enhance comprehension and clinical implications.

Small-molecule exhibits anti-tumor activity by targeting the RNA m6A reader IGF2BP3 in ovarian cancer.

Based on its absence in normal tissues and its role in tumorigenesis and tumor progression, insulin-like growth factor 2 mRNA-binding protein 3 (IGF2BP3), a reader of N6-methyladenosine (M6A) on RNA, represents a putative valuable and specific target for some cancer therapy. In this study, we performed bioinformatic analysis and immunohistochemistry (IHC) to find that IGF2BP3 was highly expressed in tumor epithelial cells and fibroblasts of ovarian cancer (OC), and was associated with poor prognosis, metastasis, and chemosensitivity in OC patients. In particular, we discovered that knockdown IGF2BP3 expression inhibited the malignant phenotype of OC cell lines by decreasing the protein levels of c-MYC, VEGF, CDK2, CDK6, and STAT1. To explore the feasibility of IGF2BP3 as a therapeutic target for OC, a small molecular AE-848 was designed and screened by molecular operating environment (MOE), which not only could duplicate the above results of knockdown assay but also reduced the expression of c-MYC in M2 macrophages and tumor-associated macrophages and promoted the cytokine IFN-γ and TNF-α secretion. The pharmacodynamic models of two kinds of OC bearing animals were suggested that systemic therapy with AE-848 significantly inhibited tumor growth by reducing the expression of tumor-associated antigen (c-MYC/VEGF/Ki67/CDK2) and improving the anti-tumor effect of macrophages. These results suggest that AE-848 can inhibit the growth and progression of OC cells by disrupting the stability of the targeted mRNAs of IGF2BP3 and may be a targeted drug for OC treatment.

Global research trends on the links between intestinal microbiota and liver diseases: a bibliometric analysis.

The number of articles on the relationships between the intestinal microbiota and liver diseases has continued to increase. The aim of this study was to assess publications on this topic, identify research hotspots, and predict trends of future research. Articles on this topic published from 2001 to 2021 were obtained from the Web of Science Core Collection. Bibliometric analysis and visualization were performed to identify research hotspots and trends with the use of the online bibliometric analysis platform, VOSviewer, and CiteSpace. In total, 4415 articles were included for bibliometric analysis. The annual output of research on this topic gradually increased over the past 21 years. China contributed the most publications (1254), while the United States was the core (centrality = 0.35) of the country-cooperation network and Schnabl B published the most articles (n = 80). High-frequency keywords included "gut microbiota", "inflammation", "obesity", "insulin resistance", "disease", "fatty liver disease", "metabolism", and "probiotics". The keywords that have burst in recent years include "intestinal microbiota", "dysbiosis", and "gut-liver axis". The relationships between dysbiosis of the intestinal microbiota and liver diseases, such as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), are current research hotspots. Treatment for NAFLD, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, cirrhosis, and HCC via regulation of the intestinal microbiota is predicted as a research hotspot in the following years, especially immunotherapy for HCC. These findings should prove helpful to scholars to direct future research on the relationships between the intestinal microbiota and liver diseases.

Inflammatory profiles define phenotypes with clinical relevance in acute type A aortic dissection.

Association of distinct inflammatory profiles with short-term mortality is little known in type A aortic dissection (TAAD). Latent class analysis was used to identify distinct inflammatory profiles based on leukocyte, neutrophils, monocyte, lymphocytes, platelet, fibrinogen, D-dimer, neutrophils-lymphocyte ratio, platelet-lymphocyte ratio, and lymphocyte-monocyte ratio. We identified 193 patients with median age of 56 (IQR 47-63) years and 146 males. Patients were divided as hyper-inflammatory profiles (84 [43.5%]) and hypo-inflammatory profiles (109 [56.5%]). Although baseline characteristics were not different, hyper-inflammatory patients had higher 6-month mortality (20 [23.8%] vs. 11 [10.1%]; P = 0.014) and 30-day mortality (18 [21.4%] vs. 9 [8.3%], P = 0.009) than hypo-inflammatory patients. After adjustment for potential confounders, hyper-inflammatory profiles remain associated with higher risk of 6-month mortality than hypo-inflammatory profiles (adjusted OR 2.427 [95%CI 1.154, 5.105], P = 0.019). Assessment of preoperative inflammatory profiles adds clarity regarding the extent of inflammatory response to TAAD aetiopathologies, highlighting individual anti-inflammatory pharmacotherapy for TAAD. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04398992.

High spindle and kinetochore-associated complex subunit-3 expression predicts poor prognosis and correlates with adverse immune infiltration in hepatocellular carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Spindle and kinetochore-associated complex subunit 3 (SKA3) is a malignancy-associated gene that plays a critical role in the regulation of chromosome separation and cell division. However, the molecular mechanism through which SKA3 regulates tumor cell proliferation in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has not been fully elucidated. AIM: To investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying the role of SKA3 in HCC. METHODS: SKA3 expression, clinicopathological, and survival analyses were performed using multiple public database platforms, and the results were verified by Western blot and immunohistochemistry staining using collected clinical samples. Functional enrichment analyses were performed to evaluate the biological functions and molecular mechanisms of SKA3 in HCC. Furthermore, the Tumor Immune Estimation Resource and single-sample Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (ssGSEA) algorithms were utilized to investigate the abundance of tumor-infiltrating immune cells in HCC. The response to chemotherapeutic drugs was evaluated by the R package "pRRophetic". RESULTS: We found that upregulated SKA3 expression was significantly correlated with poor prognosis in patients with HCC. Multivariable Cox regression analysis indicated that SKA3 was an independent risk factor for survival. GSEA revealed that SKA3 expression may facilitate proliferation and migratory processes by regulating the cell cycle and DNA repair. Moreover, patients with high SKA3 expression had significantly decreased ratios of CD8+ T cells, natural killer cells, and dendritic cells. Drug sensitivity analysis showed that the high SKA3 group was more sensitive to sorafenib, sunitinib, paclitaxel, doxorubicin, gemcitabine, and vx-680. CONCLUSION: High SKA3 expression led to poor prognosis in patients with HCC by enhancing HCC proliferation and repressing immune cell infiltration surrounding HCC. SKA3 may be used as a biomarker for poor prognosis and as a therapeutic target in HCC.

Multiple Stimuli-Responsive Luminescent Chiral Hybrid Antimony Chlorides for Anti-Counterfeiting and Encryption Applications.

Stimuli-responsive circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) materials are ideal for information anti-countering applications, but the best-performing materials have not yet been identified. This work presents enantiomorphic hybrid antimony halides R-(C5 H12 NO)2 SbCl5 (1) and S-(C5 H12 NO)2 SbCl5 (2) showing mirror-imaged CPL activity with a dissymmetry factor of 1.2×10-3 . Interestingly, the DMF-induced structural transformation is realized to obtain non-emissive R-(C5 H12 NO)2 SbCl5 ⋅ DMF (3) and S-(C5 H12 NO)2 SbCl5 ⋅ DMF (4) upon exposure to DMF vapor. The transformation process is reversed upon heating. DFT calculations showed that the DMF-induced-quenched-luminescence is attributed to the intersection of the ground and excited state curves on the configuration coordinates. Unexpectedly, the nanocrystals of the chiral antimony halides 1 and 2 were prepared and indicate the excellent solution process performance. The reversible PL and CPL switching gives the system applications in information technology, anti-counterfeiting, encryption-decryption, and logic gates.

Authenticity and species identification of Fritillariae cirrhosae: a data fusion method combining electronic nose, electronic tongue, electronic eye and near infrared spectroscopy.

This paper focuses on determining the authenticity and identifying the species of Fritillariae cirrhosae using electronic nose, electronic tongue, and electronic eye sensors, near infrared and mid-level data fusion. 80 batches of Fritillariae cirrhosae and its counterfeits (including several batches of Fritillaria unibracteata Hsiao et K.C. Hsia, Fritillaria przewalskii Maxim, Fritillaria delavayi Franch and Fritillaria ussuriensis Maxim) were initially identified by Chinese medicine specialists and by criteria in the 2020 edition of Chinese Pharmacopoeia. After obtaining the information from several sensors we constructed single-source PLS-DA models for authenticity identification and single-source PCA-DA models for species identification. We selected variables of interest by VIP value and Wilk's lambda value, and we subsequently constructed the three-source fusion model of intelligent senses and the four-source fusion model of intelligent senses and near-infrared spectroscopy. We then explained and analyzed the four-source fusion models based on the sensitive substances detected by key sensors. The accuracies of single-source authenticity PLS-DA identification models based on electronic nose, electronic eye, electronic tongue sensors and near-infrared were respectively 96.25%, 91.25%, 97.50% and 97.50%. The accuracies of single-source PCA-DA species identification models were respectively 85%, 71.25%, 97.50% and 97.50%. After three-source data fusion, the accuracy of the authenticity identification of the PLS-DA identification model was 97.50% and the accuracy of the species identification of the PCA-DA model was 95%. After four-source data fusion, the accuracy of the authenticity of the PLS-DA identification model was 98.75% and the accuracy of the species identification of the PCA-DA model was 97.50%. In terms of authenticity identification, four-source data fusion can improve the performance of the model, while for the identification of the species the four-source data fusion failed to optimize the performance of the model. We conclude that electronic nose, electronic tongue, electronic eye data and near-infrared spectroscopy combined with data fusion and chemometrics methods can identify the authenticity and determine the species of Fritillariae cirrhosae. Our model explanation and analysis can help other researchers identify key quality factors for sample identification. This study aims to provide a reference method for the quality evaluation of Chinese herbs.

TANGO1 interacts with NRTN to promote hepatocellular carcinoma progression by regulating the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway.

Transport and Golgi organization 1 (TANGO1) also known as MIA3, belongs to the melanoma inhibitory activity gene (MIA) family together with MIA, MIA2 and OTOR; these members play different roles in different tumors, but the mechanism underlying TANGO1s effect on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is unclear. Our study confirmed that TANGO1 is a promoter of HCC, In HCC cells, TANGO1 can promote proliferation, inhibit apoptosis, promote EMT. These changes were reversed after TANGO1 inhibition. We explored the molecular mechanism of TANGO1 and HCC and found that the promoting effect of TANGO1 on HCC related to neurturin (NRTN) and the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway based on RNA-seq results. NRTN is not only related to neuronal growth, differentiation and maintenance but is also involved in a variety of tumorigenic processes, and PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway has been shown to be involved in HCC progression. We verified that TANGO1 interacts with NRTN in HCC cells using endogenous Co-IP and confocal localization, and both promote HCC progression by activating the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway. Our results reveal the mechanism by which TANGO1 promotes HCC progression, suggesting that the TANGO1/NRTN axis may be a potential therapeutic target for HCC worthy of further investigation.

Proximal vs Extensive Repair in Acute Type A Aortic Dissection Surgery.

BACKGROUND: This purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of proximal vs extensive repair on mortality and how this impact is influenced by patient characteristics. METHODS: Of 5510 patients with acute type A aortic dissection from 13 Chinese hospitals (2016-2021) categorized by proximal vs extensive repair, 4038 patients were used for for model derivation using eXtreme gradient boosting and 1472 patients for model validation. RESULTS: Operative mortality of extensive repair was higher than proximal repair (10.4% vs 2.9%; odd ratio [OR], 3.833; 95% CI, 2.810-5.229; P < .001) with a number needed to harm of 15 (95% CI, 13-19). Seven top features of importance were selected to develop an alphabet risk model (age, body mass index, platelet-to-leucocyte ratio, albumin, hemoglobin, serum creatinine, and preoperative malperfusion), with an area under the curve of 0.767 (95% CI, 0.733-0.800) and 0.727 (95% CI, 0.689-0.764) in the derivation and validation cohorts, respectively. The absolute rate differences in mortality between the 2 repair strategies increased progressively as predicted risk rose; however it did not become statistically significant until the predicted risk exceeded 4.5%. Extensive repair was associated with similar risk of mortality (OR, 2.540; 95% CI, 0.944-6.831) for patients with a risk probability < 4.5% but higher risk (OR, 2.164; 95% CI, 1.679-2.788) for patients with a risk probability > 4.5% compared with proximal repair. CONCLUSIONS: Extensive repair is associated with higher mortality than proximal repair; however it did not carry a significantly higher risk of mortality until the predicted probability exceeded a certain threshold. Choosing the right surgery should be based on individualized risk prediction and treatment effect. (ClinicalTrials.gov no. NCT04918108.).

[Preliminary Results of Single-cell Transcriptome Sequencing in Renal Arterial Lesions of Takayasu Arteritis].

Objective To explore the preliminary application of single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) in the renal arterial lesions in Takayasu arteritis (TA) patients. Methods This study included 2 TA patients with renal artery stenosis treated by bypass surgery in the Department of Vascular Surgery,Beijing Hospital.The obtained 2 renal artery samples were digested with two different protocols (GEXSCOPE kit and self-made digestion liquid) before scRNA-seq and bioinformatics analysis. Results A total of 2920 cells were obtained for further analysis.After unbiased cluster analysis,2 endothelial cell subsets,2 smooth muscle cell subsets,1 fibroblast subset,2 mononuclear macrophage subsets,1 T cell subset,and 1 undefined cell subset were identified.Among them,the two subsets of smooth muscle cells were contractile and secretory,respectively.The results of scRNA-seq indicated that enzymatic hydrolysis with GEXSCOPE kit produced a large number of endothelial cells (57.46%) and a small number of immune cells (13.21%).However,immune cells (34.64%) were dominant in the cells obtained by enzymatic hydrolysis with self-made digestive liquid. Conclusion scRNA-seq can be employed to explore the cellular heterogeneity of diseased vessels in TA patients.Different enzymatic digestion protocols may impact the proportion of different cells.

Luminescent MOFs constructed by using butterfly-like AIE ligands.

In this work, a series of butterfly-like isomers named oxacalix[2]naphthalene[2]pyrazine (ONP) were conveniently synthesized by a one-step catalyst-free reaction in a facile manner, and they exhibit typical characteristics of aggregation-induced emission (AIE). The mechanism study shows that restriction of intramolecular vibration (RIV) is the reason for their AIE properties. The pyrazine groups endow ONP molecules with good coordination ability, which makes them ideal ligands for constructing metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). Thus, three ONP-based luminescent MOFs were constructed, and they exhibit intense emission with lifetimes in the order of microseconds. More importantly, different ONP isomers have different binding capacities, and thus only one kind of MOF can be obtained even when using an isomer mixture of ONP ligands. This result suggested that the conformation of ONPs is an important determining factor for their application as bridging ligands. This work not only reports a series of new RIV-type AIEgens, but also offers a new platform for the construction of luminescent MOFs.