Deep Learning Model for Predicting Proliferative Hepatocellular Carcinoma Using Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced MRI: Implications for Early Recurrence Prediction Following Radical Resection.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: The proliferative nature of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is closely related to early recurrence following radical resection. This study develops and validates a deep learning (DL) prediction model to distinguish between proliferative and non-proliferative HCCs using dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI), aiming to refine preoperative assessments and optimize treatment strategies by assessing early recurrence risk. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this retrospective study, 355 HCC patients from two Chinese medical centers (April 2018-February 2023) who underwent radical resection were included. Patient data were collected from medical records, imaging databases, and pathology reports. The cohort was divided into a training set (n = 251), an internal test set (n = 62), and external test sets (n = 42). A DL model was developed using DCE-MRI images of primary tumors. Clinical and radiological models were generated from their respective features, and fusion strategies were employed for combined model development. The discriminative abilities of the clinical, radiological, DL, and combined models were extensively analyzed. The performances of these models were evaluated against pathological diagnoses, with independent and fusion DL-based models validated for clinical utility in predicting early recurrence. RESULTS: The DL model, using DCE-MRI, outperformed clinical and radiological feature-based models in predicting proliferative HCC. The area under the curve (AUC) for the DL model was 0.98, 0.89, and 0.83 in the training, internal validation, and external validation sets, respectively. The AUCs for the combined DL and clinical feature models were 0.99, 0.86, and 0.83 in these sets, while the AUCs for the combined DL, clinical, and radiological model were 0.99, 0.87, and 0.8, respectively. Among models predicting early recurrence, the DL plus clinical features model showed superior performance. CONCLUSION: The DL-based DCE-MRI model demonstrated robust performance in predicting proliferative HCC and stratifying patient risk for early postoperative recurrence. As a non-invasive tool, it shows promise in enhancing decision-making for individualized HCC management strategies.

Success of susceptibility-guided eradication of Helicobacter pylori in a region with high secondary clarithromycin and levofloxacin resistance rates.

BACKGROUND: Resistance to clarithromycin (CLA) and levofloxacin (LFX) of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is increasing in severity, and successful eradication is essential. Presently, the eradication success rate has greatly declined, leaving a large number of patients with previous treatment histories. AIM: To investigate secondary resistance rates, explore risk factors for antibiotic resistance, and assess the efficacy of susceptibility-guided therapy. METHODS: We recruited 154 subjects positive for Urea Breath Test who attended The First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University between July 2022 and April 2023. Participants underwent a string test after an overnight fast. The gastric juice was obtained and transferred to vials containing storage solution. Subsequently, DNA extraction and the specific DNA amplification were performed using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Demographic information was also analyzed as part of the study. Based on these results, the participants were administered susceptibility-guided treatment. Efficacy was compared with that of the empiric treatment group. RESULTS: A total of 132 individuals tested positive for the H. pylori ureA gene by qPCR technique. CLA resistance rate reached a high level of 82.6% (n = 109), LFX resistance rate was 69.7% (n = 92) and dual resistance was 62.1% (n = 82). Gastric symptoms [odds ratio (OR) = 2.782; 95% confidence interval (95%CI): 1.076-7.194; P = 0.035] and rural residence (OR = 5.152; 95%CI: 1.407-18.861; P = 0.013) were independent risk factors for secondary resistance to CLA and LFX, respectively. A total of 102 and 100 individuals received susceptibility-guided therapies and empiric treatment, respectively. The antibiotic susceptibility-guided treatment and empiric treatment groups achieved successful eradication rates of 75.5% (77/102) and 59.0% (59/411) by the intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis and 90.6% (77/85) and 70.2% (59/84) by the per-protocol (PP) analysis, respectively. The eradication rates of these two treatment strategies were significantly different in both ITT (P = 0.001) and PP (P = 0.012) analyses. CONCLUSION: H. pylori presented high secondary resistance rates to CLA and LFX. For patients with previous treatment failures, treatments should be guided by antibiotic susceptibility tests or regional antibiotic resistance profile.

Casein hydrolysate's effects on the fermentation properties, texture, and chemical characteristics and the bacterial microbiota of fermented glutinous rice dough.

To investigate how casein hydrolysate affected the physicochemical properties and microbiological diversity of the glutinous rice dough (natural fermentation and yeast fermentation), we analyzed its fermentation properties, carbohydrate, protein degradation, texture, and bacterial composition. According to the findings, casein hydrolysate increased the total LAB number, as well as organic acid content, in naturally fermented and yeast fermented glutinous rice dough by 3.59 and 8.19%, respectively, and reduced the fermentation time by at least 2 h. Meanwhile, casein hydrolysate enhanced the content of reducing sugars by 4.46 and 13.53% and increased protease activity by 29.9 and 27.7%. In addition, casein hydrolysate accelerated protein breakdown and regulated the hardness of the dough to improve the texture. Casein hydrolysate enriched the bacterial richness and diversity of dough. After adding casein hydrolysate, it promoted the growth of Pediococcus, Enterococcus, Lactobacillus, and Streptococcus. According to the Spearman correlation analysis, environmental factors (pH, lactic acid, acetic acid, reducing sugar content, and protease activity) exhibited the major driver for the abundance of bacterial species (Spearman correlation coefficient: -0.71 to 0.78). As a potential food additive, casein hydrolysate can improve the fermentation and quality of glutinous rice dough, increase consumer acceptance of cereal foods, and give consumers healthier options.

Evaluate Pavement Skid Resistance Performance Based on Bayesian-LightGBM Using 3D Surface Macrotexture Data.

The lack of skid resistance performance is a crucial factor leading to road traffic accidents. The pavement surface friction is an essential indicator for measuring the skid resistance. The surface texture structure significantly affects the friction between the tire and the pavement, determining the pavement skid resistance. To deeply study the relationship between surface texture structure and pavement skid resistance performance, two types of asphalt mixture specimens, asphalt concrete (AC) and open-graded friction course (OGFC), are prepared for the skid resistance performance test. Firstly, a high-precision 3D smart sensor Gocator 3110 is used to collect the 3D point cloud data of the asphalt mixture surface texture. The British pendulum tester is used to measure the friction. Secondly, ten feature parameters are extracted to describe the 3D macrotexture characteristics. A data set containing 10 features and 200 groups of texture and friction data was also constructed. Meanwhile, the influence of macro-texture features on the skid resistance performance is discussed. Finally, an optimized Bayesian-LightGBM model is trained based on the constructed dataset. Compared with LightGBM, XGBoost, RF, and SVR algorithms, the Bayesian-LightGBM model can evaluate skid resistance more accurately. The R2 value of the proposed model is 92.83%. The research results prove that ten macrotexture features contribute to the evaluation of skid resistance to varying degrees. Furthermore, compared with AC mixture specimen, the texture surface of OGFC mixture specimen has more obvious height characteristics and higher roughness. The skid resistance of OGFC mixture specimens is better than that of AC.

High-Performance TPE-S Modified by a Flame-Retardant System Based on Black Phosphorus Nanosheets.

Few-layer black phosphorus nanosheets (BPs) combined with melamine cyanurate and poly(phenylene oxide) were used to prepare a flame-retardant thermoplastic elastomer based on polystyrene (TPE-S) for the first time. Compared with neat TPE-S, BP-modified TPE-S with a phosphorus content of 7.98% (TPE-S/BP-7.98) passed the UL-94 vertical burning V-0 rating, and the limiting oxygen index value increased to 24.0%. The peak heat release rate (PHRR), total heat release, and the average combustion effective heat of TPE-S/BP-7.98 were decreased by 61.8, 26.0, and 35.3%, respectively. The time to PHRR was increased from 90 s (neat TPE-S) to 170 s. Scanning electron microscopy of frozen fracture sections showed favorable compatibility and dispersibility of BPs in TPE-S. In addition, the introduction of BPs showed the most negligible effect on the mechanical properties of TPE-S compared with other flame retardants (aluminum hypophosphite and red phosphorus).

Accumulation of Sulfonic Acid Groups Anchored in Covalent Organic Frameworks as an Intrinsic Proton-Conducting Electrolyte.

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are a novel class of crystalline porous polymers, which possess high porosity, excellent stability, and regular nanochannels. 2D COFs provide a 1D nanochannel to form the proton transport channels. The abovementioned features afford a powerful potential platform for designing materials as proton transportation carriers. Herein, the authors incorporate sulfonic acid groups on the pore walls as proton sources for enhancing proton transport conductivity in the 1D channel. Interestingly, the sulfonic acid COFs (S-COFs) electrolytes being binder free exhibit excellent proton conductivity of ≈1.5 × 10-2 S cm-1 at 25 ℃ and 95% relative humidity (RH), which rank the excellent performance in standard proton-conducting electrolytes. The S-COFs electrolytes keep the high proton conduction over the 24 h. The activation energy is estimated to be as low as 0.17 eV, which is much lower than most reported COFs. This research opens a new window to evolve great potential of structural design for COFs as the high proton-conducting electrolytes.

Tunable metamaterial-based silicon waveguide.

A tunable metamaterial (MM)-based silicon (Si) waveguide is presented that is composed of an MM nanodisk array on a Si-on insulator substrate. A significant modulation efficiency of transmission intensity could be realized by elevating individually or simultaneously the column number of MM nanodisks. For a convenient description, an MM-based Si waveguide with one, two, three, four, and five columns of MM nanodisks are denoted as MM-1, MM-2, MM-3, MM-4, and MM-5, respectively. Transmission intensity of MM-based Si waveguides could be switched between on and off states by driving different columns of MM nanodisks on the Si waveguide surface. Transmission intensities could be attenuated from 100% to 56%, 24%, 6%, 1%, and 0% for MM-1, MM-2, MM-3, MM-4, and MM-5, respectively, at the wavelength of 1.525 µm. Furthermore, the MM-5 device is exposed to an ambient environment with different refraction indices. It exhibits a linear relationship of resonance dips and refraction indexes. The proposed design of the MM-based Si waveguide provides potential possibilities in an optical switch, variable optical attenuator, and sensor applications.

Novel peptides screened by phage display peptide library can mimic epitopes of the FnBPA-A protein and induce protective immunity against Staphylococcus aureus in mice.

Fibronectin-binding protein A (FnBPA) is a key adhesin of Staphylococcus aureus, and the protein binding to fibrinogen and elastin is mediated by its N-terminal A domain. Thus, FnBPA-A has been considered a potential vaccine candidate, but the relevant epitopes are not fully understood. Here, purified rabbit anti-FnBPA-A antibodies were produced and used to screen for peptides corresponding to or mimicking the epitope of native FnBPA-A protein by using a phage random 12-mer peptide library. After four rounds of panning, 25 randomly selected phage clones were detected by phage-ELISA and competition-inhibition ELISA. Then, eight anti-rFnBPA-A antibody-binding phage clones were selected for sequencing, and six different 12-mer peptides were displayed by these phages. Although these displayed peptides shared no more than three consecutive amino acid residues identical to the sequence of FnBPA-A, they could be recognized by the FnBPA-A-specific antibodies in vitro and could induce specific antibodies against FnBPA-A in vivo, suggesting that these displayed peptides were mimotopes of FnBPA-A. Finally, the protective efficiencies of these mimotopes were investigated by mouse vaccination and challenge experiments. Compared with that of control group mice, the relative percent survival of mice immunized with phage clones displaying a mimotope was 13.33% (C2 or C15), 0% (C8), 6.67% (C10), 26.67% (C19 or 1:2 mixture of C23 and C19), 53.33% (C23), 33.33% (1:1 mixture of C23 and C19), and 66.67% (2:1 mixture of C23 and C19). Overall, five peptides mimicking FnBPA-A protein epitopes were obtained, and a partially protective immunity against S. aureus infection could be stimulated by these mimotope peptides in mice.

B(C6F5)3-Catalyzed C3-Selective C-H Borylation of Indoles: Synthesis, Intermediates, and Reaction Mechanism.

Without the addition of any additives and production of any small molecules, C3-borylated indoles and transfer hydrogenated indolines have been simultaneously achieved by a B(C6F5)3-catalyzed disproportionation reaction of a broad range of indoles with catecholborane. This catalyst system exhibits excellent catalytic performance for practical applications, such as easy scale-up under solvent-free conditions and long catalytic lifetime over ten sequential additions of starting materials. A combined mechanistic study, including isolation and characterization of key reaction intermediates, analysis of the disproportionation nature of the reaction, in situ NMR of the reaction, and analysis of detailed experimental data, has led to a possible reaction mechanism which illustrates pathways for the formation of both major products and byproducts. Understanding the reaction mechanism enables us to successfully suppress side reactions by choosing appropriate substrates and adjusting the amount of catecholborane needed. More importantly, with an elevated reaction temperature, we could achieve the convergent disproportionation reaction of indoles, in which indolines were continuously oxidized to indoles for the next disproportionation catalytic cycle. Near quantitative conversions and up to 98% yields of various C3-selective borylated indoles were achieved, without any additives or H2 acceptors.

B(C6F5)3-Catalyzed (Convergent) Disproportionation Reaction of Indoles.

A metal-free B(C6F5)3-catalyzed approach is developed for the disproportionation reaction of a series of indoles with various hydrosilanes, without any additives such as base and production of any small molecule such as dihydrogen. This boron catalyst system also exhibits excellent catalytic performance for practical application, such as catalyst loading as low as 0.01 mol % under solvent-free conditions, and a long-life catalytic performance highlighted by a constant catalytic activity being maintained and excellent yields being achieved for the desired products over 10 sequential additions of starting materials. On the basis of characterization of key intermediates through a series of in situ NMR reactions and detailed experimental data, we proposed a reaction mechanism which illustrated pathways for the formation of different products, including both major products and byproducts. Additional control experiments were conducted to support our proposed mechanism. Understanding the mechanism enables us to successfully suppress side reactions by choosing appropriate substrates and hydrosilanes. More importantly, the use of an elevated reaction temperature for continuous oxidation of the resulting indoline to indole makes the convergent disproportionation reaction an ideal atom-economical process. Near-quantitative conversions and up to 99% yields of C3-silylated indoles were achieved for various indoles with trisubstituted silanes, Ph3SiH (2b) or Ph2MeSiH (2d).