Factors influencing ultrasound cardiac output monitor waveform quality in patients admitted to the emergency intensive care unit.

Objective: The ultrasonic cardiac output monitor (USCOM), an instrument that monitors the evolution of a patient's hemodynamic status and determines the type of shock, has become an important tool for assessing cardiac pathology and predicting changes in disease, but there are some variations in the instrumental findings for different physical conditions of patients. This article examines whether there are differences in the quality of USCOM waveforms measured in different types of critically ill patients based on clinical characteristics and test parameters. Methods: Baseline data, diagnoses, echocardiograms, ventilation patterns, and USCOM results were retrospectively collected from patients in the emergency intensive care unit. Waveform quality was quantified using the Fremantle score to determine the extent to which age, body mass index (BMI), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), respiratory failure, cardiac enlargement, valvular heart disease, and ventilation pattern influenced USCOM waveform quality. Results: Age, body mass index, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, respiratory failure, right and left heart enlargement, aortic valve disease (excluding aortic stenosis), and ventilation mode did not have a significant effect on USCOM waveform quality in critically ill patients (P > 0.05). Conclusions: Various physical conditions of critically ill patients may have limited effect on the quality of the USCOM waveform, potentially rendering USCOM suitable for early assessment of hemodynamic status during ICU admission.

Co-adsorption enhancement of formaldehyde/carbon dioxide over modified hexagonal boron nitride for whole-surface capture purification.

Simultaneous capture of formaldehyde (HCHO) and carbon dioxide (CO2) in indoor air is promising of achieving indoor-air purification. Of all potential adsorbents, hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is one of the most suitable species owing to facile formation of attraction points. Therefore, in this study, performances of HCHO and CO2 being adsorbed over pure/modified h-BN are systematically investigated via density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Minutely speaking, direct interaction between HCHO and CO2, single-point adsorption enhancement of HCHO over modified h-BN, co-adsorption reinforcement of HCHO/CO2 as well as relevant thermodynamic characteristics are major research contents. According to calculation results, there is relatively strong attraction between HCHO and CO2 owing to hydrogen bonds, which is in favor of co-adsorption of HCHO/CO2. As to single-adsorption of HCHO, C-doped h-BN shows better adsorption features than P-doped h-BN and C/P-doped h-BN is slightly weakened in adsorption ability due to surficial deformation caused by P atoms. For co-adsorption of HCHO/CO2, CO2 is the protagonist via formation of quasi-carbonate with the help of delocalized π-orbital electrons. Regarding effects of temperatures on adsorption strengths, they depend on interelectronic interactions among dopant atoms and finally derives from dispersion of π bonds across adsorbents. Overall, this study provides detailed mechanisms for co-capture of HCHO/CO2 to accomplish indoor-air purification.

Relating Tabooness to Humor and Arousal Ratings in American English: What the F*** Is so Funny?

Emotion can have a profound effect on language processing, and taboo words have been increasingly used in research as highly emotional, negatively valenced stimuli. However, because taboo words as a lexical category are socially constructed and semantically idiosyncratic, they may also have complex emotional characteristics. This complexity may not be fully considered by researchers using taboo words as research stimuli. This study gathered tabooness, humor, and arousal ratings to provide a resource for researchers to better understand the sources and characteristics of the strong emotions generated by taboo words. A total of 411 participants aged 18-83 were recruited via online platforms, and all participants rated the same 264 words on tabooness, humor, and arousal. Analyses indicated that tabooness and humor ratings were positively related to each other, and both were predicted by arousal ratings. The set of ratings included here provides a tool for researchers using taboo stimuli, and our findings highlight methodological considerations while broadening our understanding of the cognitive and linguistic nature of highly emotional language.

Research on nonsteady-state adsorption and regulation towards stabler adsorption for benzene over single-wall carbon materials.

With the intention of separating benzene (C6H6) from indoor polluted air and collecting it in a cleaner way, it is promising of getting C6H6 adsorbed on activated carbon materials with outstanding physicochemical properties. In this study, how C6H6 is adsorbed over single-wall carbon materials and relevant adsorption processes are enhanced is thoroughly investigated via density functional theory (DFT). Especially, distinction between partial and whole effects of adsorbents on C6H6 adsorption, features of electron distribution across section of adsorption forms, and regulation mechanism of nonsteady-state adsorption for C6H6 are key points. According to calculation results, C6H6 molecules could be captured by pure single-wall carbon nanotube (CNT) through repulsive forces (quantified as 103.42 kJ/mol) from all quarters, which makes it stay in nonsteady-state adsorption forms and easily run into free state. Therefore, when external temperature increases from 0 to 300 K, molecular movement will be intense enough to help C6H6 break into another random positions instead of statistically remaining immobile. As for this problem, single-wall CNTs are modified through making defects and replacing some C atoms with N atoms, respectively. In this way, surficial electron distribution of modified adsorbents is regulated to tremendously cut down repulsive forces (quantified as 50.30 kJ/mol) and reverse nonsteady-state adsorption into near-equilibrium quasi-steady-state adsorption (single-side attraction near 100 kJ/mol). Therefore, this research would provide useful information for exploiting single-wall carbon materials as effective adsorbents of C6H6 in order to quickly achieve indoor air purification.

Identification of molecular pattern and prognostic risk model based on ligand-receptor pairs in liver cancer.

Introduction: The tumor microenvironment of hepatocellular carcinoma is composed of multiple cells, and the interactive communication between cells drives tumor progression and characterizes the tumor. Communication between cells is mainly achieved through signal transduction between receptor ligands, and the rise of single-cell technology has made it possible to analyze the communication network between cells. Methods: We applied a train of bioinformatic techniques and in vitro experiments. We analyzed the composition of the microenvironment of liver cancer by combining single-cell sequencing data and transcriptome sequencing data from liver cancer to construct molecular typing and risk models for LRs. Then, we analyzed association of it with prognosis, mutation, KEGG, tumor microenvironment (TME), immune infiltration, tumor mutational burden (TMB) and drug sensitivity in liver cancer. qPCR and was used to identify SLC1A5 expression in LIHC cell lines and CCK8, transwell and cell colony formation were performed to validate the function of SLC1A5. Meanwhile, we also performed polarization of macrophages. Results: In this experiment, we found that liver cancer tissues are rich in immune and mesenchymal cells, and there is extensive signaling between individual cells, so we constructed molecular typing and risk models for LRs. Combining clinical data revealed significant differences in clinical characteristics, prognosis and mutated genes between the molecular typing of receptor-ligand pairs, as well as in sensitivity to drugs; similarly, there were significant prognostic differences between the risk models. There were also notable differences in activated signaling pathways, infiltrating immune cells and immune subtypes. Subsequently, we used siRNA to knock down SLC1A5 in hepatocellular carcinoma cells and found that cell proliferation, migration and invasion were diminished. Conclusions: In conclusion, our LRs model may become a marker to guide clinical treatment and prognosis.

Macrophage metabolism reprogramming EGCG-Cu coordination capsules delivered in polyzwitterionic hydrogel for burn wound healing and regeneration.

Excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) at severe burn injury sites may promote metabolic reprogramming of macrophages to induce a deteriorative and uncontrolled inflammation cycle, leading to delayed wound healing and regeneration. Here, a novel bioactive, anti-fouling, flexible polyzwitterionic hydrogel encapsulated with epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG)-copper (Cu) capsules (termed as EGCG-Cu@CBgel) is engineered for burn wound management, which is dedicated to synergistically exerting ROS-scavenging, immune metabolic regulation and pro-angiogenic effects. EGCG-Cu@CBgel can scavenge ROS to normalize intracellular redox homeostasis, effectively relieving oxidative damages and blocking proinflammatory signal transduction. Importantly, EGCG-Cu can inhibit the activity of hexokinase and phosphofructokinase, alleviate accumulation of pyruvate and convert it to acetyl coenzyme A (CoA), whereby inhibits glycolysis and normalizes tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle. Additionally, metabolic reprogramming of macrophages by EGCG-Cu downregulates M1-type polarization and the expression of proinflammatory cytokines both in vitro and in vivo. Meanwhile, copper ions (Cu2+) released from the hydrogel facilitate angiogenesis. EGCG-Cu@CBgel significantly accelerates the healing of severe burn wound via promoting wound closure, weakening tissue-damaging inflammatory responses and enhancing the remodeling of pathological structure. Overall, this study demonstrates the great potential of bioactive hydrogel dressing in treating burn wounds without unnecessary secondary damage to newly formed skin, and highlights the importance of immunometabolism modulation in tissue repair and regeneration.

Diagnostic and prognostic value of deregulated long non-coding RNA RPPH1 in patients with severe community-acquired pneumonia: a retrospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Severe community-acquired pneumonia (SCAP) is one of the most common critical and acute diseases in the respiratory and acute medicine department. The expression and significance of lncRNA RPPH1 (RPPH1) in SCAP were assessed aiming to explore a biomarker assisting in the screening and management of SCAP. METHODS: This study is a retrospective study enrolled 97 SCAP patients, 102 mild community-acquired pneumonia (MCAP) patients, and 65 healthy individuals. The serum expression of RPPH1 of study subjects was evaluated using PCR. The diagnostic and prognostic significance of RPPH1 in SCAP was evaluated by ROC and Cox analyses. Meanwhile, the correlation of RPPH1 with patients' clinicopathological features was evaluated by spearman correlation analysis to evaluate its role in assessing disease severity. RESULTS: A significant downregulation of RPPH1 was observed in the serum of SCAP patients compared with MCAP and healthy individuals. RPPH1 was positively correlated with ALB (r = 0.74) and negatively correlated with C-reactive protein (r = -0.69), neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (r = -0.88), procalcitonin (r = -0.74), and neutrophil (r = -0.84) of SCAP patients, which are associated with the development and severity of SCAP. Additionally, reduced RPPH1 was closely associated with the 28-day development-free survival of SCAP patients and served as an adverse prognostic indicator together with procalcitonin. CONCLUSIONS: Downregulated RPPH1 in SCAP could act as a diagnostic biomarker screening SCAP from healthy and MCAP individuals and act as a prognostic biomarker predicting patients' disease conditions and outcomes. The demonstrated significance of RPPH1 in SCAP could assist the clinical antibiotic therapies of SCAP patients.

Current Progress on Predictive Biomarkers for Response to Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Gastric Cancer: How to Maximize the Immunotherapeutic Benefit?

Gastric cancer is the fifth most prevalent cancer and the fourth leading cause of cancer death globally. Delayed diagnosis and pronounced histological and molecular variations increase the complexity and challenge of treatment. Pharmacotherapy, which for a long time was systemic chemotherapy based on 5-fluorouracil, is the mainstay of management for advanced gastric cancer. Trastuzumab and programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) inhibitors have altered the therapeutic landscape, contributing to noticeably prolonged survivorship in patients with metastatic gastric cancer. However, research has revealed that immunotherapy is only beneficial to some individuals. Biomarkers, such as programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1), microsatellite instability (MSI), and tumor mutational load (TMB), have been shown to correlate with immune efficacy in numerous studies and are increasingly employed for the selection of patients most likely to respond to immunotherapy. Gut microorganisms, genetic mutations like POLE/POLD1 and NOTCH4, tumor lymphoid infiltrating cells (TILs), and other novel biomarkers have the potential to develop into new predictors. Prospective immunotherapy for gastric cancer should be guided by a biomarker-driven precision management paradigm, and multidimensional or dynamic marker testing could be the way to go.

Development and validation of a contrast-enhanced CT-based radiomics nomogram for preoperative diagnosis in neuroendocrine carcinoma of digestive system.

Objectives: To develop and validate a contrast-enhanced CT-based radiomics nomogram for the diagnosis of neuroendocrine carcinoma of the digestive system. Methods: The clinical data and contrast-enhanced CT images of 60 patients with pathologically confirmed neuroendocrine carcinoma of the digestive system and 60 patients with non-neuroendocrine carcinoma of the digestive system were retrospectively collected from August 2015 to December 2021 at Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and randomly divided into a training cohort (n=84) and a validation cohort (n=36). Clinical characteristics were analyzed by logistic regression and a clinical diagnosis model was developed. Radiomics signature were established by extracting radiomic features from contrast-enhanced CT images. Based on the radiomic signature and clinical characteristics, radiomic nomogram was developed. ROC curves and Delong's test were used to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of the three models, calibration curves and application decision curves were used to analyze the accuracy and clinical application value of nomogram. Results: Logistic regression results showed that TNM stage (stage IV) (OR 6.8, 95% CI 1.320-43.164, p=0. 028) was an independent factor affecting the diagnosis for NECs of the digestive system, and a clinical model was constructed based on TNM stage (stage IV). The AUCs of the clinical model, radiomics signature, and radiomics nomogram for the diagnosis of NECs of the digestive system in the training, validation cohorts and pooled patients were 0.643, 0.893, 0.913; 0.722, 0.867, 0.932 and 0.667, 0.887, 0.917 respectively. The AUCs of radiomics signature and radiomics nomogram were higher than clinical model, with statistically significant difference (Z=4.46, 6.85, both p < 0.001); the AUC difference between radiomics signature and radiomics nomogram was not statistically significant (Z=1.63, p = 0.104). The results of the calibration curve showed favorable agreement between the predicted values of the nomogram and the pathological results, and the decision curve analysis indicated that the nomogram had favorable application in clinical practice. Conclusions: The nomogram constructed based on contrast-enhanced CT radiomics and clinical characteristics was able to effectively diagnose neuroendocrine carcinoma of the digestive system.

FGFR2 upregulates PAI-1 via JAK2/STAT3 signaling to induce M2 polarization of macrophages in colorectal cancer.

Fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 (FGFR2) is frequently activated by overexpression or mutation, and an abnormal fibroblast growth factor (FGF)/FGFR signaling pathway is associated with the occurrence, development, and poor prognosis of colorectal cancer (CRC). Our preliminary analysis found that plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) expression may be related to FGF/FGFR signaling, however, their role in the tumor immune microenvironment remains unclear. In this study, we observed markedly higher PAI-1 expression in CRC patients with poor survival rates. PAI-1 is regulated by FGF/FGFR2 in colon cancer cells and is involved in M2 macrophage polarization. Mechanistically, inhibiting the JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway could cause PAI-1 downregulation. Furthermore, the activation of phosphorylated STAT3 upregulated PAI-1. In vivo, FGFR2 overexpression in tumor-bearing mouse models suggested that a PAI-1 inhibitor could rescue FGFR2/PAI-1 axis-induced M2 macrophage polarization, which leads to effective immune activity and tumor suppression. Moreover, the combination of a PAI-1 inhibitor and anti-PD-1 therapy exhibited superior antitumor activity in mice. These findings offer novel insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying tumor deterioration and provide potential therapeutic targets for CRC treatment.

Tanshinone IIA and hepatocellular carcinoma: A potential therapeutic drug.

Because of its high prevalence and poor long-term clinical treatment effect, liver disease is regarded as a major public health problem around the world. Among them, viral hepatitis, fatty liver, cirrhosis, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and autoimmune liver disease are common causes and inducements of liver injury, and play an important role in the occurrence and development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Tanshinone IIA (TsIIA) is a fat soluble polyphenol of Salvia miltiorrhiza that is extracted from Salvia miltiorrhiza. Because of its strong biological activity (anti-inflammatory, antioxidant), it is widely used in Asia to treat cardiovascular and liver diseases. In addition, TsIIA has shown significant anti-HCC activity in previous studies. It not only has significant anti proliferation and pro apoptotic properties. It can also play an anti-cancer role by mediating a variety of signal pathways, including phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (Akt)/rapamycin (mTOR), mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), and nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB). This review not only reviews the existing evidence and molecular mechanism of TsIIA's anti-HCC effect but also reviews the liver-protective effect of TsIIA and its impact on liver fibrosis, NAFLD, and other risk factors for liver cancer. In addition, we also conducted network pharmacological analysis on TsIIA and HCC to further screen and explore the possible targets of TsIIA against hepatocellular carcinoma. It is expected to provide a theoretical basis for the development of anti-HCC-related drugs based on TsIIA.

Identification of molecular patterns and prognostic models of epithelial-mesenchymal transition- and immune-combined index in the gastric cancer.

Background: Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and the immune microenvironment play important roles in the progression of gastric cancer (GC), but the joint role of both in GC is not clear. Methods: We identified EMT- and immune-related genes (EIRGs), and the molecular subtypes of EIRGs were identified by unsupervised cluster analysis. Then, we constructed an accurate EIRG_score model by using differential genes of molecular subtypes. The correlation of EIRG_score with prognosis, immune infiltration, gene mutation, chemotherapeutic drug sensitivity, and immunotherapy response was comprehensively analyzed. In addition, we investigated the biological function of EIRG_score via in vitro experiments. Results: A total of 808 GC patients were classified into two molecular subtypes, which were enriched in EMT and immune-related biological pathways and significantly correlated with prognosis and immune infiltration. The constructed EIRG_score had an important role in predicting prognosis and immunotherapeutic response. The higher EIRG_score was associated with worse prognosis, higher abundance of immunosuppressive cell infiltration, lower immune checkpoint genes expression, lower tumor mutation burden, microsatellite instability-high, lower chemotherapeutic drug sensitivity, and poorer immunotherapeutic response. Conclusion: EIRG_score may be used as a biomarker to assess prognosis and guide precise treatment.

Pan-Cancer Analysis of OLFML2B Expression and Its Association With Prognosis and Immune Infiltration.

Background: The function of olfactomedin-like 2B (OLFML2B), as a member of the olfactomedin domain-containing protein family, remains ambiguous, especially in tumors. The current study explores the possible correlation between OLFML2B, prognosis, and immune infiltration in pan-cancer. Methods: We applied a number of bioinformatics techniques to probe the prospective function of OLFML2B, consisting of its association with prognosis, clinicopathology, alteration, GSEA, tumor microenvironment (TME), immune-associated genes, immune infiltration, tumor mutational burden (TMB), microsatellite instability (MSI), and drug sensitivity in several cancer types. qPCR and immunohistochemistry were used to identify OLFML2B expression in LIHC cell lines and liver cancer tissues. Results: We discovered that OLFML2B was overexpressed in 14 cancers and positively related to several cancer type prognoses. The expression of OLFML2B was further validated in the LIHC cell lines. OLFML2B expression was bound up with TMB in 13 cancers, MSI in 10 cancers, and TME in almost all cancers. Furthermore, OLFML2B was highly co-expressed with genes encoding immune activators and immune suppressors. We further found that OLFML2B played a role in infiltrating different types of immune cells, such as macrophages and cancer-associated fibroblasts. OLFML2B may influence various cancer and immune-related pathways, such as the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, ECM-receptor interaction, focal adhesion, and leukocyte transendothelial migration. In addition, OLFML2B may increase drug resistance of binimetinib, cobimentinib, and trametinib. Conclusion: Our outcomes reveal that OLFML2B may act as a prognostic marker and a potential target in immunotherapy for diverse tumors due to its oncogenesis function and immune infiltration.

KIF2C is a Biomarker Correlated With Prognosis and Immunosuppressive Microenvironment in Human Tumors.

Kinesin superfamily member 2C (KIF2C) is an essential regulator of the cell cycle and its aberrant expression can promote tumor progression. However, the mechanism of KIF2C in pan-cancer is unclear.Data were obtained from public databases, including The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), UALCAN, TIMER and CellMiner. The data came from public databases such as The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), UALCAN, TIMER, and CellMiner. We analyzed the correlation of KIF2C with expression, prognosis, tumor mutation burden (TMB), microsatellite instability (MSI), mismatch repairs (MMR), immune infiltration and anticancer drug sensitivity by R language.KIF2C was highly expressed in several tumors and correlated with poor prognosis. KIF2C expression was significantly correlated with TMB, MSI, MMRs, and immune checkpoint genes, and with the level of immune cell infiltration such as tumor-associated macrophage (TAM), cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) and Tregs. The GO and KEGG results suggest that KIF2C is involved in immune regulation in addition to cell cycle regulation.In addition, KIF2C is associated with DNA methylation, m6A modifications and m7G modifications. Our data suggest that KIF2C is a prognostic biomarker linked to immunosuppression, targeting KIF2C may improve the outcome of immunotherapy. Our findings indicate that KIF2C is a prognostic biomarker associated with immunosuppression, and that targeting KIF2C may improve the outcome of immunotherapy.

Fe-Catalyzed CO2 Adsorption over Hexagonal Boron Nitride with the Presence of H2O.

The energy barrier of CO2 chemically adsorbed on hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is relatively big. In order to cut down the energy barriers and facilitate fast adsorption of CO2, it is necessary to apply catalysts as a promoter. In this study, single-atom iron is introduced as the catalyst to reduce the energy barriers of CO2 adsorbed on pure/doped h-BN. Through density functional theory calculations, catalytic reaction mechanisms, stability of single-atom iron fixed on adsorbents, CO2 adsorption characteristics, and features of thermodynamics/reaction dynamics during adsorption processes are fully investigated to explain the catalytic effects of single-atom iron on CO2 chemisorption. According to calculations, when CO2 and OH- get into activated states (i.e., CO2•- and •OH) with the help of single-atom iron, their chemical activities will be promoted to a large degree, which makes the transition state (TS) energy barrier of HCO3- to decrease by 92.54%. In the meantime, it is proved that single-atom iron could be stably fixed on doped h-BN with the binding energy larger than 2 eV to achieve sustainable catalysis. With the presence of single-atom iron, TS energy barriers of CO2 adsorbed on h-BN with the presence of H2O decreased by 94.39, 78.87, and 30.63% over pure h-BN, 3C-doped h-BN, and 3N-doped h-BN, respectively. In the meantime, thermodynamic analyses indicate that TS energy barriers are mainly determined by element doping and temperatures are a little beneficial to the reduction of TS energy barriers. With the above aspects combined, the results of this study could supply crucial information for massively and quickly capturing CO2 in real industries.

CO2 adsorption enhancement over Al/C-doped h-BN: A DFT study.

Reducing energy barriers of CO2 being chemisorbed on hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is a kernel step to efficiently and massively capture CO2. In this study, aluminum/carbon (Al/C) atoms are used as dopants to alter surface potential fields of h-BN, which aims at lowering energy barriers of adsorption processes. Through theoretical calculations, direct-adsorption structures/properties of CO2, joint-adsorption structures/properties of CO2/H2O, transition state (TS) energy barriers, effects of temperatures on adsorption energies/TS energy barriers and changes of reaction rate constants over different adsorbents are investigated in detail in order to reveal how doping of Al/C atoms promotes CO2 adsorption strength over doped h-BN. According to DFT calculation results, the average adsorption energy of CO2 being directly adsorbed on Al/C-doped h-BN arrives at -59.43 kJ/mol, which is about 5 times as big as that over pure h-BN. As to the average adsorption energy of CO2/H2O and relevant TS energy barrier, they are modified to -118.89 kJ/mol and 40.23 kJ/mol over Al/C-doped h-BN in contrast with -33.91 kJ/mol and 1695.11 kJ/mol over pure h-BN, respectively. What is more, based on thermodynamic analyses and reaction dynamics, the average desorption temperatures of CO2(/H2O) are promoted over doped h-BN and the temperature power exponent is negatively correlated with the activation energy in the Arrhenius equation form. The complete understanding of this study would supply crucial information for applying Al/C-doped h-BN to effectively capturing CO2 in real industries.

Arsenic adsorption enhancement performances of Mn-modified γ-Al2O3 with flue gas constituents involved.

Some flue gas constituents have negative effects on As2O3 adsorption of γ-Al2O3 so promoting arsenic adsorption performances under complicated flue gas conditions is necessary based on previous studies. In this study, γ-Al2O3 is modified with manganous nitrate and then Mn-modified γ-Al2O3 is used as the adsorbents in experiments. Besides, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and density functional theory (DFT) calculations are performed to explore mechanisms of how loadings of Mn enhance arsenic adsorption features of γ-Al2O3 when being affected by flue gas constituents in microscale and mesoscale, respectively. As for DFT calculations, it is uncovered that electron transfer/interaction among As2O3, flue gas constituents and Mn-modified γ-Al2O3 mostly influences arsenic adsorption. For MD simulations, it is expounded that the collision and aggregation of As2O3 and flue gas constituent molecules have most impact on arsenic adsorption. As far as experiments are concerned, they are conducted to show the macroscopic characterizations of arsenic adsorption performances, corresponding to results of DFT calculations and MD simulations. The understanding of these three different aspects could supply significant references for utilization of Mn-modified γ-Al2O3 in real industries to remove arsenic under complex flue gas conditions.

The distribution and conversion of selenite and selenate with the bubbling of simulated flue gas in simulated WFGD slurry.

Selenium is one of the hazardous trace elements emitted from coal-fired power plants. The distribution of selenium in Wet Flue Gas Desulfurization (WFGD) process is still unclear and even in controversial, impeding the development of selenium removal technologies. This research has found that the selenite in simulated slurry could be reduced by SO2 while selenate has not been affected. Characterization methods including X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used to provide an evidence that the product of the reduction reaction is amorphous elemental selenium. Meanwhile, the influences of other gaseous components, pH, temperature and S2O82- in simulated slurry has also been considered in this research. It is found that with the increase of SO2 concentration in flue gas, the reduction of selenite increased and the reduction reaction is an exothermic reaction. Meanwhile, the oxidation effect of S2O82- competes with the reduction effect of SO2. This study introduced the influence of flue gas into the research of the conversion of selenium in FGD slurry and indicate the effect of flue gas on the potential emission treatment techniques of selenium in FGD slurry.

What Is the Readiness Potential?

The readiness potential (RP), a slow buildup of electrical potential recorded at the scalp using electroencephalography, has been associated with neural activity involved in movement preparation. It became famous thanks to Benjamin Libet (Brain 1983;106:623-642), who used the time difference between the RP and self-reported time of conscious intention to move to argue that we lack free will. The RP's informativeness about self-generated action and derivatively about free will has prompted continued research on this neural phenomenon. Here, we argue that recent advances in our understanding of the RP, including computational modeling of the phenomenon, call for a reassessment of its relevance for understanding volition and the philosophical problem of free will.

MicroRNA-1301-3p promotes the progression of non-small cell lung cancer by targeting Thy-1 and predicts poor prognosis of patients.

The role of microRNA (miR)-1301-3p has been investigated in breast cancer and colorectal cancer. Dysregulation of miR-1301-3p expression in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is speculated to be associated with tumor progression, which was systemically investigated in the present study. Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR analysis was performed to detect miR-1301-3p expression in 124 paired tissue samples and cultured cell lines. The results demonstrated that miR-1301-3p expression was regulated by transfection with miR-1301-3p mimic or inhibitor, and the proliferation, migration and invasion of the transfected cells were assessed via the Cell Counting Kit-8 and Transwell assays. In addition, miR-1301-3p expression was significantly upregulated in NSCLC tissues and cells compared with normal tissues and normal cells, respectively. Notably, upregulated miR-1301-3p expression in NSCLC tissues was significantly associated with the TNM stage, lymph node metastasis and poor prognosis of patients with NSCLC. Furthermore, upregulated miR-1301-3p expression in NSCLC cells promoted cell proliferation, migration and invasion, the effects of which were reversed following miR-1301-3p knockdown. Thy-1 was identified as a direct target of miR-1301-3p, which serves as a tumor promoter in the progression of NSCLC. Taken together, the results of the present study suggest that upregulated miR-1301-3p expression in NSCLC acts as an independent prognostic factor and a tumor promoter by targeting thy-1, thus provides a potential therapeutic target for NSCLC.