Variation trend prediction of ground-level ozone concentrations with high-resolution using landscape pattern data.

Scientifically configuring landscape patterns based on their relationship with ground-level ozone concentrations (GOCs) is an effective way to prevent and control ground-level ozone pollution. In this paper, a GOC variation trend prediction model (hybrid model) combining a generalized linear model (GLM) and a logistic regression model (LRM) was established to analyze the spatiotemporal variation patterns in GOCs as well as their responses to landscape patterns. The model exhibited satisfactory performance, with percent of samples correctly predicted (PCP) value of 82.33% and area under receiver operating characteristics curve (AUC) value of 0.70. Using the hybrid model, the per-pixel rise probability of annual average GOCs at a spatial resolution of 1 km in Shenzhen were generated. The results showed that (1) annual average GOCs were increasing in Shenzhen from 2015 to 2020, and had obvious spatial differences, with a higher value in the west and a lower value in the east; (2) variation trend in GOCs was significant positively correlated with landscape heterogeneity (HET), while significant negatively correlated with dominance (DMG) and contagion (CON); (3) GOCs in Shenzhen has a great risk of rising, especially in GuangMing, PingShan, LongGang, LuoHu and BaoAn. The results provide not only a preliminary index for estimating the GOC variation trend in the absence of air quality monitoring data but also guidance for landscape optimizing design from the perspective of controlling ground-level ozone pollution.

Effect of Supplementary Feeding on Milk Volume, Milk Composition, Blood Biochemical Index, and Fecal Microflora Diversity in Grazing Yili Mares.

Grazing is a common approach to rearing. We investigated the effects of supplementation during grazing on milk yield and composition, blood biochemistry, and fecal microflora in Yili horses. The control mares grazed normally, while those in groups I and II received 1 kg/d of concentrate and 1 kg/d of concentrate + 0.4 kg/d of coated FA, respectively. Milk volumes were significantly higher in groups I and II than in the control group, and among the previous two, milk volumes were significantly higher in group II than in group I. Milk fat, lactose, and protein levels were significantly higher in group II than in the others. BUN was highly significantly lower in group I than in the control group. Specific FAs, total SFA, and total UFA were significantly higher in group II than in the other groups. After feeding, plasma GLU, free FA, TG, LDL, and VLDL were significantly higher in group II than in the other groups. The control group, group I, and group II had 4984, 5487, and 5158 OTUs, respectively, and 3483 OTUs were common to all groups. The abundance of Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes was >75%. The abundance of Verrucomicrobia was significantly higher in groups I and II than in the control group and, among the previous two, significantly higher in group II than in group I. The abundance of Treponema_saccharophilum significantly differed between the control and other groups, and WCHB 1_41, Kiritimatiellae, and Verrucomicrobia abundances significantly differed between groups II and the other groups.

Comprehensive characterization of ferroptosis in hepatocellular carcinoma revealing the association with prognosis and tumor immune microenvironment.

Background: Ferroptosis is a type of regulatory cell death (RCD) mode that depends on iron-mediated oxidative damage. It has the potential to improve the efficacy of tumor immunotherapy by modulating the tumor microenvironment (TME). Currently, immunotherapy has significantly improved the overall treatment strategy for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but the distinct immune microenvironment and high tolerance to the immune make massive differences in the immunotherapy effect of HCC patients. As a result, it is imperative to classify HCC patients who may benefit from immune checkpoint therapy. Simultaneously, the predictive value of ferroptosis in HCC and its potential role in TME immune cell infiltration also need to be further clarified. Methods: Three ferroptosis molecular models were built on the basis of mRNA expression profiles of ferroptosis-related genes (FRGs), with notable variations in immunocyte infiltration, biological function, and survival prediction. In order to further investigate the predictive impact of immunotherapy response in HCC patients, the ferroptosis score was constructed using the principal component analysis (PCA) algorithm to quantify the ferroptosis molecular models of individual tumors. Results: In HCC, there were three totally different ferroptosis molecular models. The ferroptosis score can be used to assess genetic variation, immunotherapy response, TME characteristics, and prognosis. Notably, tumors with low ferroptosis scores have extensive tumor mutations and immune exhaustion, which are associated with a poor prognosis and enhanced immunotherapy response. Conclusions: Our study indicates that ferroptosis plays an indispensable role in the regulation of the tumor immune microenvironment. For HCC, the ferroptosis score is an independent prognostic indicator. Assessing the molecular model of ferroptosis in individual tumors will assist us in better understanding the characteristics of TME, predicting the effect of immunotherapy in HCC patients, and thus guiding a more reasonable immunotherapy program.

Effects of MCU-mediated Ca2+ Homeostasis on Ovarian Cancer Cell SKOV3 Proliferation, Migration and Transformation.

BACKGROUND: Atlas human proteomics database showed MCU as highly expressed in various tumor tissues, especially in ovarian cancer. Rare studies on the role of MCU and its regulation in ovarian cancer have been reported. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine role of MCU in ovarian cancer cell SKOV3 proliferation, migration, and transformation, and explore the possible mechanism. METHODS: MCU siRNA on lentiviral particles were stably transfected into SKOV3 cells. CCK-8 assay was performed to analyze cell proliferation. Soft-agar colony formation assay was employed to evaluate tumorigenesis. Western blot and immunohistochemistry analyses were performed to evaluate the expression of MCU, MICU1 and phosphorylate of Akt in the ovarian cancer cell and tissue specimens. Scratch assay was combined with trans-well plates assay to detect the migration ability of cancer cells. The ROS production and Ca2+ expression were also determined. RESULTS: MCU expression was significantly higher in ovarian cancer tissues than normal tissues. MCU silencing decreased SKOV3 cell proliferation, migration, and transformation. ROS production was decreased after MCU silencing, depending on disturbed Ca2+ homeostasis. MICU1 expression has been found to be decreased and phosphorylation of Akt increased when MCU was silenced. CONCLUSION: Down-regulation of MCU inhibited SKOV3 cell proliferation, migration, and transformation via disturbing Ca2+ homeostasis and decreasing ROS production. MICU1 and phosphorylation of Akt are associated with MCU-mediated ovarian cancer malignancy.

Characterization of glucose metabolism in breast cancer to guide clinical therapy.

Background: Breast cancer (BRCA) ranks as a leading cause of cancer death in women worldwide. Glucose metabolism is a noticeable characteristic of the occurrence of malignant tumors. In this study, we aimed to construct a novel glycometabolism-related gene (GRG) signature to predict overall survival (OS), immune infiltration and therapeutic response in BRCA patients. Materials and methods: The mRNA sequencing and corresponding clinical data of BRCA patients were obtained from public cohorts. Lasso regression was applied to establish a GRG signature. The immune infiltration was evaluated with the ESTIMATE and CIBERSORT algorithms. The drug sensitivity was estimated using the value of IC50, and further forecasted the therapeutic response of each patient. The candidate target was selected in Cytoscape. A nomogram was constructed via the R package of "rms". Results: We constructed a six-GRG signature based on CACNA1H, CHPF, IRS2, NT5E, SDC1 and ATP6AP1, and the high-risk patients were correlated with poorer OS (P = 2.515 × 10-7). M2 macrophage infiltration was considerably superior in high-risk patients, and CD8+ T cell infiltration was significantly higher in low-risk patients. Additionally, the high-risk group was more sensitive to Lapatinib. Fortunately, SDC1 was recognized as candidate target and patients had a better OS in the low-SDC1 group. A nomogram integrating the GRG signature was developed, and calibration curves were consistent between the actual and predicted OS. Conclusions: We identified a novel GRG signature complementing the present understanding of the targeted therapy and immune biomarker in breast cancer. The GRGs may provide fresh insights for individualized management of BRCA patients.

Urea-Mediated Monoliths Made of Nitrogen-Enriched Mesoporous Carbon Nanosheets for High-Performance Aqueous Zinc Ion Hybrid Capacitors.

Aqueous zinc ion hybrid capacitors (aZHCs) are of great potential for large-scale energy storage and flexible wearable devices, of which the specific capacity and energy density need to be further enhanced for practical applications. Herein, a urea-mediated foaming strategy is reported for the efficient synthesis of monoliths consisting of nitrogen-enriched mesoporous carbon nanosheets (NPCNs) by prefoaming drying a solution made of polyvinylpyrrolidone, zinc nitrate, and urea at low temperatures, foaming and annealing at high temperatures, and subsequent acid etching. NPCNs have a large lateral size of ≈40 µm, thin thickness of ≈55 nm, abundant micropores and mesopores (≈3.8 nm), and a high N-doping value of 9.7 at.%. The NPCNs as the cathode in aZHCs provide abundant zinc storage sites involving both physical and chemical adsorption/desorption of Zn2+  ions, and deliver high specific capacities of 262 and 115 mAh g-1 at 0.2 and 10 A g-1 , and a remarkable areal capacity of ≈0.5 mAh cm-2  with a mass loading of 5.3 mg cm-2 , outperforming most carbon cathodes reported thus far. Moreover, safe and flexible NPCNs based quasi-solid-state devices are fabricated, which can withstand drilling and mechanical bending, suggesting their potential applications in wearable devices.

A personalized computational model predicts cancer risk level of oral potentially malignant disorders and its web application for promotion of non-invasive screening.

BACKGROUND: Despite their high accuracy to recognize oral potentially malignant disorders (OPMDs) with cancer risk, non-invasive oral assays are poor in discerning whether the risk is high or low. However, it is critical to identify the risk levels, since high-risk patients need active intervention, while low-risk ones simply need to be follow-up. This study aimed at developing a personalized computational model to predict cancer risk level of OPMDs and explore its potential web application in OPMDs screening. METHODS: Each enrolled patient was subjected to the following procedure: personal information collection, non-invasive oral examination, oral tissue biopsy and histopathological analysis, treatment, and follow-up. Patients were randomly divided into a training set (N = 159) and a test set (N = 107). Random forest was used to establish classification models. A baseline model (model-B) and a personalized model (model-P) were created. The former used the non-invasive scores only, while the latter was incremented with appropriate personal features. RESULTS: We compared the respective performance of cancer risk level prediction by model-B, model-P, and clinical experts. Our data suggested that all three have a similar level of specificity around 90%. In contrast, the sensitivity of model-P is beyond 80% and superior to the other two. The improvement of sensitivity by model-P reduced the misclassification of high-risk patients as low-risk ones. We deployed model-P in web.opmd-risk.com, which can be freely and conveniently accessed. CONCLUSION: We have proposed a novel machine-learning model for precise and cost-effective OPMDs screening, which integrates clinical examinations, machine learning, and information technology.

FEN1 expression in oral carcinoma-associated fibroblasts and its relationship with PCNA / 口腔疾病防治

Objective@#To research the expression levels of FEN1 and PCNA in carcinoma-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) and analyze their correlation. @*Methods@#Fresh specimens of oral squamous cell carcinoma tissues and normal oral mucosal tissues excised during oral and maxillofacial plastic surgery were collected. Primary oral CAFs and normal fibroblasts (NFs) were obtained by tissue culture, identified by immunocytochemistry and divided into the CAF and NF groups. Western blot and quantitative real-time PCR were used to detect the protein and mRNA expression levels of both FEN1 and PCNA in the oral CAFs and NFs. The correlation between FEN1 and PCNA expression in oral CAFs was analyzed. @*Results@#Oral CAFs and oral NFs were successfully cultured and identified from 12 samples. Both the protein and mRNA expression levels of FEN1 and PCNA were higher in the oral CAFs than NFs, but there were no significant differences (P > 0.05). In the oral CAFs, the linear correlation coefficient between FEN1 and PCNA was 0.677 (P = 0.016) at the mRNA level, indicating a strong positive correlation; however, at the protein level, no correlation was found (P > 0.05). @*Conclusion@# In primary cultured oral CAFs and NFs, there were no significant differences in the FEN1 and PCNA protein and mRNA expression levels. However, in the CAFs, the mRNA levels of FEN1 and PCNA had a strong positive correlation. The relationship and the regulatory mechanism of the two genes require further study.

Tacrolimus 0.03% ointment in labial discoid lupus erythematosus: A randomized, controlled clinical trial.

In this randomized, controlled clinical trial to compare efficacy and safety, 41 patients with labial discoid lupus erythematosus (DLE) were randomized to 2 groups, either receiving tacrolimus 0.03% ointment (n = 22) or triamcinolone acetonide 0.1% cream (n = 19). Each patient was treated with 3, 2, and 1 daily doses in the first, second, and third weeks, respectively, for 1 course. After the 3 week treatment, patients with complete disappearance of erosion were followed up for 3 months. After the 3 week application, 20 participants in the tacrolimus group and 19 in the triamcinolone acetonide group completed the study. The rates of complete response were 70% and 89.5% in tacrolimus-treated and triamcinolone acetonide-treated patients, respectively, with no significant difference (P = .235). Reduction in erosion and erythema showed no significant difference between groups (P > .05). Final reduction in reticulation areas and numeric rating scale scores were significantly greater in the tacrolimus group than in the triamcinolone acetonide group (P = .013; P = .048, respectively). Only 1 patient receiving tacrolimus presented with slight discomfort. There was no significant difference in 3 month recurrence rate between the groups (P > .05). Topical tacrolimus is considered as effective as triamcinolone acetonide for the management of labial DLE.