A nomogram for risk stratification of central cervical lymph node metastasis in patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma.

Background: Whether to perform prophylactic central lymph node dissection for cN0 papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) patients is still controversial. This retrospective study aimed to develop and validate a nomogram based on ultrasound and dual-energy computed tomography (DECT) for the risk stratification of central lymph node metastasis (CLNM) in patients with PTC. Methods: A total of 525 patients from 2017 to 2019 [Tianjin First Central Hospital (Hospital A)] were retrospectively analyzed to form the training cohort and to conduct internal validation. Another group of 204 patients in 2020 (Hospital A) formed the temporal validation cohort. A total of 107 patients in 2020 [Binzhou Medical University Hospital (Hospital B)] formed the geographic validation cohort, which was a retrospective cohort study. The area under the curve (AUC), calibration curve, and decision curve were used to evaluate the performance of the nomogram. The locally weighted regression curve was used for risk stratification. Results: Diameter, taller-than-wide, calcification, capsular invasion, and iodine concentration in the arterial and venous phases were independent risk predictors of CLNM. The AUC of the nomogram was 0.922 (95% confidence interval: 0.895-0.943) in the training cohort. Two external validation cohorts demonstrated the good performance of the nomogram in predicting CLNM, with AUCs of 0.912 and 0.861. The significantly improved net reclassification index and integrated discriminatory improvement index indicated that DECT was a powerful supplement to ultrasound for predicting CLNM. The risk stratification system divided all patients into low-risk (0-50 points), intermediate-risk (51-100 points), and high-risk groups (>100 points). Conclusions: The nomogram and risk stratification system estimated the utility of CLNM to guide individualized treatment of patients with PTC.

Pig Weight Estimation Method Based on a Framework Combining Mask R-CNN and Ensemble Regression Model.

Using computer vision technology to estimate pig live weight is an important method to realize pig welfare. But there are two key issues that affect pigs' weight estimation: one is the uneven illumination, which leads to unclear contour extraction of pigs, and the other is the bending of the pig body, which leads to incorrect pig body information. For the first one, Mask R-CNN was used to extract the contour of the pig, and the obtained mask image was converted into a binary image from which we were able to obtain a more accurate contour image. For the second one, the body length, hip width and the distance from the camera to the pig back were corrected by XGBoost and actual measured information. Then we analyzed the rationality of the extracted features. Three feature combination strategies were used to predict pig weight. In total, 1505 back images of 39 pigs obtained using Azure kinect DK were used in the numerical experiments. The highest prediction accuracy is XGBoost, with an MAE of 0.389, RMSE of 0.576, MAPE of 0.318% and R2 of 0.995. We also recommend using the Mask R-CNN + RFR method because it has fairly high precision in each strategy. The experimental results show that our proposed method has excellent performance in live weight estimation of pigs.

Cotton stalk-derived hydrothermal carbon for methylene blue dye removal: investigation of the raw material plant tissues.

Conversion of the abundant agricultural residual cotton stalk (CS) into useful chemicals or functional materials could alleviate the fossil fuels caused energy shortages and environmental crises. Although some advances have been achieved, less attention has been paid to the plant tissues effect. In this study, the plant tissue of CS was changed by part degradation of some components (hemicelluloses and lignin, for example) with the aid of acid/base (or both). The pretreated CS was transformed into hydrochar by hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) method. Morphological and chemical compositions of CS hydrochar were analyzed by various techniques, including elemental analysis, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), BET analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Methylene blue (MB) removal of prepared CS hydrochar was used to evaluate CS hydrochar pollutions adsorption capacity. Results reveal acid/base (or both) pretreatment is beneficial for CS raw material to prepare high-quality CS hydrochar. The effects of some parameters, such as initial MB concentration, temperature, pH value and recyclability on the adsorption of MB onto both acid and base-pretreated CS hydrochar (CS-H2SO4 + NaOH-HTC) were studied. The present work exhibits the importance of agricultural waste biomass material plant tissues on its derived materials, which will have a positive effect on the direct utilization of waste biomass.

lncRNA XIST/miR-34a-5p/SIRT6 axis regulates proliferation and metastasis of oral squamous cell carcinoma cells / 中国肿瘤生物治疗杂志

@# Objective: To investigate the molecular mechanisms of lncRNA XIST/miR-34a-5p/SIRT6 axis regulating the proliferation and metastasis of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) cells. Methods: Specimens of tumor tissues and paracancer tissues of 47 patients with OSCC, who visited the Qingdao Stomatological Hospital from March 2013 to March 2018, were enrolled in this study. qPCR was performed to measure the mRNA expressions of lncRNA XIST, miR-34a-5p and SIRT6 in OSCC tissues and cell lines. WB was performed to measure the protein levels of SIRT6, Ki67, pcDNA, cleaved-caspase3, cleaved-caspase8, E-cadherin and vimentin in OSCC tissues and cell lines. CCK-8 assay was performed to observe the effect of lncRNA XIST knockdown on proliferation of Cal-27 and Tca-8113 cells; Tanswell assay was performed to detect migration and invasion of Cal-27 and Tca-8113 cells; flow cytometry was performed to detect the apoptosis of Cal-27 and Tca-8113 cells; and dual luciferase reporter assay was performed to verify the relationship between lncRNAXIST and miR-34a, or miR-34a and SIRT6. Results: Expressions of lncRNAXIST and SIRT6 were up-regulated in OSCC tissues and cell lines (all P<0.05), reversely, miR-34a-5p was down-regulated in OSCC tissues and cell lines (P<0.01). lncRNA XIST knockdown significantly suppressed OSCC cells proliferation, migration and invasion, and induced apoptosis of OSCC cells (all P<0.01); however, simultaneous transfection with miR-34a-5p inhibitor or pcDNA-SIRT6 vector exerted opposite effect. lncRNA XIST knockdown significantly increased cell proliferation and metastasis related protein expression in OSCC cells (all P< 0.01), and simultaneous transfection with miR-34a-5p inhibitor or pcDNA-SIRT6 vector exerted opposite effect. In addition, lncRNA XIST directly targeted miR-34a-5p, and miR-34a-5p targeted SIRT6, lncRNA XIST upregulated SIRT6 expression via inhibiting miR34a-5p (P<0.01). Conclusion: Taken together, lncRNA XIST/miR-34a-5p/SIRT6 axis regulates the proliferation and metastasis of OSCC cells and provides potential therapeutic targets for OSCC.