Photosynthetic Bacteria-Hitchhiking 2D iMXene-mRNA Vaccine to Enable Photo-Immunogene Cancer Therapy.

Therapeutic mRNA vaccines have become powerful therapeutic tools for severe diseases, including infectious diseases and malignant neoplasms. mRNA vaccines encoding tumor-associated antigens provide unprecedented hope for many immunotherapies that have hit the bottleneck. However, the application of mRNA vaccines is limited because of biological instability, innate immunogenicity, and ineffective delivery in vivo. This study aims to construct a novel mRNA vaccine delivery nanosystem to successfully co-deliver a tumor-associated antigen (TAA) encoded by the Wilms' tumor 1 (WT1) mRNA. In this system, named PSB@Nb1.33C/mRNA, photosynthetic bacteria (PSB) efficiently delivers the iMXene-WT1 mRNA to the core tumor region using photo-driven and hypoxia-driven properties. The excellent photothermal therapeutic (PTT) properties of PSB and 2D iMxene (Nb1.33C) trigger tumor immunogenic cell death, which boosts the release of the WT1 mRNA. The released WT1 mRNA is translated, presenting the TAA and amplifying immune effect in vivo. The designed therapeutic strategy demonstrates an excellent ability to inhibit distant tumors and counteract postsurgical lung metastasis. Thus, this study provides an innovative and effective paradigm for tumor immunotherapy, i.e., photo-immunogene cancer therapy, and establishes an efficient delivery platform for mRNA vaccines, thereby opening a new path for the wide application of mRNA vaccines.

Newly formed dust within the circumstellar environment of SN Ia-CSM 2018evt.

Dust associated with various stellar sources in galaxies at all cosmic epochs remains a controversial topic, particularly whether supernovae play an important role in dust production. We report evidence of dust formation in the cold, dense shell behind the ejecta-circumstellar medium (CSM) interaction in the Type Ia-CSM supernova (SN) 2018evt three years after the explosion, characterized by a rise in mid-infrared emission accompanied by an accelerated decline in the optical radiation of the SN. Such a dust-formation picture is also corroborated by the concurrent evolution of the profiles of the Hα emission line. Our model suggests enhanced CSM dust concentration at increasing distances from the SN as compared to what can be expected from the density profile of the mass loss from a steady stellar wind. By the time of the last mid-infrared observations at day +1,041, a total amount of 1.2 ± 0.2 × 10-2 M⊙ of new dust has been formed by SN 2018evt, making SN 2018evt one of the most prolific dust factories among supernovae with evidence of dust formation. The unprecedented witness of the intense production procedure of dust may shed light on the perceptions of dust formation in cosmic history.

Interoperator reproducibility of quantitative ultrasound analysis of hepatic steatosis in participants with suspected MASLD: A prospective study.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the reproducibility of tissue attenuation imaging (TAI) and tissue scatter distribution imaging (TSI) measurements in adults with suspected metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) between radiologists with varying experience. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Participants with suspected MASLD were prospectively recruited. TAI and TSI were performed for each participant by two radiologists with different levels of experience. Interoperability reliability was assessed on the basis of Bland-Altman analysis and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs). The study determined and compared the diagnostic performance of TAI and TSI with clinical prediction models using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) as a reference. RESULTS: A total of 180 participants (women, n = 56; men, n = 124, mean age, 46.98 ± 14.92 years; mean BMI, 25.81 ± 4.47) were enrolled from August 2022 to September 2022. Bland-Altman plots showed only slight deviation in the TAI and TSI results of the two radiologists; there was good interoperator reproducibility for TAI (ICC = 0.92) and TSI (ICC = 0.86). Senior and junior radiologists performed examinations labeled as TAI-1 and TSI-1, and TAI-2 and TSI-2, respectively. The areas under the curves (AUCs) of TAI-1, TAI-2, TSI-1, and TAI-2 for the detection of ≥5 % hepatic steatosis were 0.90, 0.96, 0.91 and 0.96, respectively. According to ROC analysis, the diagnostic performance of both radiologists for TAI and TSI was statistically similar and superior to that of the clinical prediction model. CONCLUSIONS: TAI and TSI have good reproducibility between radiologists with different levels of experience. Meanwhile, both TAI and TSI demonstrated good diagnostic performance for hepatic steatosis (≥5%), surpassing that of clinical prediction models.

Design, synthesis, in vitro and in vivo biological evaluation of pterostilbene derivatives for anti-inflammation therapy.

Pterostilbene (PST) is a naturally derived stilbene compound in grapes, blueberries, and other fruits. It is also a natural dietary compound with a wide range of biological activities such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antitumor, and so on. Structural modifications based on the chemical scaffold of the pterostilbene skeleton are of great importance for drug discovery. In this study, pterostilbene skeletons were used to design novel anti-inflammatory compounds with high activity and low toxicity. A total of 30 new were found and synthesised, and their anti-inflammatory activity and safety were screened. Among them, compound E2 was the most active (against NO: IC50 = 0.7 µM) than celecoxib. Further studies showed that compound E2 exerted anti-inflammatory activity by blocking LPS-induced NF-κB/MAPK signalling pathway activation. In vivo experiments revealed that compound E2 had a good alleviating effect on acute colitis in mice. In conclusion, compound E2 may be a promising anti-inflammatory lead compound.

Correlating concerted cations with oxygen redox in rechargeable batteries.

Rechargeable batteries currently power much of our world, but with the increased demand for electric vehicles (EVs) capable of traveling hundreds of miles on a single charge, new paradigms are necessary for overcoming the limits of energy density, particularly in rechargeable batteries. The emergence of reversible anionic redox reactions presents a promising direction toward achieving this goal; however this process has both positive and negative effects on battery performance. While it often leads to higher capacity, anionic redox also causes several unfavorable effects such as voltage fade, voltage hysteresis, sluggish kinetics, and oxygen loss. However, the introduction of cations with topological chemistry tendencies has created an efficient pathway for achieving long-term oxygen redox with improved kinetics. The cations serve as pillars in the crystal structure and meanwhile can interact with oxygen in ways that affect the oxygen redox process through their impact on the electronic structure. This review delves into a detailed examination of the fundamental physical and chemical characteristics of oxygen redox and elucidates the crucial role that cations play in this process at the atomic and electronic scales. Furthermore, we present a systematic summary of polycationic systems, with an emphasis on their electrochemical performance, in order to provide perspectives on the development of next-generation cathode materials.

Identification and verification of PTPN3 as a novel biomarker in predicting cancer prognosis, immunity, and immunotherapeutic efficacy.

BACKGROUND: The importance of protein tyrosine phosphatase non-receptor type 3 (PTPN3) in controlling multifaceted tumor cell behaviors throughout cancer development has received widespread attention. Nevertheless, little is known about the biological roles of PTPN3 in drug sensitivity, immunotherapeutic effectiveness, tumor immune microenvironment, and cancer prognosis. METHODS: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database's RNAseq data were used to examine the expression of PTPN3 in 33 different cancer types. In addition, immunohistochemistry (IHC) was performed to validate the expression of PTPN3 across various cancer types within our clinical cohorts. The features of PTPN3 alterations were demonstrated throughout the cBioPortal database. This study focused on examining the prognostic and clinicopathological importance of PTPN3 through the acquisition of clinical data from the TCGA database. The investigation of PTPN3's probable role in the tumor immune microenvironment was demonstrated by the application of CIBERSORT, ESTIMATE algorithms, and the TISIDB database. Using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient, the relationships between PTPN3 expression and tumor mutation burden (TMB) and microsatellite instability (MSI) were evaluated. To further investigate the putative biological activities and downstream pathways of PTPN3 in various cancers in humans, Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) was carried out. In addition, an examination was conducted to explore the associations between PTPN3 and the effectiveness of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors, utilizing data extracted from the GEO database. RESULTS: PTPN3 was abnormally expressed in multiple cancer types and was also strictly associated with the prognosis of cancer patients. IHC was used to investigate and confirm the various expression levels of PTPN3 in various malignancies, including breast cancer, lung cancer, sarcoma, and kidney renal clear cell carcinoma in our clinical cohorts. There is a high correlation between the levels of PTPN3 expression in different cancers and infiltrating immune cells, including mast cells, B cells, regulatory T cells, CD8 + T cells, macrophages, and dendritic cells. Infiltrating immune cells, such as regulatory T cells, CD8 + T cells, macrophages, B cells, dendritic cells, and mast cells, are strongly correlated with PTPN3 expression levels in various tumors. The expression of PTPN3 exhibited a substantial correlation with many immune-related biomolecules and the expression of TMB and MSI in multiple types of cancer. In addition, PTPN3 has demonstrated promise in predicting the therapeutic benefits of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors and the susceptibility to anti-cancer medications in the treatment of clinical cancer. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings highlight the importance of PTPN3 as a prognostic biomarker and predictor of immunotherapy success in various forms of cancer. Furthermore, PTPN3 appears to have an important role in modifying the tumor immune microenvironment, highlighting its potential as a promising biomarker for prognosis prediction, immunotherapeutic efficacy evaluation, and identification of immune-related characteristics in diverse cancer types.

A multi-parameter intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma scoring system based on modified contrast-enhanced ultrasound LI-RADS M criteria for differentiating intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma from hepatocellular carcinoma.

PURPOSE: To develop a multi-parameter intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) scoring system and compare its diagnostic performance with contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) liver imaging reporting and data system M (LR-M) criteria for differentiating ICC from hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS: This retrospective study enrolled 62 high-risk patients with ICCs and 62 high-risk patients with matched HCCs between January 2022 and December 2022 from two institutions. The CEUS LR-M criteria was modified by adjusting the early wash-out onset (within 45 s) and the marked wash-out (within 3 min). Then, a multi-parameter ICC scoring system was established based on clinical features, B-mode ultrasound features, and modified LR-M criteria. RESULT: We found that elevated CA 19-9 (OR=12.647), lesion boundary (OR=11.601), peripheral rim-like arterial phase hyperenhancement (OR=23.654), early wash-out onset (OR=7.211), and marked wash-out (OR=19.605) were positive predictors of ICC, whereas elevated alpha-fetoprotein (OR=0.078) was a negative predictor. Based on these findings, an ICC scoring system was established. Compared with the modified LR-M and LR-M criteria, the ICC scoring system showed the highest area under the curve (0.911 vs. 0.831 and 0.750, both p<0.05) and specificity (0.935 vs. 0.774 and 0.565, both p<0.05). Moreover, the numbers of HCCs categorized as LR-M decreased from 27 (43.5%) to 14 (22.6%) and 4 (6.5%) using the modified LR-M criteria and ICC scoring system, respectively. CONCLUSION: The modified LR-M criteria-based multi-parameter ICC scoring system had the highest specificity for diagnosing ICC and reduced the number of HCC cases diagnosed as LR-M category.

A shock flash breaking out of a dusty red supergiant.

Shock-breakout emission is light that arises when a shockwave, generated by the core-collapse explosion of a massive star, passes through its outer envelope. Hitherto, the earliest detection of such a signal was at several hours after the explosion1, although a few others had been reported2-7. The temporal evolution of early light curves should provide insights into the shock propagation, including explosion asymmetry and environment in the vicinity, but this has been hampered by the lack of multiwavelength observations. Here we report the instant multiband observations of a type II supernova (SN 2023ixf) in the galaxy M101 (at a distance of 6.85 ± 0.15 Mpc; ref. 8), beginning at about 1.4 h after the explosion. The exploding star was a red supergiant with a radius of about 440 solar radii. The light curves evolved rapidly, on timescales of 1-2 h, and appeared unusually fainter and redder than predicted by the models9-11 within the first few hours, which we attribute to an optically thick dust shell before it was disrupted by the shockwave. We infer that the breakout and perhaps the distribution of the surrounding dust were not spherically symmetric.

Assessment of the Diagnostic Performance of Clinical Examinations and High-Frequency Ultrasound in Patients With Pigmented Skin Tumors.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate whether the integration of high-frequency ultrasound (HFUS) to routine clinical examinations could improve diagnostic performance and management decision for pigmented skin tumors. METHODS: Three general practitioners trained previously and a dermatologist independently assessed pigmented skin tumors and rendered management decision based on clinical examinations alone or clinical examinations integrating HFUS. RESULTS: After integrating HFUS, the diagnostic area under the curve (AUC) (0.658-0.693 versus 0.848, all P < .05) and specificity (46.6-58.6% versus 89.7%, all P < .05) for pigmented skin malignancies were improved for general practitioners, meanwhile unnecessary biopsy rate reduced (42.9-53.6% versus 10.7%, P < .001). To the dermatologist, the diagnostic AUC (0.822 versus 0.949, P < .001), sensitivity (81.7% versus 96.7%, P = .012) and specificity (0.828 versus 0.931, P = .031) improved significantly, meanwhile both missed biopsy rate (14.5% versus 4.8%, P = .031) and unnecessary biopsy rate (19.6% versus 7.1%, P = .016) decreased. Additionally, the diagnostic performance of the general practitioner with integrating HFUS could be comparable with the dermatologist based on clinical examinations alone (all P > .05). CONCLUSIONS: As a complementary tool of clinical examinations, HFUS could help physicians differentiate pigmented skin malignancies and manage decision.

Risk stratification model for incidentally detected gallbladder polyps: A multicentre study.

PURPOSE: We aimed to develop a 4-level risk stratification model using a scoring system based on conventional ultrasound to improve the diagnosis of gallbladder polyp. METHOD: Patients with histopathologically confirmed gallbladder polyps were consecutively recruited from three medical centres. Conventional ultrasound findings and clinical characteristics were acquired prior to cholecystectomy. Risk factors for neoplastic and malignant polyps were used to build a risk stratification system via interobserver agreement and multivariate logistic regression analysis. The model was retrospectively trained using 264 pre-surgical samples and prospectively validated using 106 pre-surgical samples. Model performance was evaluated using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and malignant polyp rate. RESULTS: In total, 370 patients (mean age, 51.68 ± 14.41 years, 156 men) were enrolled in this study. Size (≥12 mm), shape (oblate or round), single, vascularity, gallbladder stone or sludge were considered risk factors for neoplastic polyps. Size (≥14 mm), shape (oblate), single, disrupted gallbladder wall, and gallbladder stone or sludge were risk factors for malignant polyps (all p < 0.05). In the scoring system, the sensitivity, specificity, and AUC of score ≥ 9 in diagnosing neoplastic polyps were 0.766, 0.788, and 0.876 respectively; and the sensitivity, specificity, and AUC of score ≥ 15 in diagnosing malignant polyps were 0.844, 0.926, and 0.949 respectively. In our model, the malignancy rates at the four levels were 0 % (0/24), 1.28 % (2/156), 9.26 % (5/54), and 70.37 % (38/54), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The 4-level risk stratification model based on conventional ultrasound imaging showed excellent performance in classifying gallbladder polyps.

Quantitative analysis of pre-treatment dynamic contrast-enhanced ultrasound for assessing the response of colorectal liver metastases to chemotherapy plus targeted therapy: a dual-institutional study.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the clinical value of pre-treatment quantitative contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in assessing the response of colorectal liver metastases (CRLM) to chemotherapy plus targeted therapy. METHODS: This study retrospectively enrolled 50 CRLM patients from the Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University as the training cohort and 14 patients from Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital as the testing cohort. Patients underwent the CEUS examination before receiving chemotherapy (CAPOX, FOLFOX, FOLFIRI, or FOLFOXIRI) plus targeted therapy (Bevacizumab or Cetuximab). The therapy response was determined according to Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors version 1.1 based on pre-treatment CT and 3-month follow-up CT after therapy. Dynamic analysis was performed by VueBox® software. Time-intensity curves with quantitative perfusion parameters were obtained. In the training cohort, univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were used to develop the predictive model of therapy response. The predictive performance of the developed model was validated in the testing cohort. RESULTS: After the logistic regression analyses, the peak enhancement (PE) (odds ratio = 1.640; 95% confidence intervals [CI] 1.022-2.633) and time to peak (TTP) (odds ratio = 0.495; 95% CI 0.246-0.996) were determined as independent predictive factors. PE and TTP generated from VueBox® were not affected by ultrasound instruments and contrast agent dosage in therapy response evaluation (P > 0.05). The logistic regression model achieved satisfactory prediction performance (area under the curve: 0.923 in the training cohort and 0.854 in the testing cohort). CONCLUSION: CEUS with dynamic quantitative perfusion analysis, which presents high consistency, has potential practical value in predicting the response of CRLM to chemotherapy plus targeted therapy.

Response Evaluation Using Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound for Unresectable Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma Treated With Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors Plus Anti-PD-1 Antibody Therapy.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the work described here was to evaluate the role of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in response evaluation for unresectable advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treated with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) plus anti-programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) antibody therapy. METHODS: A prospective cohort of consecutive patients with HCC who received combined TKI/anti-PD-1 antibody treatment for unresectable HCC between January 2022 and October 2022 was included in this study. The patients underwent unenhanced ultrasound (US) and CEUS examinations before treatment and at follow-up. Changes in the largest diameters of the target tumor on unenhanced US and the largest diameters of the enhancing target tumors on CEUS were evaluated. Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) version 1.1 with unenhanced US and magnetic resonance imaging/computed tomography (MRI/CT) and modified RECIST (mRECIST) with CEUS and CEMRI/CT were used to assess treatment response. RESULTS: A total of 24 HCC patients (23 men and 1 woman; mean age: 56.5 ± 8.5 y; Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stage C, 62.5%; 29 intrahepatic target tumors) were studied. Calculations of degree of necrosis in the target tumors revealed no significant differences between CEUS and CEMRI/CT (44.5 ± 36.2% vs. 45.3 ± 36.8%, p = 0.862). As for the differentiation of responders from non-responders, the agreement between RECIST version 1.1 of unenhanced US and mRECIST-CEUS was poor (κ coefficient = 0.233). Meanwhile, there was a high degree of concordance between mRECIST-CEUS and mRECIST-CEMRI/CT (κ coefficient = 0.812). CONCLUSION: CEUS proved to be superior to baseline US and is comparable to CEMRI/CT in defining treatment outcome for combined TKI/anti-PD-1 antibody therapy.

Diagnostic value of high-frequency ultrasound (HFUS) in evaluation of subcutaneous lesions.

BACKGROUND: It is unknown whether high-frequency ultrasound (HFUS) can evaluate invisible subcutaneous lesions. We aimed to investigate the diagnostic value of HFUS in invisible subcutaneous lesions. METHOD: Patients with invisible subcutaneous lesions were prospectively recruited from two centres. Before undergoing biopsy or surgery, each lesion was independently evaluated by two clinicians. One provides a clinical diagnosis by only clinical examination and the other provides an integrated diagnosis by combining clinical examination and HFUS information. Diagnoses were classified as correct, wrong, and indeterminate. A total of 391 lesions from 355 patients were enrolled, including 225 epidermoid cysts, 77 lipomas, 25 pilomatrixomas, 21 haemangiomas, 19 dermatofibromas, 11 dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (DFSP), 7 neurofibromas, and 6 leiomyomas. Using pathological results as the gold standard, diagnostic performance was compared. RESULTS: The number of correct diagnoses increased from 185 (47.3%) by clinical examination alone to 316 (80.8%) after the addition of HFUS (P < 0.05). Meanwhile, the indeterminate diagnosis rate decreased from 143 (36.6%) to 10 (2.6%). Using HFUS, the accuracy improved significantly for epidermoid cysts (59.6% vs. 86.7%), lipomas (50.6% vs. 94.8%), pilomatrixomas (0% vs. 48.0%), haemangiomas (23.8% vs. 57.1%), and DFSPs (0% vs. 81.8%) (all p < 0.05). However, HFUS did not significantly improve the diagnostic accuracy of dermatofibromas (15.8% vs. 21.1%, p > 0.999), neurofibromas (42.9% vs. 71.4%, p = 0.625), or leiomyomas (16.7% vs. 100%, p = 0.063). CONCLUSION: Combining HFUS and clinical examination can generally improve the diagnostic accuracy and decrease the indeterminacy of invisible subcutaneous lesions, especially epidermoid cysts, lipomas, pilomatrixomas, haemangiomas, and DFSPs. However, for some rare lesions, HFUS cannot provide useful information.

Dioscorea nipponica Makino: A comprehensive review of its chemical composition and pharmacology on chronic kidney disease.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a widespread ailment that significantly impacts global health. It is characterized by high prevalence, poor prognosis, and substantial healthcare costs, making it a major public health concern. The current clinical treatments for CKD are not entirely satisfactory, leading to a high demand for alternative therapeutic options. Chinese herbal medicine, with its long history, diverse varieties, and proven efficacy, offers a promising avenue for exploration. One such Chinese herbal medicine, Dioscorea nipponica Makino (DNM), is frequently used to treat kidney diseases. In this review, we have compiled studies examining the mechanisms of action of DNM in the context of CKD, focusing on five primary areas: improvement of oxidative stress, inhibition of renal fibrosis, regulation of metabolism, reduction of inflammatory response, and regulation of autophagy.

Research progress on Cornus officinalis and its active compounds in the treatment of diabetic nephropathy.

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a kidney disorder secondary to diabetes and is one of the main diabetic microvascular complications. As the number of diabetic patients grows, DN has become the leading cause of chronic kidney disease in China. Unfortunately, no definitive cure currently exists for DN. Cornus officinalis (CO), frequently utilized in clinical settings for diabetes mellitus treatment, has proven vital in both preventing and treating DN. This article explores the pathogenesis of DN and how CO and its active compounds regulate glucose and lipid metabolism, exhibit anti-inflammatory properties, inhibit oxidative stress, regulate podocytes, and manage autophagy. The mechanism and role of and its active compounds in the treatment of DN are discussed.

Risk stratification of gallbladder masses by machine learning-based ultrasound radiomics models: a prospective and multi-institutional study.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of machine learning (ML)-based ultrasound (US) radiomics models for risk stratification of gallbladder (GB) masses. METHODS: We prospectively examined 640 pathologically confirmed GB masses obtained from 640 patients between August 2019 and October 2022 at four institutions. Radiomics features were extracted from grayscale US images and germane features were selected. Subsequently, 11 ML algorithms were separately used with the selected features to construct optimum US radiomics models for risk stratification of the GB masses. Furthermore, we compared the diagnostic performance of these models with the conventional US and contrast-enhanced US (CEUS) models. RESULTS: The optimal XGBoost-based US radiomics model for discriminating neoplastic from non-neoplastic GB lesions showed higher diagnostic performance in terms of areas under the curves (AUCs) than the conventional US model (0.822-0.853 vs. 0.642-0.706, p < 0.05) and potentially decreased unnecessary cholecystectomy rate in a speculative comparison with performing cholecystectomy for lesions sized over 10 mm (2.7-13.8% vs. 53.6-64.9%, p < 0.05) in the validation and test sets. The AUCs of the XGBoost-based US radiomics model for discriminating carcinomas from benign GB lesions were higher than the conventional US model (0.904-0.979 vs. 0.706-0.766, p < 0.05). The XGBoost-US radiomics model performed better than the CEUS model in discriminating GB carcinomas (AUC: 0.995 vs. 0.902, p = 0.011). CONCLUSIONS: The proposed ML-based US radiomics models possess the potential capacity for risk stratification of GB masses and may reduce the unnecessary cholecystectomy rate and use of CEUS. CLINICAL RELEVANCE STATEMENT: The machine learning-based ultrasound radiomics models have potential for risk stratification of gallbladder masses and may potentially reduce unnecessary cholecystectomies. KEY POINTS: • The XGBoost-based US radiomics models are useful for the risk stratification of GB masses. • The XGBoost-based US radiomics model is superior to the conventional US model for discriminating neoplastic from non-neoplastic GB lesions and may potentially decrease unnecessary cholecystectomy rate for lesions sized over 10 mm in comparison with the current consensus guideline. • The XGBoost-based US radiomics model could overmatch CEUS model in discriminating GB carcinomas from benign GB lesions.

Three-dimensional convolutional neural network model to identify clinically significant prostate cancer in transrectal ultrasound videos: a prospective, multi-institutional, diagnostic study.

Background: Identifying patients with clinically significant prostate cancer (csPCa) before biopsy helps reduce unnecessary biopsies and improve patient prognosis. The diagnostic performance of traditional transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) for csPCa is relatively limited. This study was aimed to develop a high-performance convolutional neural network (CNN) model (P-Net) based on a TRUS video of the entire prostate and investigate its efficacy in identifying csPCa. Methods: Between January 2021 and December 2022, this study prospectively evaluated 832 patients from four centres who underwent prostate biopsy and/or radical prostatectomy. All patients had a standardised TRUS video of the whole prostate. A two-dimensional CNN (2D P-Net) and three-dimensional CNN (3D P-Net) were constructed using the training cohort (559 patients) and tested on the internal validation cohort (140 patients) as well as on the external validation cohort (133 patients). The performance of 2D P-Net and 3D P-Net in predicting csPCa was assessed in terms of the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), biopsy rate, and unnecessary biopsy rate, and compared with the TRUS 5-point Likert score system as well as multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mp-MRI) prostate imaging reporting and data system (PI-RADS) v2.1. Decision curve analyses (DCAs) were used to determine the net benefits associated with their use. The study is registered at https://www.chictr.org.cn with the unique identifier ChiCTR2200064545. Findings: The diagnostic performance of 3D P-Net (AUC: 0.85-0.89) was superior to TRUS 5-point Likert score system (AUC: 0.71-0.78, P = 0.003-0.040), and similar to mp-MRI PI-RADS v2.1 score system interpreted by experienced radiologists (AUC: 0.83-0.86, P = 0.460-0.732) and 2D P-Net (AUC: 0.79-0.86, P = 0.066-0.678) in the internal and external validation cohorts. The biopsy rate decreased from 40.3% (TRUS 5-point Likert score system) and 47.6% (mp-MRI PI-RADS v2.1 score system) to 35.5% (2D P-Net) and 34.0% (3D P-Net). The unnecessary biopsy rate decreased from 38.1% (TRUS 5-point Likert score system) and 35.2% (mp-MRI PI-RADS v2.1 score system) to 32.0% (2D P-Net) and 25.8% (3D P-Net). 3D P-Net yielded the highest net benefit according to the DCAs. Interpretation: 3D P-Net based on a prostate grayscale TRUS video achieved satisfactory performance in identifying csPCa and potentially reducing unnecessary biopsies. More studies to determine how AI models better integrate into routine practice and randomized controlled trials to show the values of these models in real clinical applications are warranted. Funding: The National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants 82202174 and 82202153), the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (Grants 18441905500 and 19DZ2251100), Shanghai Municipal Health Commission (Grants 2019LJ21 and SHSLCZDZK03502), Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Action Plan (21Y11911200), and Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (ZD-11-202151), Scientific Research and Development Fund of Zhongshan Hospital of Fudan University (Grant 2022ZSQD07).

The nature of an ultra-faint galaxy in the cosmic dark ages seen with JWST.

In the first billion years after the Big Bang, sources of ultraviolet (UV) photons are believed to have ionized intergalactic hydrogen, rendering the Universe transparent to UV radiation. Galaxies brighter than the characteristic luminosity L* (refs. 1,2) do not provide enough ionizing photons to drive this cosmic reionization. Fainter galaxies are thought to dominate the photon budget; however, they are surrounded by neutral gas that prevents the escape of the Lyman-α photons, which has been the dominant way to identify them so far. JD1 was previously identified as a triply-imaged galaxy with a magnification factor of 13 provided by the foreground cluster Abell 2744 (ref. 3), and a photometric redshift of z ≈ 10. Here we report the spectroscopic confirmation of this very low luminosity (≈0.05 L*) galaxy at z = 9.79, observed 480 Myr after the Big Bang, by means of the identification of the Lyman break and redward continuum, as well as multiple ≳4σ emission lines, with the Near-InfraRed Spectrograph (NIRSpec) and Near-InfraRed Camera (NIRCam) instruments. The combination of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and gravitational lensing shows that this ultra-faint galaxy (MUV = -17.35)-with a luminosity typical of the sources responsible for cosmic reionization-has a compact (≈150 pc) and complex morphology, low stellar mass (107.19 M⊙) and subsolar (≈0.6 Z⊙) gas-phase metallicity.

One-Step Solid-State Synthesis of Ni-Rich Cathode Materials for Lithium-Ion Batteries.

Ni-rich cathodes are expected to serve as critical materials for high-energy lithium-ion batteries. Increasing the Ni content can effectively improve the energy density but usually leads to more complex synthesis conditions, thus limiting its development. In this work, a simple one-step solid-state process for synthesizing Ni-rich ternary cathode materials NCA (LiNi0.9Co0.05Al0.05O2) was presented, and the synthesis conditions were systematically studied. It was found that the synthesis conditions have a substantial impact on electrochemical performance. Furthermore, the cathode materials produced through a one-step solid-state process exhibited excellent cycling stability, maintaining 97.2% of their capacity after 100 cycles at a rate of 1 C. The results show that a one-step solid-state method can successfully synthesize Ni-rich ternary cathode material, which has great potential for application. Optimizing the synthesis conditions also provides valuable ideas for the commercial synthesis of Ni-rich cathode materials.

A Critical Review on the Recycling Strategy of Lithium Iron Phosphate from Electric Vehicles.

Electric vehicles (EVs) are one of the most promising decarbonization solutions to develop a carbon-negative economy. The increasing global storage of EVs brings out a large number of power batteries requiring recycling. Lithium iron phosphate (LFP) is one of the first commercialized cathodes used in early EVs, and now gravimetric energy density improvement makes LFP with low cost and robustness popular again in the market. Developments in LFP recycling techniques are in demand to manage a large portion of the EV batteries retired both today and around ten years later. In this review, first the operation and degradation mechanisms of LFP are revisited aiming to identify entry points for LFP recycling. Then, the current LFP recycling methods, from the pretreatment of the retired batteries to the regeneration and recovery of the LFP cathode are summarized. The emerging direct recovery technology is highlighted, through which both raw material and the production cost of LFP can be recovered. In addition, the current issues limiting the development of the LIBs recycling industry are presented and some ideas for future research are proposed. This review provides the theoretical basis and insightful perspectives on developing new recycling strategies by outlining the whole-life process of LFP.