Decreased moment of inertia of the lower limb facilitates a rapid hip internal rotation in a simulated foot impact maneuver. A laboratory-controlled biomechanical study for a precursor mechanism of noncontact anterior cruciate ligament injury.

BACKGROUND: Anterior cruciate ligament injury frequently occurs in the deceleration with the knee-extended position. In addition, a rapid hip internal rotation is concomitantly observed. However, how the extended knee position induces the hip internal rotation is unclear. METHODS: Sixteen healthy participants performed the simulated foot impact task on the experimental chair. To vary the knee flexion angle, the following four-foot placement positions relative to the pelvis segment, i.e.: 1) near; 2) middle; 3) far; and 4) far + heel strike, were tested. The reflective marker positions and the ground reaction force (GRF) data were collected. The moment of inertia of the entire lower limb around its long axis as well as the peak hip internal rotation angular velocity were calculated and compared among four conditions (Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test with Bonferroni correction, P<0.0083). RESULTS: As the knee extended from the near to far + heel strike condition, the moment of inertia of the entire lower limb significantly decreased and hip internal rotation angular velocity significantly increased (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The extended knee position with far foot placement from torso reduces the inertial resistance of the entire lower limb around its long axis and is vulnerable to the hip internal rotation.

Identification of WRKY Family Members and Characterization of the Low-Temperature-Stress-Responsive WRKY Genes in Luffa (Luffa cylindrica L.).

The plant-specific WRKY transcription factor family members have diverse regulatory effects on the genes associated with many plant processes. Although the WRKY proteins in Arabidopsis thaliana and other species have been thoroughly investigated, there has been relatively little research on the WRKY family in Luffa cylindrica, which is one of the most widely grown vegetables in China. In this study, we performed a genome-wide analysis to identify L. cylindrica WRKY genes, which were subsequently classified and examined in terms of their gene structures, chromosomal locations, promoter cis-acting elements, and responses to abiotic stress. A total of 62 LcWRKY genes (471-2238 bp) were identified and divided into three phylogenetic groups (I, II, and III), with group II further divided into five subgroups (IIa, IIb, IIc, IId, and IIe) in accordance with the classification in other plants. The LcWRKY genes were unevenly distributed across 13 chromosomes. The gene structure analysis indicated that the LcWRKY genes contained 0-11 introns (average of 4.4). Moreover, 20 motifs were detected in the LcWRKY proteins with conserved motifs among the different phylogenetic groups. Two subgroup IIc members (LcWRKY16 and LcWRKY31) contained the WRKY sequence variant WRKYGKK. Additionally, nine cis-acting elements related to diverse responses to environmental stimuli were identified in the LcWRKY promoters. The subcellular localization analysis indicated that three LcWRKY proteins (LcWRKY43, LcWRKY7, and LcWRKY23) are localized in the nucleus. The tissue-specific LcWRKY expression profiles reflected the diversity in LcWRKY expression. The RNA-seq data revealed the effects of low-temperature stress on LcWRKY expression. The cold-induced changes in expression were verified via a qRT-PCR analysis of 24 differentially expressed WRKY genes. Both LcWRKY7 and LcWRKY12 were highly responsive to the low-temperature treatment (approximately 110-fold increase in expression). Furthermore, the LcWRKY8, LcWRKY12, and LcWRKY59 expression levels increased by more than 25-fold under cold conditions. Our findings will help clarify the evolution of the luffa WRKY family while also providing valuable insights for future studies on WRKY functions.

Benefits of camrelizumab plus carboplatin and albumin paclitaxel as induction therapy for locally advanced borderline resectable or unresectable esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of camrelizumab plus albumin paclitaxel and carboplatin in the neoadjuvant treatment of borderline resectable or unresectable locally advanced esophageal cancer. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was conducted on 27 patients with borderline resectable or unresectable locally advanced esophageal cancer who received neoadjuvant treatment with camrelizumab plus albumin paclitaxel and carboplatin at Shanxi Cancer Hospital from January 2020 to March 2022. Of these, 20 patients underwent thoracoscopic esophagectomy after neoadjuvant treatment. RESULTS: Overall, 88.9% (24/27) of patients completed neoadjuvant treatment. The objective response rate was 79.2% (19/24) according to the RECIST criteria. Of the 20 patients who underwent surgery, the R0 resection rate was 95%, and 35% (7/20) achieved pathological complete response (pCR). During neoadjuvant treatment, 30% (6/20) of patients experienced grade ≥3 treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs), and 20% (4/20) had grade ≥3 postoperative complications. There were no cases of reoperation or perioperative mortality. CONCLUSION: Camrelizumab plus albumin paclitaxel and carboplatin were found to be safe and effective in the neoadjuvant treatment of borderline resectable or unresectable locally advanced esophageal cancer. It was observed to improve the rate of curative resection without increasing perioperative complications.

One-pot synthesized Au@Pt nanostars-based lateral flow immunoassay for colorimetric and photothermal dual-mode detection of SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid antibody.

In addition to confirming virus infection, quantitative identification of the antibodies to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2) also evaluates persons immunity to guide personal protection. However, portable assays for fast and accurate quantification of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies remain challenging. In this work, we synthesized Au@Pt star-like nanoparticles (NPs) quickly and easily by a one-pot wet-chemical approach, allowing the stellate Au core to be partially decorated by Pt nanoshells. The nanoparticles were used as probe in a lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) that operated in both colorimetric and photothermal dual modes, which could detect the antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid (N) protein with high sensitivity. Due to the sharp tips on the external region of nanostars and surface plasmon coupling effect between the Au core and Pt shell, the NIR absorption capacity and photothermal performance of these NPs were exceptional. Under optimal conditions, the colorimetric mode's detection limit for SARS-CoV-2 N protein antibody was 1 ng mL-1, which is significantly lower by 2-order of magnitude compared to commercially available colloidal gold strips. And the detection limit for the photothermal mode was as low as 24.91 pg mL-1, which was approximately 40-fold more sensitive than colorimetric detection. Moreover, the method demonstrated favorable specificity, reproducibility and stability. Finally, the approach was employed for the successful identification of actual serum samples. Therefore, the dual-mode LFIA can be applied for screening and tracking the early immunological reaction to SARS-CoV-2, and it has great promise for clinical application.

Cryopreservation with DMSO affects the DNA integrity, apoptosis, cell cycle and function of human bone mesenchymal stem cells.

Cryopreservation (CP) enables pooling and long-term banking of various types of cells, which is indispensable for the cell therapeutics. Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) is universally used as a cryoprotectant in basic and clinical research. Although, the use of DMSO has been under serious debate due to significant clinical side effects correlated with infusions of cellular therapy products containing DMSO, the effect of CP with DMSO on the cell properties and functions remains unknown. Here, we experimentally found that the CP of human bone mesenchymal stem cells (hBMSCs) with 10 % DMSO results 10-15 % of cells apoptosis upon immediate freeze-thaw, ca. 3.8 times of DNA damage/repair relative to the fresh ones after post-thaw cultured in 48 h, and cell cycle arrests at G0/G1 after post-thaw cultured in 24 h. Moreover, CP with 10 % DMSO significantly increases the reactive oxygen species (ROS) level of the frozen-thawed MSCs which may be one of the causes impair cellular properties and functions. Indeed, we found that the differentiation and migration ability of post-thaw cultured hBMSCs decrease as the expression of adipogenic, osteogenic genes and F-actin reduces in the comparison with those of the fresh cells.

NiFe codoping-regulated amorphous/crystalline heterostructured Co-based hydroxides/tungstate with rich oxygen vacancies for efficient water oxidation catalysis.

Oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is a crucial half-reaction in water splitting, generating hydrogen for sustainable development, but it is often subject to sluggish kinetics. Abundant transition metal-based OER electrocatalysts have been utilized to expedite the process. However, traditional amorphous catalysts suffer from low conductivity, while the activity of crystalline catalysts is also unsatisfactory. Herein, an amorphous/crystalline heterostructured Co-based hydroxide/tungstate was meticulously constructed and further tailored using a NiFe codoping method (NiFeCoW). Following NiFe codoping, the electronic structure had been modulated, subsequently altering the adsorption toward intermediates. From the electrochemical measurements, the NiFeCoW catalyst demonstrated superior electrocatalytic activity for OER in alkaline media, with a minimal overpotential of 297 mV at 10 mA cm-2 and a cell voltage of 1.57 V for water splitting. This study provides valuable guidance for regulating the amorphous/crystalline heterophase in catalysts through bimetallic modulating engineering.

Absorption function loss due to the history of previous ankle sprain explored by unsupervised machine learning.

BACKGROUND: Ankle sprains are common and cause persistent ankle function reduction. To biomechanically evaluate the ankle function after ankle sprains, the ground reaction force (GRF) measurement during the single-legged landing had been used. However, previous studies focused on discrete features of vertical GRF (vGRF), which largely ignored vGRF waveform features that could better identify the ankle function. PURPOSE: To identify how the history of ankle sprain affect the vGRF waveform during the single-legged landing with unsupervised machine learning considering the time-series information of vGRF. METHODS: Eighty-seven currently healthy basketball athletes (12 athletes without ankle sprain, 49 athletes with bilateral, and 26 athletes with unilateral ankle sprain more than 6 months before the test day) performed single-legged landings from a 20 centimeters (cm) high box onto the force platform. Totally 518 trials vGRF data were collected from 87 athletes of 174 ankles, including 259 ankle sprain trials (from previous sprain ankles) and 259 non-ankle sprain trials (from without sprain ankles). The first 100 milliseconds (ms) vGRF waveforms after landing were extracted. Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to the vGRF data, selecting 8 principal components (PCs) representing 96% of the information. Based on these 8 PCs, k-means method (k = 3) clustered the 518 trials into three clusters. Chi-square test assessed significant differences (p < 0.01) in the distribution of ankle sprain and non-ankle sprain trials among clusters. FINDINGS: The ankle sprain trials accounted for a significantly larger percentage (63.9%) in Cluster 3, which exhibited rapidly increased impulse vGRF waveforms with larger peaks in a short time. SIGNIFICANCE: PCA and k-means method for vGRF waveforms during single-legged landing identified that the history of previous ankle sprains caused a loss of ankle absorption ability lasting at least 6 months from an ankle sprain.

Impact of the peripheral blood inflammatory indices and modified nomogram-revised risk index on survival of Extranodal Nasal-Type Natural Killer/T-Cell lymphoma.

BACKGROUND: At present, peripheral blood markers are easily accessible information and clinically valuable prognostic indicators in extranodal nasal-type natural killer/T-cell lymphoma (ENKTCL). Nevertheless, the role of its comprehensive score in ENKTCL remains to be determined. OBJECTIVE: Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the prognostic effect of the peripheral inflammation score on ENKTCL. METHODS: The retrospective study included 183 patients with ENKTCL. Univariate Cox regression analyses and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) Cox regression were used to construct the inflammation-related prognostic index named Risk. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses and regression adjustment with propensity score matching (PSM) were used to evaluate the prognostic ability of risk. The performance of the modified nomogram-revised risk index (NRI) by integrating risk was evaluated with the area under the time-dependent receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC), decision curve analysis (DCA), and integrated Brier score (IBS). RESULTS: The risk cut-off value, constructed by the lymphocyte count, platelet count, albumin level, LMR, and PNI, was -1.3486. Before PSM, multivariate analysis showed that risk was significantly associated with OS (HR = 2.577, 95% CI = 1.614-4.114, P< 0.001) and PFS (HR = 2.679, 95% CI = 1.744-4.114, P< 0.001). After PSM adjustment, risk was still an independent factor for OS (HR = 2.829, 95% CI = 1.601-5.001, P< 0.001) and PFS (HR = 2.877, 95% CI = 1.735-4.770, P< 0.001). With the NRI, the modified NRI by integrating risk increased the AUC and clinical net benefit and decreased the IBS. CONCLUSIONS: Risk is an easily accessible and inexpensive indicator that may be used as a prognostic marker and could improve NRI predictive power in patients with ENKTCL.

An achromatic colorimetric nanosensor for sensitive multiple pathogen detection by coupling plasmonic nanoparticles with magnetic separation.

Rapid screening of multiple pathogens will greatly improve the efficiency of pandemic prevention and control. Colorimetric methods exhibit the advantages of convenience, portability, low cost, time efficiency, and free of sophisticated instruments, yet usually have difficulties in simultaneous detection and suffer from monotonous color changes with low visual resolution and sensitivity. Hence, coupled three kinds of plasmonic nanoparticles (NPs) with magnetic separation, we developed an achromatic colorimetric nanosensor with highly enhanced visual resolution for simultaneous detection of SARS-CoV-2, Staphylococcus aureus, and Salmonella typhimurium. The achromatic nanosensor was composed of SARS-CoV-2-targeting red gold NPs, S. aureus-targeting yellow silver NPs and S. typhimurium-targeting blue silver triangle NPs mixed as black color. In the detection, three corresponding magnetic probes were added into the above mixture. In the presence of a target pathogen, it would be recognized and combined with corresponding colored reporters and magnetic probes to form sandwich complexes, which were removed by magnetic separation, and the sensor changed from black to a chromatic color (the color of the reporters remained in supernatant). Consequently, different target pathogen induced different color. For example, SARS-CoV-2, S. aureus, and S. typhimurium respectively produced green, purple, and orange. While coexistence of S. aureus and S. typhimurium produced red, and coexistence of S. aureus and SARS-CoV-2 produced blue, etc. Therefore, by observing the color change or measuring the absorption spectra, multiple pathogen detection was achieved conveniently. Compared with most colorimetric sensors, this achromatic nanosensor involved rich color change, thus significantly enhancing visual resolution and inspection sensitivity. Therefore, this sensor opened a promising avenue for efficient monitoring and early warning of food safety and quality.

Iron/cobalt-decorated nitrogen-rich 3D layer-stacked porous biochar as high-performance oxygen reduction air-cathode catalyst in microbial fuel cell.

Developing low-cost and high-efficiency oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalysts is crucial to the commercial application of microbial fuel cell (MFC). Herein, Fe/Co-decorated nitrogen-rich three-dimensional (3D) layer-stacked porous biochar (Fe/Co-NC-x) have been synthesized from silk gel through secondary carbonization of activated carbons which firstly adsorbed metal ions. The multilayer porous structure of Fe/Co-NC-3 contributes to construction of high specific surface area (576 m2 g-1), large pore volume (1.27 cm3 g-1) and many defect structure (ID/IG = 1.004). As expected, with Fe/Co synergistic effect, Fe/Co-NC-3 exhibits excellent ORR performance through 4e- pathway with good methanol resistance. In addition, the performance of MFC using Fe/Co-NC-3 as air-cathode catalyst is more prominent with higher maximum power density (1059.62 ± 30.00 mW m-2) compared to that using NC (668.19 ± 9.84 mW m-2) and commercial Pt/C catalyst (957.33 ± 10.50 mW m-2). Therefore, Fe/Co-NC-3 should be a prospective catalyst in the practical application of fuel cells and other energy devices.

Effects of intraocular lens anterior edge design on anterior capsule morphology changes following femtosecond laser-assisted capsulotomy.

PURPOSE: To compare morphological changes in the anterior capsule of two intraocular lenses (IOLs) with different anterior edge designs 6 months after femtosecond laser-assisted capsulotomy surgery (FLACs). METHODS: This study included 168 eyes from168 patients undergoing FLACs. Group A included 74 eyes from 74 patients who had an Acrysof IQ Restor SN6AD3 IOL implantation with a flat anterior edge and Group B included 94 eyes of 94 patients with a TECNIS Multifocal ZMB00 IOL implantation and a "peak-like" anterior edge. All patients were followed up for 6 months. We assessed anterior capsule morphological changes including variation of anterior opening diameters and lens epithelial cell (LEC) proliferation in four directions, variation of anterior opening area, and the level of anterior capsule opacification (ACO). RESULTS: Variation of anterior opening diameters in 4 directions were significantly lower in Group B (P < 0.05). Obvious shrinkage ratio of anterior opening diameters and contraction of anterior opening area (P < 0.05) appeared in Group A. LEC proliferation was along the "peak" in Group B, while it spread to the edge of anterior capsule in Group A. ACO grades 6 months after operation in Groups A and B were as follows: grade I in 28.38% and 82.98% of eyes, grade II in 51.35% and 17.02% of eyes, and grade III in 20.27% and 0% of eyes, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that a "peak-like" IOL anterior edge design played an important role in maintaining the morphology of anterior capsule in the early postoperative stage.

External Application of a Nomogram to Predict Survival and Benefit of Peripheral Blood Inflammatory Indexes in Limited-Stage Small Cell Lung Cancer.

Background: Qi et al. recently proposed a nomogram to reveal the prognostic value of peripheral blood inflammatory indexes (named Risk) and predict overall survival (OS) in limited-stage small cell lung cancer (LS-SCLC). However, it hasn't undergone external application so far. This study aimed to verify the role of Risk as a prognostic variable of OS and apply the nomogram externally. Methods: We used a retrospective analysis of clinical data of 254 patients diagnosed as LS-SCLC in Shanxi Cancer Hospital from January 2015 to December 2018 to apply Qi's nomogram externally. We also performed subgroup analysis to explore the predictive value of Risk. The model was evaluated in terms of discrimination (the area under the ROC curve (AUC ROC) and calibration (calibration plots). Results: The prognosis of patients with low-Risk was significantly better than those with high-Risk in our cohort (p<0.01). The AUC of 1-, 2-, and 3-year OS was 0.644, 0.666, and 0.635, respectively. The calibration curve showed a nearly ideal calibration-slope of 1-, 2-, and 3-year OS (1.00 (0.41-1.59), 1.00 (0.54-1.46) and 1.00 (0.43-1.57), respectively). Conclusion: The external application of nomogram added Risk for predicting OS in LS-SCLC patients showed a moderate-to-good performance using a cohort with different case-mix characteristics. The external application confirmed the predictive value of Risk and the usefulness of the nomogram for the prediction of OS.

[Analysis and prediction of quality markers of Lonicerae Japonicae Flos].

Lonicerae Japonicae Flos, as common Chinese medicine, has been used for thousands of years in the treatment of inflammation and infectious diseases with definite efficacies. The complex composition of Lonicerae Japonicae Flos results in its extensive pharmacological effects, so the assessment of its quality by only a few index components is not comprehensive. Guided by the quality marker(Q-marker), the present study comprehensively analyzed and predicted the quality connotation of Lonicerae Japonicae Flos based on the chemical composition and component transfer, the phylogenetic relationship, chemical composition effectiveness, measurability, and specificity. Chlorogenic acid, isochlorogenic acids A, B, and C, luteoloside, rutin, sweroside, and secoxyloganin were predicted as candidate Q-markers of Lonicerae Japonicae Flos.

[Identification of Q-markers for Cistanches Herba based on HPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS and network pharmacology].

This study aims to establish a method for analyzing the chemical constituents in Cistanches Herba by high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC) and quadrupole-time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry(HPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS), and to reveal the pharmacological mechanism based on network pharmacology for mining the quality markers(Q-markers) of Cistanches Herba. The chemical constituents of Cistanche deserticola and C. tubulosa were analyzed via HPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS. The potential targets and pathways of Cistanches Herba were predicted via SwissTargetPrediction and DAVID. The compound-target-pathway-pharmacological action-efficacy network was constructed via Cytoscape. A total of 47 chemical constituents were identified, involving 95 targets and 56 signaling pathways. We preliminarily elucidated the pharmacological mechanisms of echinacoside, acteoside, isoacteoside, cistanoside F, 2'-acetylacteoside, cistanoside A, campneoside Ⅱ, salidroside, tubuloside B, 6-deoxycatalpol, 8-epi-loganic acid, ajugol, bartsioside, geniposidic acid, and pinoresinol 4-O-ß-D-glucopyranoside, and predicted them to be the Q-markers of Cistanches Herba. This study identified the chemical constituents of Cistanches Herba, explained the pharmacological mechanism of the traditional efficacy of Cistanches Herba based on network pharmacology, and introduced the core concept of Q-markers to improve the quality evaluation of Cistanches Herba.

[Study on critical quality attributes of Qingjin Huatan Decoction based on serum pharmacochemistry].

Qingjin Huatan Decoction is a classic prescription with the effects of clearing heat, moistening lung, resolving phlegm, and relieving cough. In order to explore the critical quality attributes of Qingjin Huatan Decoction, we identified the blood components of Qingjin Huatan Decoction by ultra-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry(UPLC-Q-TOF-MS) under the following conditions, chromatographic column: Acquity UPLC BEH C_(18) column(2.1 mm×100 mm, 1.7 µm); mobile phase: 0.1% formic acid acetonitrile(A)-0.1% formic acid in water(B); gradient elution; flow rate: 0.2 mL·min~(-1); column temperature: 30 ℃; injection volume: 5 µL. The electrospray ionization(ESI) source was used to collect data in both positive and negative ion modes under the following conditions, capillary voltage: 3 kV for the positive ion mode and 2 kV for the negative ion mode; ion source temperature: 110 ℃; cone voltage: 30 V; cone gas flow rate: 50 L·h~(-1); nitrogen degassing temperature: 350 ℃; degassing volume flow rate: 800 L·h~(-1); scanning range: m/z 50-2 000. In this experiment, a total of 66 related components of Qingjin Huatan Decoction were identified, including 22 prototype components and 44 metabolites. The results of this study preliminarily revealed the pharmacodynamic material basis of Qingjin Huatan Decoction in vivo, which has provided an experimental basis for the determination of quality markers of Qingjin Huatan Decoction and the development of new drugs.

Rapid removal of Cr(III) from high-salinity wastewater by cellulose-g-poly-(acrylamide-co-sulfonic acid) polymeric bio-adsorbent.

A cellulose-g-poly-(acrylamide-co-sulfonic acid) polymeric bio-adsorbent (CASA) was prepared by grafting copolymerization, and used to adsorb Cr(III) from leather wastewater. The SEM, XRD, FTIR, and XPS results showed that CASA contains many spherical particles and functional groups such as NH2, CO, and HSO3. The adsorption experiments revealed that CASA presented excellent adsorption performance for Cr(III) (274.69 mg/g of max adsorption capacity) from high-salinity wastewater, which was much better than other reported adsorbents with different structures. Meanwhile, adsorption equilibrium could be reached within 10 min due to the introduction of abundant sulfonic acid groups on its surface. In addition, the adsorption process followed the Langmuir adsorption isotherm, and the experimental data conformed to the pseudo-second-order kinetics model. Moreover, the main adsorption mechanisms include chelation, electrostatic interactions, and cation exchange, which provide an important theoretical basis for the removal of toxic inorganic pollutants from leather wastewater.

Preparation of Eucommia ulmoides lignin-based high-performance biochar containing sulfonic group: Synergistic pyrolysis mechanism and tetracycline hydrochloride adsorption.

In this study, the sulfonic group was introduced to prepare high-performance Eucommia ulmoides lignin-based biochar, which was used to remove tetracycline hydrochloride. The BET area (2008 m2 g-1) of sulfonated biochar was twice that of unmodified biochar. Through XRD and Raman analysis, the synergetic pyrolysis mechanism of the sulfonic group in the formation of the porous structure was discussed. Sulfonated biochar had excellent adsorption performance for tetracycline hydrochloride (Qm: 1163 mg g-1), while the adsorption performance of unmodified biochar was about only one-fourth (Qm: 277.7 mg g-1) of that. The adsorption of tetracycline hydrochloride by the sulfonated biochar was spontaneously endothermic and conformed to the Langmuir isotherm model. The adsorption process was confirmed by pseudo-second-order kinetic model. Moreover, the sulfonic group on the sulfonated biochar significantly promoted the formation of the hydrogen bond and greatly improved the adsorption performance.

Reference gene selection for qRT-PCR analyses of luffa (Luffa cylindrica) plants under abiotic stress conditions.

Selecting suitable internal reference genes is an important prerequisite for the application of quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). However, no systematic studies have been conducted on reference genes in luffa. In this study, seven reference genes were selected, and their expression levels in luffa plants exposed to various simulated abiotic stresses [i.e., cold, drought, heat, salt, H2O2, and abscisic acid (ABA) treatments] were analyzed by qRT-PCR. The stability of the reference gene expression levels was validated using the geNorm, NormFinder, BestKeeper, and RefFinder algorithms. The results indicated that EF-1α was the most stably expressed and suitable reference gene overall and for the heat, cold, and ABA treatments. Additionally, UBQ expression was stable following the salt treatment, whereas TUB was identified as a suitable reference gene for H2O2 and drought treatments. The reliability of the selected reference genes was verified by analyzing the expression of copper/zinc superoxide dismutase (Cu/Zn-SOD) gene in luffa. When the most unstable reference genes were used for data normalizations, the resulting expression patterns had obvious biases when compared with the expression patterns for the most ideal reference genes used alone or combined. These results will be conducive to more accurate quantification of gene expression levels in luffa.

Adsorption behavior of gardenia yellow pigment on embedded spherical cellulose adsorbent.

A spherical cellulose adsorbent embedded with black wattle extract (SABW) was prepared by an inverse suspension method, and used to adsorb the typical food pigment, gardenia yellow pigment (GYP). Results of SEM, XRD, FTIR and BET characterization showed that SABW was composed of abundant porous structures and functional groups such as -C[double bond, length as m-dash]O, -OH and benzene ring groups. The batch adsorption experiments revealed that SABW presented excellent adsorption performance for GYP with a high adsorption percentage of 97.96%. The adsorption process followed the Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherm, and the experimental data were in good agreement with the pseudo-second order dynamic model. Furthermore, the main adsorption mechanism involved hydrogen bonding, electrostatic interaction and pore adsorption. Importantly, the desorption and regeneration experiments showed that SABW had satisfactory reusability and retained 92.30% adsorption after 4 cycles. The above results provide a vital theoretical basis for the extraction of GYP.

Development and validation of a prognostic nomogram for patients with triple-negative breast cancer with histology of infiltrating duct carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to develop prognostic nomograms from a cohort of patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) with histology of infiltrating duct carcinoma (IDC) by correlating their clinical and pathological parameters with the rates of disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed TNBC patients with histology of IDC at our institution between 2009 and 2012. Age, family history, menopausal status, surgery type, T stage, N stage, histological grade, vascular invasion, perineural invasion, cytokeratin 5/6 status, Ki-67 expression, and epithelial cadherin (E-cadherin) status were analyzed. Predictors were used in multivariable logistic regression analysis to develop a nomogram to predict DFS and OS rates. The nomograms were then subjected to internal validation, with external validation of the nomogram for predicting OS using separate cohorts of TNBC patients known from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Using the concordance index (C-index) with calibration curves, the predictive accuracy and discriminative ability were calculated. RESULTS: A total of 242 eligible TNBC patients were included for analysis. The median follow-up time was 70.73 months. Of the patients, 32.6%, 42.6%, and 24.8% had stage I, II, and III disease, respectively. The 3- and 5-year survival rates were 81.0% and 76.5% for DFS, and 86.5% and 81.1%, for OS, respectively. Age, T stage, N stage, and E-cadherin status were found to be risk factors. The nomograms based on those risk factors accurately predicted the 3- and 5-year survival rates. The C-index was 0.798 and 0.821 for DFS and OS, respectively. Besides, the nomogram for OS showed relatively reliable performance in stratifying different risk groups of patients in training and validation cohorts identified from the TCGA database. The C-index reached 0.843. DFS validation was not completed, as there was insufficient data. CONCLUSIONS: Using clinicopathological information, we produced a prognostic nomogram that accurately predicts the 3- and 5-year DFS and OS for patients with TNBC with histology of IDC. More external confirmation is required.