Preclinical monitoring of radiation-induced brain injury via GluCEST MRI and resting-state fMRI at 7 T: an exploratory study on MRI-guided OAR avoidance.

PURPOSE: To assess the value of glutamate chemical exchange saturation transfer (GluCEST) after whole-brain radiotherapy (WBRT) as an imaging marker of radiation-induced brain injury (RBI) and to preliminarily show the feasibility of multiparametric MRI-guided organ at risk (OAR) avoidance. METHODS: Rats were divided into two groups: the control (CTRL) group (n = 9) and the RBI group (n = 9). The rats in the RBI group were irradiated with an X­ray radiator and then subjected to a water maze experiment 4 weeks later. In combination with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), we evaluated the value of GluCEST applied to glutamate changes for RBI and investigated the effect of such changes on glutamatergic neuronal function. RESULTS: The average GluCEST values were markedly lower in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex. Positive correlations were observed between GluCEST values and regional homogeneity (ReHo) values in both the hippocampus and the cerebral cortex. HPLC showed a positive correlation with GluCEST values in the hippocampus. GluCEST values were positively correlated with spatial memory. CONCLUSION: GluCEST MRI provides a visual assessment of glutamate changes in RBI rats for monitoring OAR cognitive toxicity reactions and may be used as a biomarker of OAR avoidance as well as metabolism to facilitate monitoring and intervention in radiation damage that occurs after radiotherapy.

A comparative review of the application value of FAPI PET/CT and 18F-FDG PET/CT in lung cancer.

Fibroblast activation protein inhibitor (FAPI) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) is a multimodal imaging technique that combines PET and CT, utilizing FAP inhibitors as radiotracers. Fibroblast activation protein, a serine protease highly expressed in many epithelial tumor-associated fibroblasts, plays a crucial role in tumor stroma formation and remodeling. Through the detection of FAP expression, FAPI PET/CT facilitates the diagnosis and staging of both benign and malignant pulmonary tumors. In contrast to traditional fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) PET/CT focusing on glucose metabolism, FAPI PET/CT offers benefits such as enhanced specificity, reduced background noise, accelerated imaging speed, and decreased radiation exposure. This review provides an overview of the progress in applying FAPI PET/CT and 18F-FDG PET/CT in pulmonary malignancies and discusses current challenges and future prospects.

Effects of epigallocatechin gallate, caffeine, and their combination on fat accumulation in high-glucose diet-fed Caenorhabditis elegans.

Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) and caffeine are inevitable to be ingested together in the process of drinking green tea. This study used Caenorhabditis elegans as an organism model to examine whether the binding of EGCG and caffeine could influence the fat-reduction effect. The results revealed that EGCG significantly reduced the Nile Red fluorescence intensity and the triglyceride/protein ratio of the C. elegans obesity model by 14.7% and 16.5%, respectively, while the effect of caffeine was not significant. Moreover, the degree of reduction in fluorescence intensity and triglyceride/protein ratio by EGCG + caffeine was comparable to that of EGCG. In the exploration of underlying mechanism, we found that EGCG and EGCG + caffeine treatments had no influence on food intake and energy expenditure of C. elegans. Their fat-reduction effects were dependent on the regulation of lipogenesis, as shown by the decreased expression of the sbp-1, fat-7, and daf-16 genes.

Purification of total flavonoids from Ginkgo biloba flowers with resin column chromatography and evaluation of antioxidant activities in vitro.

Purification of total flavonoids from Ginkgo biloba flowers (GBF) extracts were studied using six resins. Adsorption-desorption experiments indicated that polyamide resin is the most suitable resin. The optimal purification process of total flavonoids of GBF was as follows: a loading concentration of 5.85 mg/mL, a loading volume of 1 bed volume (BV), a loading flow rate of 2 BV/h, a water volume of 2.67 BV, and a desorption solution of 40% ethanol. Under these conditions, the maximum purity of total flavonoids was 37.1 ± 1.1%. The antioxidant activity of purified flavonoids was further evaluated in vitro. It showed that the 40% ethanol purified fraction (Fr. B) group had the strongest antioxidant activity of the 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity concentration for 50% of maximal effect (EC50, 145.4 ± 13.8 µg/mL) and ferric reducing ability (2.5 ± 0.2 mM FeSO4 equivalent mg-1 Fr. B). In addition, at the concentration of 160 µg/mL, the Fr. B strikingly increased the viability rate of hydrogen peroxide stimulated PC-12 cells to normal levels (***p < 0.001). This method provides a basis for the application and development of GBF resources. It indicated that the purified GBF flavonoids can be used as a source of potential antioxidant.

Scheduling and Sizing of Campus Microgrid Considering Demand Response and Economic Analysis.

Current energy systems face multiple problems related to inflation in energy prices, reduction of fossil fuels, and greenhouse gas emissions which are disturbing the comfort zone of energy consumers and the affordability of power for large commercial customers. These kinds of problems can be alleviated with the help of optimal planning of demand response policies and with distributed generators in the distribution system. The objective of this article is to give a strategic proposition of an energy management system for a campus microgrid (µG) to minimize the operating costs and to increase the self-consuming energy of the green distributed generators (DGs). To this end, a real-time based campus is considered that currently takes provision of its loads from the utility grid only. According to the proposed given scenario, it will contain solar panels and a wind turbine as non-dispatchable DGs while a diesel generator is considered as a dispatchable DG. It also incorporates an energy storage system with optimal sizing of BESS to tackle the multiple disturbances that arise from solar radiation. The resultant problem of linear mathematics was simulated and plotted in MATLAB with mixed-integer linear programming. Simulation results show that the proposed given model of energy management (EMS) minimizes the grid electricity costs by 668.8 CC/day ($) which is 36.6% of savings for the campus microgrid. The economic prognosis for the campus to give an optimum result for the UET Taxila, Campus was also analyzed. The general effect of a medium-sized solar PV installation on carbon emissions and energy consumption costs was also determined. The substantial environmental and economic benefits compared to the present situation have prompted the campus owners to invest in the DGs and to install large-scale energy storage.

Optimal Energy Management System of IoT-Enabled Large Building Considering Electric Vehicle Scheduling, Distributed Resources, and Demand Response Schemes.

In the energy system, various sources are used to fulfill the energy demand of large buildings. The energy management of large-scale buildings is very important. The proposed system comprises solar PVs, energy storage systems, and electric vehicles. Demand response (DR) schemes are considered in various studies, but the analysis of the impact of dynamic DR on operational cost has been ignored. So, in this paper, renewable energy resources and storages are integrated considering the demand response strategies such as real-time pricing (RTP), critical peak pricing (CPP), and time of use (ToU). The proposed system is mapped in a linear model and simulated in MATLAB using linear programming (LP). Different case studies are investigated considering the dynamic demand response schemes. Among different schemes, results based on real-time pricing (58% saving) show more saving as compared to the CPP and ToU. The obtained results reduced the operational cost and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which shows the efficacy of the model.

The association between ERK inhibitor sensitivity and molecular characteristics in colorectal cancer.

The mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway plays an important role in the colorectal cancer (CRC) progression, being supposed to be activated by the gene mutations, such as BRAF or KRAS. Although the inhibitors of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) have demonstrated efficacy in the cells with the BRAF or KRAS mutations, a clinical response is not always associated with the molecular signature. The patient-derived organoids (PDO) have emerged as a powerful in vitro model system to study cancer, and it has been widely applied for the drug screening. The present study aims to analyze the association between the molecular characteristics which analyzed by next-generation sequencing (NGS) and sensitivity to the ERK inhibitor (i.e., SCH772984) in PDO derived from CRC specimens. A drug sensitivity test for the SCH772984 was conducted using 14 CRC cell lines, and the results demonstrated that the sensitivity was in agreement with the BRAF mutation, but was not completely consistent with the KRAS status. In the drug sensitivity test for PDO, 6 out of 7 cases with either BRAF or KRAS mutations showed sensitivity to the SCH772984, while 5 out of 6 cases of both BRAF and KRAS wild-types were resistant. The results of this study suggested that the molecular status of the clinical specimens are likely to represent the sensitivity in the PDOs but is not necessarily absolutely overlapping. PDO might be able to complement the limitations of the gene panel and have the potential to provide a novel precision medicine.

Genome analysis of Salmonella phage vB_SalM_8-19 (genus Rosemountvirus).

This work describes the characterization and genome annotation of Salmonella phage vB_SalM_8-19 (referred to as 8-19) isolated from sewage samples collected in a pig farm in Jilin, China. This phage was capable of infecting 60% Salmonella strains in our lab stock. The genome of phage 8-19 is composed of linear double-stranded DNA that is 52,648 bp in length with a G + C content of 46.02%; containing 74 ORFs and no tRNA genes. In October 2019, phylogenetic analyses indicated that phage 8-19 might belong to a novel cluster among the other similar phages which have not been specifically classified within some new genus in family Myoviridae. Recently, the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) defined phage 8-19 and its related phages as genus Rosemountvirus, family Myoviridae. This new genus, known as Rosemountvirus, is rarely reported in the literature.

Surgical treatment of esophageal cancer with anomaly of the aortic arch and its branches.

BACKGROUND: Anomalies of the aortic arch and its branches rarely develop. The surgery for esophageal cancer may be challenging with the presence of these anomalies. This study is aimed to analyze the influence of these variations during the esophagectomy. METHODS: A total of 21 patients with aortic arch and brachiocephalic vessel variations were retrospectively identified from 2013 to 2019. Anomalies were distributed: 15 patients with left-sided aortic arch combined with aberrant right subclavian artery (LAA + ARSA), 2 right-sided aortic arch with mirror-image arch branches (RAA + MIAB), and 4 right-sided aortic arch combined with aberrant left subclavian artery (RAA + ALSA). Perioperative characteristics and long-term survival were analyzed. RESULTS: Tumors were mostly located in the upper and middle thorax (42.9% and 47.6%, respectively). Of the 15 patients with LAA + ARSA, 13 underwent McKeown esophagectomy and 2 via transhiatal approach. Left thoracotomy was performed on all 6 patients with RAA. The R0 resection rate was 90.5% (19/21). Recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) injury occurred in 2 patients. Two patients died within 30 days postoperatively. Lymph node yield was 23.6 ± 1.2, with a metastasis rate of 38.1% (8/21). The median follow-up time was 18 months. Recurrence occurred in 6 patients (11-35 months) and 4 patients died after recurrence with a median time to death of 21 months (8-47 months). CONCLUSION: For resectable esophageal cancer combined with aortic arch and its branches anomalies, satisfactory surgical results can be obtained under careful preoperative evaluation and reasonable surgical approach selection.

The long-term survival of patients with III-IVb stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma treated with IMRT with or without Nimotuzumab: a propensity score-matched analysis.

BACKGROUND: To assess the efficacy of Nimotuzumab in combination with first-line chemoradiotherapy treatment in Chinese patients with primary III-IVb stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma. METHODS: Patients with primary locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma who were treated with intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and concurrent cisplatin-based chemotherapy between January 2008 and December 2013 at a single institution were retrospectively reviewed. Group A received at least 6 doses of Nimotuzumab, while Group B did not receive Nimotuzumab. A propensity score matching method was used to match patients from each group in a 1:3 ratio. RESULTS: In total, 730 eligible patients were propensity matched, with 184 patients in Group A and 546 patients in Group B. Significant differences were not observed in the patient and tumor characteristics between Group A and Group B. At a median follow-up of 74.78 months (range 3.53-117.83 months), locoregional recurrence, distant failure and death were observed in 10.68, 11.10 and 16.03% of all patients, respectively. The estimated 5-year locoregional relapse-free survival, distant metastasis-free survival, progression-free survival and overall survival in the Group A versus Group B were 85.34% versus 89.79% (P = 0.156), 93.09% versus 85.61% (P = 0.012), 79.96% versus 77.99% (P = 0.117) and 88.91% versus 78.30% (P = 0.006), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This nimotuzumab-containing regimen resulted in improved long-term survival of III-IVb stage NPC patients and warrants further prospective evaluation.

Identification of somatic genetic alterations in ovarian clear cell carcinoma with next generation sequencing.

Ovarian clear cell carcinoma (OCCC) is the most refractory subtype of ovarian cancer and more prevalent in Japanese than Caucasians (25% and 5% of all ovarian cancer, respectively). The aim of this study is to discover the genomic alterations that may cause OCCC and effective molecular targets for chemotherapy. Paired genomic DNAs of 48 OCCC tissues and corresponding noncancerous tissues were extracted from formalin-fixed, paraffin embedded specimens collected between 2007 and 2015 at Tohoku University Hospital. All specimens underwent exome sequencing and the somatic genetic alterations were identified. We divided the cases into three clusters based on the mutation spectra. Clinical characteristics such as age of onset and endometriosis are similar among the clusters but one cluster shows mutations related to APOBEC activation, indicating its contribution to subset of OCCC cases. There are three hypermutated cases (showing 12-fold or higher somatic mutations than the other 45 cases) and they have germline and somatic mismatch repair gene alterations. The frequently mutated genes are ARID1A (66.7%), PIK3CA (50%), PPP2R1A (18.8%), and KRAS (16.7%). Somatic mutations important for selection of chemotherapeutic agents, such as BRAF, ERBB2, PDGFRB, PGR, and KRAS are found in 27.1% of OCCC cases, indicating clinical importance of exome analysis for OCCC. Our study suggests that the genetic instability caused by either mismatch repair defect or activation of APOBEC play critical roles in OCCC carcinogenesis.

Efficacy of internal fixation with mini plate and internal fixation with hollow screw for Regan-Morrey type II and III ulna coronoid fractures.

BACKGROUND: Ulna coronoid fracture is a complicated injury and occurred in the coronal plane. Undeniably, there is no universally accepted approach for treating ulna coronoid fractures. Therefore, this study aimed at exploring the efficacy of different surgical treatments for Regan-Morrey type II and III ulna coronoid fractures. METHODS: A total of 164 patients with ulna coronoid fractures were admitted and treated in department of orthopedics at Yiwu Central Hospital, the Affiliated Yiwu Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University for retrospective analysis. The baseline features (age, gender, time from injury to surgery and so on) before the surgery and different conditions during the surgery were compared. Following that, the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) pain score was employed to evaluate the severity of preoperative and postoperative pain experienced by the patients in each group. Afterwards, Broberg and Morrey elbow score was used to evaluate elbow joint function and surgical effect of the patients. Lastly, the postoperative recovery and complications were compared. RESULTS: It was firstly observed that internal fixation with mini plate and hollow screw compelled to lower average operation time and blood loss than Kirschner wire and steel wire suture. Next, the severity of postoperative pain was lessened in comparison with preoperative pain. Afterwards, mini plate and hollow screw improved elbow joint function more notable than Kirschner wire and steel wire suture, and Kirschner wire and steel wire suture resulted in higher incidence of complications and worse postoperative recovery. CONCLUSION: Collectively, this study clarified that for the treatment of Regan-Morrey type II and III ulna coronoid fractures, internal fixation with mini plate and hollow screw has an overall superior surgical effect than internal fixation with Kirschner wire and steel wire suture.

Nanoclusters of CaSe in calcium-doped Bi2Se3 grown by molecular-beam epitaxy.

In calcium (Ca) doped Bi2Se3 films grown by molecular beam epitaxy, nanoclusters of CaSe are revealed by high-angle annular dark field imaging and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy analysis using a scanning transmission electron microscope. As the interface between the ordinary insulator CaSe and topological insulator, Bi2Se3, can host topological nontrivial interface state, this represents an interesting material system for further studies. We show by first principles total energy calculations that aggregation of Ca atoms in Bi2Se3 is driven by energy minimization and a preferential intercalation of Ca in the van der Waals gap between quintuple layers of Bi2Se3 induces reordering of atomic stacking and causes an increasing amount of stacking faults in film. The above findings also provide an explanation of less-than-expected electrical carrier (hole) concentrations in Ca-doped samples.

Synthesis, Crystal Structure, and Catalytic Property of Dioxomolybdenum(VI) Complex Derived from 4-Bromo-N'-(4-diethylamino-2-hydroxybenzylidene) benzohydrazide.

A novel dioxomolybdenum(VI) complex, [MoO2L(MeOH)], where L is the anion of 4-bromo-N'-(4-diethylamino-2-hydroxybenzylidene)benzohydrazide, has been synthesized and characterized by physico-chemical methods and single crystal X-ray determination. In the complex the Mo atom is in octahedral coordination, with three donor atoms of the hydrazone ligand, two oxo groups, and one methanol O atom. The complex exhibits catalytic property for the sulfoxidation reactions. In the presence of the complex a 93% conversion of the sulfide to the corresponding sulfoxide was observed within 60 min and the 100% conversion was achieved after 2 h.

Cytokine profile in Nigerians with tubal infertility.

INTRODUCTION: Immune response to genital Chlamydia trachomatis infection is involved in both immunity and pathology. The cytokine profile during infection has been implicated in the disease outcome, either resolution or severe sequelae. Serum cytokines of Chlamydia positive Nigerian women with tubal infertility were assessed to determine their possible relationship with tubal occlusion. MATERIAL AND METHODS: One hundred and fifty age-matched consenting women (100 fertile and 50 with tubal infertility) were recruited based on C. trachomatis antibody positivity and grouped into infertile Chlamydia positive (CTpos) women (n = 50), fertile Chlamydia positive women (n = 50) and fertile Chlamydia negative (CTneg) women as controls (n = 50). High vaginal swabs and endo-cervical swabs were collected for microscopy, culture and gram staining. Cytokines [transforming growth factor ß1 (TGF-ß1), interferon γ (IFN-γ), tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), interleukin (IL)-4, IL-10 and IL-17A] were estimated by ELISA in sera. Data were analyzed using ANOVA, χ (2) and Spearman's correlation at p = 0.05. RESULTS: Lower IFN-γ levels were observed in infertile women compared to fertile women. Fertile CTneg women had significantly higher TNF-α, and TGF-ß1 compared to fertile and infertile CTpos women, respectively. Lower IL-10 levels were seen in fertile CTpos women compared to the infertile CTpos group. Vaginal discharge was negatively correlated with TNF-α and IFN-γ and positively with IL-4 in Chlamydia positive women. CONCLUSIONS: Chlamydia positive women with tubal infertility have higher IL-10 and lower IFN-γ levels than controls, which may contribute to their development of tubal pathology.

[Discovering L-type calcium channels inhibitors of antihypertensive drugs based on drug repositioning].

This study was amid to construct the pharmacophore model of L-type calcium channel antagonist in the application of screening Drugbank and TCMD. This paper repositions the approved drugs resulting from virtual screening and discusses the relocation-based drug discovery methods, screening antihypertensive drugs with L-type calcium channel function from TCMD. Qualitative hypotheses wre generated by HipHop separately on the basis of 12 compounds with antagonistic action on L-type calcium channel expressed in rabbit cardiac muscle. Datebase searching method was used to evaluate the generated hypotheses. The optimum hypothesis was used to search Drugbank and TCMD. This paper repositions the approved drugs and evaluates the antihypertensive effect of the chemical constituent of traditional Chinese medicine resulting from virtual screening by the matching score and literature. The results showed that optimum qualitative hypothesis is with six features, which were two hydrogen-bond acceptors, four hydrophobic groups, and the CAI value of 2.78. Screening Drugbank achieves 93 approved drugs. Screening TCMD achieves 285 chemical constituents of traditional Chinese medicine. It was concluded that the hypothesis is reliable and can be used to screen datebase. The approved drugs resulting from virtual screening, such as pravastatin, are potentially L-type calcium channels inhibitors. The chemical constituents of traditional Chinese medicine, such as Arctigenin III and Arctigenin are potentially antihypertensive drugs. It indicates that Drug Repositioning based on hypothesis is possible.