Reconfigurable DNA Nanocage for Protein Encapsulation and Regulation.

Creating nanomachines capable of precisely capturing, organizing, and regulating the activity of target biomolecules holds profound significance for advancing nanotechnology and therapeutics. Here, we develop a multistage reconfigurable DNA nanocage that can enclose and modulate proteins through multivalent interactions, activated by specific molecular signals. By strategically designing and manipulating the strut architecture of the DNA nanocages, we can achieve precise control over their reconfiguration among pyramid, square, and linear branch shapes. Additionally, we demonstrated its ability to capture thrombin and effectively inhibit its coagulation activity by incorporating two thrombin-targeting aptamers into the designed arms of the DNA nanocage. The activity of thrombin can be recovered by rearranging the conformation of the DNA nanocage and exposing the protein, thereby activating the coagulation process. This approach enriches the design toolbox for dynamic nanomachines and inspires a new strategy for protein encapsulation and regulation with potential future therapeutic applications.

Single-test Ritchey-Common interferometry.

The Ritchey-Common test is widely adopted to measure large optical flats. The traditional Ritchey-Common test eliminates the defocus error with multiple tests by changing the position of the mirrors, which suffers from cumbersome steps, poor repeatability, coupled system error, extra mirror deformation, and potential overturning. The above problems increase the test time, decrease the reliability and accuracy, increase the test cost, and threaten manufacturing safety. We propose a single-test Ritchey-Common interferometry to avoid the obligatory position change in the traditional method. A sub-aperture of test flat is directly measured by a small-aperture interferometer before the test, which is easy to implement, to replace the extra system wavefront measurement in different positions. The defocus is calculated in sub-aperture at exactly the same position as the full-field measurement without the position change, then the surface form under test can be obtained with accurate optical path modeling. Measurement experiments for 100 mm and 2050 mm aperture flats were performed to demonstrate the feasibility of this method. Compared with a direct test in a standard Zygo interferometer, the peak to valley (PV) and root mean square (RMS) errors were 0.0889 λ and 0.0126 λ (λ=632.8 nm), respectively, which reaches the upper limit of accuracy of the interferometer. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first proposal of the Ritchey-Common test that can eliminate the defocus error and realize high accuracy measurement in a single test. Our work paves the way for reliable and practical optical metrology for large optical flats.

Native Approach to Controlled-Z Gates in Inductively Coupled Fluxonium Qubits.

The fluxonium qubits have emerged as a promising platform for gate-based quantum information processing. However, their extraordinary protection against charge fluctuations comes at a cost: when coupled capacitively, the qubit-qubit interactions are restricted to XX interactions. Consequently, effective ZZ or XZ interactions are only constructed either by temporarily populating higher-energy states, or by exploiting perturbative effects under microwave driving. Instead, we propose and demonstrate an inductive coupling scheme, which offers a wide selection of native qubit-qubit interactions for fluxonium. In particular, we leverage a built-in, flux-controlled ZZ interaction to perform qubit entanglement. To combat the increased flux-noise-induced dephasing away from the flux-insensitive position, we use a continuous version of the dynamical decoupling scheme to perform noise filtering. Combining these, we demonstrate a 20 ns controlled-z gate with a mean fidelity of 99.53%. More than confirming the efficacy of our gate scheme, this high-fidelity result also reveals a promising but rarely explored parameter space uniquely suitable for gate operations between fluxonium qubits.

HAIC Combined with lenvatinib plus PD-1 versus lenvatinib Plus PD-1 in patients with high-risk advanced HCC: a real-world study.

BACKGROUND: The treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients exhibiting high-risk characteristics (Vp4, and/or bile duct invasion, and/or tumor occupancy ≥ 50%) lacks standardized approaches and yields unfavorable results. This study endeavors to evaluate the safety, efficacy, and prognostic impacts of employing hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy (HAIC), lenvatinib, and humanized programmed death receptor-1 (PD-1) in the treatment of high-risk HCC patients. METHODS: In this retrospective analysis, HCC patients with high-risk features were treated with either lenvatinib combined with PD-1 (LEN-PD1) or a combination of HAIC, lenvatinib, and PD-1 (HAIC-LEN-PD1). The study assessed the antitumor efficacy by calculating overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), objective response rate (ORR), and disease control rate (DCR). Treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs) were analyzed to assess the safety profiles. RESULTS: Between June 2019 and September 2022, a total of 61 patients were included in the LEN-PD1 group, while 103 patients were enrolled in the HAIC-LEN-PD1 group. The OS was 9.8 months in the LEN-PD1 group, whereas the HAIC-LEN-PD1 group exhibited a significantly longer median OS of 19.3 months (HR = 0.43, p < 0.001). Furthermore, PFS was notably extended in the HAIC-LEN-PD1 group compared to the LEN-PD1 group (9.6 months vs. 4.9 months, HR = 0.48, p < 0.001). Patients in the HAIC-LEN-PD1 group had a higher ORR and DCR according to the modified RECIST (76.7% vs. 23.0%, p < 0.001; 92.2% vs. 72.1%, p = 0.001). HAIC-LEN-HAIC group led to more adverse events than LEN-PD1 group, most of which were tolerable and controllable. CONCLUSION: Lenvatinib, HAIC and PD-1 showed safe and promising anti-tumor activity compared with lenvatinib alone for HCC with high-risk features.

APOE Genotype Modifies the Association between Midlife Adherence to the Planetary Healthy Diet and Cognitive Function in Later Life among Chinese Adults in Singapore.

BACKGROUND: It remains unclear if adherence to the planetary healthy diet (PHD), designed to improve human and environmental health, is associated with better cognitive function in aging, and if this association differs by apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to examine the association between the PHD pattern and risk of poor cognitive function, and to further assess whether the APOE ε4 allele could modify this association. METHODS: The study included 16,736 participants from the Singapore Chinese Health Study. The PHD score was calculated using data from a validated 165-item food frequency questionnaire at baseline (1993-1998), with higher scores indicating greater adherence to the PHD. Cognitive function was assessed by the Singapore-modified Mini-Mental State Examination at follow-up 3 visits (2014-2016). A subset of 9313 participants had APOE genotype data. Logistic regression models were used to estimate the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs), with adjustment for potential confounders. RESULTS: We identified 2397 (14.3%) cases of poor cognitive function. In the total population, OR (95% CI) of poor cognitive function for each one-SD increment in the PHD score was 0.89 (0.85, 0.93). Carriers of APOE ε4 allele had increased risk of poor cognitive function (OR: 1.36, 95% CI: 1.15, 1.61). There was a significant interaction between the PHD score and the APOE ε4 allele (P-interaction = 0.042). Each one-SD increment in the PHD score was significantly associated with lower risk of poor cognitive function (OR: 0.89; 95% CI: 0.83, 0.96) in non-carriers of APOE ε4 allele, but not in APOE ε4 allele carriers (OR: 1.04, 95% CI: 0.89, 1.23). CONCLUSIONS: Midlife adherence to the PHD was associated with reduced risk of poor cognitive function in later life. However, this was not observed in carriers of APOE ε4 allele who had higher risk of poor cognitive function.

Lenvatinib targets STAT-1 to enhance the M1 polarization of TAMs during hepatocellular carcinoma progression.

Lenvatinib, a multitarget kinase inhibitor, has been proven to be effective in the treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. It has been previously demonstrated that tumour associated macrophages (TAMs) in tumour tissues can promote HCC growth, invasion and metastasis. Furthermore, lenvatinib has certain immunomodulatory effects on the treatment of HCC. However, the role of lenvatinib in macrophage polarization during HCC treatment has not been fully explored. In this study, we used a variety of experimental methods both in vitro and in vivo to investigate the effect of lenvatinib on TAMs during HCC progression. This study is the first to show that lenvatinib can alter macrophage polarization in both humans and mice. Moreover, macrophages treated with lenvatinib in vitro displayed enhanced classically activated macrophages (M1) activity and suppressed liver cancer cell proliferation, invasion, and migration. Furthermore, during the progression of M1 macrophage polarization induced by lenvatinib, STAT-1 was the main target transcription factor, and inhibiting STAT-1 activity reversed the effect of lenvatinib. Overall, the present study provides a theoretical basis for the immunomodulatory function of lenvatinib in the treatment of HCC.

A convolutional neural network-based system for identifying neuroendocrine neoplasm and multiple types of lesions in the pancreas via endoscopic ultrasound (with videos).

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) is sensitive in detecting pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasm (pNEN). However, the endoscopic diagnosis of pNEN is operator-dependent and time-consuming since pNEN mimics normal pancreas and other pancreatic lesions. We intended to develop a convolutional neural network (CNN)-based system named iEUS for identifying pNEN and multiple types of pancreatic lesions via EUS. METHODS: Retrospective data of 12,200 EUS images obtained from pNEN and non-pNEN pancreatic lesions, including pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP), and pancreatic cystic neoplasm (PCN), were used to develop iEUS. It was composed of a two-category (pNEN/ non-pNEN pancreatic lesion) classification model (CNN1) and a four-category (pNEN/ PDAC/ AIP/ PCN) classification model (CNN2). Videos from consecutive patients were prospectively collected for a human-iEUS contest to evaluate the performance of iEUS. RESULTS: A total of 573 patients were enrolled in this study. In the human-iEUS contest containing 203 videos, CNN1 and CNN2 showed an accuracy of 84.2% and 88.2% for diagnosing pNEN, respectively, which were significantly higher than that of novices (75.4%) and comparable with intermediate endosonographers (85.5%) and experts (85.5%). In addition, CNN2 showed an accuracy of 86.2%, 97.0%, and 97.0% for diagnosing PDAC, AIP, and PCN, respectively. With the assistance of iEUS, the sensitivity of endosonographers at all three levels in diagnosing pNEN has significantly improved (64.6% vs. 44.8%, 87.5% vs. 71.9%, 74.0% vs. 57.6%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The iEUS precisely diagnosed pNEN and other confusing pancreatic lesions, thus could assist endosonographers in achieving more accessible and accurate endoscopic diagnoses via EUS.

The predictive value of albumin to alkaline phosphatase ratio for vertebral refractures in postmenopausal women.

INTRODUCTION: To investigate the clinical value of serum albumin to alkaline phosphatase ratio (AAPR) in predicting the risk of osteoporotic vertebral refractures group (OVRFs) after percutaneous vertebral augmentation (PVA) in postmenopausal women. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a retrospective case-control study including a series of postmenopausal women patients with osteoporotic vertebral fracture (OVF) and underwent PVA. Patients were divided into OVRFs and non-OVRFs. COX model was used to evaluate the correlation between preoperative AAPR and OVRFs after PVA. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and Kaplan-Meier method were used to analyze the predictive value of AAPR for the incidence of OVRFs. RESULTS: A total of 305 patients were included in the final study, and the incidence of postoperative OVRFs was 28.9%. Multivariate COX analysis showed that advanced age (HRs = 1.062, p = 0.002), low BMI (HRs = 0.923, p = 0.036), low AAPR (HRs = 0.019, p = 0.001), previous fall history (HRs = 3.503, p = 0.001), denosumab treatment (HRs = 0.409, p = 0.007), low L3 BMD (HRs = 0.977, p = 0.001) and low L3 paravertebral muscle density (PMD)value (HRs = 0.929, p = 0.001)) were closely related to the incidence of OVRFs. The area under the curve (AUC) of AAPR for predicting OVRFs was 0.740 (p < 0.001), and the optimal diagnostic cut-off value was 0.49. Kaplan-Meier curve analysis showed that low AAPR group (< 0.49) was significantly associated with lower OVRFs-free survival (p = 0.001; log-rank test). CONCLUSION: AAPR is an independent risk factor for OVRFs after PVA in postmenopausal women, and it can be used as an effective index to predict OVRFs.

Systemic Chemotherapy with or without Hepatic Arterial Infusion Chemotherapy for Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma with Extrahepatic Oligometastasis: A Propensity Score-Matched Analysis.

PURPOSE: To compare the effectiveness of hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy (HAIC) plus systemic chemotherapy (SYS) with that of SYS alone in patients with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) with extrahepatic oligometastasis in terms of overall survival (OS) and mortality related to liver failure. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Consecutive patients diagnosed with ICC with extrahepatic oligometastasis who received either HAIC plus SYS or SYS alone between January 2019 and January 2021 were included in this retrospective cohort study. Propensity score matching (PSM) analysis was performed to address potential confounding factors. OS, progression-free survival (PFS), and intrahepatic progression-free survival (IPFS) were analyzed. The occurrence of death due to liver failure was also assessed. RESULTS: The study included a total of 179 patients, with 96 receiving SYS alone and 83 receiving HAIC plus SYS. After PSM, 83 pairs were included for further analysis. The median OS and IPFS were significantly longer in the HAIC plus SYS group compared to the SYS alone group (OS: 15.8 months vs 12.7 months; P = .023; IPFS: 9.7 vs 6.1 months; P < .001). No difference was found in PFS between the 2 groups. The HAIC plus SYS group had a significantly lower rate of mortality due to liver failure compared to the SYS alone group (42% vs 72%; P = .002). CONCLUSIONS: HAIC plus SYS is a promising treatment approach for patients with ICC and extrahepatic oligometastasis with improved OS, IPFS, and freedom from liver failure mortality compared with SYS alone.

Design and construction of chemical-biological module clusters for degradation and assimilation of poly(ethylene terephthalate) waste.

The rising accumulation of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) waste presents an urgent ecological challenge, necessitating an efficient and economical treatment technology. Here, we developed chemical-biological module clusters that perform chemical pretreatment, enzymatic degradation, and microbial assimilation for the large-scale treatment of PET waste. This module cluster included (i) a chemical pretreatment that involves incorporating polycaprolactone (PCL) at a weight ratio of 2% (PET:PCL = 98:2) into PET via mechanical blending, which effectively reduces the crystallinity and enhances degradation; (ii) enzymatic degradation using Thermobifida fusca cutinase variant (4Mz), that achieves complete degradation of pretreated PET at 300 g/L PET, with an enzymatic loading of 1 mg protein per gram of PET; and (iii) microbial assimilation, where Rhodococcus jostii RHA1 metabolizes the degradation products, assimilating each monomer at a rate above 90%. A comparative life cycle assessment demonstrated that the carbon emissions from our module clusters (0.25 kg CO2-eq/kg PET) are lower than those from other established approaches. This study pioneers a closed-loop system that seamlessly incorporates pretreatment, degradation, and assimilation processes, thus mitigating the environmental impacts of PET waste and propelling the development of a circular PET economy.

A chromosome-level genome assembly of Hong Kong catfish (Clarias fuscus) uncovers a sex-determining region.

BACKGROUND: Hong Kong catfish (Clarias fuscus) is an ecologically and economically important species that is widely distributed in freshwater regions of southern China. Hong Kong catfish has significant sexual growth dimorphism. The genome assembly of the Hong Kong catfish would facilitate study of the sex determination and evolution mechanism of the species. RESULTS: The first high-quality chromosome-level genome of the Hong Kong catfish was constructed. The total genome was 933.4 Mb, with 416 contigs and a contig N50 length of 8.52 Mb. Using high-throughput chromosome conformation capture (Hi-C) data, the genome assembly was divided into 28 chromosomes with a scaffold N50 length of 36.68 Mb. A total of 23,345 protein-coding genes were predicted in the genome, and 94.28% of the genes were functionally annotated in public databases. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that C. fuscus and Clarias magur diverged approximately 63.7 million years ago. The comparative genome results showed that a total of 60 unique, 353 expanded and 851 contracted gene families were identified in Hong Kong catfish. A sex-linked quantitative trait locus identified in a previous study was located in a sex-determining region of 30.26 Mb (0.02 to 30.28 Mb) on chromosome 13 (Chr13), the predicted Y chromosome. This QTL region contained 785 genes, of which 18 were identified as sex-related genes. CONCLUSIONS: This study is the first to report the chromosome-level genome assembly of Hong Kong catfish. The study provides an excellent genetic resource that will facilitate future studies of sex determination mechanisms and evolution in fish.

PI3K/AKT pathway promotes keloid fibroblasts proliferation by enhancing glycolysis under hypoxia.

Our previous study demonstrated altered glucose metabolism and enhanced phosphorylation of the PI3K/AKT pathway in keloid fibroblasts (KFb) under hypoxic conditions. However, whether the PI3K/AKT pathway influences KFb cell function by regulating glucose metabolism under hypoxic conditions remains unclear. Here, we show that when PI3K/AKT pathway was inactivated with LY294002, the protein expression of glycolytic enzymes decreased, while the amount of mitochondria and mitochondrial membrane potential increased. The key parameters of extracellular acidification rate markedly diminished, and those of oxygen consumption rate significantly increased after inhibition of the PI3K/AKT pathway. When the PI3K/AKT pathway was suppressed, the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and mitochondrial ROS (mitoROS) were significantly increased. Meanwhile, cell proliferation, migration and invasion were inhibited, and apoptosis was increased when the PI3K/AKT pathway was blocked. Additionally, cell proliferation was compromised when KFb were treated with both SC79 (an activator of the PI3K/AKT pathway) and 2-deoxy-d-glucose (an inhibitor of glycolysis), compared with the SC79 group. Moreover, a positive feedback mechanism was demonstrated between the PI3K/AKT pathway and hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α). Our data collectively demonstrated that the PI3K/AKT pathway promotes proliferation and inhibits apoptosis in KFb under hypoxia by regulating glycolysis, indicating that the PI3K/AKT signalling pathway could be a therapeutic target for keloids.

Adding glucose delays the conversion of ethanol and acetic acid to caproic acid in Lacrimispora celerecrescens JSJ-1.

Caproic acid is an important fatty acid with diverse applications. In this study, the biomass growth and metabolites of Lacrimispora celerecrescens JSJ-1 were investigated under different carbon sources (ethanol, starch, sucrose, and glucose), with a focus on the effect of the coexistence of glucose and ethanol on the synthesis of caproic acid. The results showed that starch, glucose, and sucrose all contributed to the biomass of L. celerecrescens JSJ-1. Under the three carbon sources, L. celerecrescens JSJ-1 produced acetic acid, butyric acid, lactic acid, ethanol, and butanol, but caproic acid was not produced. Ethanol was the optimal substrate for the production of caproic acid. When glucose and ethanol coexisted, the generation time of caproic acid was delayed compared with that in ethanol sodium acetate medium (ES medium). This was because glucose was preferentially consumed over ethanol. Lactic acid was generated as a result of glucose consumption, which led to a significant decrease in pH from 6.45 to 4.68. The low pH (< 5) inhibited the synthesis of caproic acid. Then, the strain's usage of lactic acid and the reaction between CaCO3 and lactic acid caused the pH to increase. L. celerecrescens JSJ-1 did not start producing caproic acid using ethanol and acetic acid until the pH increased to 5.8. This research enriches the knowledge regarding the metabolism of L. celerecrescens JSJ-1 and provides guidelines for the industrial production of caproic acid by using L. celerecrescences JSJ-1. KEY POINTS: • Ethanol is the optimal substrate for the synthesis of caproic acid by Lacrimispora celerecrescens JSJ-1. • Lacrimispora celerecrescens JSJ-1 produced lactic acid rapidly when it used glucose, causing a sharp drop in pH. • pH is a crucial factor affecting the synthesis of caproic acid from ethanol by Lacrimispora celerecrescens JSJ-1.

Exploring site-specific N application rate to reduce N footprint and increase crop production for green manure-rice rotation system in southern China.

Milk vetch (Astragalus sinicus L.) is leguminous green manure (GM) which produces organic nitrogen (N) for subsequent crops and is widely planted and utilized to simultaneously reduce the use of synthetic N fertilizer and its environmental costs in rice systems. Determination of an optimal N application rate specific to the GM-rice system is challenging because of the large temporal and spatial variations in soil, climate, and field management conditions. To solve this problem, we developed a framework to explore the site-specific N application rate for the low-N footprint rice production system in southern China based on multi-site field experiments, farmer field survey, and process-based model (WHCNS_Rice, soil water heat carbon nitrogen simulator for rice). The results showed that a process-based model can explain >83.3% (p < 0.01) of the variation in rice yield, aboveground biomass, crop N uptake, and soil mineral N. Based on the scenario analysis of the tested WHCNS_Rice model, the simple regression equation was developed to implement site-specific N application rates that considered variations in GM biomass, soil, and climatic conditions. Simulation evaluation on nine provinces in southern China showed that the site-specific N application rate reduced regional synthetic N fertilizer input by 29.6 ± 17.8% and 65.3 ± 23.0% for single and early rice, respectively; decreased their total N footprints (NFs) by 23.4% and 49.3%, respectively; and without reduction in rice yield, compared with traditional farming N practices. The reduction in total NF was attributed to the reduced emissions from ammonia volatilization by 35.2%, N leaching by 28.4%, and N runoff by 32.7%. In this study, we suggested a low NF rice production system that can be obtained by combining GM with site-specific N application rate in southern China.

Correlational analysis of physicochemical indexes, microbial communities, and volatile components in light-flavor Daqu from north and south regions of China.

Daqu is of great significance to the brewing process of Baijiu, and there are variations in the light-flavor Baijiu Daqu in different regions. However, few studies have been conducted on light-flavor Daqu from the north and south regions of China. In this study, the physicochemical indices, volatile flavor components, and microbial community structure of two types of Daqu from the north and south regions of China were comparatively analyzed. The study findings reveal that Daqu originating from the southern region of China (HB) exhibits superior moisture content, acidity, starch content, and saccharification power. In contrast, Daqu from the northern region of China (SX) displays higher fermentation, esterification, and liquefaction power. The analysis of the microbial community structure revealed that HB was dominated by Bacillus, Kroppenstedtia, Saccharomycopsis, and Thermoascus, while SX was dominated by Bacillus, Prevotella, and Saccharomycopsis. The analysis detected a total of 47 volatile components in both HB Daqu and SX Daqu. The volatile components of pyrazine were significantly more abundant in HB Daqu than in SX Daqu, while alcohol compounds were more prominent in SX Daqu than in HB Daqu. In addition, the RDA analysis established a correlation between dominant microorganisms and volatile components. Cyanobacteria, Fusobacteriota, Ascomycota, Blastocladiomycota, Basidiomycota, and Mucormyce exhibited positive correlations with a significant proportion of the key volatile compounds. This study establishes a scientific foundation for improving the quality of light-flavor Daqu liquor in different regions of China.

Virtual-real combination Ritchey-Common interferometry.

Large optical flats play a remarkable role in advanced large-aperture optical systems and the testing of the surface shape error is indispensable for the fabrication. The widely adopted Ritchey-Common test for large optical flats will fail without the rigorous test configurations including a large F/# prerequisition and a flat-to-interferometer distance invariance. A virtual-real combination Ritchey-Common interferometry is proposed to avoid the large F/# prerequisition by accurately modelling the optical path in a virtual interferometer. Furthermore, a virtual-real combination iterative algorithm is proposed in this method to break the flat-to-interferometer distance invariance. Measurement experiments for 100 mm and 422 mm aperture flats were performed to demonstrate the feasibility of this method. Compared with a direct testing in a standard Zygo interferometer, the peak to valley (PV) and root mean square (RMS) errors were less than 0.1 λ and 0.01 λ (λ=632.8 nm), respectively, in different Ritchey angles and flat-to-interferometer distances. Further numerical simulations demonstrate that RMS errors for various Zernike aberrations in arbitrary F/# are less than 0.01 λ. This method can break the distance invariance restriction and achieve high accuracy with an arbitrary F/#, thus providing substantial freedom in the design of test configurations to accommodate various test scenarios.

Identification of a novel lipid metabolism-related gene signature within the tumour immune microenvironment for breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: Systemic factors can strongly affect how tumour cells behave, grow, and communicate with other cells in breast cancer. Lipid metabolic reprogramming is a systemic process that tumour cells undergo; however, the formation and dynamics of lipids associated with the tumour immune microenvironment (TIME) remain unclear. The investigation of the sophisticated bidirectional crosstalk of tumour cells with cancer metabolism, gene expression, and TIME could have the potential to identify novel biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis, and immunotherapy. This study aimed to construct a prognostic signature to detect the bicrosstalk between the lipid metabolic system and the TIME of breast cancer. METHODS: To detect the expression of LRGs and execute GO/KEGG analysis, the R program was chosen. Considering the clinical information and pathological features, a prognostic gene signature was constructed by LASSO Cox regression analysis. TMB, MSI, and immune infiltration analyses were performed, and consensus cluster analysis of LRGs was also performed. RESULTS: These 16 lipid metabolism-related genes (LRGs) were mainly involved in the process of lipid metabolism and fatty acid binding in breast cancer. Prognosis analysis identified the prognostic value of FABP7(Fatty acid binding protein 7) and NDUFAB1(NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase subunit AB1) in breast cancer patients. The prognostic gene signature constructed with FABP7 and NDUFAB1 was significantly related to immune cell infiltration and could predict the overall survival rate with above average correctness of breast cancer patients. FABP7 and NDUFAB1 were proven to have relevance in immune cell infiltration and tumour mutation burden (TMB). Consensus cluster analysis identified that the upregulated mRNAs were mostly related to the oncogenesis process, while the downregulated mRNAs were associated with immune-related signalling pathways. CONCLUSION: A comprehensive analysis was performed to evaluate the lipid metabolic system and identified a signature constructed by two prognostic genes for immunotherapies in breast cancer. The results also revealed evidence of vulnerabilities in the interplay between the lipid metabolic system and the TIME in breast cancer. Further data with clinical studies and experiments are warranted.

Latissimus dorsi muscle flap transfer through endoscopic approach combined with the implant after tissue expansion for breast reconstruction of mastectomy patients.

BACKGROUND: Implant-based breast reconstruction is easy to be performed but has flaws that an unnatural appearance might be presented when no sufficient coverage existing. While autologous tissue reconstruction also has disadvantages like donor site scar and skin patch effect. There is a demand for a new method to obtain natural and aesthetic appearance while surmounting drawbacks of conventional breast reconstruction surgery. METHODS: A retrospective review of thirty-one patients undergoing tissue expander (TE)/implant two-stage breast reconstruction with latissimus dorsi muscle flap (LDMF) transfer through endoscopic approach in Peking University Third Hospital from April 2016 to August 2020 was performed. The LDMF harvest time, drain time, and complications were reviewed. The 3D volume was obtained to assess the volume symmetry of bilateral breasts. The BREAST-Q reconstruction module was used to evaluate the satisfaction. RESULTS: The mean endoscopic LDMF harvest time was 90.4 min. In the mean follow-up of 11.2 months, there were no severe capsular contracture happened. The reconstructed side achieved good volume symmetry to the contralateral side (P = 0.256). Based on the evaluation of the BREAST-Q scores, the outcome of Satisfaction with Breasts was excellent or good in 87.1% of the cases. CONCLUSIONS: The novel type of two-stage breast reconstruction protocol, which includes tissue expansion followed by implant insertion with endoscopy-assisted LDMF transfer, could effectively reduce visible scars, avoid the patch effect, while require short time for LDMF harvest and present low incidence of complications. It is a promising method for breast reconstruction because it achieves good outcomes in the mastectomy patients.

Description method with automatically configurable Gaussian radial basis function for complex freeform surface.

The description of deformable mirror (DM) surface, which is usually a complex freeform surface, affects the measurement speed and accuracy in a real-time interferometric measurement system with a DM as the dynamic compensator. We propose an accurate and fast description method with automatically configurable Gaussian radial basis function. The distribution and shape factors of GRBFs are related to the complexity of the surface with sufficient flexibility to improve the accuracy, and the fitting results are automatically obtained using a traversal optimization algorithm, which can improve the fitting speed by reducing the number of time-consuming calculations. The feasibility is verified by numerical and practical experiment.

Type of Necrosis Influences Prognosis in Hepatocellular Carcinoma After the First Transarterial Chemoembolization.

BACKGROUND Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common tumors. Transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) is the first choice of treatment for intermediate HCC and an important treatment option for advanced HCC. This retrospective study compared the prognosis between patients showing coagulative necrosis and patients showing liquefactive necrosis after the first TACE procedure. MATERIAL AND METHODS We divided 171 patients with Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) Stage B or C HCC into 2 groups; a coagulative necrosis group (79 patients) and a liquefactive necrosis group (92 patients). The coagulative and liquefactive necroses were identified by computed tomography after the first TACE procedure. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to identify the differences in the overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) between the 2 groups, and the associated risk factors and safety of TACE were analyzed. RESULTS The median OS durations were 23.27±1.40 months and 8.83±2.15 months (P=0.004) and the median PFS durations were 9.33±0.96 months and 3.70±0.44 months (P=0.002) in the coagulative necrosis and liquefactive necrosis groups, respectively. Intrahepatic in situ progression, new intrahepatic metastasis, and extrahepatic progression occurred significantly earlier in the liquefactive necrosis group (P<0.05). Univariate analysis and multivariate analyses showed liquefactive necrosis was the main risk factor for OS. There was no significant difference in the hepatic function impairment or post-embolism syndrome after TACE. CONCLUSIONS After the first TACE procedure, the patients with liquefactive necrosis experienced recurrence and metastasis earlier and had a worse prognosis. Therefore, these patients should be considered for earlier administration of targeted therapies or immunotherapies after TACE.