Prediction of subsolid pulmonary nodule growth rate using radiomics.

BACKGROUND: Pulmonary nodule growth rate assessment is critical in the management of subsolid pulmonary nodules (SSNs) during clinical follow-up. The present study aimed to develop a model to predict the growth rate of SSNs. METHODS: A total of 273 growing SSNs with clinical information and 857 computed tomography (CT) scans were retrospectively analyzed. The images were randomly divided into training and validation sets. All images were categorized into fast-growth (volume doubling time (VDT) ≤ 400 days) and slow-growth (VDT > 400 days) groups. Models for predicting the growth rate of SSNs were developed using radiomics and clinical features. The models' performance was evaluated using the area under the curve (AUC) values for the receiver operating characteristic curve. RESULTS: The fast- and slow-growth groups included 108 and 749 scans, respectively, and 10 radiomics features and three radiographic features (nodule density, presence of spiculation, and presence of vascular changes) were selected to predict the growth rate of SSNs. The nomogram integrating radiomics and radiographic features (AUC = 0.928 and AUC = 0.905, respectively) performed better than the radiographic (AUC = 0.668 and AUC = 0.689, respectively) and radiomics (AUC = 0.888 and AUC = 0.816, respectively) models alone in both the training and validation sets. CONCLUSION: The nomogram model developed by combining radiomics with radiographic features can predict the growth rate of SSNs more accurately than traditional radiographic models. It can also optimize clinical treatment decisions for patients with SSNs and improve their long-term management.

The Relationship between the Serum NLRP1 Level and Coronary Lesions in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease.

Background: The pathogenesis of coronary artery disease is complex, and inflammation is one of the regulatory factors. The nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain (NOD)-like receptor protein 1 (NLRP1) plays an important role in the cellular inflammatory response, cell apoptosis, cell death, and autoimmune diseases. Whether the level of NLRP1 is related to the severity of coronary artery stenosis in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) has not been reported. Objective: To test the serum level of NLRP1 in unstable angina (UA) patients and investigate the effect of NLRP1 on coronary stenosis severity of the coronary artery disease (CAD). Methods: 307 patients hospitalized in the Department of Cardiology of the Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University for coronary angiography from January 1, 2021, to December 31, 2022 were included. We detect the level of NLRP1 in the serum of the included patients. Patients were divided into UA group and control group according to coronary angiography results and other clinical data. We use logistic regression to screen the influencing factors of UA. Then, subgroups were divided according to the Gensini score and the number of coronary artery lesions, and the difference of serum NLRP1 level between the groups was compared. Spearman correlation analysis was used to explore the correlation between the serum NLRP1 level and Gensini score. We analyze the diagnostic value of NLRP1 for UA by drawing ROC curve. Results: The median level of serum NLRP1 in patients with UA (n = 257) was 49.71 pg/ml, IQR 30.15, 80.21, and that in patients without UA (n = 50) was 24.75 pg/ml, IQR 13.49, 41.95. Serum NLRP1 levels were significantly different among different subgroups. The patient's Gensini score was correlated with the patient's serum NLRP1 level. Conclusion: The serum NLRP1 level is increased in patients with UA, which is increased with the increasing severity of coronary lesions.

FCAN-XGBoost: A Novel Hybrid Model for EEG Emotion Recognition.

In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) technology has promoted the development of electroencephalogram (EEG) emotion recognition. However, existing methods often overlook the computational cost of EEG emotion recognition, and there is still room for improvement in the accuracy of EEG emotion recognition. In this study, we propose a novel EEG emotion recognition algorithm called FCAN-XGBoost, which is a fusion of two algorithms, FCAN and XGBoost. The FCAN module is a feature attention network (FANet) that we have proposed for the first time, which processes the differential entropy (DE) and power spectral density (PSD) features extracted from the four frequency bands of the EEG signal and performs feature fusion and deep feature extraction. Finally, the deep features are fed into the eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) algorithm to classify the four emotions. We evaluated the proposed method on the DEAP and DREAMER datasets and achieved a four-category emotion recognition accuracy of 95.26% and 94.05%, respectively. Additionally, our proposed method reduces the computational cost of EEG emotion recognition by at least 75.45% for computation time and 67.51% for memory occupation. The performance of FCAN-XGBoost outperforms the state-of-the-art four-category model and reduces computational costs without losing classification performance compared with other models.

Comparison of radiotherapy combined with nimotuzumab vs. chemoradiotherapy for locally recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: The present study compared the effectiveness and toxicity of two treatment modalities, namely radiotherapy combined with nimotuzumab (N) and chemoradiotherapy (CRT) in patients with locally recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma (LR-NPC). METHODS: Patients with LR-NPC who were treated with radiotherapy were retrospectively enrolled from January 2015 to December 2018. The treatment included radiotherapy combined with N or platinum-based induction chemotherapy and/or concurrent chemotherapy. The comparison of survival and toxicity between the two treatment modalities was evaluated using the log-rank and chi-squared tests. Overall survival (OS) was the primary endpoint. RESULTS: A total of 87 patients were included, of whom 32 and 55 were divided into the N group and the CRT group, respectively. No significant differences were noted in the survival rate between the N and the CRT groups (4-year OS rates, 37.1% vs. 40.7%, respectively; P = 0.735). Mild to moderate acute complications were common during the radiation period and mainly included mucositis and xerostomia. The majority of the acute toxic reactions were tolerated well. A total of 48 patients (55.2%) demonstrated late radiation injuries of grade ≥ 3, including 12 patients (37.5%) in the N group and 36 patients (66.5%) in the CRT group. The CRT group exhibited significantly higher incidence of severe late radiation injuries compared with that of the N group (P = 0.011). CONCLUSION: Radiotherapy combined with N did not appear to enhance treatment efficacy compared with CRT in patients with LR-NPC. However, radiotherapy combined with N may be superior to CRT due to its lower incidence of acute and late toxicities. Further studies are required to confirm the current findings.

Genistein alleviates H2O2-induced senescence of human umbilical vein endothelial cells via regulating the TXNIP/NLRP3 axis.

CONTEXT: Genistein (Gen) has shown protective effects against ageing process. OBJECTIVE: To explore the role of Gen on the senescence of H2O2-induced human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and investigate the possible mechanism. MATERIALS AND METHODS: HUVECs were treated with different concentrations of H2O2 (50, 100, 200 and 400 µmol/L) for 1 h or Gen administration (20, 40, 80 and 160 µg/mL) for 24 h. Functional experiments (cell counting kit-8, ß-galactosidase staining and flow cytometry) were used to detect the effect of Gen on H2O2-induced HUVECs. After HUVECs were transfected with TXNIP overexpression plasmids, the expression of p16, p21, thioredoxin-interacting protein (TXNIP), nucleotide-binding and oligomerization domain-like receptor 3 (NLRP3), cleaved caspase-3 and cleaved caspase-1 in HUVECs were detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and western blot. RESULTS: H2O2 (200 and 400 µmol/L) inhibited the proliferation of HUVECs. At concentrations of >50 µmol/L, H2O2 induced the cell cycle progression arrests in G1 phase and promoted cell senescence of HUVECs. Gen had no obvious cytotoxicity to HUVECs below 160 µg/mL. H2O2-induced HUVEC senescence and the expression of TXNIP and NLRP3 in HUVECs were down-regulated by Gen (40 and 80 µg/mL). Expressions of TXNIP and NLRP3 in HUVECs were up-regulated by H2O2 but down-regulated by Gen. Overexpressed TXNIP partially reversed the suppressive effect of Gen on H2O2-induced senescence and apoptosis of HUVECs. Expressions of p16, p21, TXNIP, NLRP3, cleaved caspase-3 and cleaved caspase-1 in H2O2-treated HUVECs were inhibited by Gen, while the inhibition as such was partially reversed by overexpressed TXNIP. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: H2O2-induced HUVEC senescence was alleviated by Gen via suppressing the TXNIP/NLRP3 axis, which may offer a potential therapeutic approach for improving HUVEC senescence and provide a new direction for the treatment of cardiovascular disease.

Zinc Finger Protein ZBTB20 protects against cardiac remodelling post-myocardial infarction via ROS-TNFα/ASK1/JNK pathway regulation.

This study aims to determine the efficacy of Zinc finger protein ZBTB20 in treatment of post-infarction cardiac remodelling. For this purpose, left anterior descending (LAD) ligation was operated on mice to induce myocardial infarction (MI) with sham control group as contrast and adeno-associated virus (AAV9) system was used to deliver ZBTB20 to mouse heart by myocardial injection with vehicle-injected control group as contrast two weeks before MI surgery. Then four weeks after MI, vehicle-treated mice with left ventricular (LV) remodelling underwent deterioration of cardiac function, with symptoms of hypertrophy, interstitial fibrosis, inflammation and apoptosis. The vehicle-injected mice also showed increase of infarct size and decrease of survival rate. Meanwhile, the ZBTB20-overexpressed mice displayed improvement after MI. Moreover, the anti-apoptosis effect of ZBTB20 was further confirmed in H9c2 cells subjected to hypoxia in vitro. Further study suggested that ZBTB20 exerts cardioprotection by inhibiting tumour necrosis factor α/apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1 (ASK1)/c-Jun N-terminal kinase 1/2 (JNK1/2) signalling, which was confirmed by shRNA-JNK adenoviruses transfection or a JNK activator in vitro as well as ASK1 overexpression in vivo. In summary, our data suggest that ZBTB20 could alleviate cardiac remodelling post-MI. Thus, administration of ZBTB20 can be considered as a promising treatment strategy for heart failure post-MI. Significance Statement: ZBTB20 could alleviate cardiac remodelling post-MI via inhibition of ASK1/JNK1/2 signalling.

A unified understanding of the cononsolvency of polymers in binary solvent mixtures.

The standard random phase approximation (RPA) model is applied to investigate the cononsolvency of polymers in mixtures of two good solvents. It is shown that in the RPA framework, the two types of cononsolvency behaviors reported in previous theoretical studies can be unified under the same concept of mean-field density correlations. The two types of cononsolvency are distinguished by the solvent composition at which maximum immiscibility is predicted to occur. The maximum immiscibility occurs with the cosolvent being the minor solvent if the driving mechanism is the preferential solvation of polymers. For the cononsolvency driven by the preferential mixing of solvents, the maximum immiscibility is predicted at a symmetric solvent composition. An interplay of the two driving forces gives rise to a reentrant behavior in which the cononsolvency of the two types switches from one to the other, through a "conventional" region where the overall solvent quality varies monotonically with the solvent composition. The RPA model developed in this work provides a unified analytical framework for understanding the conformational and solubility transition of polymers in multi-solvent mixtures. Such findings highlight the complex role played by the solvents in polymer solutions, a problem of fundamental and practical interest in diverse applications of materials science.

Field-accelerated Monte Carlo simulations in the canonical and isothermal-isobaric ensembles.

We propose and develop a mesoscale particle-in-field simulation scheme, the Field-Accelerated Monte Carlo (FAMC) method, for speeding up particle-based continuum Monte Carlo (CMC) simulations based on soft interacting models. A key difference from the previously reported single-chain-in-mean-field method [K. C. Daoulas and M. Müller, J. Chem. Phys. 125, 184904 (2006)] is that the auxiliary fields in FAMC are constructed based on lattice-independent interacting potentials. As a result, FMAC simulations asymptotically approach CMC simulations with an increase in the lattice resolution of the auxiliary fields and are able to reproduce structural properties at morphology, conformation, and segment levels. A suite of schemes for computing and updating the auxiliary fields in FAMC simulations are developed in tandem to further enhance the computational efficiency of the method. The capacity of the FAMC method is demonstrated and tested against CMC simulations in simulating polymer solutions with explicit solvent under the canonical (nVT) ensemble and stress-free mircophase formation under the isothermal-isobaric (nPT) ensemble. In both cases, FAMC simulations reproduce structure properties with quantitative accuracy at a fraction of the computational cost.

Nuclear Localization Leucine-Rich-Repeat Protein 1 Deficiency Protects Against Cardiac Hypertrophy by Pressure Overload.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Nuclear localization leucine-rich-repeat protein 1 (NLRP1) is a cytoplasmic protein, involved in autoimmune diseases, mammalian reproduction, neuronal cell death, and stroke. However, the role of NLRP1 in cardiac hypertrophy remains unclear. We used in vivo and in vitro models to investigate the effects of NLRP1 on cardiac hypertrophy. METHODS: We used NLRP1-deficient mice and cultured neonatal rat cardiomyocytes with gain and loss of NLRP1 function. Cardiac hypertrophy was estimated by echocardiographic and hemodynamic measurements, and by pathological and molecular analysis. RESULTS: Eight weeks after aortic banding (AB), NLRP1 deficiency significantly inhibited aortic banding-induced cardiac hypertrophy, inflammation, and fibrosis. Activation of MAPK, NF-κB, and TGF-ß/Smad pathways was reduced in NLRP1-knockout (KO) mice compared with that in wild-type (WT) mice. Consistent with these results, in vitro studies, performed using cultured neonatal mouse cardiomyocytes, confirmed that NLRP1 deficiency protects against cardiomyocyte hypertrophy induced by isoproterenol (PE); this protective activity was associated with the arrest of MAPK and NF-κB signaling. CONCLUSIONS: Our data illustrates that NLRP1 plays a crucial role in the development of cardiac hypertrophy via positive regulation of the MAPK, NF-κB, and TGF-ß/Smad signaling pathways.

Tumor Targeting Synergistic Drug Delivery by Self-Assembled Hybrid Nanovesicles to Overcome Drug Resistance.

PURPOSE: To overcome multi-drug resistance (MDR) in tumor chemotherapy, a polymer/inorganic hybrid drug delivery platform with tumor targeting property and enhanced cell uptake efficiency was developed. METHOD: To evaluate the applicability of our delivery platform for the delivery of different drug resistance inhibitors, two kinds of dual-drug pairs (doxorubicin/buthionine sulfoximine and doxorubicin/tariquidar, respectively) were loaded in heparin-biotin/heparin/protamine sulfate/calcium carbonate nanovesicles to realize simultaneous delivery of an anticancer drug and a drug resistance inhibitor into drug-resistant tumor cells. RESULTS: Prepared by self-assembly, the drug loaded hybrid nanovesicles with a mean size less than 210 nm and a negative zeta potential exhibit good stability in serum contained aqueous media. The in vitro cytotoxicity evaluation indicates that hybrid nanovesicles with tumor targeting biotin moieties have an enhanced tumor cell inhibitory effect. In addition, dual-drug loaded hybrid nanovesicles exhibit significantly stronger cell growth inhibition as compared with doxorubicin (DOX) mono-drug loaded nanovesicles due to the reduced intracellular glutathione (GSH) content by buthionine sulfoximine (BSO) or the P-glycoprotein (P-gp) inhibition by tariquidar (TQR). CONCLUSIONS: The tumor targeting nanovesicles prepared in this study, which can simultaneously deliver multiple drugs and effectively reverse drug resistance, have promising applications in drug delivery for tumor treatments. The polymer/inorganic hybrid drug delivery platform developed in this study has good applicability for the co-delivery of different anti-tumor drug/drug resistance inhibitor pairs to overcome MDR. Graphical Abstract A polymer/inorganic hybrid drug delivery platform with enhanced cell uptake was developed for tumor targeting synergistic drug delivery. The heparin-biotin/heparin/protamine sulfate/calcium carbonate nanovesicles prepared in this study can deliver an anticancer drug and a drug resistance inhibitor into drug-resistant tumor cells simultaneously to overcome drug resistance efficiently.

Prognostic nomogram for refining the prognostication of the proposed 8th edition of the AJCC/UICC staging system for nasopharyngeal cancer in the era of intensity-modulated radiotherapy.

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to develop a nomogram for refining prognostication for patients with nondisseminated nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) staged with the proposed 8th edition of the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC)/Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) staging system. METHODS: Consecutive patients who had been investigated with magnetic resonance imaging, staged with the proposed 8th edition of the AJCC/UICC staging system, and irradiated with intensity-modulated radiotherapy from June 2005 to December 2010 were analyzed. A cohort of 1197 patients treated at Fujian Provincial Cancer Hospital was used as the training set, and the results were validated with 412 patients from Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital. Cox regression analyses were performed to identify significant prognostic factors for developing a nomogram to predict overall survival (OS). The discriminative ability was assessed with the concordance index (c-index). A recursive partitioning algorithm was applied to the survival scores of the combined set to categorize the patients into 3 risk groups. RESULTS: A multivariate analysis showed that age, gross primary tumor volume, and lactate dehydrogenase were independent prognostic factors for OS in addition to the stage group. The OS nomogram based on all these factors had a statistically higher bias-corrected c-index than prognostication based on the stage group alone (0.712 vs 0.622, P <.01). These results were consistent for both the training cohort and the validation cohort. Patients with <135 points were categorized as low-risk, patients with 135 to <160 points were categorized as intermediate-risk, and patients with ≥160 points were categorized as high-risk. Their 5-year OS rates were 92%, 84%, and 58%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed nomogram could improve prognostication in comparison with the TNM stage group. This could aid in risk stratification for individual NPC patients. Cancer 2016;122:3307-3315. © 2016 American Cancer Society.

Proposal for the 8th edition of the AJCC/UICC staging system for nasopharyngeal cancer in the era of intensity-modulated radiotherapy.

BACKGROUND: An accurate staging system is crucial for cancer management. Evaluations for continual suitability and improvement are needed as staging and treatment methods evolve. METHODS: This was a retrospective study of 1609 patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma investigated by magnetic resonance imaging, staged with the 7th edition of the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC)/International Union Against Cancer (UICC) staging system, and irradiated by intensity-modulated radiotherapy at 2 centers in Hong Kong and mainland China. RESULTS: Among the patients without other T3/T4 involvement, there were no significant differences in overall survival (OS) between medial pterygoid muscle (MP) ± lateral pterygoid muscle (LP), prevertebral muscle, and parapharyngeal space involvement. Patients with extensive soft tissue involvement beyond the aforementioned structures had poor OS similar to that of patients with intracranial extension and/or cranial nerve palsy. Only 2% of the patients had lymph nodes > 6 cm above the supraclavicular fossa (SCF), and their outcomes resembled the outcomes of those with low extension. Replacing SCF with the lower neck (extension below the caudal border of the cricoid cartilage) did not affect the hazard distinction between different N categories. With the proposed T and N categories, there were no significant differences in outcome between T4N0-2 and T1-4N3 disease. CONCLUSIONS: After a review by AJCC/UICC preparatory committees, the changes recommended for the 8th edition include changing MP/LP involvement from T4 to T2, adding prevertebral muscle involvement as T2, replacing SCF with the lower neck and merging this with a maximum nodal diameter > 6 cm as N3, and merging T4 and N3 as stage IVA criteria. These changes will lead not only to a better distinction of hazards between adjacent stages/categories but also to optimal balance in clinical practicability and global applicability.

Clinicopathological significance and potential drug target of O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase in colorectal cancer: a meta-analysis.

Emerging evidence indicates that O(6)-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) is a candidate for tumor suppression in several types of human tumors including colorectal cancer (CRC). However, the correlation between MGMT hypermethylation and clinicopathological characteristics of CRC remains unclear. In this study, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to quantitatively evaluate the effects of MGMT hypermethylation on the incidence of CRC and clinicopathological characteristics. A comprehensive literature search was done from Web of Science, the Cochrane Library Database, PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, and the Chinese Biomedical Database for related research publications written in English and Chinese. Methodological quality of the studies was also evaluated. Analyses of pooled data were performed with Review Manager 5.2. Odds ratio (OR) and hazard ratio (HR) were calculated and summarized, respectively. Final analysis from 28 eligible studies was performed. MGMT hypermethylation is found to be significantly higher in CRC than in normal colorectal mucosa, the pooled OR from 13 studies including 1085 CRC and 899 normal colorectal mucosa, OR = 6.04, 95 % confidence interval (CI) = 4.69-7.77, p < 0.00001. MGMT hypermethylation is also significantly higher in colorectal adenoma than in normal colorectal mucosa, but it is significantly less compared to that in CRC patients. Interestingly, MGMT hypermethylation is correlated with sex status and is significantly higher in female than in male. MGMT hypermethylation is also associated with high levels of microsatellite instability (MSI). The pooled HR for overall survival (OS) shows that MGMT hypermethylation is not associated with worse survival in CRC patients. The results of this meta-analysis suggest that MGMT hypermethylation is associated with an increased risk and high levels of MSI and may play an important role in CRC initiation. However, MGMT hypermethylation may play an important role in the early stage of CRC progression and development, as well as having limited value in prediction of prognosis in CRC patients. We also discussed that MGMT may serve as a potential drug target of CRC.

Infrared and visible image fusion with spectral graph wavelet transform.

Infrared and visible image fusion technique is a popular topic in image analysis because it can integrate complementary information and obtain reliable and accurate description of scenes. Multiscale transform theory as a signal representation method is widely used in image fusion. In this paper, a novel infrared and visible image fusion method is proposed based on spectral graph wavelet transform (SGWT) and bilateral filter. The main novelty of this study is that SGWT is used for image fusion. On the one hand, source images are decomposed by SGWT in its transform domain. The proposed approach not only effectively preserves the details of different source images, but also excellently represents the irregular areas of the source images. On the other hand, a novel weighted average method based on bilateral filter is proposed to fuse low- and high-frequency subbands by taking advantage of spatial consistency of natural images. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms seven recently proposed image fusion methods in terms of both visual effect and objective evaluation metrics.

On the order-disorder transition of compressible diblock copolymer melts.

We performed both the fast off-lattice Monte Carlo simulations of symmetric diblock copolymers (DBC) in an isothermal-isobaric ensemble and the self-consistent field calculations of asymmetric DBC to properly determine the order-disorder transition (ODT) of a model system of compressible DBC melts used in the literature when it is a first-order phase transition, and studied for the first time the co-existence of the two phases at ODT. We found that the co-existing region is quite small and decreases as the system becomes less compressible, which justifies the previous ODT results obtained by equating the Helmholtz free energy per chain of the two phases. We also found that for the most compressible system where there is no repulsion between the same type of segments, the self-consistent field theory predicts that ODT is a second-order phase transition even for asymmetric DBC melts due to its mean-field approximation.

Disruption of tumor necrosis factor receptor associated factor 5 exacerbates pressure overload cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis.

The cytoplasmic signaling protein tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor-associated factor 5 (TRAF5), which was identified as a signal transducer for members of the TNF receptor super-family, has been implicated in several biological functions in T/B lymphocytes and the innate immune response against viral infection. However, the role of TRAF5 in cardiac hypertrophy has not been reported. In the present study, we investigated the effect of TRAF5 on the development of pathological cardiac hypertrophy induced by transthoracic aorta constriction (TAC) and further explored the underlying molecular mechanisms. Cardiac hypertrophy and function were evaluated with echocardiography, hemodynamic measurements, pathological and molecular analyses. For the first time, we found that TRAF5 deficiency substantially aggravated cardiac hypertrophy, cardiac dysfunction and fibrosis in response to pressure overload after 4 weeks of TAC compared to wild-type (WT) mice. Moreover, the mitogen-activated protein/extracellular signal-regulated kinase kinase (MEK)-extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1/2 (ERK1/2) signaling pathway was more activated in TRAF5-deficient mice than WT mice. In conclusion, our results suggest that as an intrinsic cardioprotective factor, TRAF5 plays a crucial role in the development of cardiac hypertrophy through the negative regulation of the MEK-ERK1/2 pathway. J. Cell. Biochem. 115: 349-358, 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Networks development between nicotinic chemical probes and Ca9-22 oral cancer cells by general proteomics analyses.

Tobacco includes thousands of chemicals such as nicotine, which causes numerous diseases including oral cancer. We synthesized nicotinic acid based probes by chemical modification to identify the proteins expressed by the oral cancer cell line Ca9-22 that interact with the nicotinic functional group. Proteins belonging to human oral squamous cell carcinoma were pulled down by a probe carrier based on nicotinic acid, which was reacted with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane to compose nicotinic acid linked 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane exposed on the SiO2 surface. Oral cancer cell lysates were incubated with the nicotinic acid chemical probes to identify the interactions between the nicotinic group and oral cancer cell line extracted proteins. The interactions between the chemical probes and proteins identified as their targets were confirmed by consulting chemicals databases. Interestingly, chaperone proteins (e.g., heat-shock proteins and endoplasmin) that were found to interact with nicotinic acid were identified as binding partners in ribosomal and nucleosome assembly complexes.

Process of mercury accumulation in urban strip river artificial wetland ecosystems: a case study of Changchun, a typical industrial city in Northeast China.

Mercury (Hg), as a global pollutant, is persistent, migratory, insidious, highly biotoxic and highly enriched, and is widely distributed in the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere and lithosphere. Wetland ecosystems, as active mercury reservoirs, have become the most important sources and sinks of heavy metal mercury. Distinguished from natural wetlands, artificial wetlands located in urban sections of rivers face problems such as diverse urban pollution sources and complex spatial and temporal changes. Therefore, in this study, five intermittently distributed artificial wetlands were selected from the upstream to the downstream of the Changchun section of the Yitong River, a tributary of the Songhua River basin in the old industrial base of Northeast China. The mercury levels in the water bodies, sediments and plants of the artificial wetlands were collected and tested in four quarters from April 2023 to analyse the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of total mercury. The results showed that the mercury levels in the water bodies, sediments and plants of the five wetlands showed a fluctuating trend with the river flow direction and had certain spatial and temporal distribution characteristics. This phenomenon was attributed to the sinking of external mercury pollution sources. In general, the wetland ecosystems showed a decreasing trend in the total Hg output of the downstream watershed. This may be due to the retention of particulate matter by aquatic plants in artificial wetlands to regular salvage of dead aquatic plants. At the same time urbanization and industrialization affect mercury levels in aquatic environments, so the risk of residential exposure needs to be looked at.

A CT-based Deep Learning Radiomics Nomogram for the Prediction of EGFR Mutation Status in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: Accurately assessing epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation status in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients is crucial for prognosis and treatment selection. This study aimed to construct and validate a contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CECT)-based deep learning radiomics nomogram (DLRN) to predict EGFR mutation status of HNSCC. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 300 HNSCC patients who underwent CECT scans were enrolled in this study. Participants from two hospitals were separated into a training set (n = 200, 56 EGFR-negative and 144 EGFR-positive) from one hospital and an external test set from the other hospital (n = 100, 37 EGFR-negative and 63 EGFR-positive). The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator method was used to select the key features from CECT-based manually extracted radiomics (MER) features and features automatically extracted using a deep learning model (DL, extracted using a GoogLeNet model). The selected independent clinical factors, MER features, and DL features were then combined to construct a DLRN. The DLRN's performance was evaluated using receiver operating characteristics curves. RESULTS: Five MER and six DL features were finally chosen. The DLRN, which includes "gender" and "necrotic areas," along with the selected features, predicted EGFR mutation status of HNSCC (EGFR-negative vs. positive) well in both the training (area under the curve [AUC], 0.901) and test (AUC, 0.875) sets. CONCLUSION: A DLRN using CECT was built to predict EGFR mutation in HNSCC. The model showed high predictive ability and may aid in treatment selection and patient prognosis.

Baicalein protects against cardiac hypertrophy through blocking MEK-ERK1/2 signaling.

Baicalein, a flavonoid present in the root of Scutellaria baicalensis, is well known for its antibacterial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, antithrombotic, and antioxidant effects. Here we show that baicalein also attenuates cardiac hypertrophy. Aortic banding (AB) was performed to induce cardiac hypertrophy secondary to pressure overload in mice. Mouse chow containing 0.05% baicalein (dose: 100 mg/kg/day baicalein) was begun 1 week prior to surgery and continued for 8 weeks after surgery. Our data demonstrated that baicalein prevented cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis induced by AB, as assessed by echocardiographic and hemodynamic parameters and by pathological and molecular analysis. The inhibitory action of baicalein on cardiac hypertrophy was mediated by effects on mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase (MEK)-extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK1/2) signaling and GATA-4 activation. In vitro studies performed in rat cardiac H9c2 cells confirmed that baicalein attenuated cardiomyocyte hypertrophy induced by angiotensin II, which was associated with inhibiting MEK-ERK1/2 signaling. In conclusion, our results suggest that baicalein has protective potential for targeting cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis through suppression of MEK-ERK1/2 signaling. Baicalein warrants further research as a potential antihypertrophic agent that might be clinically useful to treat cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure.