Modern cities modelled as "super-cells" rather than multicellular organisms: Implications for industry, goods and services.

The structure and "metabolism" (movement and conversion of goods and energy) of urban areas has caused cities to be identified as "super-organisms", placed between ecosystems and the biosphere, in the hierarchy of living systems. Yet most such analogies are weak, and render the super-organism model ineffective for sustainable development of cities. Via a cluster analysis of 15 shared traits of the hierarchical living system, we found that industrialized cities are more similar to eukaryotic cells than to multicellular organisms; enclosed systems, such as factories and greenhouses, paralleling organelles in eukaryotic cells. We further developed a "super-cell" industrialized city model: a "eukarcity" with citynucleus (urban area) as a regulating centre, and organaras (enclosed systems, which provide the majority of goods and services) as the functional components, and cityplasm (natural ecosystems and farmlands) as the matrix. This model may improve the vitality and sustainability of cities through planning and management.

Identification of collagen genes related to immune infiltration and epithelial-mesenchymal transition in glioma.

BACKGROUND: Gliomas account for the majority of fatal primary brain tumors, and there is much room for research in the underlying pathogenesis, the multistep progression of glioma, and how to improve survival. In our study, we aimed to identify potential biomarkers or therapeutic targets of glioma and study the mechanism underlying the tumor progression. METHODS: We downloaded the microarray datasets (GSE43378 and GSE7696) from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Then, we used weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) to screen potential biomarkers or therapeutic targets related to the tumor progression. ESTIMATE (Estimation of STromal and Immune cells in MAlignant Tumors using Expression data) algorithm and TIMER (Tumor Immune Estimation Resource) database were used to analyze the correlation between the selected genes and the tumor microenvironment. Real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction was used to measure the selected gene. Transwell and wound healing assays were used to measure the cell migration and invasion capacity. Western blotting was used to test the expression of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) related markers. RESULTS: We identified specific module genes that were positively correlated with the WHO grade but negatively correlated with OS of glioma. Importantly, we identified that 6 collagen genes (COL1A1, COL1A2, COL3A1, COL4A1, COL4A2, and COL5A2) could regulate the immunosuppressive microenvironment of glioma. Moreover, we found that these collagen genes were significantly involved in the EMT process of glioma. Finally, taking COL3A1 as a further research object, the results showed that knockdown of COL3A1 significantly inhibited the migration, invasion, and EMT process of SHG44 and A172 cells. CONCLUSIONS: In summary, our study demonstrated that collagen genes play an important role in regulating the immunosuppressive microenvironment and EMT process of glioma and could serve as potential therapeutic targets for glioma management.

METTL7B is a novel prognostic biomarker of lower-grade glioma based on pan-cancer analysis.

Methyltransferase-like 7B (METTL7B) is a member of the methyltransferase-like protein family that plays an important role in the development and progression of tumors. However, its prognostic value and the correlation of METTL7B expression and tumor immunity in some cancers remain unclear. By analyzing online data, we found that METTL7B is abnormally overexpressed in multiple human tumors and plays an important role in the overall survival (OS) of patients with 8 cancer types and disease-free survival (DFS) of patients with 5 cancer types. Remarkably, METTL7B expression was positively correlated with the OS and DFS of patients with lower-grade glioma (LGG). In addition, a positive correlation between METTL7B expression and immune cell infiltration in LGG was observed. Moreover, we identified a strong correlation between METTL7B expression and immune checkpoint gene expression in kidney chromophobe (KICH), LGG and pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma (PCPG). Furthermore, METTL7B was involved in the extracellular matrix (ECM) and immune-related pathways in LGGs. Finally, in vitro experiments showed that knockdown of METTL7B inhibited the growth, migration, invasion and the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of LGG cells. METTL7B expression potentially represents a novel prognostic biomarker due to its significant association with immune cell infiltration in LGG.

Diagnosis of Streptococcus suis Meningoencephalitis with metagenomic next-generation sequencing of the cerebrospinal fluid: a case report with literature review.

BACKGROUND: Streptococcus suis meningoencephalitis is a zoonotic disease that mostly infects slaughterhouse workers. Rapid diagnosis of Streptococcus suis meningoencephalitis is critical for effective clinical management of this condition. However, the current diagnostic techniques are not effective for early diagnosis of this condition. To the best of our knowledge, the use of cerebrospinal fluid metagenomic next generation sequencing in the diagnosis of Streptococcus suis meningoencephalitis has been rarely reported. CASE PRESENTATION: Here, we report a case of Streptococcus suis meningoencephalitis in a 51-year-old female patient. The patient had a history of long-term contact with pork and had a three-centimeter-long wound on her left leg prior to disease onset. Conventional tests, including blood culture, gram staining and cerebrospinal fluid culture, did not reveal bacterial infection. However, Streptococcus suis was detected in cerebrospinal fluid using metagenomic next generation sequencing. CONCLUSIONS: Metagenomic next generation sequencing is a promising approach for early diagnosis of central nervous system infections. This case report indicates that cases of clinical meningeal encephalitis of unknown cause can be diagnosed through this method.

LOC646762 Is Involved in Adipogenic Differentiation of Bone Marrow-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells.

Long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) has been shown to participate in adipogenic differentiation of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs). In this study, we aimed to investigate the role of lncRNA-LOC646762 in adipogenic differentiation of BMSCs. Transcriptome sequencing revealed a positive correlation between LOC646762 transcription and expression of adipogenic marker genes in adipogenic differentiation. Moreover, LOC646762 overexpression did not negatively impact the cell proliferation of BMSCs. Besides, LOC646762 plays a crucial role in adipogenic differentiation, as evidenced by its positive correlation with adipogenic marker gene expression. Its possible interaction with its proposed target C/EBPß suggests its involvement in essential pathways governing adipogenesis. Collectively, our study outcomes provide valuable insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying the adipogenic differentiation of BMSCs and lay a strong foundation for further research in regenerative medicine.

Identification of Anoikis-Related Genes in Spinal Cord Injury: Bioinformatics and Experimental Validation.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a serious disease without effective therapeutic strategies. To identify the potential treatments for SCI, it is extremely important to explore the underlying mechanism. Current studies demonstrate that anoikis might play an important role in SCI. In this study, we aimed to identify the key anoikis-related genes (ARGs) providing therapeutic targets for SCI. The mRNA expression matrix of GSE45006 was downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database, and the ARGs were downloaded from the Molecular Signatures Database (MSigDB database). Then, the potential differentially expressed ARGs were identified. Next, correlation analysis, gene ontology (GO) enrichment analysis and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis, and protein-protein interaction (PPI) analysis were employed for the differentially expressed ARGs. Moreover, miRNA-gene networks were constructed by the hub ARGs. Finally, RNA expression of the top ten hub ARGs was validated in the SCI cell model and rat SCI model. A total of 27 common differentially expressed ARGs were identified at different time points (1, 3, 7, and 14 days) following SCI. The GO and KEGG enrichment analysis of these ARGs indicated several enriched terms related to proliferation, cell cycle, and apoptotic process. The PPI results revealed that most of the ARGs interacted with each other. Ten hub ARGs were further screened, and all the 10 genes were validated in the SCI cell model. In the rat model, only seven genes were validated eventually. We identified 27 differentially expressed ARGs of the SCI through bioinformatic analysis. Seven real hub ARGs (CCND1, FN1, IGF1, MYC, STAT3, TGFB1, and TP53) were identified eventually. These results may expand our understanding of SCI and contribute to the exploration of potential SCI targets.

Construction of functional neural network tissue combining CBD-NT3-modified linear-ordered collagen scaffold and TrkC-modified iPSC-derived neural stem cells for spinal cord injury repair.

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) can be personalized and differentiated into neural stem cells (NSCs), thereby effectively providing a source of transplanted cells for spinal cord injury (SCI). To further improve the repair efficiency of SCI, we designed a functional neural network tissue based on TrkC-modified iPSC-derived NSCs and a CBD-NT3-modified linear-ordered collagen scaffold (LOCS). We confirmed that transplantation of this tissue regenerated neurons and synapses, improved the microenvironment of the injured area, enhanced remodeling of the extracellular matrix, and promoted functional recovery of the hind limbs in a rat SCI model with complete transection. RNA sequencing and metabolomic analyses also confirmed the repair effect of this tissue from multiple perspectives and revealed its potential mechanism for treating SCI. Together, we constructed a functional neural network tissue using human iPSCs-derived NSCs as seed cells based on the interaction of receptors and ligands for the first time. This tissue can effectively improve the therapeutic effect of SCI, thus confirming the feasibility of human iPSCs-derived NSCs and LOCS for SCI repair and providing a valuable direction for SCI research.

Association Between Physical Activity and Prevalence/Mortality of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Different Socioeconomic Settings.

Objectives: We aimed to investigate the effect of physical activity (PA) on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) prevalence and long-term survival, particularly in some specific population such as those with different socioeconomic status (SES). Methods: Multivariate regression and interaction analyses were conducted to deal with confounders and interacting factors. Results: Active PA was associated with lower prevalence of NAFLD in both cohorts. Individuals with active-PA had better long-term survival compared to those with inactive-PA in both cohorts, and the results were only statistically significant in NAFLD defined by US fatty liver index (USFLI). We found clear evidence that the beneficial role of PA was more obvious in individuals with better SES, and the statistical significances were presented in both two hepatic steatosis index (HSI)-NAFLD cohorts from the NHANES III and NHANES 1999-2014. Results were consistent in all sensitivity analyses. Conclusion: We demonstrated the importance of PA in decrease the prevalence and mortality of NAFLD, and highlights the need for improving SES simultaneously to increase the protective effect of PA.

Photocrosslinked methacrylated natural macromolecular hydrogels for tissue engineering: A review.

A hydrogel is a three-dimensional (3D) network structure formed through polymer crosslinking, and these have emerged as a popular research topic in recent years. Hydrogel crosslinking can be classified as physical, chemical, or enzymatic, and photocrosslinking is a branch of chemical crosslinking. Compared with other methods, photocrosslinking can control the hydrogel crosslinking initiation, crosslinking time, and crosslinking strength using light. Owing to these properties, photocrosslinked hydrogels have important research prospects in tissue engineering, in situ gel formation, 3D bioprinting, and drug delivery. Methacrylic anhydride modification is a common method for imparting photocrosslinking properties to polymers, and graft-substituted polymers can be photocrosslinked under UV irradiation. In this review, we first introduce the characteristics of common natural polysaccharide- and protein-based hydrogels and the processes used for methacrylate group modification. Next, we discuss the applications of methacrylated natural hydrogels in tissue engineering. Finally, we summarize and discuss existing methacrylated natural hydrogels in terms of limitations and future developments. We expect that this review will help researchers in this field to better understand the synthesis of methacrylate-modified natural hydrogels and their applications in tissue engineering.

Perfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) exposure and risk of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in the elderly: results from NHANES 2003-2014.

This study aimed to investigate the association between perfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) exposure and the risk of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in the elderly. Our sample included 1420 participants (≥ 60 years) from the 2003-2014 NHANES study with available serum PFASs, covariates, and outcomes. NAFLD was defined based on the hepatic steatosis index. Weighted binary logistic regression was utilized to calculate the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals for each chemical. Results suggested that increase in PFOA concentrations was positively associated with risk of NAFLD in adjusted models. PFNA was also significantly associated with NAFLD development in adjusted linear regression. The effect of PFOA or PFNA on NAFLD development was found to be linear in the trend test. This study added novel evidence that exposure to PFASs (PFOA and PFNA) might be associated with NAFLD development.

A prognostic signature based on snoRNA predicts the overall survival of lower-grade glioma patients.

Introduction: Small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) are a group of non-coding RNAs enriched in the nucleus which direct post-transcriptional modifications of rRNAs, snRNAs and other molecules. Recent studies have suggested that snoRNAs have a significant role in tumor oncogenesis and can be served as prognostic markers for predicting the overall survival of tumor patients. Methods: We screened 122 survival-related snoRNAs from public databases and eventually selected 7 snoRNAs that were most relevant to the prognosis of lower-grade glioma (LGG) patients for the establishment of the 7-snoRNA prognostic signature. Further, we combined clinical characteristics related to the prognosis of glioma patients and the 7-snoRNA prognostic signature to construct a nomogram. Results: The prognostic model displayed greater predictive power in both validation set and stratification analysis. Results of enrichment analysis revealed that these snoRNAs mainly participated in the post-transcriptional process such as RNA splicing, metabolism and modifications. In addition, 7-snoRNA prognostic signature were positively correlated with immune scores and expression levels of multiple immune checkpoint molecules, which can be used as potential biomarkers for immunotherapy prediction. From the results of bioinformatics analysis, we inferred that SNORD88C has a major role in the development of glioma, and then performed in vitro experiments to validate it. The results revealed that SNORD88C could promote the proliferation, invasion and migration of glioma cells. Discussion: We established a 7-snoRNA prognostic signature and nomogram that can be applied to evaluate the survival of LGG patients with good sensitivity and specificity. In addition, SNORD88C could promote the proliferation, migration and invasion of glioma cells and is involved in a variety of biological processes related to DNA and RNA.

A cross-sectional study of smoking and depression among US adults: NHANES (2005-2018).

Background: The relationship between smoking and depression remains controversial. This study aimed to investigate the association between smoking and depression from three aspects: smoking status, smoking volume, and smoking cessation. Methods: Data from adults aged ≥20 who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) between 2005 and 2018 were collected. The study gathered information about the participants' smoking status (never smokers, previous smokers, occasional smokers, daily smokers), smoking quantity per day, and smoking cessation. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), with a score ≥10 indicating the presence of clinically relevant symptoms. Multivariable logistic regression was conducted to evaluate the association of smoking status, daily smoking volume, and smoking cessation duration with depression. Results: Previous smokers [odds ratio (OR) = 1.25, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.05-1.48] and occasional smokers (OR = 1.84, 95% CI: 1.39-2.45) were associated with a higher risk of depression compared with never smokers. Daily smokers had the highest risk of depression (OR = 2.37, 95% CI: 2.05-2.75). In addition, a tendency toward a positive correlation was observed between daily smoking volume and depression (OR = 1.65, 95% CI: 1.24-2.19) (P for trend < 0.05). Furthermore, the longer the smoking cessation duration, the lower the risk of depression (OR = 0.55, 95% CI: 0.39-0.79) (P for trend < 0.05). Conclusions: Smoking is a behavior that increases the risk of depression. The higher the smoking frequency and smoking volume, the higher the risk of depression, whereas smoking cessation is associated with decreased risk of depression, and the longer the smoking cessation duration, the lower the risk of depression.

Identification of cuproptosis-related subtypes and the development of a prognostic model in glioma.

Introduction: A copper-dependent cell death, cuproptosis, involves copper binding with lipoylated tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle components. In cuproptosis, ferredoxin 1 (FDX1) and lipoylation act as key regulators. The mechanism of cuproptosis differs from the current knowledge of cell death, which may invigorate investigations into copper's potential as a cancer treatment. An extremely dismal prognosis is associated with gliomas, the most prevalent primary intracranial tumor. In patients with glioma, conventional therapies, such as surgery and chemotherapy, have shown limited improvement. A variety of cell death modes have been confirmed to be operative in glioma oncogenesis and participate in the tumor microenvironment (TME), implicated in glioma development and progression. In this study, we aimed to explore whether cuproptosis influences glioma oncogenesis. Methods: Gene expression profiles related to cuproptosis were comprehensively evaluated by comparing adjacent tissues from glioma tissues in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) (https://portal.gdc.cancer.gov/) database. Gene expression, prognostic, clinical, and pathological data of lower-grade gliomas (LGG) and glioblastoma were retrieved from TCGA and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/) databases. The datasets were managed by "Combat" algorithm to eliminate batch effects and then combined. A consensus clustering algorithm based on the Partitioning Around Medoid (PAM) algorithm was used to classified 725 patients with LGG and glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) into two cuproptosis subtypes. According to the differentially expressed genes in the two cuproptosis subtypes, 725 patients were divided into 2 gene subtypes. Additionally, a scoring system that associated with TME was constructed to predict patient survival and patient immunotherapy outcomes. Furthermore, we constructed a prognostic CRG-score and nomogram system to predict the prognosis of glioma patients. 95 tissue specimens from 83 glioma patients undergoing surgical treatment were collected, including adjacent tissues. Using immunohistochemistry and RT-qPCR, we verified cuproptosis-related genes expression and CRG-score predictive ability in these clinical samples. Results: Our results revealed extensive regulatory mechanisms of cuproptosis-related genes in the cell cycle, TME, clinicopathological characteristics, and prognosis of glioma. We also developed a prognostic model based on cuproptosis. Through the verifications of database and clinical samples, we believe that cuproptosis affects the prognosis of glioma and potentially provides novel glioma research approaches. Conclusion: We suggest that cuproptosis has potential importance in treating gliomas and could be utilized in new glioma research efforts.

Textbook outcomes in liver surgery for gallbladder cancer patients treated with curative-intent resection: a multicenter observational study.

BACKGROUND: Cholecystectomy, hepatectomy, and lymphadenectomy are recommended as the curative treatment for resectable gallbladder cancer (GBC). Textbook outcomes in liver surgery (TOLS) is a novel composite measure that has been defined by expert consensus to represent the optimal postoperative course after hepatectomy. This study aimed to determine the incidence of TOLS and the independent predictors associated with TOLS after curative-intent resection in GBC patients. METHODS: All consecutive GBC patients who underwent curative-intent resection between 2014 and 2020 were enrolled from a multicenter database from 11 hospitals as the training and the internal testing cohorts, and Southwest Hospital as the external testing cohort. TOLS was defined as no intraoperative grade greater than or equal to 2 incidents, no grade B/C postoperative bile leaks, no postoperative grade B/C liver failure, no 90-day postoperative major morbidity, no 90-day readmission, no 90-day mortality after hospital discharge, and R0 resection. Independent predictors of TOLS were identified using logistic regression and were used to construct the nomogram. The predictive performance was assessed using the area under the curve and calibration curves. RESULTS: TOLS was achieved in 168 patients (54.4%) and 74 patients (57.8%) from the training and internal testing cohorts, and the external testing cohort, respectively. On multivariate analyses, age less than or equal to 70 years, absence of preoperative jaundice (total bilirubin≤3 mg/dl), T1 stage, N0 stage, wedge hepatectomy, and no neoadjuvant therapy were independently associated with TOLS. The nomogram that incorporated these predictors demonstrated excellent calibration and good performance in both the training and external testing cohorts (area under the curve: 0.741 and 0.726). CONCLUSIONS: TOLS was only achieved in approximately half of GBC patients treated with curative-intent resection, and the constructed nomogram predicted TOLS accurately.

A computational approach based on weighted gene co-expression network analysis for biomarkers analysis of Parkinson's disease and construction of diagnostic model.

Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common age-related chronic neurodegenerative disease. There is currently no affordable, effective, and less invasive test for PD diagnosis. Metabolite profiling in blood and blood-based gene transcripts is thought to be an ideal method for diagnosing PD. Aim: In this study, the objective is to identify the potential diagnostic biomarkers of PD by analyzing microarray gene expression data of samples from PD patients. Methods: A computational approach, namely, Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis (WGCNA) was used to construct co-expression gene networks and identify the key modules that were highly correlated with PD from the GSE99039 dataset. The Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) regression analysis was performed to identify the hub genes in the key modules with strong association with PD. The selected hub genes were then used to construct a diagnostic model based on logistic regression analysis, and the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves were used to evaluate the efficacy of the model using the GSE99039 dataset. Finally, Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) was used to validate the hub genes. Results: WGCNA identified two key modules associated with inflammation and immune response. Seven hub genes, LILRB1, LSP1, SIPA1, SLC15A3, MBOAT7, RNF24, and TLE3 were identified from the two modules and used to construct diagnostic models. ROC analysis showed that the diagnostic model had a good diagnostic performance for PD in the training and testing datasets. Results of the RT-PCR experiments showed that there were significant differences in the mRNA expression of LILRB1, LSP1, and MBOAT7 among the seven hub genes. Conclusion: The 7-gene panel (LILRB1, LSP1, SIPA1, SLC15A3, MBOAT7, RNF24, and TLE3) will serve as a potential diagnostic signature for PD.

A practical and economical method for frontal sinus reconstruction after frontal craniotomy: A single-center experience with 140 patients.

Background: Frontal sinus exposure is a common consequence of frontal craniotomy. Cerebrospinal fluid leakage and infection are the major postoperative complications that may occur as a result of the open frontal sinus. The successful filling of the open frontal sinus provides an approach to prevent significant complications caused by frontal sinus exposure. Objective: This article describes a new technique to reconstruct the exposed frontal sinus cavity with the combined application of gelatin sponge and a vascularized pericranial flap. Methods: A total of 140 patients underwent frontal sinus reconstruction using gelfoam and vascularized pericranial flaps from 2016 to 2021. Gelatin sponge was used to fill the frontal sinus, and a vascularized pericranial flap was used to cover the frontal sinus when the bone flap was retracted. Results: Postoperative cerebrospinal fluid leakage and infection did not occur in any patient. Conclusion: Our results validated the effectiveness of our technique in the prevention of exposed frontal sinus-related postoperative complications.

LncRNAs and their RBPs: How to influence the fate of stem cells?

Stem cells are distinctive cells that have self-renewal potential and unique ability to differentiate into multiple functional cells. Stem cell is a frontier field of life science research and has always been a hot spot in biomedical research. Recent studies have shown that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have irreplaceable roles in stem cell self-renewal and differentiation. LncRNAs play crucial roles in stem cells through a variety of regulatory mechanisms, including the recruitment of RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) to affect the stability of their mRNAs or the expression of downstream genes. RBPs interact with different RNAs to regulate gene expression at transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels and play important roles in determining the fate of stem cells. In this review, the functions of lncRNAs and their RBPs in self-renewal and differentiation of stem cell are summarized. We focus on the four regulatory mechanisms by which lncRNAs and their RBPs are involved in epigenetic regulation, signaling pathway regulation, splicing, mRNA stability and subcellular localization and further discuss other noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) and their RBPs in the fate of stem cells. This work provides a more comprehensive understanding of the roles of lncRNAs in determining the fate of stem cells, and a further understanding of their regulatory mechanisms will provide a theoretical basis for the development of clinical regenerative medicine.

Hepatectomy is associated with survival in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma: An observational study by instrumental variable analysis.

ABSTRACT: Liver resection (LR) is a major treatment modality in select patients with stage I-III Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC), yet many studies demonstrated low rates of resection. The aim of the present study is to evaluate whether increasing resection rates would result in an increase in average survival in patients with stage I-III ICC.Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results 18 registry database for 2004 through 2015 was retrieved for the present study. Propensity score matching was performed to eliminate possible bias. In addition, instrumental variable (IV) analysis was utilized to adjust for both measured and unmeasured confounders.Among 2341 patients with clinical stage I-III ICC, we identified 1577 (67.4%) and 764 (32.6%) patients who received no treatment or LR, respectively. In the multivariable adjusted cohort, a clear prognostic advantage of LR was observed in overall survival (OS) (P < .001) and disease-specific survival (DSS) (P < .001) compared to patients who received no treatment. Estimates based on the IV analysis indicated that patients treated with LR had a significantly longer OS (P < .001) and DSS (P < .001) after adjusting confounding factors. In IV analyses stratified by American Joint Committee on Cancer tumor stage, we found that the better survival effects of LR on OS and DSS were consistent across all subgroups.Our outcomes indicated that LR was associated with a survival benefit for marginal patients with stage I-III ICC.

Studying the distribution patterns, dynamics and influencing factors of city functional components by gradient analysis.

Understanding the spatial distribution characteristics and formation mechanism of urban facilities (city functional components) constitutes the basis of urban layout optimization. Currently, research on the overall distribution of the various types of city functional components is lacking. In this study, by applying the gradient analysis method common in ecology, we considered 13 types of city functional components (80,214 individuals in total) in large, medium and small Chinese cities (9 cities in total) to carry out quantitative analysis of the distribution of components along urban-rural gradients through density distribution curves. The results indicated that: (1) a higher density of city functional components near the city centre revealed an obvious aggregated distribution; (2) the spatial distribution dynamics of city functional components were related to the city size, providing a reference for the rational distribution of components in cities of different sizes; (3) the distribution of city functional components was affected by their ecosystem services. This study offers a new perspective for the application of ecological methods in the examination of the distribution of city functional components.

Molecular Subtypes Based on the Stemness Index Predict Prognosis in Glioma Patients.

Glioma is the common histological subtype of malignancy in the central nervous system, with high morbidity and mortality. Glioma cancer stem cells (CSCs) play essential roles in tumor recurrence and treatment resistance. Thus, exploring the stem cell-related genes and subtypes in glioma is important. In this study, we collected the RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) data and clinical information of glioma patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Chinese Glioma Genome Atlas (CGGA) databases. With the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and weighted gene correlation network analysis (WGCNA), we identified 86 mRNA expression-based stemness index (mRNAsi)-related genes in 583 samples from TCGA RNA-seq dataset. Furthermore, these samples from TCGA database could be divided into two significantly different subtypes with different prognoses based on the mRNAsi corresponding gene, which could also be validated in the CGGA database. The clinical characteristics and immune cell infiltrate distribution of the two stemness subtypes are different. Then, functional enrichment analyses were performed to identify the different gene ontology (GO) terms and pathways in the two different subtypes. Moreover, we constructed a stemness subtype-related risk score model and nomogram to predict the prognosis of glioma patients. Finally, we selected one gene (ETV2) from the risk score model for experimental validation. The results showed that ETV2 can contribute to the invasion, migration, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) process of glioma. In conclusion, we identified two distinct molecular subtypes and potential therapeutic targets of glioma, which could provide new insights for the development of precision diagnosis and prognostic prediction for glioma patients.