Tibetan Plateau grasslands might increase sequestration of microbial necromass carbon under future warming.

Microbial necromass carbon (MNC) can reflect soil carbon (C) sequestration capacity. However, changes in the reserves of MNC in response to warming in alpine grasslands across the Tibetan Plateau are currently unclear. Based on large-scale sampling and published observations, we divided eco-clusters based on dominant phylotypes, calculated their relative abundance, and found that their averaged importance to MNC was higher than most other environmental variables. With a deep learning model based on stacked autoencoder, we proved that using eco-cluster relative abundance as the input variable of the model can accurately predict the overall distribution of MNC under current and warming conditions. It implied that warming could lead to an overall increase in the MNC in grassland topsoil across the Tibetan Plateau, with an average increase of 7.49 mg/g, a 68.3% increase. Collectively, this study concludes that alpine grassland has the tendency to increase soil C sequestration capacity on the Tibetan Plateau under future warming.

Proteomic and metabolomic profiling of plasma predicts immune-related adverse events in older patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

The clinical success of immune checkpoint inhibitors is compromised by the fact of immune-related adverse events (irAEs), especially for older patients. To identify predictive biomarkers for older patients with irAEs, we used multiplex immunoassay and flow cytometry and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry to test immune factors and plasma protein and metabolites levels in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. The results showed that older patients with irAEs displayed lower CD28, CD4+ T cell, and B cell and higher interleukin (IL)-10 and CCL2 levels at baseline. Besides, lower aldolase, fructose-bisphosphate B (ALDOB), higher ST6GAL1, and lower lactate/pyruvate ratio at baseline were found in older patients with irAEs. Based on metabolomic markers, predictive models were developed to distinguish patients with grade 2-4 irAEs from grade 0-1 (Area under curve, AUC = 0.831) and to distinguish patients with grade 3-4 irAEs from grade 2 (AUC = 1). Our results confirmed the predictive value of plasma metabolites for irAEs in older patients with NSCLC.

Surgical vs nonsurgical treatment for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in patients older than 70 years: a propensity score matching analysis.

PURPOSE: With the rising life expectancy and an aging population, it has become increasingly important to investigate treatments suitable for older adult patients with esophageal cancer. This study investigated whether older adult patients who underwent esophagectomy had better clinical outcomes than those who were nonsurgically treated. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) who were 70 years or older and underwent esophagectomy, radiotherapy (RT), and/or chemoradiotherapy (CRT) between January 2018 and December 2019. Patients were divided into 2 groups: the surgery group (S group) and the nonsurgery group (NS group). We then compared the clinical outcomes of the 2 groups. RESULTS: After a median follow-up duration of 36.6 months, the S group showed better overall survival (OS). The 3-year OS was 59% in the S group and 27% in the NS group (hazard ratio [HR], 0.397; 95% CI, 0.278-0.549; P < .0001). In the S group, the median progression-free survival was 38.3 months (95% CI, 30.6-46.1) compared with 12.3 months in the NS group (HR, 0.511; 95% CI, 0.376-0.695; P < .0001). In addition, the number of adverse events in the NS group was higher than that in the S group (P < .001). CONCLUSION: Overall, patients with ESCC at the age of ≥70 years who underwent esophagectomy had significantly better clinical outcomes than those who underwent nonsurgical treatment with RT and/or CRT.

Impact of peripheral anterior synechiae on the outcome of combined phacoemulsification, goniosynechialysis and goniotomy for primary angle-closure glaucoma and cataract: a multicenter observational study.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the impact of the extent of peripheral anterior synechiae (PAS) on the effectiveness and safety of combined phacoemulsification (PEI), goniosynechialysis (GSL), and goniotomy (GT) in eyes with primary angle-closure glaucoma (PACG) and cataract. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This study included patients diagnosed with PACG and cataract who underwent combined PEI and 120 degrees GSL plus GT (PEI+GSL+GT) between April 2020 and October 2022 at 10 ophthalmic institutes. Eligible patients were divided into three groups based on the extent of PAS: 180°≤PAS<270°, 270°≤PAS<360°, and PAS=360°. Data on intraocular pressure (IOP), the number of ocular hypotensive medications, and complications were collected and compared. The study defined complete success as postoperative IOP within the 6-18 mmHg range and a 20% reduction from baseline without the use of topical medications. Qualified success was defined in the same way as complete success, but it allowed for the use of ocular hypotensive medications. RESULTS: Three hundred and four eyes of 283 patients were included. The mean follow-up was 12.50±1.24 months. All groups experienced a significant reduction in IOP after the surgery (P <0.05). There were no significant differences in final IOP, number of medications, and cumulative complete and qualified success rates among the three groups (P >0.05). The groups with 270°≤PAS<360°had a higher frequency of hyphema compared to 180°≤PAS<270° (P = 0.044). CONCLUSIONS: PEI+GSL+GT has proven to be an effective treatment for PACG with cataract over one year period. However, the outcome was not correlated with preoperative extent of PAS. PRCIS: The combination of phacoemulsification, goniosynechialysis and goniotomy is an effective treatment for primary angle-closure glaucoma patients with cataract, and this is not linked to the extent of preoperative peripheral anterior synechiae.

Characterization of a polysaccharide from Amauroderma rugosum and its proangiogenic activities in vitro and in vivo.

Amauroderma rugosum (AR), also known as "Blood Lingzhi" in Chinese, is a basidiomycete belonging to the Ganodermataceae family. Four polysaccharide fractions were systematically isolated and purified from AR. Subsequently, their compositions were examined and analyzed via high-performance gel permeation chromatography (HPGPC), analysis of the monosaccharide composition, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The zebrafish model was then used to screen for proangiogenic activities of polysaccharides by inducing vascular insufficiency with VEGF receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor II (VRI). The third fraction of AR polysaccharides (PAR-3) demonstrated the most pronounced proangiogenic effects, effectively ameliorating VRI-induced intersegmental vessel deficiency in zebrafish. Concurrently, the mRNA expression levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-A and VEGF receptors were upregulated by PAR-3. Moreover, the proliferation, migration, invasion, and tube formation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were also stimulated by PAR-3, consistently demonstrating that PAR-3 possesses favorable proangiogenic properties. The activation of the Akt, ERK1/2, p38 MAPK, and FAK was most likely the underlying mechanism. In conclusion, this study establishes that PAR-3 isolated from Amauroderma rugosum exhibits potential as a bioresource for promoting angiogenesis.

Microbial Diversity and Community Structure of Chinese Fresh Beef during Cold Storage and Their Correlations with Off-Flavors.

To investigate the diversity and dynamics of microorganisms in Chinese fresh beef (CFB) without acid discharge treatment during cold storage, high-throughput sequencing was employed to analyze the CFB refrigerated for 0, 3, 7, and 10 days. The results showed that the community richness of the fungi and bacteria decreased significantly. However, the diversity decreased in the early stage and increased in the later stage. At the phylum level, Ascomycota (74.1-94.1%) and Firmicutes (77.3-96.8%) were the absolutely dominant fungal and bacterial phyla. The relative abundance of both fungal and bacterial phyla displayed a trend of increasing and then decreasing. At the genus level, Candida (29.3-52.5%) and Lactococcus (19.8-59.3%) were, respectively, the dominant fungal and bacterial genera. The relative abundance of Candida showed a trend of increasing and then decreasing, while Lactococcus possessed the opposite trend. KEGG metabolic pathways analysis suggested that carbohydrate metabolism, membrane transport, and amino acid metabolism were the major metabolic pathways of bacteria. Bugbase prediction indicated the major microbial phenotype of bacteria in CFB during cold storage was Gram-positive (17.2-31.6%). Correlation analysis suggested that Lactococcus, Citrobacter, Proteus, and Rhodotorula might be the main microorganisms promoting the production of off-flavor substances in CFB. This study provides a theoretical basis for the preservation of Chinese fresh beef.

Clinical outcome and prognostic factors of T4N0M0 colon cancer after R0 resection: A retrospective study.

BACKGROUND: Paradoxically, patients with T4N0M0 (stage II, no lymph node metastasis) colon cancer have a worse prognosis than those with T2N1-2M0 (stage III). However, no previous report has addressed this issue. AIM: To screen prognostic risk factors for T4N0M0 colon cancer and construct a prognostic nomogram model for these patients. METHODS: Two hundred patients with T4N0M0 colon cancer were treated at Tianjin Medical University General Hospital between January 2017 and December 2021, of which 112 patients were assigned to the training cohort, and the remaining 88 patients were assigned to the validation cohort. Differences between the training and validation groups were analyzed. The training cohort was subjected to multivariate analysis to select prognostic risk factors for T4N0M0 colon cancer, followed by the construction of a nomogram model. RESULTS: The 3-year overall survival (OS) rates were 86.2% and 74.4% for the training and validation cohorts, respectively. Enterostomy (P = 0.000), T stage (P = 0.001), right hemicolon (P = 0.025), irregular review (P = 0.040), and carbohydrate antigen 199 (CA199) (P = 0.011) were independent risk factors of OS in patients with T4N0M0 colon cancer. A nomogram model with good concordance and accuracy was constructed. CONCLUSION: Enterostomy, T stage, right hemicolon, irregular review, and CA199 were independent risk factors for OS in patients with T4N0M0 colon cancer. The nomogram model exhibited good agreement and accuracy.

Inhibition of miR-9 Combined With Cisplatin Targeting APE1 Against Angiogenesis in Osteosarcoma.

Osteosarcoma (OS) is a highly malignant tumor, and chemotherapy resistance suggests poor prognosis in OS patients. In this study, the authors discovered that miR-9 has a pro-angiogenic role in OS. The anti-angiogenic effects of cisplatin were greatly increased when miR-9 was suppressed in OS. In addition, the authors demonstrated that miR-9 plays a pro-angiogenic role by targeting apoptosis-inducing factor 1 (APE1) in OS. Importantly, our in vivo experiments showed that inhibition of miR-9 combined with cisplatin could suppress xenograft tumor growth by targeting APE1 and decreasing angiogenesis in OS. In summary, our results suggest that miR-9 plays a role as a tumor promoter, and inhibiting miR-9 and APE1 is a new strategy for inhibiting OS angiogenesis and chemotherapy resistance.

When simplicity triumphs: niche specialization of gut bacteria exists even for simple fiber structures.

Structurally complex corn bran arabinoxylan (CAX) was used as a model glycan to investigate gut bacteria growth and competition on different AX-based fine structures. Nine hydrolyzate segments of the CAX polymer varying in chemical structure (sugars and linkages), CAX, five less complex non-corn arabinoxylans, and xylose and glucose were ranked from structurally complex to simple. The substrate panel promoted different overall growth and rates of growth of eight Bacteroides xylan-degrading strains. For example, Bacteroides cellulosilyticus DSM 14838 (Bacteroides cellulosilyticus) grew well on an array of complex and simple structures, while Bacteroides ovatus 3-1-23 grew well only on the simple structures. In a competition experiment, B. cellulosilyticus growth was favored over B. ovatus on the complex AX-based structure. On the other hand, on the simple structure, B. ovatus strongly outcompeted B. cellulosilyticus, which was eliminated from the competitive environment by Day 11. This adaptation to fine structure and resulting competition dynamics indicate that dietary fiber chemical structures, whether complex or simple, favor certain gut bacteria. Overall, this work supports a concept that fiber degraders diversify their competitive abilities to access substrates across the spectrum of heterogeneity of fine structural features of dietary fibers.

One-Pot facile synthesis of fluorescent copper nanoclusters for highly selective and sensitive detection of tetracycline.

Due to the excellent characteristics, fluorescent copper nanoclusters (Cu NCs) have aroused great interest in recent years. Herein, the simple prepared, environmentally friendly fluorescent Cu NCs were synthesized by using trypsin as the stabilizer and applied for the determination of tetracycline. Uniformly dispersed Try-Cu NCs were obtained with average size of 3.5 ± 0.3 nm and some excellent merits of good water solubility, UV light stability and salt stability. Emission peaks around 460.0 nm were visibly quenched by tetracycline based on static quenching mechanism and inner filter effect (IFE). Two excellent linear relationships were observed between ln(F0/F) and tetracycline concentrations in the range of 1-100 µM and 100-300 µM with limit of detection (LOD) of 0.084 µM. Meanwhile, this nanoprobe exhibited an apparent selectivity for tetracycline detection. Moreover, Try-Cu NCs were successfully employed to determine tetracycline in serum and milk samples after facile pretreatment with satisfactory recovery rates and credible standard deviation. The results suggested that this as-prepared Try-Cu NCs had excellent application prospects in the future.

EQ-5D-5L Population Norms for China Derived From a National Health Survey.

OBJECTIVES: To develop the EQ-5D-5L (5L) population norms for China and to assess the relationship between various factors and 5L data. METHODS: This study used data derived from the Psychology and Behavior Investigation of Chinese Residents, a national sample survey of 21 909 representative participants aged 12 years and above. Participants' health-related quality of life (HRQoL) was measured by the 5L. Their socioeconomic characteristics, behavioral factors, and health conditions were also obtained from the survey. Norm scores were generated and compared for different socioeconomic variables. Multiple linear and logistic regressions were used to assess the relationships of the 3 kinds of variables with the 5L utility, visual analog scale (VAS) scores and 5L health problems. RESULTS: The mean (SD) age of participants was 39.4 (18.9) years, and 50.0% of them were female. The mean (SD) utility and VAS scores were 0.940 (0.138) and 73.4 (21.6), respectively. Participants reported considerably more problems in anxiety/depression (26.2%) and pain/discomfort (22.2%) dimensions. The gender difference in HRQoL is attenuated. The participants older than 75 years suffered from a sharp decline in HRQoL; the participants in Shanghai and Tibet provinces reported lower utility and VAS scores and more health problems. Those who were younger, with better socioeconomic status and healthier lifestyles, and without diseases tended to report higher utility and VAS scores and fewer health problems. CONCLUSIONS: This study derived the 5L population norms for China based on a representative population sample.

Consolidation chemotherapy after definitive concurrent chemoradiotherapy in patients with inoperable esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: a multicenter non-inferiority phase III randomized clinical trial.

BACKGROUND: Definitive concurrent chemoradiotherapy (dCCRT) is the gold standard for the treatment of locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). However, the potential benefits of consolidation chemotherapy after dCCRT in patients with esophageal cancer remain debatable. Prospective randomized controlled trials comparing the outcomes of dCCRT with or without consolidation chemotherapy in patients with ESCC are lacking. In this study, we aim to generate evidence regarding consolidation chemotherapy efficacy in patients with locally advanced, inoperable ESCC. METHODS: This is a multicenter, prospective, open-label, phase-III randomized controlled trial comparing non-inferiority of dCCRT alone to consolidation chemotherapy following dCCRT. In total, 600 patients will be enrolled and randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive either consolidation chemotherapy after dCCRT (Arm A) or dCCRT alone (Arm B). Overall survival will be the primary endpoint, whereas progression-free survival, locoregional progression-free survival, distant metastasis-free survival, and treatment-related toxicity will be the secondary endpoints. DISCUSSION: This study aid in further understanding the effects of consolidation chemotherapy after dCCRT in patients with locally advanced, inoperable ESCC. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ChiCTR1800017646.

Longitudinal patient-reported outcomes after minimally invasive McKeown esophagectomy for patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

PURPOSE: Surgery for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is characterized by a poor prognosis and high complication rate, resulting in a heavy symptom burden and poor health-related quality of life (QOL). We evaluated longitudinal patient-reported outcomes (PROs) to analyze the correlations between symptoms and QOL and their changing characteristics during postoperative rehabilitation. METHODS: We investigated patients with ESCC who underwent minimally invasive McKeown esophagectomy at Sichuan Cancer Hospital between April 2019 and December 2019. Longitudinal data of the clinical characteristics and PROs were collected. The MD Anderson Symptom Inventory and European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) QOL questionnaires were used to assess symptoms and QOL and compare the trajectories of PROs during the investigation. RESULTS: A total of 244 patients with ESCC were enrolled in this study. Regarding QOL, role and emotional functions returned to baseline at 1 month after surgery, and cognitive and social functions returned to baseline at 3 months after surgery. However, physical function and global QOL did not return to baseline at 1 year after surgery. At 7 days and 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery, the main symptoms of the patients were negatively correlated with physical, role, emotional, cognitive, and social functions and the overall health status (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Patients with ESCC experience reduced health-related QOL and persisting symptoms after minimally invasive McKeown esophagectomy, but a recovery trend was observed within 1 month. The long-term QOL after esophagectomy is acceptable.

Zero-Shot Fault Diagnosis for Smart Process Manufacturing via Tensor Prototype Alignment.

Identifying unseen faults is a crux of the digital transformation of process manufacturing. The ever-changing manufacturing process requires preset models to cope with unseen problems. However, most current works focus on recognizing objects seen during the training phase. Conventional zero-shot recognition methods perform poorly when they are applied directly to these tasks due to the different scenarios and limited generalizability. This article yields a tensor-based zero-shot fault diagnosis framework, termed MetaEvolver, which is dedicated to improving fault diagnosis accuracy and unseen domain generalizability for practical process manufacturing scenarios. MetaEvolver learns to evolve the dual prototype distributions for each uncertain meta-domain from seen faults and then adapt to unseen faults. We first propose the concept of the uncertain meta-domain and then construct corresponding sample prototypes with the guidance of class-level attributes, which produce the sample-attribute alignment at the prototype level. MetaEvolver further collaboratively evolves the uncertain meta-domain dual prototypes by injecting the prototype distribution information of another modality, boosting the sample-attribute alignment at the distribution level. Building on the uncertain meta-domain strategy, MetaEvolver is prone to achieving knowledge transferring and unseen domain generalization with the optimization of several devised loss functions. Comprehensive experimental results on five process manufacturing data groups and five zero-shot benchmarks demonstrate that our MetaEvolver has great superiority and potential to tackle zero-shot fault diagnosis for smart process manufacturing.

Artificial intelligence-based MRI radiomics and radiogenomics in glioma.

The specific genetic subtypes that gliomas exhibit result in variable clinical courses and the need to involve multidisciplinary teams of neurologists, epileptologists, neurooncologists and neurosurgeons. Currently, the diagnosis of gliomas pivots mainly around the preliminary radiological findings and the subsequent definitive surgical diagnosis (via surgical sampling). Radiomics and radiogenomics present a potential to precisely diagnose and predict survival and treatment responses, via morphological, textural, and functional features derived from MRI data, as well as genomic data. In spite of their advantages, it is still lacking standardized processes of feature extraction and analysis methodology among different research groups, which have made external validations infeasible. Radiomics and radiogenomics can be used to better understand the genomic basis of gliomas, such as tumor spatial heterogeneity, treatment response, molecular classifications and tumor microenvironment immune infiltration. These novel techniques have also been used to predict histological features, grade or even overall survival in gliomas. In this review, workflows of radiomics and radiogenomics are elucidated, with recent research on machine learning or artificial intelligence in glioma.

Degradation profiles of the poly(ε-caprolactone)/silk fibroin electrospinning membranes and their potential applications in tissue engineering.

Degradation profiles are critical for the optimal application of electrospun polymer nanofibers in tissue regeneration, wound healing, and drug delivery systems. In this study, natural and synthetic polymers and their composites were subjected to in vivo transplantation and in vitro treatment with lipases, macrophages, and acetic acid to evaluate their degradation patterns. The effects of environmental stimulation, surface wettability, and polymer components on the degradation profiles of the electrospinning poly(ε-caprolactone)/silk fibroin (PCL/SF) nanofibers were first evaluated. In vivo degradation study demonstrated that bulk degradation, characterized by the transition from microfibers to nanofibers, and surface erosion, characterized by fusion between the microfibers or direct erosion from both ends of the microfibers, occurred in the electrospun membranes; however, bulk degradation dominated their overall degradation. Furthermore, the degradation rates of the electrospun PCL/SF membranes varied according to the composition, morphology, and surface wettability of the composite membranes. After the incorporation of silk fibroin (SF), the degradation rate of the SF/PCL composite membranes was faster, accompanied by larger values of weight loss and molecular weight (Mw) loss when compared with that of the pure poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) membrane, indicating a close relationship between degradation rate and hydrophilicity of the electrospinning membranes. The in vitro experimental results demonstrated that enzymes and oxidation partially resulted in the surface erosion of the PCL/SF microfibers. Consequently, bulk degradation and surface erosion coordinated with each other to enhance the hydrophilicity of the electrospinning membranes and accelerate the in vivo degradation.

ST14 interacts with TMEFF1 and is a predictor of poor prognosis in ovarian cancer.

TMEFF1 is a new protein involved in the physiological functions of the central nervous system, and we previously reported TMEFF1 can promote ovarian cancer. ST14 was determined to be involved in the processes of epidermal differentiation, epithelial cell integrity, and vascular endothelial cell migration, etc. The relationship between ST14 and TMEFF1 in the ovary remains unknown. In this study, we detected the expression of ST14 and TMEFF1 in 130 different ovarian cancer tissues through immunohistochemistry. We determined ST14 and TMEFF1 were highly expressed in ovarian cancer, indicating a higher degree of tumor malignancy and a worse prognosis. Tissues significantly expressing ST14 also highly expressed TMEFF1, and the expression of the two proteins was positively correlated. Consistently, immunofluorescence double staining demonstrated the co-localization of ST14 and TMEFF1 in the same region, and immunoprecipitation confirmed the interaction between ST14 and TMEFF1. TMEFF1 expression was also reduced after knocking down ST14 through Western blot. MTT, wound healing and Transwell assays results determined that knockdown of ST14 inhibited proliferation, migration and invasion of ovarian cancer cells in vitro, but the inhibitory effect was restored after adding TMEFF1 exogenous protein. Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathways analysis showed that ST14 and its related genes were enriched in the processes of epithelial formation, intercellular adhesion, protein localization, and mitosis regulation. We also clarified the kinase, microRNA, and transcription factor target networks and the impact of genetic mutations on prognosis. Overall, high expression of ST14 and TMEFF1 in ovarian cancer predicts higher tumor malignancy and a worse prognosis. ST14 and TMEFF1 co-localize and interact with each other in ovarian cancer. ST14 can regulate TMEFF1 expression to promote proliferation, migration and invasion of ovarian cancer cells. We speculate that the relationship between ST14 and TMEFF1 in ovarian cancer could become a potential target for anti-cancer therapy.