Correlation between coronary artery calcification and COVID-19.

Background: Coronary heart disease (CHD) is an underlying cardiac condition contributing to increased COVID-19 mortality and morbidity which can be assessed by several diagnosis methods including coronary artery calcification (CAC). The goal of this study was to find out if there were potential links between CAC, clinical findings, severity of COVID-19, and in-hospital outcomes. Methods: This retrospective study evaluated 551 suspected patients admitted to teaching hospitals of the Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran, from March to October 2021. Data included previous diseases, comorbidities, clinical examinations, routine laboratory tests, demographic characteristics, duration of hospitalization, and number of days under ventilation were recorded in a checklist. Results: Findings of current study provide evidence of a significant relationship between coronary artery calcification (CAC) and in-hospital mortality. Additionally, we observed significant correlations between CAC and several clinical parameters including age, duration of hospitalization, pulse rate, maximum blood pressure, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), neutrophil count, white blood cell (WBC) count, and oxygen saturation. However, we did not observe a significant association between CAC and the severity index of COVID-19. In addition, logistic regression tests did not find a significant value of CAC to predict in-hospital mortality. Conclusion: Our findings showed a significant relationship between CAC and in-hospital mortality.

BAOS-CNN: A novel deep neuroevolution algorithm for multispecies seagrass detection.

Deep learning, a subset of machine learning that utilizes neural networks, has seen significant advancements in recent years. These advancements have led to breakthroughs in a wide range of fields, from natural language processing to computer vision, and have the potential to revolutionize many industries or organizations. They have also demonstrated exceptional performance in the identification and mapping of seagrass images. However, these deep learning models, particularly the popular Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) require architectural engineering and hyperparameter tuning. This paper proposes a Deep Neuroevolutionary (DNE) model that can automate the architectural engineering and hyperparameter tuning of CNNs models by developing and using a novel metaheuristic algorithm, named 'Boosted Atomic Orbital Search (BAOS)'. The proposed BAOS is an improved version of the recently proposed Atomic Orbital Search (AOS) algorithm which is based on the principle of atomic model and quantum mechanics. The proposed algorithm leverages the power of the Lévy flight technique to boost the performance of the AOS algorithm. The proposed DNE algorithm (BAOS-CNN) is trained, evaluated and compared with six popular optimisation algorithms on a patch-based multi-species seagrass dataset. This proposed BAOS-CNN model achieves the highest overall accuracy (97.48%) among the seven evolutionary-based CNN models. The proposed model also achieves the state-of-the-art overall accuracy of 92.30% and 93.5% on the publicly available four classes and five classes version of the 'DeepSeagrass' dataset, respectively. This multi-species seagrass dataset is available at: https://ro.ecu.edu.au/datasets/141/.

Coronary artery calcification score as a prognostic indicator for COVID-19 mortality: evidence from a retrospective cohort study in Iran.

Background: Coronary artery calcification (CAC) has been established as an independent risk factor for major adverse cardiovascular events. Nevertheless, the effect of CAC on in-hospital mortality and adverse clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19 has yet to be determined. Objective: To investigate the association between CAC score and in-hospital mortality of COVID-19 patients. Method: This retrospective cohort study was conducted across tertiary hospitals of University of Medical Sciences in Babol, a northern city in Iran, and enroled 551 confirmed COVID-19 patients with definitive clinical outcomes of death or discharge between March and October 2021. Demographic and clinical data, along with chest computed tomography (CT) findings and CAC score on admission, were systematically collected. The study utilized logistic regression analysis and Kaplan-Meier plots to explore the association between CAC score and in-hospital death and adverse clinical outcomes. Results: The mean age was 60.05±12.8. A significant difference regarding CAC score, age, history of hypertension, hyperlipidemia, cardiovascular diseases, and respiratory diseases among survivors and non-survivors was observed; however, gender was not found to be different. Furthermore, in multivariate analysis, CAC score greater than or equal to 400 [odds ratio (OR): 4.2, 95% CI: 1.70-10.33, P value: 0.002], hospitalization time (OR: 1.31, 95% CI: 1.13-1.53, P value < 0.001), length of ICU stay (OR: 2.02, 95% CI: 1.47-2.77, P value < 0.001), severe or critical COVID-19 severity in time of admission (95% CI: 1.79-18.29, P value: 0.003), and history of respiratory diseases (95% CI: 2.18-40, P value: 0.003) were found to be associated with higher odds of in-hospital mortality. Log-rank test also revealed a significant difference regarding the time of admission to death between patients with CAC score greater than or equal to 400 and those with CAC score less than 400 (P value < 0.001). Conclusion: Elevated CAC score is a crucial risk factor linked to in-hospital mortality and unfavourable clinical results in confirmed COVID-19 patients. This finding emphasizes the need for careful monitoring of individuals with high CAC scores.

Hypoxia and programmed cell death-ligand 1 expression in the tumor microenvironment: a review of the effects of hypoxia-induced factor-1 on immunotherapy.

One useful cancer treatment approach is activating the patient's immune response against the tumor. In this regard, immunotherapy (IT) based on immune checkpoint blockers (ICBs) has made great progress in the last two decades. Although ITs are considered a novel approach to cancer treatment and have had good results in preclinical studies, their clinical success has shown that only a small proportion of treated patients (about 20%) benefited from them. Moreover, in highly progressed tumors, almost no acceptable response could be expected. In this regard finding the key molecules that are the main players of tumor immunosuppression might be helpful in overcoming the possible burdens. Hypoxia is one of the main components of the tumor microenvironment (TME), which can create an immunosuppressive microenvironment in various ways. For example, hypoxia is one of the main factors of programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1) upregulation in tumor-infiltrating Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells (MDSCs). Therefore, hypoxia can be targeted to increase the efficiency of Anti-PD-L1 IT and has become one of the important issues in cancer treatment strategy. In this review, we described the effect of hypoxia in the TME, on tumor progression and immune responses and the challenges created by it for IT.

Radiotherapy Combination: Insight from Tumor Immune Microenvironment (TIME).

The view of Radiotherapy (RT) as a simple inducer of DNA damage resulting in tumor cell death has dramatically changed in recent years, and it is now widely accepted that RT can trigger an immune response which provides a sound basis for combining RT with immunotherapy. Given that, radiation can be delivered with different regimens, its effect on immune responses and Tumor Immune Microenvironment (TIME) may vary with dose and fractionation schedule. This fractional dose dependency may need to be more considered because of recent developments in RT delivery techniques making it possible to deliver precisely higher dosages per fraction (hypofractionation) while reducing exposure to normal tissues. Although combining radiotherapy with immunotherapy could be a promising strategy for synergistic enhancement of treatment efficacy, the selection of the best-matched combination of immunotherapy with each radiotherapy scheme remains to be addressed. Thus, for designing better therapeutic combinations, it is necessary to understand the immunological effects of RT. Here, we review the impact of conventional and different hypofractionation radiation schedules on the TIME. Subsequently, we highlight how knowing about these interactions may have implications for choosing a rational combination with targeted therapies.

VISTA and its ligands: the next generation of promising therapeutic targets in immunotherapy.

V-domain immunoglobulin suppressor of T cell activation (VISTA) is a novel negative checkpoint receptor (NCR) primarily involved in maintaining immune tolerance. It has a role in the pathogenesis of autoimmune disorders and cancer and has shown promising results as a therapeutic target. However, there is still some ambiguity regarding the ligands of VISTA and their interactions with each other. While V-Set and Immunoglobulin domain containing 3 (VSIG-3) and P-selectin glycoprotein ligand-1(PSGL-1) have been extensively studied as ligands for VISTA, the others have received less attention. It seems that investigating VISTA ligands, reviewing their functions and roles, as well as outcomes related to their interactions, may allow an understanding of their full functionality and effects within the cell or the microenvironment. It could also help discover alternative approaches to target the VISTA pathway without causing related side effects. In this regard, we summarize current evidence about VISTA, its related ligands, their interactions and effects, as well as their preclinical and clinical targeting agents.

Catalase-gold nanoaggregates manipulate the tumor microenvironment and enhance the effect of low-dose radiation therapy by reducing hypoxia.

Radiotherapy as a standard method for cancer treatment faces tumor recurrence and antitumoral unresponsiveness. Suppressive tumor microenvironment (TME) and hypoxia are significant challenges affecting efficacy of radiotherapy. Herein, a versatile method is introduced for the preparation of pH-sensitive catalase-gold cross-linked nanoaggregate (Au@CAT) having acceptable stability and selective activity in tumor microenvironment. Combining Au@CAT with low-dose radiotherapy enhanced radiotherapy effects via polarizing protumoral immune cells to the antitumoral landscape. This therapeutic approach also attenuated hypoxia, confirmed by downregulating hypoxia hallmarks, such as hypoxia-inducible factor α-subunits (HIF-α), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and EGF. Catalase stability against protease digestion was improved significantly in Au@CAT compared to the free catalase. Moreover, minimal toxicity of Au@CAT on normal cells and increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) were confirmed in vitro compared with radiotherapy. Using the nanoaggregates combined with radiotherapy led to a significant reduction of immunosuppressive infiltrating cells such as myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) and regulatory T cells (T-regs) compared to the other groups. While, this combined therapy could significantly increase the frequency of CD8+ cells as well as M1 to M2 macrophages (MQs) ratio. The combination therapy also reduced the tumor size and increased survival rate in mice models of colorectal cancer (CRC). Our results indicate that this innovative nanocomposite could be an excellent system for catalase delivery, manipulating the TME and providing a potential therapeutic strategy for treating CRC.

Evaluation of Molecular-level Changes of Programmed Cell Death Ligand-1 after Radiation Therapy in a BALB/c CT26 Colorectal Mouse Tumor Model.

The effects of radiation therapy (RT) for cancer can be systemic and partially mediated by the immune system. However, radiation alone is unlikely to transform an immunosuppressive environment into an immunostimulatory one. Therefore, an effective combination of RT and immunotherapy may provide a new, more efficient treatment approach. Here, we investigated how the expression of programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) in the tumor microenvironment varied in different RT regimens with the same biologically effective dose. In this study, female BALB/c mice inoculated with CT26 tumor cells were irradiated with 3 different RT regimens using the same BED of 40 gray (Gy). These included ablative RT (1*15 Gy), hypo-fractionated RT (2*10 Gy), and conventional (Hyper-fractionated) RT (10*3 Gy). PD-L1 expression was analyzed with immunohistochemical staining on days 2 and 20 and when the size of tumors had reached 2 cm2 after RT. All treated groups expressed PD-L1, but the group receiving single ablative high-dose RT showed higher expression compared to the other groups. No significant differences in PD-L1 expression were observed at different times in the same group. These findings showed that different regimens of RT have different effects on the TME, so a combination of RT and immune checkpoint blockade could be clinically used in cancer patients.

Improving water treatment using a novel antibacterial kappa-carrageenan-coated magnetite decorated with silver nanoparticles.

In this study, we aimed to fabricate an enhanced antibacterial agent to act against pathogenic bacteria in aqueous environments. To achieve this, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were inlaid on a kappa-carrageenan (KC) base and coated on Fe3O4 magnetic cores (Fe3O4@KC@Ag). Superparamagnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles were designed at the center of the composite nanostructure, allowing magnetic recovery from aqueous media in the presence of a magnet. The synthesized nanoconjugate was characterized in each step using XRD, FT-IR, EDX, FE-SEM, TEM, DLS, VSM, and disk-diffusion antibacterial method. Results show that the nanocomposite system is formed, while the magnetic properties remain practically stable. The agglomeration of the AgNPs was decreased by the trap-like function of KC coating, which resulted in an improved antibacterial activity for the Fe3O4@KC@Ag formulation. These findings suggest that Fe3O4@KC@Ag nanocomposites could be promising agents for combating bacterial infections in aqueous environments.

Immunogenicity of Inactivated SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine (BBIBP-CorV; Sinopharm) and Short-Term Clinical Outcomes in Vaccinated Solid Organ Transplant Recipients: A Prospective Cohort Study.

BackgroundImmunocompromised patients have lower seroconversion rate in response to COVID-19 vaccination. The aim of this study is to evaluate the humoral immune response with short-term clinical outcomes in solid organ transplant recipients vaccinated with SARS-CoV-2 vaccine (BBIBP-CorV; Sinopharm).MethodsThis prospective cohort was conducted from March to December 2021 in Abu Ali Sina hospital, Iran. All transplant recipients, older than 18 years were recruited. The patients received two doses of Sinopharm vaccine 4 weeks apart. Immunogenicity was evaluated through assessment of antibodies against the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV-2 after the first and second dose of vaccine. The patients were followed up for 6 months after vaccination.ResultsOut of 921 transplant patients, 115 (12.5%) and 239 (26%) had acceptable anti S-RBD immunoglobulin G (IgG) levels after the first and second dose, respectively. Eighty patients (8.68%) got infected with COVID-19 which led to 45 (4.9%) of patients being hospitalized. None of the patients died during follow-up period. Twenty-four (10.9%) liver transplant recipients developed liver enzyme elevation, and increased serum creatinine was observed in 86 (13.5%) kidney transplant patients. Two patients experienced biopsy-proven rejection without any graft loss.ConclusionOur study revealed that humoral response rate of solid organ transplant recipients to Sinopharm vaccine was low.

Dual blockage of both PD-L1 and CD47 enhances the therapeutic effect of oxaliplatin and FOLFOX in CT-26 mice tumor model.

Colorectal cancer is a poorly immunogenic. Such property can be reverted by using ICD. However, ICD inducers can also induce the expression of inhibitory checkpoint receptors CD47 and PD-L1 on tumor cells, making CRC tumors resistant to mainly CD8 T cell killing and macrophage-mediated phagocytosis. In this study, we examined the therapeutic effect of Oxaliplatin and FOLFOX regimen in combination with blocking antibodies against CD47 and PD-L1. FOLFOX and Oxaliplatin treatment lead to an increase in CD47 and PD-L1 expression on CT-26 cells invitro and invivo. Combining blocking antibodies against CD47 and PD-L1 with FOLFOX leads to a significant increase in survival and a decrease in tumor size. This triple combining regimen also leads to a significant decrease in Treg and MDSC and a significant increase in CD8 + INF-γ + lymphocytes and M1/M2 macrophage ratio in the tumor microenvironment. Our study showed triple combining therapy with FOLFOX, CD47 and PD-L1 is an effective treatment regimen in CT-26 mice tumor model and may consider as a potential to translate to the clinic.

Application of ordinal logistic and gene expression programming methods to predict the collapse sensitivity classes of loess soils, a case study: Golestan Province, northeastern Iran.

The current study assesses the collapse sensitivity classes of loess soils using gene expression programming (GEP) and ordinal logistic regression (OLR). The crucial variable to forecast the possible development of loess caves in the Golestan Province (northeast of Iran) is the collapse sensitivity factor (Is). A database of 62 records, including the mechanical and physical characteristics of soils, was used. Oedometer tests were used to estimate the parameters of the collapse coefficient, the time needed for 90% settlement (T90%), and collapse sensitivity. The database includes 10 inputs (grain size, porosity, initial water content, precipitation, climatic data, liquid limit, calcium carbonate content, vegetation, and degree of soil saturation) and one output (collapse sensitivity classes). This is a complicated approach due to the complexity of setting up and performing such kinds of tests in the laboratory. The likelihood of soil classification ranks as severe, moderately severe, moderate, and small sensitivity was inspected using OLR and GEP. This study demonstrated that the OLR approach could effectively differentiate among more than 70% of distinct groups. Furthermore, experimental data reported from Semnan, Sarakhs, and Mashhad also attests to the accuracy of the OLR model. The sensitivity analysis indicated that silt fraction imparts the maximum effect on the collapse sensitivity classes. The trial-and-error method was used to determine the configurations of the GEP model prior to developing an ideal model. The performance of the GEP model to estimate the collapse sensitivity categories in a trustworthy, strong, and useful way is well documented by comparison between the results of the GEP and the experimental findings, which are affordable.

A generalized dynamic robust observer for uncertain linear time invariant descriptor systems.

This paper presents a generalized dynamic robust observer design for uncertain linear time-invariant (LTI) singular systems. In this approach, the state equation of the singular system can consist of parametric uncertainties in three matrices namely the derivative, the system, and the input. The proposed method is according to a new parameterization in the system equations and converting it to a new descriptor model so that in the new structure, the derivative matrix is known. A generalized dynamic robust observer is suggested to estimate the state variables of the system which has more flexibility in contrast with proportional and proportional-integral observers. Also, in this method, in addition to the state variables, whose derivatives are also estimated. A sufficient condition is given in a linear matrix inequality (LMI) form to show the convergence of the observer. Numerical simulation demonstrates the efficacy of the proposed observer.

Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) depletion by cabozantinib improves the efficacy of anti-HER2 antibody-based immunotherapy in a 4T1-HER2 murine breast cancer model.

BACKGROUND: Clinical trials using Cabozantinib have shown promising results in metastatic breast cancer. This efficacy mainly results from removing and/or polarization of tumor-promoting myeloid cells. Nevertheless, whether such myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) depletion can be used to improve the efficacy of anti-HER2 antibodies in early breast cancer has not been defined yet. METHODS: BALB/c mice were inoculated with 4T1 and 4T1-HER2 murine tumor cell lines, and after 7 days, the mice were divided into different groups. Cabozantinib was orally administrated for 15 consecutive days, and anti-HER2 monoclonal antibody (mAb) 1 T0 was intraperitoneally injected twice a week. Tumor size was measured every other day. RESULTS: Our findings indicated that Cabozantinib combined with anti-HER2 mAb dramatically reduced tumor growth and increased tumor rejection (p = 0.0001). Flow cytometry analysis showed MDSC population decreased in TME, lymph nodes, and spleens by roughly 20%, 0.8%, and 35%, respectively. Myeloid suppressive phenotype was altered through inhibition of the expression of immunosuppressive factor Arg-1. Cytokine profiling of different groups indicated that the level of INF-γ was approximately two times higher than that in the control group, and IL-17 increased compared to the control group. However, IL-4 level was significantly reduced in the groups treated with Cabozantinib. These could bring about a 10% increase in CD8+ infiltration into the tumor bed and activation of tumor-draining lymph nodes and splenic T-lymphocytes. CONCLUSION: Collectively, our data provide pre-clinical evidence for using Cabozantinib to reshape the primary TME, which can enhance the effectiveness of anti-HER2 mAb immunotherapy in primary breast cancer.

The effect of taurine supplementation on delirium post liver transplantation: A randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Delirium is a prevalent complication of liver transplantation (LT). It may enhance the risk of morbidity and mortality. Taurine is considered to have antioxidant and neuroprotective activities. The aim of this study was to evaluate taurine supplementation effect on post-LT delirium. METHODS: Patients older than 18 years old who had received LT in Abu-Ali Sina transplantation center in Shiraz, Iran from September 2020 to June 2021, were enrolled in this double-blinded randomized clinical trial. Exclusion criteria was known hypersensitivity to taurine, pregnancy or breast-feeding and death within 72 h post-LT. Patients were randomly divided into two groups, each received 2 g/day placebo or taurine from the first day post-LT for 30 days. Delirium was assessed using Confusion Assessment Method-Intensive Care Unit (CAM-ICU). Mortality and rejection rates and length of Intensive Transplantation Unit (ITU) and hospital stays were evaluated within one month after transplantation. RESULTS: Two hundred and seven patients were divided into two groups. Twenty-eight and 23 patients were excluded due to their refuse to participate in the study and death within 72 h post-LT, respectively. Delirium rate within the first month was 23.08% and was significantly lower in taurine group (9.46%) compared with placebo (35.36%, P = 0.012). Length of ITU stay was significantly higher among delirious patients (P = 0.015) in this analysis. CONCLUSION: we reached to the result that taurine can prevent post-LT delirium, dramatically. Placebo receiving and longer stay in ITU were the only independent risk factors in this trial. REGISTRATION NUMBER OF CLINICAL TRIAL: The study was registered at the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (IRCT20200312046755N1; http://www.irct.ir/).

Combining ablative radiotherapy and anti CD47 monoclonal antibody improves infiltration of immune cells in tumor microenvironments.

Radiotherapy as an anti-tumor treatment can stimulate the immune system. However, irradiated tumor cells express CD47 to escape the anti-tumor immune response. Anti- CD47 Immunotherapy is a possible way to tackle this problem. This study evaluated the effect of single high dose radiotherapy combined with an anti-CD47 monoclonal antibody (αCD47 mAb) in CT26 tumor-bearing BALB/c mice. We assessed the tumors volume and survival in mice 60 days after tumor implantation. Also, immune cell changes were analyzed by flow cytometry in tumors, lymph nodes, and spleen. Combination therapy enhanced the anti-tumor response in treated mice by increasing CD8+ T cells and M1 macrophages and decreasing M2 macrophages and myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) in the tumor microenvironment (TME). Also, our results showed that combination therapy increased survival time in mice compared to other groups. Furthermore, tumor volumes remarkably decreased in mice that received a single high dose RT plus αCD47 mAb. In conclusion, we showed that combining RT and αCD47 mAb improved the immune cell population in TME, regressed tumor growth, and increased survival in tumor-bearing mice.

Fine-scale topographic influence on the spatial distribution of tree species diameter in old-growth beech (Fagus orientalis Lipsky.) forests, northern Iran.

The Hyrcanian forest in northern Iran is threatened by human use and encroachment and has suffered degradation in some areas. The forest has been declared a World Heritage Site and management in the region is shifting from timber production to conservation. There is considerable interest in developing a greater understanding of these diverse forest communities to inform forest management and multiple use plans to maintain the diversity and resilience of these forests. The Hyrcanian forest is characterized by a complex topography of catenas ranging up mountain slopes. Topographic gradients greatly influence microhabitat conditions which in turn impact tree distribution. To date there has been limited research on the impacts of this diverse topography on the spatial distribution of tree species and tree diameters in Hyrcanian forests. Such information is necessary to better understand the regional traits of tree diameters in these natural mixed temperate forests before forest management occurs. We examined the influence of the area's catena topography on the spatial pattern of tree species and on species stand structure in terms of tree diameter distribution. To quantify these dynamics, we conducted a complete enumeration inventory of all trees with dbh >12 cm within a 7.947 ha study area that included three C-shaped (concave) and three V-shaped (convex) catenas. Geostatistical variogram analysis and Clark and Evans aggregation index were utilized to study the spatial distribution of tree diameters. Beech, alder, hornbeam, linden and Persian maple exhibited clustered patterns, and sour cherry, ash, and oak exhibited random patterns. Geostatistical analysis clearly revealed the substantial influence of catena topography on the diameter distributions of alder and linden, more subtle influence on the diameter distributions of beech, and a possible influence on Persian maple, providing valuable insight into stand structure over neighborhood-based indices alone. Alder and linden both exhibited strong spatial structure in their diameter distributions (56% and 86%, respectively) where their diameter was strongly correlated with trees within 108 m and 83 m, respectively, sharing more similar diameters to each other than trees beyond that distance. Beech, maple, and hornbeam exhibited very weak if any spatial structure over short distances. These findings can be used to support the alignment of forest management practices in managed Hyrcanian forests with goals of protecting and maintaining biodiversity and sustainable forest ecosystems, and to inform geospatial modeling of species diameter distributions in areas where a complete stem-map is not feasible.

Design and characterization of Persian gum/polyvinyl alcohol electrospun nanofibrous scaffolds for cell culture applications.

Biocompatible electrospun nanofiber scaffolds were fabricated in this study using Persian gum (PG) and poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) to build an artificial extracellular matrix for cell growth. The preparation procedure involves mixing various ratios of PG/PVA to be electrospun and seeded with L929 fibroblasts. Upon addition of PG up to 60% to the solutions, a 30% decrease to around 240 µs·cm-1 is found in electrical conductivity which is in the range of semi-conductive polymers, whereas the surface tension is increased to around 3%. The fabricated scaffolds were characterized by morphological, chemical, thermal and structural analyses including SEM, FTIR spectroscopy, DSC, XRD, and tensile stress. The results showed that incorporation of 50% PG to the polymer solutions causes the formation of nanofibers with the least bead-shaped segments. All ratios of nanofibers containing PG showed significant biocompatibility with the cultured cells, which is presumably due to the radical scavenging feature of PG. The MTT and SEM analyses demonstrated that the scaffolds containing 50% PG possess the optimal cell compatibility, adhesion and proliferation properties. The fabricated PG/PVA cell culture scaffolds are potentially appropriate for wound dressing and cell culture applications in biomedicine.

X-ray image based COVID-19 detection using evolutionary deep learning approach.

Radiological methodologies, such as chest x-rays and CT, are widely employed to help diagnose and monitor COVID-19 disease. COVID-19 displays certain radiological patterns easily detectable by X-rays of the chest. Therefore, radiologists can investigate these patterns for detecting coronavirus disease. However, this task is time-consuming and needs lots of trial and error. One of the main solutions to resolve this issue is to apply intelligent techniques such as deep learning (DL) models to automatically analyze the chest X-rays. Nevertheless, fine-tuning of architecture and hyperparameters of DL models is a complex and time-consuming procedure. In this paper, we propose an effective method to detect COVID-19 disease by applying convolutional neural network (CNN) to the chest X-ray images. To improve the accuracy of the proposed method, the last Softmax CNN layer is replaced with a K -nearest neighbors (KNN) classifier which takes into account the agreement of the neighborhood labeling. Moreover, we develop a novel evolutionary algorithm by improving the basic version of competitive swarm optimizer. To this end, three powerful evolutionary operators: Cauchy Mutation (CM), Evolutionary Boundary Constraint Handling (EBCH), and tent chaotic map are incorporated into the search process of the proposed evolutionary algorithm to speed up its convergence and make an excellent balance between exploration and exploitation phases. Then, the proposed evolutionary algorithm is used to automatically achieve the optimal values of CNN's hyperparameters leading to a significant improvement in the classification accuracy of the proposed method. Comprehensive comparative results reveal that compared with current models in the literature, the proposed method performs significantly more efficient.

Radiation dose and schedule influence the abscopal effect in a bilateral murine CT26 tumor model.

Radiotherapy (RT) can induce immune-mediated responses in local irradiated tumors, and non-irradiated distant metastasis is termed the abscopal effect. Here, we aimed to evaluate the impact of different RT doses and fractions on anti-tumor responses within local irradiated and distance non-irradiated tumor microenvironments. In mice bearing CT26 tumors, the primary tumor was irradiated with three different RT doses (16 Gy × 1F, 10 Gy × 2F, and 3 Gy × 10F) with the same biologically effective dose. Tumor volumes and immune cells changes were assessed in irradiated and non-irradiated tumors. Survival times were evaluated over 90 days. Only 16 Gy × 1F radiation increased CD8 + T cells number in the irradiated (p = 0.043) and non-irradiated (p = 0.047) tumors compared to the untreated group. A high frequency of tumor-associated macrophages-1 (TAM-1) and low TAM-2 was found in 16 Gy × 1F irradiated mice. Moreover, 16 Gy × 1F significantly induced interferon gamma (IFNγ)-producing CD8 + cells in the spleen compared to controls (p = 0.021). Hypofraction regimens (16 Gy × 1F, 10 Gy × 2F) caused a reduction in myeloid-derived suppressor cells in the irradiated tumors. We detected A modest growth delay in both flank tumors and long-term survival after hypofraction treatments (16 Gy × 1F, 10 Gy × 2F). A single high RT dose increased CD8 + cells number in irradiated (p = 0.000) and non-irradiated (p = 0.002) tumors approximal up to 2 points along with significant induction of IFN-γ production by CD8 + cells in the spleen when combined with anti- programmed death ligand-1 (PDL-1) (p = 0.000). Combination therapy was also associated with bilateral tumor growth control and increased life span in mice. Hypofractionated RT schedules, especially single high dose, seem the most effective regimen for inducing an abscopal effect. Immune checkpoint inhibitors could promote RT-induced systemic effects.