One-Pot Hydrothermal-Derived rGO/MXene/Sulfur Composite Aerogels as Free-Standing Cathodes in Lithium-Sulfur Batteries.

The confinement and high utilization of sulfur in the cathodes is critical for improved cycling performance of lithium-sulfur batteries. In this case one-pot hydrothermal strategy is developed to produce rGO/MXene/sulfur composite aerogels where sulfur is in situ trapped in the 3D rGO/MXene conductive skeleton. The optimized composite aerogels as free-standing cathodes delivery a specific capacity of 951 mAhg-1 after 100 cycles at 0.2 C with a low fading rate of 0.062% per cycle. The excellent cycling performance is correlated with highly oxidized MXene and in situ formed sulfate/thiosulfate complex layer in the long-term cycles.

Bifunctional solid-state ionic liquid supported amidoxime chitosan adsorbents for Th(IV) and U(VI): Enhanced adsorption capacity from the synergistic effect.

Uranium and thorium of symbiotic relationship commonly appear in one kind of raw or spent ore. The simultaneous enrichment toward both metals in the first step is essential during many hydrometallurgy processing. Therefore bifunctional solid-state ionic liquid supported amidoxime chitosan (ACS) adsorbents were developed to simultaneously adsorb the two metal from the aqueous solution. The adsorption capacity of the bifunctional adsorbents toward uranium and thorium were significantly superior to the ionic liquid-free amidoxime chitosan, obviously proving the synergistic effect. For both uranium and thorium, the adsorption capacity in the consequence of ACS-[N4444][DEHP], ACS-[N4444][EHEHP], ACS-[N1888][DEHP] and ACS-[N1888][EHEHP] prove the steric effect and PO bonding played important roles in the adsorption. Study on isotherms and kinetics demonstrated the adsorption of ionic liquid-ACS adopted monolayer and chemical way. The ΔGo of very small negative values highlighted ionic liquid-ACS were prone to adsorb uranium and thorium. The study showed feasibility of bifunctional solid-state ionic liquid supported amidoxime chitosan adsorbents for Th(IV) and U(VI).

Clinical relevance and outcome of familial papillary thyroid cancer: a single institution study of 626 familial cases.

Background: Whether familial thyroid cancer is more aggressive than sporadic thyroid cancer remains controversial. Additionally, whether the number of affected family members affects the prognosis is unknown. This study focused mainly on the comparison of the clinicopathological characteristics and prognoses between papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) patients with and without family history. Methods: A total of 626 familial papillary thyroid cancer (FPTC) and 1252 sporadic papillary thyroid cancer (SPTC) patients were included in our study. The clinical information associated with FPTC and SPTC was recorded and analyzed by univariate analysis. Results: Patients in the FPTC group had a higher rate of multifocality (p=0.001), bilaterality (p=0.000), extrathyroidal invasion (p=0.000), distant metastasis (p=0.012), lymph node metastasis (p=0.000), recurrence (p=0.000), a larger tumor size (p=0.000) and more malignant lymph nodes involved (central: p=0.000; lateral: p=0.000). In addition, our subgroup analysis showed no significant difference (p>0.05) between patients with only one affected family member and those with two of more group in all clinicopathological characteristics. In papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC) subgroup analysis, we found that FPTMC patients harbored significantly larger tumors (p=0.000), higher rates of multifocality (p=0.014), bilaterality (p=0.000), distant metastasis (p=0.038), lymph node metastasis (p=0.003), greater numbers of malignant lymph nodes (central: p=0.002; lateral: p=0.044), higher rates of I-131 treatment (p=0.000) and recurrence (p=0.000) than SPTMC patients. Conclusion: Our results indicated that PTC and PTMC patients with a positive family history had more aggressive clinicopathological behaviors, suggesting that more vigilant screening and management for FPTC may be helpful.

Screening tumor stage-specific candidate neoantigens in thyroid adenocarcinoma using integrated exome and transcriptome sequencing.

Background: The incidence of thyroid carcinoma (THCA), the most common endocrine tumor, is continuously increasing worldwide. Although the overall prognosis of THCA is good, patients with distant metastases exhibit a mortality rate of 5-20%. Methods: To improve the diagnosis and overall prognosis of patients with thyroid cancer, we screened specific candidate neoantigen genes in early- and late-stage THCA by analyzing the transcriptome and somatic cell mutations in this study. Results: The top five early-stage neoantigen-related genes (NRGs) were G protein-coupled receptor 4 [GPR4], chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan 4 [CSPG4], teneurin transmembrane protein 1 [TENM1], protein S 1 [PROS1], and thymidine kinase 1 [TK1], whereas the top five late-stage NRGs were cadherin 6 [CDH6], semaphorin 6B [SEMA6B], dysferlin [DYSF], xenotropic and polytropic retrovirus receptor 1 [XPR1], and ABR activator of RhoGEF and GTPase [ABR]. Subsequently, we used machine learning models to verify their ability to screen NRGs and analyze the correlations among NRGs, immune cell types, and immune checkpoint regulators. The use of candidate antigen genes resulted in a better diagnostic model (the area under the curve [AUC] value of the early-stage group [0.979] was higher than that of the late-stage group [0.959]). Then, a prognostic model was constructed to predict NRG survival, and the 1-, 3- and 5-year AUC values were 0.83, 0.87, and 0.86, respectively, which were closely related to different immune cell types. Comparison of the expression trends and mutation frequencies of NRGs in multiple tumors revealed their potential for the development of broad spectrum therapeutic drugs. Conclusion: In conclusion, the candidate NRGs identified in this study could potentially be used as therapeutic targets and diagnostic biomarkers for the development of novel broad spectrum therapeutic agents.

Facile and Rapid Synthesis of Porous Hydrated V2O5 Nanoflakes for High-Performance Zinc Ion Battery Applications.

Hydrated V2O5 with unique physical and chemical characteristics has been widely used in various function devices, including solar cells, catalysts, electrochromic windows, supercapacitors, and batteries. Recently, it has attracted extensive attention because of the enormous potential for the high-performance aqueous zinc ion battery cathode. Although great progress has been made in developing applications of hydrated V2O5, little research focuses on improving current synthesis methods, which have disadvantages of massive energy consumption, tedious reaction time, and/or low efficiency. Herein, an improved synthesis method is developed for hydrated V2O5 nanoflakes according to the phenomenon that the reactions between V2O5 and peroxide can be dramatically accelerated with low-temperature heating. Porous hydrated V2O5 nanoflake gel was obtained from cheap raw materials at 40 °C in 30 min. It shows a high specific capacity, of 346.6 mAh/g, at 0.1 A/g; retains 55.2% of that at 20 A/g; and retains a specific capacity of 221.0 mAh/g after 1800 charging/discharging cycles at 1 A/g as an aqueous zinc ion battery cathode material. This work provides a highly facile and rapid synthesis method for hydrated V2O5, which may favor its applications in energy storage and other functional devices.

Combination of Stimulated Thyroglobulin and Antithyroglobulin Antibody Predicts the Efficacy and Prognosis of 131I Therapy in Patients With Differentiated Thyroid Cancer Following Total Thyroidectomy: A Retrospective Study.

Background and Purpose: This study aimed to analyze the diagnostic ability of the combination of stimulated thyroglobulin (sTg) and antithyroglobulin antibody (TgAb) in predicting the efficacy and prognosis of radioactive iodine (131I) therapy (RAIT) in patients with differentiated thyroid carcinomas (DTCs) after total thyroidectomy (TT). Methods: This retrospective study comprised 409 DTC patients who underwent 131I treatment following TT in the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from January 2019 to August 2020, and they were followed up to November 2021. Patients were divided into the successful ablation and the unsuccessful ablation group based on the classification of the efficacy of RAIT in the 2015 American Thyroid Association guidelines. The clinical characteristics and the efficacy of the initial RAIT were evaluated. The cutoffs of preablation sTg, sTg/thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) ratio, and sTg×TgAb product were calculated to predict the efficacy of RAIT. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to identify the independent risk factors for unsuccessful ablation. Kaplan-Meier curves were used to estimate the prognostic value of sTg×TgAb product affecting progression-free survival (PFS). Results: The cohort consisted of 222 cases in the successful ablation group and 187 cases in the unsuccessful ablation group. Between the two groups, preablation sTg, sTg/TSH ratio, and sTg×TgAb product were significantly higher in the unsuccessful ablation group. The area under the curve (AUC) of the sTg×TgAb product was the highest among the above three factors. The cutoffs for the worse therapeutic effect of the initial RAIT in sTg, sTg/TSH ratio, and sTg×TgAb were >2.99 ng/ml, >0.029 mg/IU, and >34.18, respectively. STg >2.99 ng/ml and sTg×TgAb product >34.18 were independent risk factors for unsuccessful ablation. Patients with sTg×TgAb product >34.18 had shorter PFS than that of patients with sTg×TgAb product ≤34.18. In separate analyses of TgAb-negative and TgAb-positive subgroups, higher sTg×TgAb was both associated with a lower success rate of RAIT and a shorter PFS. Conclusion: STg×TgAb product predicted the efficacy and prognosis of 131I therapy for both TgAb-negative and TgAb-positive DTC patients before the initial 131I treatment following TT. Thus, it can be used as a clinical reference indicator for the surveillance of DTC patients.

LINC-PINT Suppresses the Aggressiveness of Thyroid Cancer by Downregulating miR-767-5p to Induce TET2 Expression.

Long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) long intergenic nonprotein-coding RNA, p53-induced transcript (LINC-PINT) has shown anti-invasive activity in lung and colon cancer cells. However, the role of LINC-PINT in thyroid cancer is unclear. In the present work, we explored the expression of LINC-PINT in 60 paired thyroid cancer and adjacent normal tissues. The clinical significance and biological function of LINC-PINT in thyroid cancer were determined. LINC-PINT expression was downregulated in thyroid cancer relative to adjacent normal tissues (p = 0.0002). Low expression of LINC-PINT was significantly associated with advanced tumor node metastasis (TNM) stage (p = 0.0306) and lymph node metastasis (p = 0.0359). Ectopic expression of LINC-PINT suppressed the proliferation, invasion, and tumorigenesis of thyroid cancer cells. Mechanistically, LINC-PINT associated with and downregulated microRNA (miR)-767-5p. Moreover, LINC-PINT overexpression relieved miR-767-5p-mediated repression of ten-eleven translocation 2 (TET2). miR-767-5p promoted aggressiveness of thyroid cancer, which was reversed by overexpression of TET2. Coexpression of miR-767-5p or depletion of TET2 rescued the inhibitory effect of LINC-PINT on thyroid cancer cell proliferation and invasion. In addition, there was a negative correlation between miR-767-5p and LINC-PINT in thyroid cancer (r = -0.34772, p = 0.01789). Taken together, LINC-PINT functions as a tumor suppressor in thyroid cancer via the miR-767-5p/TET2 axis, representing a potential therapeutic target for thyroid cancer.

Evaluation of immune infiltrating of thyroid cancer based on the intrinsic correlation between pair-wise immune genes.

INTRODUCTION: Unlike most mutation-driven cancers, thyroid cancer is thought to be highly dependent on changes in human hormone levels. It has become research hotspot using the change of gene expression level as a detection and diagnostic marker. The internal relationship between two genes and disease development is used to avoid the instability caused by single gene fluctuation. Aim It is possible to achieve early diagnosis in thyroid cancer during tumorigenesis and recurrence using IGPS (immune gene pairs). METHODS: We extracted thyroid cancer data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), using CIBERSORT algorithm to infiltrate out 22 immune cells types. We screened out IGPS that differ significantly between different groups, then used LinearSVC model to learn and screen features, combined with deep learning neural network model to predict benign and malignant cancer as well as patients at different groups. KEY FINDINGS: There are significant differences of immune cell ratio in tumor stages and relapse samples. We screen out 42 and 64 IGPS for in normal-tumor and non-relapsed groups respectively, for example ASCC3-MAP3K7 and ATF2-SOCS5, have significant correlation in IGPS expression. Then we use the IGPS to train the tumor diagnostic classifier, obtain average AUC are both 0.99 after ten times cross-validation. SIGNIFICANCE: The IGPS gives us new insight to explore immune cell infiltration of thyroid cancer, deep learning model can be further used in early diagnosis of thyroid cancer and estimation of the risk of recurrence.

Electrochemical properties of yttrium on W and Pb electrodes in LiCl-KCl eutectic melts.

Cyclic voltammetry, square wave voltammetry, linear polarization, chronopotentiometry and chronoamperometry were performed to investigate the electrochemical properties of Y(iii) on W and Pb electrodes in LiCl-KCl eutectic melts. The diffusion coefficient of Y(iii) measured by various techniques was in the order of 10-5. The nucleation of Y on W electrode was found to comply with the instantaneous nucleation mechanism. With increasing temperature, the exchange current densities increased and the charge-transfer resistances decreased, and exchange current densities are distinctly larger on liquid Pb electrode compared with W electrode. In addition, the co-deposition mechanism of Y(iii) and Pb(ii) on W electrode was also studied and four Pb-Y intermetallics could be detected. The feasibility of extraction metallic Y from the melts was explored by co-deposition on W electrode and under-potential deposition on liquid Pb electrode and the extracted products consisted of Pb3Y and Pb phases.

MicroRNA-146b-5p as an oncomiR promotes papillary thyroid carcinoma development by targeting CCDC6.

The microRNA-146b-5p (miR-146b-5p) is known to be involved in the development of papillary thyroid cancer (PTC); however, the underlying mechanism is unclear. Here we have investigated the biological functions and underlying molecular mechanisms of miR-146b-5p in PTC. The expression of miR-146b-5p was assessed in 92 pairs of PTC and adjacent normal tissues and showed correlation with the clinicopathological status such as the tumour size. Effects of miR-146b-5p and its direct target, coiled-coil domain containing 6 (CCDC6), on cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and cell cycle were evaluated through gain- and loss-of-function studies in vitro and in vivo. The expression of CCDC6 was further examined in 187 PTC cases and was found to be correlated with the clinicopathological status. Overexpression of miR-146b-5p was observed in PTC tissues that correlated with advanced PTC. miR-146b-5p promoted cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and cell cycle progression in vitro, whereas CCDC6 reversed this effect. miR-146b-5p promoted PTC growth in a subcutaneous mouse model in vivo, whereas overexpression of CCDC6 exerted the opposite effect. In conclusion, miR-146b-5p expression correlated with advanced PTC and promoted PTC development by targeting CCDC6 in vitro and in vivo; it could, therefore, serve as a promising target for PTC treatment.

Electrolytic extraction of dysprosium and thermodynamic evaluation of Cu-Dy intermetallic compound in eutectic LiCl-KCl.

The electrochemical reduction of dysprosium(iii) was studied on W and Cu electrodes in eutectic LiCl-KCl by transient electrochemical methods. Cyclic voltammogram and current reversal chronopotentiogram results demonstrated that dysprosium(iii) was directly reduced to dysprosium (0) on the W electrode through a single-step process with the transfer of three electrons. Electrochemical measurements on the Cu electrode showed that different Cu-Dy intermetallics are formed. Moreover, the thermodynamic properties of Cu-Dy intermetallic compounds were estimated by open circuit chronopotentiometry in a temperature range of 773-863 K. Using the linear polarization method, the exchange current density (j 0) of dysprosium in eutectic LiCl-KCl on the Cu electrode was estimated, and the temperature dependence of j 0 was studied to estimate the activation energies associated with Dy(iii)/Cu5Dy and Dy(iii)/Cu9/2Dy couples. In addition, potentiostatic electrolysis was conducted to extract dysprosium on the Cu electrode, and five Cu-Dy intermetallic compounds, CuDy, Cu2Dy, Cu9/2Dy, Cu5Dy and Cu0.99Dy0.01 were identified by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectrometry. Meanwhile, the change of dysprosium(iii) concentration was monitored using inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry, and the maximum extraction efficiency of dysprosium was found to reach 99.2%.

Curcumin inhibits cell growth and induces cell apoptosis through upregulation of miR-33b in gastric cancer.

In this work, the in vitro experiments about biological mechanisms of curcumin were conducted using the gastric cancer cell lines SGC-7901 and BGC-823. After 24-h exposure to curcumin at the concentrations of 5, 10, 15, 20, and 40 µmol/L, two cells showed the decreased proliferation and increased apoptosis abilities. Real-time PCR, Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay, western blotting, and cell apoptosis assay were used to further study the underlying mechanisms of curcumin. The first stage of our studies showed that curcumin affected the expression of miR-33b, which, in turn, affected the expression of the X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP) messenger RNA (mRNA). Next, curcumin was also identified to regulate the proliferation and apoptosis of SGC-7901 and BGC-823 cells. Further bioinformatics analysis and luciferase reporter assays proved that XIAP was one of the target genes of miR-33b. In the next stage, SGC-7901 and BGC-823 cells were treated with 20 µL curcumin, miR-33b mimics, and small interfering RNA (siRNA) of XIAP, respectively. The results showed that curcumin had similar effects on cell growth and apoptosis as the upregulation of miR-33b and the upregulation of the siRNA of XIAP. The results that followed from the restore experiments showed that curcumin affected cell growth and apoptosis presumably by upregulating the XIAP targeting in gastric cancer. Collectively, our results indicate that curcumin-miR-33b-XIAP coupling might be an important mechanism by which curcumin induces the apoptosis of SGC-7901 and BGC-823 cells.