Competitive fluorescence immunoassay for the rapid qualitative screening and accurate quantitative analysis of ketamine

In this paper, a sensitive and specific competitive fluorescence immunoassay (CFIA) method was developed for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of ketamine (KET). A novel competitive model in which ketamine hapten (KET-BSA), coated on microporous plates, competed with ketamine antigen (KET-Ag) in actual samples to bind fluorescein isothiocyanate-labeled antibody (KET-Ab) could be used for rapid and indirect quantitative analysis of KET in human urine, blood, or sewage. In the CFIA method, KET concentration in the sample negatively correlated with the detected fluorescence intensity. The linear correlation coefficient of the competitive quantitative equation was 0.992, the linear range was 0.01-0.5 μg mL^-1, and the limit of detection (LOD) was 0.1 pg mL^-1. The specificity results showed that the cross-reaction rate of norketamine was less than 10%. Recoveries of spiked samples at low, medium, and high concentrations ranged from 96% to 117%. The CFIA method and classical gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) were used to detect the actual samples simultaneously. The relative deviation of the quantitative results was less than 10%. The LOD value of KET by CFIA was four orders of magnitude lower than that by GC-MS/MS. Additionally, CFIA had great advantages over GC-MS/MS in terms of sample pretreatment and economic investment. In conclusion, this study provided a targeting detection platform for KET, which achieved a rapid, portable, and sensitive analysis of trace KET in various materials.

To what extent do social support and mastery mediate the association between childhood maltreatment and depression? A sequential causal mediation analysis

AIMS

This study aimed to examine the independent roles of various childhood maltreatment (CM) subtypes in the development of depression; quantify the joint mediation effect of social support and mastery in the association between subtypes of CM and depression and examine the additional contribution of mastery beyond the effect that is operating through social support to this relationship.

METHODS

Data analysed were from the Zone d'Épidémiologie Psychiatrique du Sud-Ouest de Montréal, an ongoing longitudinal population-based study. In total, 1351 participants with complete information on the studied variables were included. The propensity score matching and inverse-probability weighted regression adjustment estimation methods were used to minimise the potential confounding in the relationship between CM and major depression. We then used inverse odds ratio-weighted estimation to estimate the direct effects of maltreatment and indirect effects of social support and mastery.

RESULTS

We found that exposures to all maltreatment subtypes increased the risk of subsequent depression. The joint mediating effect of social support and mastery explained 37.63-46.97% of the association between different maltreatment subtypes and depression. The contribution of these two mediators differed by maltreatment subtypes, with social support being the major contributor to the mediating effect.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings of the study not only provide scientific evidence on the importance of psychosocial attributes in the development of major depression but also suggest that prevention and invention strategies should focus on these psychosocial attributes to effectively break the vicious cycle of CM on major depression.

Nitrogen-doped carbons derived from cotton pulp for improved supercapacitors

Supercapacitors have a rapid charge/discharge rate, long lifespan, high stability, and relatively acceptable cost, showing great potential in energy storage and conversion applications. However, the current cost-effective carbon-based electrodes have limited application owing to their low specific capacitance and unsatisfactory stability. In this regard, we herein prepare nitrogen-doped carbons by carbonizing a mixture of cotton pulp (CCP) and melamine to improve the specific capacitance by integrating pore (mesopore) and surface (oxygen-containing groups) modification with defect engineering via the carbonization process. Furthermore, the structural and morphological features of the resultant nitrogen-doped carbons are confirmed by various characterization techniques. Excitingly, the specific capacitance for nitrogen-doped CCP (CCPN1) with a 1 : 1 weight ratio of CCP and melamine is 642 F g^-1 at a current density of 0.5 A g^-1 in a three-electrode system, surpassing that of the reported carbon analogues and most metal-based materials to date. The stability test suggests that the specific capacitance of CCPN1 is maintained over 150 F g^-1 at a current density of 2 A g^-1 even over 5000 cycles. Therefore, the reported nitrogen-doped carbons from cotton pulp exhibit improved specific capacitance and stability, providing a new cost-effective carbon-based material for application in the energy storage field.

Role of HMGB1 in the formation of chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension after acute pulmonary embolism

Acute pulmonary embolism (PE) may be a common but fatal condition in several countries; in untreated or inadequately therapeutic PE patients, is a commonly occurring long-term complication affecting patient survival treatment and prognosis, contributing to right heart disease and may even be fatal. To date, the pathogenesis of chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) due to acute pulmonary embolism remains unclear; hence, there is an immediate demand for medications that are directly aimed at both preventing and managing the progression of CTEPH. Previous studies have shown that the inflammatory response is associated with thrombosis and the development of pulmonary cardiovascular disease. High-mobility Group B 1 (HMGB1), a damage-associated molecular pattern (DAMP), is involved in deep vein thrombosis and inflammatory reactions, vascular remodeling, and thrombosis in pulmonary hypertension. Therefore, we hypothesized that HMGB1 participates in the process of CTEPH development after acute PE. This paper details the dynamic changes in HMGB1 and the relationship between HMGB1 and the advancement of CTEPH after acute PE to better understand the pathogenic mechanisms and potential clinical applications.

Swept-source endoscopic optical coherence tomography real-time imaging system based on GPU acceleration for axial megahertz high-speed scanning

OBJECTIVE

In order to solve the problem of image real-time processing and correction for high-speed endoscopic swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT), we highly optimize a computer-unified device architecture-based platform and use a field-programmable gate array to summarize the application experience.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We use the Half-Sync/Half-Asyn mode to optimize memory in order to build a high-throughput data thread pool for CPU. We use asynchronous streaming architecture to multiplex multiple threads at high speed to accelerate data processing. At the same time, we design a rotary scanning position information encoding feedback module to suppress image drift, which can realize 25ns logic-timing sequence synchronization control through FPGA 40MHz clock.

RESULTS

The maximum complete attainable axial-scan-processing rate (including memory transfer and display of B-scan frames) is 3.52 MHz for a 16-bit pixel depth and A-scans/s of 1024 pixels. To our knowledge, this is the fastest processing rate reported to date with a single-chip graphical processing unit for SS-OCT. Finally, the established high-speed SS-OCT is used to image mouse esophagus and human fingers, and the output images are stable. When the image size is 1024 × 1024 pixels, the real-time imaging rate is 200 frames per second.

CONCLUSIONS

This paper develops a real-time image processing and reconstruction technology suitable for high-throughput SS-OCT systems, which can have high-density operation and efficient parallelism, while suppressing high-speed image drift. It lays the foundation for the non-destructive, in vivo, non-staining, fast and convenient early tumor diagnosis of high-speed endoscopic SS-OCT.

Improving the Air Resistance of the Precursor Solution for Ambient-Air Coating of an Sn-Pb Perovskite Film with Superior Photovoltaic Performance

Owing to narrow band gap and low toxicity, tin-lead (Sn-Pb) hybrid perovskites have shown great potential in photovoltaic applications, and the highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) of Sn-Pb perovskite solar cells (PSCs) has recently reached 23.6%. However, it is still challenging to prepare Sn-Pb films in open-air condition due to the Sn²⁺ oxidation of the precursor solution under this condition. In this work, we report the stabilizing of the Sn-Pb perovskite precursor solution by using ionic liquid methylammonium acetate (MAAc) as the solvent, which enables the fabrication of Sn-Pb films in air. MAAc is found to coordinate with the Sn-Pb precursor via abundant hydrogen bonding, which stabilizes the colloids and protects the Sn²⁺ stability in the precursor solution in air. Therefore, the durability of the Sn-Pb precursor solution based on the MAAc solvent is greatly improved, which enables the fabrication of efficient PSCs and achieves a champion PCE of ∼16% with robust device stability. Moreover, due to the chemical interactions of MAAc with Sn-Pb perovskites, the Pb leakage is also suppressed in the MAAc-based Sn-Pb PSCs. This work demonstrates a feasible strategy for reliable fabrication of Sn-Pb PSCs, which could also be applied in many other optoelectronic devices.

[The influence of CT acquisition and reconstruction parameters on the stability of radiomic features of pure ground-glass nodules]

Objective: To investigate the influence of CT reconstruction algorithm, radiation dose, and contrast agent on the stability of radiomic features of pure ground-glass density pulmonary nodules. Methods: A total of 50 pure ground-glass density pulmonary nodules in 35 patients were prospectively selected from Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College in 2018. After reconstructing the original image of the same patient's pulmonary nodules, six sequences of different parameters were obtained. ITK-SNAP software was used to segment different sequences of pure ground-glass density pulmonary nodules. All scanning data were extracted by A. K. software. The radiomic features with good retest reliability were selected by the intraclass correlation coefficient. The statistical software of R language was used to analyze the characteristic parameters. All the radiomic feature values of different sequences were paired and compared. The number of radiomic features changed by acquisition and reconstruction parameters was counted. The influence of different parameters on the reproducibility of pure ground-glass density pulmonary nodules was compared. Results: A total of 391 radiomic features were extracted from 50 cases of pure ground-glass density pulmonary nodules. 320 features with an intraclass correlation coefficient greater than 0.75 were selected for further analysis. By changing the three parameters of CT reconstruction algorithm, radiation dose, and contrast agent simultaneously, the changed radiomic features of the pure ground-glass density pulmonary nodules reach 60.9% (195/320), including 6.7% (1/15) morphological feature, 100.0% (40/40) histogram features, and 58.1% (154/265) texture features. When only one parameter was changed (keeping the other two parameters unchanged), changing the CT reconstruction algorithm, radiation dose, and contrast agent respectively, the changed radiomic features of pure ground-glass density pulmonary nodules were 10.6% (34/320), 30.9% (99/320) and 50.6% (162/320), the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). When the radiation dose and contrast agent were changed, the radiomic features obtained by the FBP reconstruction algorithm had smaller changes than the features obtained by the 50% ASiR-V algorithm (P=0.001). Conclusions: CT reconstruction algorithm, radiation dose, and contrast agent will affect the radiomic features of pure ground-glass density pulmonary nodules. The contrast agent has the most significant influence on the radiomic features, followed by radiation dose and CT reconstruction algorithm minimum. Compared with morphological features, histogram features and texture features are more likely to be affected by CT reconstruction algorithms, radiation doses, and contrast agents. Compared with the 50% ASiR-V algorithm, the radiomic features obtained by the FBP reconstruction algorithm are less affected by the radiation dose and contrast agent. The influence of these parameters should be fully considered in the radiomic analysis.

[Association between postpartum depression and concentrations of transforming growth factor-β in human colostrum: a nested cohort study]

OBJECTIVE

To explore the association between postpartum depression (PPD) and transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) concentrations in human colostrum.

METHODS

Participants were recruited from a maternal and infant cohort established in a tertiary general hospital in Guangdong Province between December, 2020 and September, 2021. In the afternoon of the second postpartum day, the women were evaluated with Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) for screening PPD (defined as a score of 10 or higher). The women with PPD were matched at a 1:1 ratio with women without PPD with maternal age difference within 5 years and the same mode of delivery. Colostrum samples were collected in morning on the third postpartum day for measurement of TGF-β concentrations using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and the association between EPDS scores and TGF-β concentrations was analyzed in the two groups.

RESULTS

A total of 90 women were included in the final analysis. The mean concentrations of TGF-β1, TGF-β2 and TGF-β3 in the colostrum were 684.03 (321.22-859.25) pg/mL, 5116.50±1747.04 pg/mL and 147.84±48.68 pg/mL in women with PPD, respectively, as compared with 745.67 (596.00-964.22) pg/mL, 4912.40±1516.80 pg/mL, and 168.21±48.15 pg/mL in women without PPD, respectively. Compared with women without PPD, the women with PPD had significantly lower concentrations of TGF-β1 (P=0.026) and TGF-β3 (P=0.049) in the colostrum. Spearman correlation analysis revealed that the EPDS scores were negatively associated with the concentrations of TGF-β1 (r=-0.23, P=0.03) and TGF-β3 (r=-0.25, P=0.02) in the colostrum.

CONCLUSION

PPD is associated with decreased concentrations of TGF-β1 and TGF-β3 in human colostrum, suggesting the need of early PPD screening and interventions during pregnancy and the perinatal period to minimize the impact of PPD on human milk compositions.

Effect of soil management systems on the rhizosphere bacterial community structure of tobacco: Continuous cropping vs. paddy-upland rotation

Rhizosphere bacteria play important role in soil nutrient cycling and plant growth, and their richness and diversity are influenced by soil management systems. However, the specific changes in tobacco rhizosphere bacterial community structure in continuous and tobacco-rice rotation cropping systems remain uninvestigated. In this study, soil properties and the composition of the rhizosphere bacterial community in tobacco monocropping and tobacco-rice rotation cropping systems were analyzed. Moreover, the comparison of rhizosphere bacterial community structure between tobacco continuous and tobacco-rice rotation cropping systems was performed via high-throughput sequencing. The changes in the composition of the rhizosphere bacterial community were investigated at different tobacco growth stages. The results showed that continuous tobacco cropping increased the soil soluble organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), and the content of other nutrients (e.g., available phosphorus and available potassium) compared to tobacco-rice rotation cropping. However, monocropping decreased bacterial alpha-diversity and altered the community composition when compared to the rotation cropping system. At the phylum level, the relative abundance of Proteobacteria, Gemmatimonadetes, and Bacteroidetes increased in the continuous cropping soil, while that of Acidobacteria, Firmicutes, and Actinobacteria decreased. At the genera level, the average abundance of the dominant genus Bacillus varied from 12.96% in continuous cropping libraries to 6.33% in the rotation cropping libraries (p < 0.05). Additionally, several other taxa, such as o_Acidobacteriales and Candidatus_Solibacter decreased from 7.63 to 6.62% (p < 0.05) and 4.52 to 2.91% (p < 0.05), respectively. However, the relative abundance of f_Gemmatimonadaceae and c_Subgroup_6 showed an increase of 1.46% (p < 0.05) and 1.63% (p < 0.05) in the tobacco-rice rotation cropping system, respectively. The results of NMDS indicated that the rhizobacteria community structure differed in the two cropping systems. In tobacco, the rhizosphere bacterial community structure showed no significant changes in the prosperous long-term stage and topping stage, but the composition changed significantly in the mature stage.

[Correlation of muscle strength with cognitive function and medial temporal lobe atrophy in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease]

Objective: To analyze the correlation of muscle strength with cognitive function and medial temporal lobe atrophy (MTA) in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD). Methods: General information, sarcopenia-related indicators, neuropsychological tests and MTA score were collected in 80 confirmed AD patients (41 mild and 39 moderate patients) and 43 normal controls (NC) from the Memory Disorders Clinic of Department Of Neurology in the Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University between January and December 2021. Appendicular skeletal muscle mass index (ASMI), grip strength and 5-times sit-to-stand time and 6-m gait speed were used for assessing muscle mass, muscle strength and physical function, respectively. Cognitive function was assessed by Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Montreal Cognitive Assessment scale (MoCA), Memory and Executive Screening Scale (MES), Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST), Digital Span Test (DST) and Verbal Fluency Task (VFT), respectively. DST included Forward Digit Span Test (FDST) and Backward Digit Span Test (BDST). All the subjects underwent 3.0T coronal three-dimensional gradient echo sequence MRI. MTA scale was performed to evaluate the degree of medial temporal lobe atrophy. The differences in the sarcopenia-related indicators, cognitive score and MTA score were analyzed among the three groups, and the partial correlation analysis was performed between the inter-groups. Results: Eighty AD patients (24 males and 56 females) were included, aged (72±7) years old, with 41 mild and 39 moderate patients. Meanwhile, 43 NC included 19 males and 24 females, with a mean age of (70±6) years old. The disease duration in moderate AD patients was longer than that of mild AD patients [34.0 (25.0, 43.5) months vs 24.0 (11.0, 34.0) months, P<0.001]. The differences of sarcopenia-related indicators and MTA score among the three groups were statistically significant (all P<0.001), including 5-times sit-to-stand time [(13.6±1.8) s vs (11.5±1.7) s vs (10.3±1.9) s, P<0.001] and MTA score [2.0 (2.0, 3.0) vs 1.0 (1.0, 2.0) vs 0 (0, 0), P<0.001]. In neuropsychological tests, compared to the NC group, MMSE, MoCA, MES and VFT scores in mild and moderate AD groups were lower (all P<0.001); meanwhile, compared to the mild AD group, the moderate group had lower MMSE, MoCA, MES, DSST and VFT scores (all P<0.001). In sarcopenia-related indicators, muscle strength in particular was correlated with widespread cognitive functioning domains and MTA score in AD patients. Grip strength was positively correlated with MMSE, MoCA , MES, FDST (r=0.387, 0.418, 0.522 and 0.484, respectively, all P<0.001), DSST (r=0.327, P=0.006) and VFT score (r=0.354, P=0.003), and negatively correlated with MTA score (r=-0.631, P<0.001). 5-times sit-to-stand time was negatively correlated with MMSE, MoCA, MES, DSST, FDST, VFT score (r=-0.583, -0.587, -0.814, -0.591, -0.552 and -0.485, respectively, all P<0.001), and BDST (r=-0.355, P=0.003) strongly positively correlated with MTA score (r=0.836, P<0.001). ASMI was positively correlated with MMSE, MoCA, MES, DSST, FDST score (r=0.257, 0.238, 0.428, 0.282 and 0.364, respectively, all P<0.05), and negatively correlated with MTA score (r=-0.377, P=0.001). 6-m gait speed was positively correlated with MMSE, MoCA, MES, DSST, FDST score (r=0.419, 0.486, 0.699, 0.559 and 0.500, respectively, all P<0.001), BDST and VFT score (r=0.384、0.377, respectively, both P=0.001), and strongly negatively correlated with MTA score (r=-0.803, P<0.001). Conclusions: Patients with mild to moderate AD have widespread cognitive impairment. Muscle mass, muscle strength and physical function are all significantly impaired. Compared to muscle mass and physical function, decreased muscle strength is significantly associated with widespread cognitive decline and increased degree of medial temporal lobe atrophy.

[A preliminary exploration into the efficacy of personalized surgical schemes in the repair of maxillary sinus perforation and maxillary sinus fistula]

To explore the efficacy and value of personalized surgical schemes in the repair of maxillary sinus perforation and maxillary sinus fistula based on the size of the maxillary sinus perforation and maxillary sinus fistula. A total of 28 patients with maxillary sinus perforation and maxillary sinus fistula who were admitted to the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Stomatology Hospital of Kunming Medical University from July 2017 to May 2020 were included to conduct a prospective case clinical study. After the inflammation in the maxillary sinus was controlled, a proper surgical repair method was selected according to the size of the perforation and fistula based on the double-layer closure technique. The diameter of the perforation and fistula was measured with the assistance of cone-beam CT. After that, the platelet rich fibrin (PRF) repair was performed on the perforation and fistula with 3 mm≤diameter<7 mm in size in 14 patients. The PRF repair and buccal flap repair were performed on the perforation and fistula with 7 mm ≤diameter<15 mm in size in 7 patients. The adjacent buccal pad repair, palatine flap repair, and buccal flap repair were performed on the perforation and fistula with 15 mm≤ diameter<25 mm in size in 4 patients. The nasolabial axial flap repair and nasolabial free flap repair were performed on the perforation and fistula with a diameter ≥25 mm in size in 3 patients. The medical follow-up was conducted in all patients in the 1st, 2nd, and 4th week after surgery, with an overall success rate reaching 96.4% (27/28) after the initial intervention. The relapse of disease occurred in one patient (4.6%) with diabetes and a smoking history in the 2nd week after surgery. Identifying a proper surgical repair method according to the size of the oral and maxillary sinus perforation and maxillary sinus fistula based on the double-layer closure technique can improve the one-time cure rate in these patients under the premise that the inflammation in the maxillary sinus can be controlled.

[The role of gut microbiota dysbiosis in the occurrence and development of inflammatory bowel disease and its prevention and control strategies]

The occurrence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is related to environmental factors, host immune status, genetic susceptibility and flora imbalance. With the development of sequencing technologies, the relationship between intestinal microbiota and IBD has been further studied and confirmed in many aspects. This article summarizes the characteristics of microbiota alterations in patients with IBD, as well as the role and mechanisms of microbiota dysbiosis in the onset and development of IBD, and discusses the research status of therapies based on intestinal microbiota, prospecting the future of intestinal flora in the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of IBD.

[The influence of molecular classification in the selection of postoperative adjuvant therapy in endometrial carcinoma]

Objective: To study the value of molecular classification in postoperative adjuvant therapy for endometrial carcinoma (EC). Methods: Patients with stage Ⅰ EC who underwent surgical-pathological staging surgery and molecular classification in Peking University Third Hospital from January 2020 to April 2022 were retrospectively analyzed. The influence of different molecular types of EC on postoperative adjuvant therapy were studied. Results: The age of the 196 patients was (55.1±10.2) years old, and the body mess index (BMI) was (26.0±3.9) kg/m². Molecular classification was performed in 196 stage ⅠEC patients, identifying the 4 subgroups: POLE mutation (POLEmut, n=19, 9.7%), mismatch repair-deficient (dMMR, n=28, 14.3%), no-specific molecular profile (NSMP, n=142, 72.4%) and p53 mutation (p53abn, n=7, 3.6%). Molecular classification was one of the influencing factors on the selection of postoperative adjuvant therapy for EC patients (P=0.003). POLEmut, dMMR and NSMP subtypes were not the variables in selecting radiotherapy or combined chemo-radiotherapy postoperatively. p53abn subtype was not the influencer for radiotherapy, however, it may contribute to the selection of combined chemo-radiotherapy postoperatively (P<0.001). Conclusion: The p53abn subtype in the molecular classification is an influencing factor in the selection of combined chemo-radiotherapy for EC patients postoperatively.

Auxiliary signal-guided knowledge encoder-decoder for medical report generation

Medical reports have significant clinical value to radiologists and specialists, especially during a pandemic like COVID. However, beyond the common difficulties faced in the natural image captioning, medical report generation specifically requires the model to describe a medical image with a fine-grained and semantic-coherence paragraph that should satisfy both medical commonsense and logic. Previous works generally extract the global image features and attempt to generate a paragraph that is similar to referenced reports; however, this approach has two limitations. Firstly, the regions of primary interest to radiologists are usually located in a small area of the global image, meaning that the remainder parts of the image could be considered as irrelevant noise in the training procedure. Secondly, there are many similar sentences used in each medical report to describe the normal regions of the image, which causes serious data bias. This deviation is likely to teach models to generate these inessential sentences on a regular basis. To address these problems, we propose an Auxiliary Signal-Guided Knowledge Encoder-Decoder (ASGK) to mimic radiologists' working patterns. Specifically, the auxiliary patches are explored to expand the widely used visual patch features before fed to the Transformer encoder, while the external linguistic signals help the decoder better master prior knowledge during the pre-training process. Our approach performs well on common benchmarks, including CX-CHR, IU X-Ray, and COVID-19 CT Report dataset (COV-CTR), demonstrating combining auxiliary signals with transformer architecture can bring a significant improvement in terms of medical report generation. The experimental results confirm that auxiliary signals driven Transformer-based models are with solid capabilities to outperform previous approaches on both medical terminology classification and paragraph generation metrics.

Encapsulating Amidoximated Nanofibrous Aerogels within Wood Cell Tracheids for Efficient Cascading Adsorption of Uranium Ions

Continuous filtering adsorption has drawn growing interest in the exploration of uranium resources in seawater and reduction in the environmental risks of uraniferous wastewater from nuclear industries. For most filtering adsorbents, repeated filtration, high membrane thickness, and high pressure are normally essential to achieve both a high rejection ratio and high filtration flux. Herein cellulose fibrils were preferentially exfoliated from the lignin-poor layer of secondary cell walls of balsa wood during an in situ amidoximation process. By maintaining honeycomb-like cellular microstructures and cellulose aerogel stuffing in their cell tracheids, the resultant nanowoods showed superior mechanical properties (e.g., compressive strength ∼1.3 MPa in transverse direction) with large surface areas (∼80 m² g^-1). When their cell tracheids were aligned perpendicular to the flow and the edges sealed with a thermoset polymer, they could serve as efficient and high-pressure filtration membranes to capture aquatic uranium ions. In analogy to a typical cascading filtration system, the filtrate passed successively the layered-organized cell tracheids through abundant micropores on their cell walls, enabling a high rejection ratio of >99% and flux of ∼920 L m^-2 h^-1 under pressure up to 6 bar (membrane thickness of 2 mm). Thus, this study not only provides an in situ approach to producing robust woods with functional nanocellulose encapsulated into their cell tracheids but also offers a sustainable route for high-efficiency extraction of aqueous uranium.

Two-Photon Lasing from Two-Dimensional Homologous Ruddlesden-Popper Perovskite with Giant Nonlinear Absorption and Natural Microcavities

Two-dimensional Ruddlesden-Popper perovskites (RPPs) with multiple quantum well-like structures, strong excitonic quantum confinement, and high stability are promising optical gain media. However, the lasing from such material with a small number of inorganic well layers is difficult to achieve. Herein, we demonstrate the low-threshold upconversion lasing from the homologous RPP (PEA)₂(MA)_n-1Pb_nI_3n+1 (n = 2 and 3) microflakes with wavelength varies from 598 to 637 nm under 800 nm laser excitation at low temperature (≤153 K). Using the micro Z-scan technique, we discovered that the RPP flakes have a giant two-photon absorption coefficient β as high as 3.6 × 10³ cm GW^-1, resulting in the effective upconversion transition under two-photon excitation. Furthermore, the self-formation of Fabry-Pérot microcavities provides the support for lasing emission from the n ≥ 2 RPP flakes. Calculation results and microscopic transient absorption measurements reveal that low-threshold lasing is due to the high differential gain coefficient and the suppressed nonradiative Auger recombination rate inside the quantum confinement structures. These properties enable RPPs as potential gain media for developing upconversion microcavity lasers.

Immunosuppressive B cells expressing PD-1/PD-L1 in solid tumors: a mini review

Expression of programmed cell death-1 (PD-1/CD279) on T cells and the ligand of PD-1, programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) (CD274/B7-H1) on tumor cells or other immune cells, such as myeloid-derived suppressor cells, are important mechanisms to induce malignant immunosuppression. PD-1/PD-L1 expression on B-cell subsets, as well as their signaling and inhibitory functions in solid tumors will be discussed in this review with the focus on how B cells expressing PD-1/PD-L1 play immunosuppressive roles in tumor progression, aiming to figure out the potential for development of diagnostic tools and new therapies involving this unique group of cells.

Identification of AP2/ERF transcription factors in Tetrastigma hemsleyanum revealed the specific roles of ERF46 under cold stress

Tetrastigma hemsleyanum (T. hemsleyanum) is a traditional medicinal plant that is widely used in China. Cultivated T. hemsleyanum usually encounters cold stress, limiting its growth and quality at key developmental stages. APETALA2 (AP2)/ethylene-responsive factor (ERF) transcription factors (TFs) comprise one of the largest gene superfamilies in plants and are widely involved in biotic and abiotic stresses. To reveal the roles of AP2/ERF TFs during T. hemsleyanum development, 70 AP2/ERF TFs were identified in T. hemsleyanum. Among them, 18 and 2 TFs were classified into the AP2 and RAV families, respectively. The other 50 TFs belonged to the ERF family and were further divided into the ERF and (dehydration reaction element binding factor) DREB subfamilies. The ERF subfamily contained 46 TFs, while the DREB subfamily contained 4 TFs. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that AP2/ERF TFs could be classified into five groups, in which 10 conserved motifs were confirmed. Several motifs were group- or subgroup-specific, implying that they were significant for the functions of the AP2/ERF TFs of these clades. In addition, 70 AP2/ERF TFs from the five groups were used for an expression pattern analysis under three low-temperature levels, namely, -4, 0, and 4°C. The majority of these AP2/ERF TFs exhibited a positive response to cold stress conditions. Specifically, ThERF5, ThERF31, ThERF46, and ThERF55 demonstrated a more sensitive response to cold stress. Moreover, AP2/ERF TFs exhibited specific expression patterns under cold stress. Transient overexpression and RNA interference indicated that ThERF46 has a specific tolerance to cold stress. These new insights provide the basis for further studies on the roles of AP2/ERF TFs in cold stress tolerance in T. hemsleyanum.

Observation of WWW Production in pp Collisions at sqrt[s]=13 TeV with the ATLAS Detector

This Letter reports the observation of WWW production and a measurement of its cross section using 139  fb^{-1} of proton-proton collision data recorded at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Events with two same-sign leptons (electrons or muons) and at least two jets, as well as events with three charged leptons, are selected. A multivariate technique is then used to discriminate between signal and background events. Events from WWW production are observed with a significance of 8.0 standard deviations, where the expectation is 5.4 standard deviations. The inclusive WWW production cross section is measured to be 820±100 (stat)±80 (syst)  fb, approximately 2.6 standard deviations from the predicted cross section of 511±18  fb calculated at next-to-leading-order QCD and leading-order electroweak accuracy.

Investigating the effect of temporal, geographic, and management factors on US Holstein lactation curve parameters

We fit the Wood's lactation model to an extensive database of test-day milk production records of US Holstein cows to obtain lactation-specific parameter estimates and investigated the effects of temporal, spatial, and management factors on lactation curve parameters and 305-d milk yield. Our approach included 2 steps as follows: (1) individual animal-parity parameter estimation with nonlinear least-squares optimization of the Wood's lactation curve parameters, and (2) mixed-effects model analysis of 8,595,413 sets of parameter estimates from individual lactation curves. Further, we conducted an analysis that included all parities and a separate analysis for first lactation heifers. Results showed that parity had the most significant effect on the scale (parameter a), the rate of decay (parameter c), and the 305-d milk yield. The month of calving had the largest effect on the rate of increase (parameter b) for models fit with data from all lactations. The calving month had the most significant effect on all lactation curve parameters for first lactation models. However, age at first calving, year, and milking frequency accounted for a higher proportion of the variance than month for first lactation 305-d milk yield. All parameter estimates and 305-d milk yield increased as parity increased; parameter a and 305-d milk yield rose, and parameters b and c decreased as year and milking frequency increased. Calving month estimates parameters a, b, c, and 305-d milk yield were the lowest values for September, May, June, and July, respectively. The results also indicated the random effects of herd and cow improved model fit. Lactation curve parameter estimates from the mixed-model analysis of individual lactation curve fits describe well US Holstein lactation curves according to temporal, spatial, and management factors.

Biofibrous nanomaterials for extracting strategic metal ions from water

Strategic metals play an indispensable role in the related industries. Their extraction and recovery from water are of great significance due to both their rapid consumption and environmental concern. Biofibrous nanomaterials have shown great advantages in capturing metal ions from water. Recent progress in extraction of typical strategic metal ions such as noble metal ions, nuclear metal ions, and Li-battery related metal ions is reviewed here using typical biological nanofibrils like cellulose nanofibrils, chitin nanofibrils, and protein nanofibrils, as well as their assembly forms like fibers, aerogels/hydrogels, and membranes. An overview of advances in material design and preparation, extraction mechanism, dynamics/thermodynamics, and performance improvement in the last decade is provided. And at last, we propose the current challenges and future perspectives for promoting biological nanofibrous materials toward extracting strategic metal ions in practical conditions of natural seawater, brine, and wastewater.

[Clinical characteristics and prognosis of lymphoma-associated hemophagocytic syndrome]

Subjective To investigate clinical characteristics, treatment, and prognosis of lymphoma-associated hemophagocytic syndrome (LAHS) patients. Methods: The clinical data of patients diagnosed with LAHS from January 2010 to October 2021 in West China Hospital were retrospectively analyzed. Clinical characteristics, treatment, overall response rate (ORR), and overall survival (OS) were investigated. Univariate and multivariate analysis of potential factors were conducted. Results: Of all 94 patients included, 59 were male and 35 were female. The age at hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) diagnosis was (40.5±17.3) years. Seventy-four cases were T/NK cell lymphoma; 15 were B cell lymphoma; 5 were Hodgkin lymphoma. The age at HLH diagnosis of T/NK cell LAHS patients was (37.9±16.2) years, while that of B cell LAHS patients was (55.9±14.0) years. T/NK cell LAHS patients were significantly younger than B cell LAHS patients (P<0.001). Baseline fibrinogen of T/NK cell LAHS patients was 1.34 (0.86, 2.44) g/L, while that of B cell LAHS patients was 2.20 (1.75, 4.25) g/L. T/NK cell LAHS patients showed significantly lower fibrinogen levels than B cell LAHS patients (P=0.008). Combined treatment of anti-HLH and anti-lymphoma treatment was conducted in 35 patients; anti-HLH treatment was conducted in 31 patients; anti-lymphoma treatment was conducted in 8 patients; glucocorticoid treatment was conducted in 7 patients. ORR was 49.4%, and the median OS was 61 days for overall patients. Patients who received anti-HLH treatment and turned to anti-lymphoma treatment early displayed the best ORR and OS, significantly higher than those of anti-HLH patients (69.0 vs 38.7%, P=0.019, and 192.0 vs 24.5 days, P=0.028, respectively), which were also insignificantly higher than those of anti-lymphoma patients. Extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma or aggressive natural killer cell leukemia was the risk factor of LAHS prognosis (HR=0.113, 95%CI: 0.018-0.728, P=0.022). Conclusions: Prognosis of LAHS patients is poor. Anti-lymphoma treatment should be initiated as soon as HLH is rapidly controlled.

Transcriptome profiling and co-expression network analysis of lncRNAs and mRNAs in colorectal cancer by RNA sequencing

Background

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are widely involved in the pathogenesis of cancers. However, biological roles of lncRNAs in occurrence and progression of colorectal cancer (CRC) remain unclear. The current study aimed to evaluate the expression pattern of lncRNAs and messenger RNAs (mRNAs).

Methods

RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) in CRC tissues and adjacent normal tissues from 6 CRC patients was performed and functional lncRNA-mRNA co-expression network was constructed afterwards. Gene enrichment analysis was demonstrated using DAVID 6.8 tool. Reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was used to validate the expression pattern of differentially expressed lncRNAs. Pearson correlation analysis was applied to evaluate the relationships between selected lncRNAs and mRNAs.

Results

One thousand seven hundred and sixteenth differentially expressed mRNAs and 311 differentially expressed lncRNAs were screened out. Among these, 568 mRNAs were up-regulated while 1148 mRNAs down-regulated, similarly 125 lncRNAs were up-regulated and 186 lncRNAs down-regulated. In addition, 1448 lncRNA–mRNA co-expression pairs were screened out from 940,905 candidate lncRNA-mRNA pairs. Gene enrichment analysis revealed that these lncRNA-related mRNAs are associated with cell adhesion, collagen adhesion, cell differentiation, and mainly enriched in ECM-receptor interaction and PI3K-Akt signaling pathways. Finally, RT-qPCR results verified the expression pattern of lncRNAs, as well as the relationships between lncRNAs and mRNAs in 60 pairs of CRC tissues.

Conclusions

In conclusion, these results of the RNA-seq and bioinformatic analysis strongly suggested that the dysregulation of lncRNA is involved in the complicated process of CRC development, and providing important insight regarding the lncRNAs involved in CRC.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12885-022-09878-6.

[Analysis of China's influenza vaccine application policy based on the macro model of the health system]

This article uses the analysis framework of the macro model of the health system to analyze the influenza vaccine policy documents issued by the state and governments at all levels from three perspectives: structure, process and results, and provides a scientific basis for improving the application strategy of influenza vaccine. It is suggested that on the basis of continuing to strengthen publicity, mobilization and organizational guarantee, measures to promote the application of influenza vaccine in China by exploring multi-channel financing mechanisms, combining the experience of new crown vaccination to improve the convenience of influenza vaccination, and scientifically setting vaccination rate targets, improve preparedness for an influenza pandemic.

A detailed map of Higgs boson interactions by the ATLAS experiment ten years after the discovery

The standard model of particle physics1-4 describes the known fundamental particles and forces that make up our Universe, with the exception of gravity. One of the central features of the standard model is a field that permeates all of space and interacts with fundamental particles5-9. The quantum excitation of this field, known as the Higgs field, manifests itself as the Higgs boson, the only fundamental particle with no spin. In 2012, a particle with properties consistent with the Higgs boson of the standard model was observed by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN10,11. Since then, more than 30 times as many Higgs bosons have been recorded by the ATLAS experiment, enabling much more precise measurements and new tests of the theory. Here, on the basis of this larger dataset, we combine an unprecedented number of production and decay processes of the Higgs boson to scrutinize its interactions with elementary particles. Interactions with gluons, photons, and W and Z bosons-the carriers of the strong, electromagnetic and weak forces-are studied in detail. Interactions with three third-generation matter particles (bottom (b) and top (t) quarks, and tau leptons (τ)) are well measured and indications of interactions with a second-generation particle (muons, μ) are emerging. These tests reveal that the Higgs boson discovered ten years ago is remarkably consistent with the predictions of the theory and provide stringent constraints on many models of new phenomena beyond the standard model.

Genome-Wide Scan for Parent-of-Origin Effects in a sub-Saharan African Cohort With Nonsyndromic Cleft Lip and/or Cleft Palate (CL/P)

OBJECTIVE

Nonsyndromic cleft lip and/or cleft palate (NSCL/P) have multifactorial etiology where genetic factors, gene-environment interactions, stochastic factors, gene-gene interactions, and parent-of-origin effects (POEs) play cardinal roles. POEs arise when the parental origin of alleles differentially impacts the phenotype of the offspring. The aim of this study was to identify POEs that can increase risk for NSCL/P in humans using a genome-wide dataset.

METHODS

The samples (174 case-parent trios from Ghana, Ethiopia, and Nigeria) included in this study were from the African only genome wide association studies (GWAS) that was published in 2019. Genotyping of individual DNA using over 2 million multiethnic and African ancestry-specific single-nucleotide polymorphisms from the Illumina Multi-Ethnic Genotyping Array v2 15070954 A2 (genome build GRCh37/hg19) was done at the Center for Inherited Diseases Research. After quality control checks, PLINK was employed to carry out POE analysis employing the pooled subphenotypes of NSCL/P.

RESULTS

We observed possible hints of POEs at a cluster of genes at a 1 mega base pair window at the major histocompatibility complex class 1 locus on chromosome 6, as well as at other loci encompassing candidate genes such as ASB18, ANKEF1, AGAP1, GABRD, HHAT, CCT7, DNMT3A, EPHA7, FOXO3, lncRNAs, microRNA, antisense RNAs, ZNRD1, ZFAT, and ZBTB16.

CONCLUSION

Findings from our study suggest that some loci may increase the risk for NSCL/P through POEs. Additional studies are required to confirm these suggestive loci in NSCL/P etiology.

Mildly Peeling Off and Encapsulating Large MXene Nanosheets with Rigid Biologic Fibrils for Synchronization of Solar Evaporation and Energy Harvest

Efficient and nondestructive liquid exfoliation of MXene with large lateral size has drawn growing research interest due to its outstanding properties and diverse potential applications. The conventional sonication method, though enabling a high production yield of MXene nanosheets, broke them down into submicrometric sizes or even quantum dots, and thus sacrificed their size-dependent properties, chemical stability, and wide applications. Herein, rigid biological nanofibrils in combination of mild manual shake were found to be capable of peeling off MXene nanosheets by attaching on MXene surfaces and localizing the shear force. With comparison to sonication, this efficient and nondestructive exfoliation approach produced the MXene nanosheets with the lateral size up to 4-6 μm and a comparable yield of 64% within 2 h. The resultant MXene nanosheets were encapsulated with these biological fibrils, and thus enabled super colloidal and chemical stability. A steam generation efficiency of ∼86% and a high evaporation rate of 3.3 kg m^-2 h^-1 were achieved on their aerogels under 1-Sun irradiation at ∼25 °C. An evaporation rate of 0.5 kg m^-2 h^-1 still maintained even at the atmospheric temperature of -5 °C. More importantly, an electricity generation up to ∼350 mV also accompanied this solar evaporation under equivalent 5-Sun irradiation. Thus, this fibrous strategy not only provides an efficient and nondestructive exfoliation method of MXene, but also promises synchronization of solar-thermal evaporation and energy harvest.

[Progress in the study of antiviral activity of cepharanthine against SARS-CoV-2]

As a member of the dibenzyl isoquinoline alkaloid family, cepharathine is an alkaloid from the traditional Chinese medicine cepharathine, which is mainly used for treatment of leukopenia and other diseases. Recent studies of the inhibitory effect of cepharathine against SARS-CoV-2 have attracted widespread attention and aroused heated discussion. As the original discoverer of the anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity of cepharanthine, here we briefly summarize the discovery of cepharanthine and review important progress in relevant studies concerning the discovery and validation of anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity of cepharathine, its antiviral mechanisms and clinical trials of its applications in COVID-19 therapy.

[Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 particapates in ozone-induced lung inflammation and airway remodeling in mice]

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the roles of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) in ozone-induced pulmonary inflammation and airway remodeling in mice.

METHODS

Sixteen wild-type (WT) C57BL/6J mice and 16 ACE2 knock-out (KO) mice were exposed to either filtered air or ozone (0.8 ppm) for 3 h per day for 5 consecutive days. Masson's staining and HE staining were used to observe lung pathologies. Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) was collected and the total cell count was determined. The total proteins and cytokines in BALF were determined by BCA and ELISA method. The transcription levels of airway remodeling-related indicators in the lung tissues were detected using real-time quantitative PCR. The airway resistance of the mice was measured using a small animal ventilator with methacholine stimulation.

RESULTS

Following ozoneexposure ACE2 KO mice had significantly higher lung pathological scores than WT mice (P < 0.05). Masson staining results showed that compared with ozone-exposed WT mice, ozone-exposed ACE2 KO mice presented with significantly larger area of collagen deposition in the bronchi [(19.62±3.16)% vs (6.49±1.34)%, P < 0.05] and alveoli [(21.63±3.78)% vs (4.44±0.99)%, P < 0.05]. The total cell count and total protein contents in the BALF were both higher in ozone-exposed ACE2 KO mice than in WT mice, but these differences were not statistically significant (P > 0.05). The concentrations of IL-6, IL-1β, TNF-α, CXCL1/KC and MCP-1 in the BALF were all higher in ozone-exposed ACE2 KO mice than in ozone-exposed WT mice, but only the difference in IL-1β was statistically significant (P < 0.05). The transcription levels of MMP-9, MMP-13, TIMP 4, COL1A1, and TGF-β in the lung tissues were all significantly higher in ozone-exposed ACE2 KO mice (P < 0.01). No significant difference was found in airway resistance between ozone-exposed ACE KO mice and WT mice after challenge with 0, 10, 25, or 100 mg/mL of methacholine.

CONCLUSION

ACE2 participates in ozone-induced lung inflammation and airway remodeling in mice.

Preoperative prediction of the degree of differentiation of lung adenocarcinoma presenting as sub-solid or solid nodules with a radiomics nomogram

AIM

To develop and validate a radiomics nomogram for prediction of degree of differentiation in lung adenocarcinoma presenting as sub-solid or solid nodules.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A total of 438 patients with histopathologically confirmed adenocarcinoma (248 non-poorly differentiated and 190 poorly differentiated) were divided into training cohort (n=235) and internal validation cohort (n=203) according to surgery sequence. Sixty patients form public TCIA dataset were selected for external validation. One thousand, two hundred and eighteen radiomics features were extracted from each volumetric region of interest and a least absolute shrinkage and selection operator logistic regression was applied to select meaningful radiomic features for building a radiomics score (Rad-score) model. A nomogram model incorporating the Rad-score and type was established after multivariable logistic regression. The discrimination efficiency, calibration efficacy, and clinical utility value of the nomogram were evaluated.

RESULTS

The Rad-score model could predict the differentiation degree of lung adenocarcinoma with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.83 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.78-0.89) in the internal validation cohort. The AUC of the nomogram and radiographic model was 0.86 (95% CI: 0.80-0.91), 0.78 (95% CI: 0.72-0.84) in the internal validation cohort respectively. The AUC of the nomogram in the external validation cohort was 0.73 (95% CI: 0.58-0.88). Delong's test showed that the nomogram performed better than radiographic features alone (p=0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

The proposed radiomics nomogram has the potential to predict the differentiation degree of lung adenocarcinoma preoperatively.

Abstract 4195: Evaluation of the anti-myeloma effects of high and metronomic selinexor alone and in combination with duvelisib in vitro and in vivo

Introduction: Selinexor (Karyopharm Therapeutics) is an FDA-approved oral selective inhibitor of nuclear export (SINE) compound. It specifically blocks XPO1 enforcing the nuclear retention of tumor suppressor proteins restoring their anti-cancer functions. It also attenuates the phosphoinositide-3 kinase (PI3K)-AKT pathway by activating PTEN. Although activation of PI3K signaling is often detected in hematological malignancies, there are no data regarding the combination of selinexor with the PI3K inhibitor duvelisib for MM treatment. Thus, we evaluated the anti-myeloma effects of selinexor in combination with duvelisib in vitro and also studied alternative schedules of selinexor with dexamethasone in vivo using our MM xenograft models LAGκ-2.

Methods: The human MM cell line U266 was obtained from ATCC. Primary MM tumor cells were isolated from MM patients’ bone marrow (BM) aspirates. Cell viability was quantified using the MTS cell proliferation assay. For the in vivo studies, the human myeloma xenograft LAGκ-2 was surgically implanted into SCID mice. Selinexor was administered via oral gavage at 2.5 mg/kg 5x per week, 5 mg/kg 4x per week on consecutive days, or 10 mg/kg 2x per week with one day between treatments. Dexamethasone was administered via intraperitoneal injection at 4 mg/kg 2x per week except the vehicle control.

Results and Discussion: MTS assays showed selinexor induced concentration dependent inhibition of cell viability/proliferation in the MM cell line MM1s at 0.1, 0.4 and 1.6 μM. Selinexor alone at 0.2 μM reduced cell proliferation of primary MM tumor cells obtained from BM mononuclear cells (MCs) from a patient with progressive disease. We next examined cell viability in the presence of selinexor and duvelisib. MM1s or fresh BM mononuclear cells were incubated with a fixed concentration of selinexor (0.1μM) with increasing concentrations of duvelisib (1.5 μM -25 μM) for 48 h. The results showed that duvelisib enhanced the cytotoxic effects of selinexor in a concentration dependent manner. We also evaluated dosing and scheduling of selinexor and dexamethasone in vivo using SCID mice bearing LAGκ-2 MM xenografts. When selinexor was combined with dexamethasone, lower more frequent dosing showed greater inhibition of tumor growth than mid-range and higher less frequent dosing of this SINE. This study illustrates that the combination of selinexor and duvelisib showed enhanced cytotoxic effects in vitro compared with single agent treatment, and we will further evaluate the anti-MM effects of selinexor in combination with duvelisib in vivo using our human MM xenograft models. These studies suggest that the combination of a SINE and PI3K inhibitor may be effective for MM treatment.

Citation Format: Haiming Chen, Stacy Behare, Mingjie Li, Marissa Goldwater, Ava Hekmati, Jasmin Cao, Rocky Levin, Ning Xu, James Berenson. Evaluation of the anti-myeloma effects of high and metronomic selinexor alone and in combination with duvelisib in vitro and in vivo [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 4195.

Fabrication of Robust, Anti-reflective, Transparent Superhydrophobic Coatings with a Micropatterned Multilayer Structure

Transparent superhydrophobic coatings with mechanical stability, self-cleaning function, and anti-reflective property have drawn much attention due to the great potential in a variety of real-world applications. In this work, we develop an ingenious approach to construct micropatterned transparent superhydrophobic coatings with a multilayer structure (water contact angle ∼153.6°, sliding angle ∼3.2°). A micropatterned ultraviolet-cured resist frame facilitates durability, while the modified silica nanoparticles, which are housed within the micro-cavities and bonded by an epoxy-based adhesive, impart superhydrophobicity. The micropatterned multilayer surface could endure sandpaper abrasion while maintaining satisfactory hydrophobicity. The prepared surfaces also retain the excellent water repellency after water jet impact, acid submerging, and mechanical bending, suggesting that they are sustainable in the case of adverse conditions and can be integrated with objects with non-flat geometries. Further, the superhydrophobic coatings exhibit an anti-reflection property while preserving high transparency. Taken together, we envision that the design strategies here can offer a practicable route to produce transparent superhydrophobic coatings for diverse outdoor applications.

Expression and distribution of erythropoietin, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and VEGF receptor 2 in small intestine of yaks at different ages

BACKGROUND

This study aimed to detect the expression and distribution of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), VEGF receptor 2 (VEGFR-2), and erythropoietin (EPO) proteins in small intestinal tissues of 50-day-old, newborn, and adult yaks. The results provide basic data for the study of the relationship between adaptability and age of plateau yak.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Small intestine tissues from healthy adult, 50-day-old, and newborn yak were collected and embedded in paraffin sections. Histological features were observed by haematoxylin and eosin staining. The expression of VEGF, VEGFR-2, and EPO proteins were detected by immunohistochemical staining.

RESULTS

Immunohistochemical results showed that of the expression VEGF, VEGFR-2, and EPO were detected in the small intestinal villi of yaks at all ages. The EPO expression level in the jejunum and duodenal villous epithelial cells of newborn yaks was significantly higher than that of 50-day-old and adult yaks. The EPO expression level in ileum villous epithelial cells of 50-day-old yaks was significantly higher than that of newborn and adult yaks. VEGF expression in newborn yak ileum and jejunum epithelial cells of the intestinal villus were significantly higher than in the 50-day-old and adult. In the 50-day-old yaks, the duodenal intestinal villus epithelial cells expression levels were higher than in the adult and newborn yaks. The expression level of VEGFR-2 in the ileum, jejunum and duodenal villous epithelial cells of 50-day-old yak was significantly higher than in that of adult and newborn yak.

CONCLUSIONS

The expression and distribution characteristics of EPO, VEGF, and VEGFR-2 in yak intestinal tissues of different ages indicate that these proteins may be involved in the physiological regulation of yak intestines in hypoxic environments. It may be an important regulatory protein in yak adaptation to a high altitude and low oxygen environment.

[SWOT analysis of influenza vaccination promotion of primary care staff based on the perspective of the supplier, customer, and management]

Objective: To analyze the situation of influenza vaccination among primary healthcare workers, find out the problems, and explore the strategies and measures to promote influenza vaccination among grass-roots medical staff. Methods: From April to May 2021, key insider interviews and literature research were carried out based on the perspectives of influenza vaccine suppliers (influenza vaccine manufacturers), consumers (primary medical institutions and primary healthcare workers), and managers (governments at all levels, health administrative departments and disease prevention and control departments). The SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis technique was used to comprehensively evaluate the current situation of influenza vaccination among grass-roots healthcare workers, and a SWOT analysis matrix was established. Results: Influenza vaccination of grass-roots healthcare workers have advantages and opportunities, including primary medical and health institutions' vital influenza vaccination accessibility, influenza vaccine safety is higher, COVID-19 outbreak improves the public awareness of respiratory infectious diseases and vaccine production enthusiasm, coronavirus vaccination has strengthened the capacity of the vaccine distribution system. There are also disadvantages and threats such as the high price of influenza vaccine, insufficient supply, low awareness of influenza vaccine vaccination among grass-roots healthcare workers, lack of demand assessment mechanism on influenza vaccine, poor vaccine deployment, structural imbalance in vaccine supply in different areas, and severe vaccine waste. SWOT analysis matrix of the influenza vaccination status of grass-roots healthcare workers was established, forming dominant opportunity (SO) strategy, dominant threat (ST) strategy, inferior opportunity (WO) strategy, and inferior threat (WT) strategy. Conclusion: Measures should be taken by the supplier, the demand-side, and the management side to improve the influenza vaccine coverage rate of primary healthcare workers, but the emphasis should be on the coordination and management of the management side.