Curvature-enhanced graph convolutional network for biomolecular interaction prediction

Geometric deep learning has demonstrated a great potential in non-Euclidean data analysis. The incorporation of geometric insights into learning architecture is vital to its success. Here we propose a curvature-enhanced graph convolutional network (CGCN) for biomolecular interaction prediction. Our CGCN employs Ollivier-Ricci curvature (ORC) to characterize network local geometric properties and enhance the learning capability of GCNs. More specifically, ORCs are evaluated based on the local topology from node neighborhoods, and further incorporated into the weight function for the feature aggregation in message-passing procedure. Our CGCN model is extensively validated on fourteen real-world bimolecular interaction networks and analyzed in details using a series of well-designed simulated data. It has been found that our CGCN can achieve the state-of-the-art results. It outperforms all existing models, as far as we know, in thirteen out of the fourteen real-world datasets and ranks as the second in the rest one. The results from the simulated data show that our CGCN model is superior to the traditional GCN models regardless of the positive-to-negative-curvature ratios, network densities, and network sizes (when larger than 500).

Detection of peach soluble solids based on near-infrared spectroscopy with High Order Spatial Interaction network

BACKGROUND

Due to the scalability of deep learning technology, researchers have applied it to the non-destructive testing of peach internal quality. In addition, the soluble solids content (SSC) is an important internal quality indicator that determines the quality of peaches. Peaches with high SSC have a sweeter taste and better texture, making them popular in the market. Therefore, SSC is an important indicator for measuring peach internal quality and making harvesting decisions.

RESULTS

This article presents the High Order Spatial Interaction Network (HOSINet), which combines the Position Attention Module (PAM) and Channel Attention Module (CAM). Additionally, a feature wavelength selection algorithm similar to the Group-based Clustering Subspace Representation (GCSR-C) is used to establish the Position and Channel Attention Module-High Order Spatial Interaction (PC-HOSI) model for peach SSC prediction. The accuracy of this model is compared with traditional machine learning and traditional deep learning models. Finally, the permutation algorithm is combined with deep learning models to visually evaluate the importance of feature wavelengths. Increasing the order of the PC-HOSI model enhances its ability to learn spatial correlations in the dataset, thus improving its predictive performance.

CONCLUSION

The optimal model, PC-HOSI model, performed well with an order of 3 (PC-HOSI-3), with a root mean square error of 0.421 °Brix and a coefficient of determination of 0.864. Compared with traditional machine learning and deep learning algorithms, the coefficient of determination for the prediction set was improved by 0.07 and 0.39, respectively. The permutation algorithm also provided interpretability analysis for the predictions of the deep learning model, offering insights into the importance of spectral bands. These results contribute to the accurate prediction of SSC in peaches and support research on interpretability of neural network models for prediction. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry.

[Associations of onset age, diabetes duration and glycated hemoglobin level with ischemic stroke risk in type 2 diabetes patients: a prospective cohort study]

Objective: To investigate the associations of onset age, diabetes duration, and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels with ischemic stroke risk in type 2 diabetes patients. Methods: The participants were from Comprehensive Research on the Prevention and Control of the Diabetes in Jiangsu Province. The study used data from baseline survey from December 2013 to January 2014 and follow-up until December 31, 2021. After excluding the participants who had been diagnosed with stroke at baseline survey and those with incomplete information on onset age, diabetes duration, and HbA1c level, a total of 17 576 type 2 diabetes patients were included. Cox proportional hazard model was used to calculate the hazard ratio (HR) and 95%CI of onset age, diabetes duration, and HbA1c level for ischemic stroke. Results: During the median follow-up time of 8.02 years, 2 622 ischemic stroke cases were registered. Multivariate Cox proportional risk regression model showed that a 5-year increase in type 2 diabetes onset age was significantly associated with a 5% decreased risk for ischemic stroke (HR=0.95, 95%CI: 0.92-0.99). A 5-year increase in diabetes duration was associated with a 5% increased risk for ischemic stroke (HR=1.05, 95%CI: 1.02-1.10). Higher HbA1c (per 1 standard deviation increase:HR=1.17, 95%CI: 1.13-1.21) was associated with an increased risk for ischemic stroke. Conclusion: The earlier onset age of diabetes, longer diabetes duration, and high levels of HbA1c are associated with an increased risk for ischemic stroke in type 2 diabetes patients.

Prediction of LncRNA-Protein Interactions Based on Kernel Combinations and Graph Convolutional Networks

The complexes of long non-coding RNAs bound to proteins can be involved in regulating life activities at various stages of organisms. However, in the face of the growing number of lncRNAs and proteins, verifying LncRNA-Protein Interactions (LPI) based on traditional biological experiments is time-consuming and laborious. Therefore, with the improvement of computing power, predicting LPI has met new development opportunity. In virtue of the state-of-the-art works, a framework called LncRNA-Protein Interactions based on Kernel Combinations and Graph Convolutional Networks (LPI-KCGCN) has been proposed in this article. We first construct kernel matrices by taking advantage of extracting both the lncRNAs and protein concerning the sequence features, sequence similarity features, expression features, and gene ontology. Then reconstruct the existent kernel matrices as the input of the next step. Combined with known LPI interactions, the reconstructed similarity matrices, which can be used as features of the topology map of the LPI network, are exploited in extracting potential representations in the lncRNA and protein space using a two-layer Graph Convolutional Network. The predicted matrix can be finally obtained by training the network to produce scoring matrices w.r.t. lncRNAs and proteins. Different LPI-KCGCN variants are ensemble to derive the final prediction results and testify on balanced and unbalanced datasets. The 5-fold cross-validation shows that the optimal feature information combination on a dataset with 15.5% positive samples has an AUC value of 0.9714 and an AUPR value of 0.9216. On another highly unbalanced dataset with only 5% positive samples, LPI-KCGCN also has outperformed the state-of-the-art works, which achieved an AUC value of 0.9907 and an AUPR value of 0.9267.

[Liver cancer treatment with mitochondrial homeostasis]

Systemic treatment, including molecular targeted therapy, immunotherapy, and chemotherapy, is an important means of achieving long-term survival in patients with intermediate-and advanced-stage liver cancer. However, some patients are insensitive to treatment and even develop drug resistance. Mitochondria are the center of cellular energy metabolism and, at the same time, are the priority targets for systemic therapy. Mitochondrial homeostasis plays an important role in the treatment of liver cancer. The relationship between the two advances is elucidated so as to provide better ideas for the clinical treatment of liver cancer.

Widespread extracellular electron transfer pathways for charging microbial cytochrome OmcS nanowires via periplasmic cytochromes PpcABCDE

Extracellular electron transfer (EET) via microbial nanowires drives globally-important environmental processes and biotechnological applications for bioenergy, bioremediation, and bioelectronics. Due to highly-redundant and complex EET pathways, it is unclear how microbes wire electrons rapidly (>106 s-1) from the inner-membrane through outer-surface nanowires directly to an external environment despite a crowded periplasm and slow (<105 s-1) electron diffusion among periplasmic cytochromes. Here, we show that Geobacter sulfurreducens periplasmic cytochromes PpcABCDE inject electrons directly into OmcS nanowires by binding transiently with differing efficiencies, with the least-abundant cytochrome (PpcC) showing the highest efficiency. Remarkably, this defined nanowire-charging pathway is evolutionarily conserved in phylogenetically-diverse bacteria capable of EET. OmcS heme reduction potentials are within 200 mV of each other, with a midpoint 82 mV-higher than reported previously. This could explain efficient EET over micrometres at ultrafast (<200 fs) rates with negligible energy loss. Engineering this minimal nanowire-charging pathway may yield microbial chassis with improved performance.

All-Inorganic Perovskite Solar Cells: Defect Regulation and Emerging Applications in Extreme Environments

All-inorganic perovskite solar cells (PSCs), such as CsPbX3 , have garnered considerable attention recently, as they exhibit superior thermodynamic and optoelectronic stabilities compared to the organic-inorganic hybrid PSCs. However, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of CsPbX3 PSCs is generally lower than that of organic-inorganic hybrid PSCs, as they contain higher defect densities at the interface and within the perovskite light-absorbing layers, resulting in higher non-radiative recombination and voltage loss. Consequently, defect regulation has been adopted as an important strategy to improve device performance and stability. This review aims to comprehensively summarize recent progresses on the defect regulation in CsPbX3 PSCs, as well as their cutting-edge applications in extreme scenarios. The underlying fundamental mechanisms leading to the defect formation in the crystal structure of CsPbX3 PSCs are firstly discussed, and an overview of literature-adopted defect regulation strategies in the context of interface, internal, and surface engineering is provided. Cutting-edge applications of CsPbX3 PSCs in extreme environments such as outer space and underwater situations are highlighted. Finally, a summary and outlook are presented on future directions for achieving higher efficiencies and superior stability in CsPbX3 PSCs.

The small RNA PrrH aggravates Pseudomonas aeruginosa-induced acute lung injury by regulating the type III secretion system activator ExsA

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen that causes acute and chronic infections in immunocompromised individuals. Small regulatory RNAs (sRNAs) regulate multiple bacterial adaptations to environmental changes, especially virulence. Our previous study showed that sRNA PrrH negatively regulates the expression of a number of virulence factors, such as pyocyanin, rhamnolipid, biofilm, and elastase in the P. aeruginosa strain PAO1. However, previous studies have shown that the prrH-deficient mutant attenuates virulence in an acute murine lung infection model. All ΔprrH-infected mice survived the entire 28-day course of the experiment, whereas all mice inoculated with the wild-type or the complemented mutant succumbed to lung infection within 4 days of injection, but the specific mechanism is unclear. Herein, we explored how PrrH mediates severe lung injury by regulating the expression of virulence factors. In vivo mouse and in vitro cellular assays demonstrated that PrrH enhanced the pathogenicity of PAO1, causing severe lung injury. Mechanistically, PrrH binds to the coding sequence region of the mRNA of exsA, which encodes the type III secretion system master regulatory protein. We further demonstrated that PrrH mediates a severe inflammatory response and exacerbates the apoptosis of A549 cells. Overall, our results revealed that PrrH positively regulates ExsA, enhances the pathogenicity of P. aeruginosa, and causes severe lung injury.

IMPORTANCE

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a Gram-negative bacterium and the leading cause of nosocomial pneumonia. The pathogenicity of P. aeruginosa is due to the secretion of many virulence factors. Small regulatory RNAs (sRNAs) regulate various bacterial adaptations, especially virulence. Therefore, understanding the mechanism by which sRNAs regulate virulence is necessary for understanding the pathogenicity of P. aeruginosa and the treatment of the related disease. In this study, we demonstrated that PrrH enhances the pathogenicity of P. aeruginosa by binding to the coding sequence regions of the ExsA, the master regulatory protein of type III secretion system, causing severe lung injury and exacerbating the inflammatory response and apoptosis. These findings revealed that PrrH is a crucial molecule that positively regulates ExsA. Type III-positive strains are often associated with a high mortality rate in P. aeruginosa infections in clinical practice. Therefore, this discovery may provide a new target for treating P. aeruginosa infections, especially type III-positive strains.

Degradation and mechanism of PFOA by peroxymonosulfate activated by nitrogen-doped carbon foam-anchored nZVI in aqueous solutions

Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) is an emerging pollutant that is non-biodegradable and presents severe environmental and human health risks. In this study, we present an effective and mild approach for PFOA degradation that involves the use of nitrogen-doped carbon foam anchored with nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI@NCF) to activate low concentration peroxymonosulfate (PMS) for the treatment. The nZVI@NCF/PMS system efficiently removed 84.4% of PFOA (2.4 μM). The active sites of nZVI@NCF including Fe0 (110) and graphitic nitrogen played crucial roles in the degradation. Electrochemical analyses and density functional theory calculations revealed that nZVI@NCF acted as an electronic donor, transferring electrons to both PMS and PFOA during the reaction. By further analyzing the electron paramagnetic resonance and byproducts, it was determined that electron transfer and singlet oxygen were responsible for PFOA degradation. Three degradation pathways involving decarboxylation and surface reduction of PFOA in the nZVI@NCF/PMS system were determined. Finding from this study indicate that nZVI@NCF/PMS systems are effective in degrading PFOA and thus present a promising persulfate-advanced oxidation process technology for PFAS treatment.

Vision-Based On-Road Nighttime Vehicle Detection and Tracking Using Improved HOG Features

The lack of discernible vehicle contour features in low-light conditions poses a formidable challenge for nighttime vehicle detection under hardware cost constraints. Addressing this issue, an enhanced histogram of oriented gradients (HOGs) approach is introduced to extract relevant vehicle features. Initially, vehicle lights are extracted using a combination of background illumination removal and a saliency model. Subsequently, these lights are integrated with a template-based approach to delineate regions containing potential vehicles. In the next step, the fusion of superpixel and HOG (S-HOG) features within these regions is performed, and the support vector machine (SVM) is employed for classification. A non-maximum suppression (NMS) method is applied to eliminate overlapping areas, incorporating the fusion of vertical histograms of symmetrical features of oriented gradients (V-HOGs). Finally, the Kalman filter is utilized for tracking candidate vehicles over time. Experimental results demonstrate a significant improvement in the accuracy of vehicle recognition in nighttime scenarios with the proposed method.

Application of a novel polymer cross-linked with magnetite for efficient norfloxacin adsorption at a wide pH range

Nowadays, NOR-containing wastewater has placed huge pressure on global ecology. In this study, a chemically-modified chitosan-based polymer was cross-linked with magnetite to prepare a novel magnetic composite adsorbent named Fe3O4/CS-P(AM-SSS) for norfloxacin (NOR) removal. The preparation conditions were optimized by single factor experiments and response surface methodology. A series of characterization analyses were carried out on the morphology, structure, and properties of Fe3O4/CS-P(AM-SSS), verifying that Fe3O4/CS-P(AM-SSS) was successfully prepared. Batch adsorption experiments showed that NOR was efficiently removed by Fe3O4/CS-P(AM-SSS), with a broad pH applicability of 3-10, short adsorption equilibrium time of 60 min, maximum adsorption capacity of 268.79 mg/g, and high regeneration rate of 86% after eight adsorption-desorption cycles. Due to the three-dimensional network structure and abundant functional groups provided by modified chitosan polymer, the superior adsorption capability of Fe3O4/CS-P(AM-SSS) was achieved through electrostatic interaction, π-π stacking, hydrophobic interaction, and hydrogen bonding. Adsorption process was exothermic and well fitted by the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and the Langmuir isothermal model. The presence of cations had a slight inhibitory effect on NOR adsorption, while humic acid nearly had no effect. In model swine wastewater, 90.3% NOR was removed by Fe3O4/CS-P(AM-SSS). Therefore, with these superior characteristics, Fe3O4/CS-P(AM-SSS) was expected to be an ideal material for treating NOR-containing wastewater in the future.

Associations between anti-mitochondrial antibodies and cardiac involvement in idiopathic inflammatory myopathy patients : A systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE

The objectives of this study are to analyze the association between anti-mitochondrial antibody (AMA) and cardiac involvement in idiopathic inflammatory myopathy (IIM) and to evaluate the diagnostic value of AMA for cardiac involvement in IIM patients.

METHODS

We conducted a comprehensive search in PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library to identify English-language studies published before November 19, 2021. Stata 12.0 software (Stata Corp., College Station, TX, USA) was used for the statistical analyses. We used the sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio (PLR), negative likelihood ratio (NLR), and summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curve to evaluate the diagnostic value of AMA for cardiac involvement in IIM patients. Statistical heterogeneity of studies was assessed using the I2 statistic with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs).

RESULTS

Seven studies were included in the final analyses, with a total of 2308 IIM patients (including 171 AMA-positive and 2137 AMA-negative patients). The pooled sensitivity of AMA for cardiac involvement in IIM patients was 0.29 (95% CI: 0.19-0.43) and specificity was 0.92 (95% CI: 0.88-0.96). The pooled PLR was 3.9 (95% CI: 2.82-5.38), NLR was 0.76 (95% CI: 0.66-0.88), and the diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) was 5 (95% CI: 3-7). The area under the SROC curve was 0.76 (95% CI: 0.72-0.79).

CONCLUSION

The overall diagnostic value of AMA may not be very high for cardiac involvement in IIM patients.

RNF187 governs the maintenance of mouse GC-2 cell development by facilitating histone H3 ubiquitination at K57/80

RING finger 187 (RNF187), a ubiquitin-ligating (E3) enzyme, plays a crucial role in the proliferation of cancer cells. However, it remains unclear whether RNF187 exhibits comparable functionality in the development of germline cells. To investigate the potential involvement of RNF187 in germ cell development, we conducted interference and overexpression assays using GC-2 cells, a mouse spermatocyte-derived cell line. Our findings reveal that the interaction between RNF187 and histone H3 increases the viability, proliferation, and migratory capacity of GC-2 cells. Moreover, we provide evidence demonstrating that RNF187 interacts with H3 and mediates the ubiquitination of H3 at lysine 57 (K57) or lysine 80 (K80), directly or indirectly resulting in increased cellular transcription. This is a study to report the role of RNF187 in maintaining the development of GC-2 cells by mediating histone H3 ubiquitination, thus highlighting the involvement of the K57 and K80 residues of H3 in the epistatic regulation of gene transcription. These discoveries provide a new theoretical foundation for further comprehensive investigations into the function of RNF187 in the reproductive system.

Slc26a1 is not essential for spermatogenesis and male fertility in mice

Thousands of genes are expressed in the testis of mice. However, the details about their roles during spermatogenesis have not been well-clarified for most genes. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of Slc26a1 deficiency on mouse spermatogenesis and male fertility. Slc26a1-knockout (KO) mice were generated using CRISPR/Cas9 technology on C57BL/6J background. We found no obvious differences between Slc26a1-KO and Slc26a1-WT mice in fertility tests, testicular weight, sperm concentrations, or morphology. Histological analysis found that Slc26a1-KO mouse testes had normal germ cell types and mature sperm. These findings indicated that Slc26a1 was dispensable for male fertility in mice. Our results may save time and resources by allowing other researchers to focus on genes that are more meaningful for fertility studies. We also found that mRNAs of two Slc26a family members (Slc26a5 and Slc26a11) were expressed on higher mean levels in Slc26a1-KO total mouse testes, compared to Slc26a1-WT mice. This effect was not found in mouse GC-1 and GC-2 germ cell lines with the Slc26a1 gene transiently knocked down. This result may indicate that a gene compensation phenomenon was present in the testes of Slc26a1-KO mice.

Diagnostic value of 3D volume measurement of central pulmonary artery based on CTPA images in the pulmonary hypertension

BACKGROUND

This retrospective study aims to evaluate the diagnostic value of volume measurement of central pulmonary arteries using computer tomography pulmonary angiography (CTPA) for predicting pulmonary hypertension (PH).

METHODS

A total of 59 patients in our hospital from November 2013 to April 2021 who underwent both right cardiac catheterization (RHC) and CTPA examination were included. Systolic pulmonary artery pressure (SPAP), mean PAP (mPAP), and diastolic PAP (DPAP) were acquired from RHC testing. Patients were divided into the non-PH group (18 cases) and the PH group (41 cases). The diameters of the main pulmonary artery (DMPA), right pulmonary artery (DRPA), and left pulmonary artery (DLPA) were measured manually. A 3D model software was used for the segmentation of central pulmonary arteries. The cross-sectional areas (AMPA, ARPA, ALPA) and the volumes (VMPA, VRPA, VLPA) were calculated. Measurements of the pulmonary arteries derived from CTPA images were compared between the two groups, and correlated with the parameters of RHC testing. ROC curves and decision curve analysis (DCA) were used to evaluate the benefit of the three-dimensional CTPA parameters for predicting PH. A multiple linear regression model with a forward-step approach was adopted to integrate all statistically significant CTPA parameters for PH prediction.

RESULTS

All parameters (DMPA, DRPA, DLPA, AMPA, ARPA, ALPA, VMPA, VRPA, and VLPA) of CTPA images exhibited significantly elevated in the PH group in contrast to the non-PH group (P < 0.05), and showed positive correlations with the parameters of RHC testing (mPAP, DPAP, SPAP) (r ranged 0.586~0.752 for MPA, 0.527~0.640 for RPA, and 0.302~0.495 for LPA, all with P < 0.05). For the MPA and RPA, 3D parameters showed higher correlation coefficients compared to their one-dimensional and two-dimensional counterparts. The ROC analysis indicated that the VMPA showed higher area under the curves (AUC) than the DMPA and AMPA without significance, and the VRPA showed higher AUC than the DRPA and ARPA significantly (DRPA vs. VRPA, Z = 2.029, P = 0.042; ARPA vs. VRPA, Z = 2.119, P = 0.034). The DCA demonstrated that the three-dimensional parameters could provide great net benefit for MPA and RPA. The predictive equations for mPAP, DPAP, and SPAP were formulated as [8.178 + 0.0006 * VMPA], [1.418 + 0.0005 * VMPA], and [-11.137 + 0.0006*VRPA + 1.259 * DMPA], respectively.

CONCLUSION

The 3D volume measurement of the MPA and RPA based on CTPA images maybe more informative than the traditional diameter and cross-sectional area in predicting PH.

Icariin Inhibits Overexpression and Aggregation of α-Synuclein in A53T α-Synuclein Transgenic Mice by Regulating Parkin and PLK2

BACKGROUND

Synucleinopathies, which are major pathological features of Parkinson's disease (PD), are characterized by misfolded aggregates of α-synuclein in the peripheral and central nervous system. Icariin (ICA) is the main active component of Epimedium flavonoids. Our previous study found that ICA decreases α-synuclein expression in APPV717I transgenic mice.

METHODS

The aim of the present study was to examine the potential applications and mechanisms of ICA in PD using A53T α-synuclein transgenic (A53T Tg) mice. After 3 months of intragastric ICA administration, rotarod and pole tests were used to assess behavioral changes in A53T Tg mice at 8 and 13 months of age. SH-SY5Y cells over-expressing wild-type α-synuclein were used to further examine the pharmacological effect and underlying mechanism of ICA. Western blotting and immunocytochemistry were used to detect the expression levels of α-synuclein and its related proteins.

RESULTS

ICA significantly improved the impaired motor function and coordination in A53T Tg mice. It also decreased the expression, Ser129 phosphorylation, and aggregation of α-synuclein in SH-SY5Y cells transfected with α-synuclein and the striatum of A53T Tg mice. Moreover, ICA increased the expression of parkin, which is associated with the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS), and decreased the level of polo-like kinase 2 (PLK2), an enzyme that phosphorylates α-synuclein.

CONCLUSIONS

ICA alleviated motor impairments in A53T mice, an effect which may be associated with the decreased phosphorylation and aggregation of α-synuclein through PLK2 and parkin regulation.

Molecular geometric deep learning

Molecular representation learning plays an important role in molecular property prediction. Existing molecular property prediction models rely on the de facto standard of covalent-bond-based molecular graphs for representing molecular topology at the atomic level and totally ignore the non-covalent interactions within the molecule. In this study, we propose a molecular geometric deep learning model to predict the properties of molecules that aims to comprehensively consider the information of covalent and non-covalent interactions of molecules. The essential idea is to incorporate a more general molecular representation into geometric deep learning (GDL) models. We systematically test molecular GDL (Mol-GDL) on fourteen commonly used benchmark datasets. The results show that Mol-GDL can achieve a better performance than state-of-the-art (SOTA) methods. Extensive tests have demonstrated the important role of non-covalent interactions in molecular property prediction and the effectiveness of Mol-GDL models.

Multitask joint learning with graph autoencoders for predicting potential MiRNA-drug associations

The occurrence of many diseases is associated with miRNA abnormalities. Predicting potential drug-miRNA associations is of great importance for both disease treatment and new drug discovery. Most computation-based approaches learn one task at a time, ignoring the information contained in other tasks in the same domain. Multitask learning can effectively enhance the prediction performance of a single task by extending the valid information of related tasks. In this paper, we presented a multitask joint learning framework (MTJL) with a graph autoencoder for predicting the associations between drugs and miRNAs. First, we combined multiple pieces of information to construct a high-quality similarity network of both drugs and miRNAs and then used a graph autoencoder (GAE) to learn their embedding representations separately. Second, to further improve the embedding quality of drugs, we added an auxiliary task to classify drugs using the learned representations. Finally, the embedding representations of drugs and miRNAs were linearly transformed to obtain the predictive association scores between them. A comparison with other state-of-the-art models shows that MTJL has the best prediction performance, and ablation experiments show that the auxiliary task can enhance the embedding quality and improve the robustness of the model. In addition, we show that MTJL has high utility in predicting potential associations between drugs and miRNAs by conducting two case studies.

Long non-coding RNA NRSN2-AS1 promotes ovarian cancer progression through targeting PTK2/β-catenin pathway

As a common malignant tumor among women, ovarian cancer poses a serious threat to their health. This study demonstrates that long non-coding RNA NRSN2-AS1 is over-expressed in ovarian cancer tissues using patient sample and tissue microarrays. In addition, NRSN2-AS1 is shown to promote ovarian cancer cell proliferation and metastasis both in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, NRSN2-AS1 stabilizes protein tyrosine kinase 2 (PTK2) to activate the β-catenin pathway via repressing MG-53-mediated ubiquitinated degradation of PTK2, thereby facilitating ovarian cancer progression. Rescue experiments verify the function of the NRSN2-AS1/PTK2/β-catenin axis and the effects of MG53 on this axis in ovarian cancer cells. In conclusion, this study demonstrates the key role of the NRSN2-AS1/PTK2/β-catenin axis for the first time and explores its potential clinical applications in ovarian cancer.

Construction of a comprehensive predictive model for axillary lymph node metastasis in breast cancer: a retrospective study

PURPOSE

The accurate assessment of axillary lymph node metastasis (LNM) in early-stage breast cancer (BC) is of great importance. This study aimed to construct an integrated model based on clinicopathology, ultrasound, PET/CT, and PET radiomics for predicting axillary LNM in early stage of BC.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

124 BC patients who underwent 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18 F-FDG) PET/CT and whose diagnosis were confirmed by surgical pathology were retrospectively analyzed and included in this study. Ultrasound, PET and clinicopathological features of all patients were analyzed, and PET radiomics features were extracted to establish an ultrasound model (clinicopathology and ultrasound; model 1), a PET model (clinicopathology, ultrasound, and PET; model 2), and a comprehensive model (clinicopathology, ultrasound, PET, and radiomics; model 3), and the diagnostic efficacy of each model was evaluated and compared.

RESULTS

The T stage, US_BIRADS, US_LNM, and PET_LNM in the positive axillary LNM group was significantly higher than that of in the negative LNM group (P = 0.013, P = 0.049, P < 0.001, P < 0.001, respectively). Radiomics score for predicting LNM (RS_LNM) for the negative LNM and positive LNM were statistically significant difference (-1.090 ± 0.448 vs. -0.693 ± 0.344, t = -4.720, P < 0.001), and the AUC was 0.767 (95% CI: 0.674-0.861). The ROC curves showed that model 3 outperformed model 1 for the sensitivity (model 3 vs. model 1, 82.86% vs. 48.57%), and outperformed model 2 for the specificity (model 3 vs. model 2, 82.02% vs. 68.54%) in the prediction of LNM. The AUC of mode 1, model 2 and model 3 was 0.687, 0.826 and 0.874, and the Delong test showed the AUC of model 3 was significantly higher than that of model 1 and model 2 (P < 0.05). Decision curve analysis showed that model 3 resulted in a higher degree of net benefit for all the patients than model 1 and model 2.

CONCLUSION

The use of a comprehensive model based on clinicopathology, ultrasound, PET/CT, and PET radiomics can effectively improve the diagnostic efficacy of axillary LNM in BC.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

This study was registered at ClinicalTrials Gov (number NCT05826197) on 7th, May 2023.

Multi-task learning for predicting synergistic drug combinations based on auto-encoding multi-relational graphs

Combinatorial drug therapy is a promising approach for treating complex diseases by combining drugs with synergistic effects. However, predicting effective drug combinations is challenging due to the complexity of biological systems and the limited understanding of pathophysiological mechanisms and drug targets. In this paper, we proposed a computational framework called VGAETF (Variational Graph Autoencoder Tensor Decomposition), which leveraged multi-relational graph to model complex relationships between entities in biological systems and predicted disease-related synergistic drug combinations in an end-to-end manner. In the computational experiments, VGAETF achieved high performances (AUROC [the area under receiver operating characteristic] = 0.9767, AUPR [the area under precision-recall] = 0.9660), outperforming other compared methods. Moreover, case studies further demonstrated the effectiveness of VGAETF in identifying potential disease-related synergistic drug combinations.

[Research progress on the mechanism and response strategies of molecular targeted drug resistance in liver cancer]

Molecular targeted drugs are one of the treatments for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the primary factor influencing their therapeutic efficacy is drug resistance. Diminished drug intake, greater efflux, improved DNA damage repair capacity, aberrant signal pathways, hypoxia, epithelial-mesenchymal cell transition, and the cellular autophagy system are summarized herein as aspects of the drug resistance mechanism. Simultaneously, effective strategies for addressing drug resistance are elaborated, providing ideas for better clinical treatment of HCC.

Electrohydraulic proportional position and pressure loading control utilizing a state perception and processing method

A new multifunctional proportional control triaxial stress loading apparatus is presented in this study, which can apply an output force on coal rock to simulate the conditions of triaxial stress loading, aiming at solving the problems of excessive consideration of static indices in the design and the incompleteness of the simulation and test verification system for the test parts at the performance analysis stage. This apparatus mainly combines the configuration of a triaxial stress loading system which can meet the stress loading requirements under different operating conditions, with the effective integration of multiple pressure loading operations based on the electrohydraulic proportional control method. In this context, a pressure and position combined control strategy based on the sliding mode is proposed to control the vertical and longitudinal loading hydraulic cylinders. Then, a co-simulation mode including the triaxial stress loading hydraulic system is established to verify the control strategy, system response characteristics and selection of the controller parameters. Furthermore, a multifunctional stress loading experimental platform is developed, and the stress loading characteristics with the proposed strategy are tested and analyzed. The results show that the triaxial stress loading hydraulic system can meet the response characteristics, the fluctuating deviation of the constant loading test can be restricted to 8.5%, the tracking error of the variable loading test is small, the minimum response time of instantaneous loading can reach 2.8 s, and the stress loading effect is noticeable. The experimental platform fully indicates that the stress loading system with the state perception and processing method as the core can meet a variety of verification indices of constant, variable and instantaneous loading tests. This research provides technical support for the smooth, synchronous control and intelligent operation of various types of hydraulic actuator machines.

[Association of category of dietary intake and physical activity with the risk of mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a prospective cohort study]

Objective: To investigate the association between dietary intake and physical activity category and their combined effects on all-cause and cause-specific mortality risk in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Methods: Between December 2013 and December 2021, a prospective cohort study was conducted on 19 863 T2DM patients in Changshu City, Qingjiangpu District (formerly Qinghe District), and Huai'an District, included in the national basic health service management. Information on deaths and underlying causes of death was obtained from the Jiangsu Provincial CDC and Prevention Death Surveillance System. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate the intensity of associations between dietary intake, physical activity, and their combined effects with all-cause and cause-specific mortality in patients with T2DM. Results: As of December 31, 2021, the research subjects had been followed up for 150 283 person-years, with a median follow-up time of 8.15 years. During the follow-up period, 3 293 people died, including 1 124 deaths from cardiovascular disease (CVD) and 875 deaths from cancer. Cox regression analysis showed that compared with the population of 0-1 recommended food group, those having more than five recommended food groups had a 19% lower risk of all-cause mortality [hazard ratio (HR)=0.81, 95%CI: 0.70-0.94] and a 33% lower risk of all-cause mortality (HR=0.67, 95%CI: 0.52-0.87). Compared with the T2DM population in the physical activity Q1 group, the risk of all-cause mortality, CVD mortality, and cancer mortality among the physical activity Q4 group reduced by 50% (HR=0.50, 95%CI: 0.45-0.56), 50% (HR=0.50, 95%CI: 0.41-0.61), and 27% (HR=0.73, 95%CI: 0.60-0.88), respectively. The combined effect showed that compared with the population in the intake of food categories 0-2 and low physical activity groups, the risk of all-cause, CVD mortality, and cancer mortality in the intake of food categories 4-9 and high physical activity groups reduced by 55% (HR=0.45, 95%CI: 0.38-0.53), 56% (HR=0.44, 95%CI: 0.32-0.59), and 40% (HR=0.60, 95%CI: 0.44-0.82), respectively. Conclusion: Type of dietary intake, physical activity, and their combined effects are associated with a reduced mortality risk in patients with T2DM.

Long-Term Outcomes of De-Intensified Chemoradiotherapy for Human Papillomavirus-Associated Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE(S)

To report long-term oncologic outcomes among patients with human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) treated with definitive de-intensified chemoradiotherapy.

MATERIALS/METHODS

Major criteria for de-intensification were (1) AJCC 7th edition T0-T3, N0-N2c, M0 (AJCC 8th edition T0-T3, N0-N2, M0), (2) pathologically confirmed p16 positive, and (3) no or minimal/remote smoking history (non-mutated p53 if ≥30 pack-years). Treatment was 60 Gy intensity-modulated radiotherapy with first-choice concurrent cisplatin 30 mg/m2 once per week (alternative regimens permissible for cisplatin ineligible patients). Patients with T0-T2 N0-1 (AJCC 7th edition) were recommended 60 Gy radiation alone. Systemic therapy received included: cisplatin 30 mg/m2 (n = 122), cetuximab (n = 15), cisplatin 40 mg/m2 (n = 12), carboplatin/paclitaxel (n = 2), and radiation alone (n = 25). Kaplan Meier estimates for overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), locoregional control (LRC), and freedom from distant metastasis (FFDM) were calculated. Cox regression models were used for comparisons among subgroups.

RESULTS

A total 176 patients received de-intensified treatment (n = 153 prospective protocol, n = 23 off-protocol). Median follow-up was 52.6 months (range 5.3 - 102.0, 90.8% with minimum 2-year follow-up); 56.8% (n = 100) were never smokers and 43.2% (n = 76) former smokers; former smokers had median 9 pack-years smoking history (range 0.25 - 50) with 46% ≥10 pack-years. Outcomes were as follows: 2-year OS 99.4% and 5-year OS 91.8%; 2-year PFS 94.1% and 5-year PFS 84.3%; 2-year LRC 98.3% and 5-year LRC 95.8%; 2-year FFDM 95.8% and 5-year FFDM 93.2%. Median time to progression events were 21.1 months (range, 7.2 - 54.1) with 37.5% (6 of 16) of recurrences occurring after 24 months. Six total locoregional events occurred (five recurrences and one site of persistent disease), within the 60 Gy planning target volume. Twenty-three patients with T0-T2 N0-1 disease received radiation alone with 2-year PFS 92.9% (5-year 83.8%) and 2-year LRC 100% (5-year 95.2%). Outcomes for former smokers with ≥10 pack-years were comparable to patients with less or no smoking history (2-year PFS 94.1% vs 94.1%; 5-year PFS 90.6% vs 82.7%; HR 0.58, p = 0.38). Early results suggest similar oncologic outcomes among those treated off-protocol (median follow-up 25.6 months) with 1 of 23 patients experiencing locoregional recurrence.

CONCLUSION

Dose de-intensification of 60 Gy radiotherapy with weekly cisplatin results in favorable long-term tumor control in patients with HPV-associated OPSCC. De-intensified 60 Gy alone may be efficacious in carefully selected patients with T0-T2 N0-1 (AJCC 7th edition) disease. Inclusion of biologically favorable patients with more extensive former smoking history in de-intensification clinical trials may be warranted.

E3 ubiquitin ligase RNF187 promotes growth of spermatogonia via lysine 48-linked polyubiquitination-mediated degradation of KRT36/KRT84

Ubiquitination is the most common post-translational modification and is essential for various cellular regulatory processes. RNF187, which is known as RING domain AP1 coactivator-1, is a member of the RING finger family. RNF187 can promote the proliferation and migration of various tumor cells. However, whether it has a similar role in regulating spermatogonia is not clear. This study explored the role and molecular mechanism of RNF187 in a mouse spermatogonia cell line (GC-1). We found that RNF187 knockdown reduced the proliferation and migration of GC-1 cells and promoted their apoptosis. RNF187 overexpression significantly increased the proliferation and migration of GC-1 cells. In addition, we identified Keratin36/Keratin84 (KRT36/KRT84) as interactors with RNF187 by co-immunoprecipitation and mass spectrometry analyses. RNF187 promoted GC-1 cell growth by degrading KRT36/KRT84 via lysine 48-linked polyubiquitination. Subsequently, we found that KRT36 or KRT84 overexpression significantly attenuated proliferation and migration of RNF187-overexpressing GC-1 cells. In summary, our study explored the involvement of RNF187 in regulating the growth of spermatogonia via lysine 48-linked polyubiquitination-mediated degradation of KRT36/KRT84. This may provide a promising new strategy for treating infertility caused by abnormal spermatogonia development.

The Role of Whole Abdomen and Pelvis Radiation Therapy in Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Tumor

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE(S)

Desmoplastic small round cell tumor (DSRCT) is a rare entity that typically presents in adolescent and young adult men with widespread abdominopelvic disease. The benefit of whole abdomen and pelvis radiation therapy (WAPRT) after chemotherapy and maximal surgical resection is unknown. Our objective was to evaluate the oncologic benefit and toxicity of WAPRT in this rare and aggressive disease.

MATERIALS/METHODS

We conducteda retrospective review of patients with DSRCT treated at our institution primarily between 2018-2021. The cumulative incidence (CI) of intra-abdominopelvic failure was compared among those who received WAPRT after chemotherapy and surgery vs those who received chemotherapy and surgery alone without WAPRT utilizing Gray's method. Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were also compared among patients who did and did not receive WAPRT using the Kaplan-Meier method from the date of surgery. Toxicity was graded per CTCAE v5.0 criteria.

RESULTS

Twenty-eight patients were included (median age 17.5 years; range 6-38 years; 78% male, 22% female). All patients received chemotherapy with VDC/IE, all but one underwent extensive tumor resection, and all but two received HIPEC at time of resection. Nineteen patients (median age 13 years) received WAPRT after surgery, while 9 patients (median age 24 years) were treated with systemic therapy and surgery alone. Patients who received WAPRT were generally treated to 30 Gy in 20 fractions utilizing intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), with a boost to gross disease to a total dose of 45-50 Gy in 9 patients. Median follow up was 20 months. The CI of intra-abdominopelvic failure at 12 and 24 months was 16% and 50% with WAPRT vs 74% and 87% without WAPRT (p = 0.003), with a median time from surgery to intra-abdominopelvic failure of 15 months after WAPRT vs 5 months without. PFS was also improved with WAP-RT (94% and 83% at 12 and 24 months) vs without WAPRT (67% and 0% at 12 and 24 months), p = 0.001. Among those who received WAPRT, patients who received a boost to gross disease had similar intra-abdominopelvic control as those who had no gross disease to boost and received WAPRT only (CI at 24 months 50% without boost vs 48% with, p = 0.95). OS did not differ between those who did and did not receive WAPRT (OS at 24 months, 88% vs 83%, p = 0.89). Most toxicities after WAPRT were mild, including grade 1-2 fatigue, nausea, and vomiting, with the exception of one patient who developed veno-occlusive disease.

CONCLUSION

Although limited by selection bias and short follow up, our study shows durable intra-abdominopelvic control and an improvement in PFS after WAPRT with IMRT, without an effect on OS. Additional larger, prospective investigations evaluating the value and toxicity of WAPRT for DSRCT are warranted.

Results of a Multi-institutional Randomized Phase 3 Trial of Parotid-Sparing Whole Brain Radiotherapy

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE(S)

Observational studies have reported that xerostomia is common after conventional whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT) and associated with parotid dose. In this multi-institutional, single-blind randomized controlled trial, we hypothesized that patient-reported xerostomia is reduced in patients randomized to parotid-sparing vs. standard WBRT fields.

MATERIALS/METHODS

Between 2018 and 2021, patients receiving conventional WBRT (30-35 Gy in 10-15 fractions) for any diagnosis were enrolled at 3 academic institutions. Patients were randomized between standard WBRT fields covering the C1 vertebra with no prospective parotid delineation (control) vs. parotid-sparing fields without C1 coverage (experimental). Patients completed the University of Michigan Xerostomia Questionnaire (Scored 0-100, higher is worse) at baseline, EndRT, 2 weeks, 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months. Patients were excluded from toxicity analyses if baseline xerostomia score was >50 or if they did not complete any post-baseline questionnaires. The primary endpoint was proportion of patients with ≥15 point absolute increase in xerostomia score from baseline to 1 month; 108 patients were needed for an 80% power to detect a 22% absolute difference (1-sided significance of 0.05). The secondary endpoint was the rate of marginal failures.

RESULTS

The study closed early after 56 patients were randomized. Median survival was 4.6 months. 46 patients (23 in each arm) were eligible for analysis. Mean parotid dose was 17 vs. 10 Gy in the standard vs. parotid-sparing arms, respectively. The table below shows mean xerostomia score and proportion of patients with ≥15 increase in xerostomia score at each time point. There was no difference in the proportion of patients experiencing ≥15 increase in xerostomia score at 1 month, though there was a trend toward lower xerostomia score at 1 month in patients randomized to parotid-sparing fields (p = 0.07, Table). Xerostomia rates were also significantly improved in the parotid-sparing arm at EndRT (p = 0.03), but no longer-term difference was observed with greater attrition at 3 and 6 months. On linear regression, there was a trend toward association between mean parotid dose and xerostomia score at 1 month (p = 0.06). There were no reported marginal failures in either arm.

CONCLUSION

Parotid-sparing without coverage of the C1 vertebra appears safe and may meaningfully reduce acute xerostomia in patients with limited life expectancy who are candidates for conventional WBRT, although the study was underpowered to detect a significant difference at 1 month.

Safety and Efficacy of Stereotactic Radiosurgery with Concurrent Targeted Systemic Therapy for Brain Metastases

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE(S)

Data describing the safety and efficacy of central nervous system (CNS)-active targeted systemic therapies in combination with stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS, 1 fraction) and/or radiotherapy (SRT, 3-5 fractions) for brain metastases are emerging but limited. We report rates of local and intracranial failure and radiation necrosis in patients receiving CNS-active targeted systemic therapy and SRS/SRT.

MATERIALS/METHODS

We retrospectively identified patients with intact brain metastases at two institutions from 2009-2022 who were treated with SRS/SRT and CNS-active targeted systemic therapy in any sequence. Patients were followed for a minimum of 3 months after SRS/SRT with brain MRI. Patients typically stopped the targeted agent 2-4 days prior to radiation and resumed 2-4 days after. Targeted therapies included inhibitors of ALK/ROS1 (Alectinib, Ceritinib, Crizotinib, Lorlatinib), EGFR (Afatinib, Erlotinib, Gefitinib, Osimertinib), BRAF (Dabrafenib, Encorafenib, Vemurafenib), MEK (Binimetinib, Trametinib), CDK 4/6 (Abemaciclib, Palbociclib, Ribociclib), HER2 (Afatinib, Lapatinib, Neratinib, Pertuzumab, Trastuzumab, T-DM1, T-DXd, Tucatinib), KRAS (Adagrasib and Sotorasib), PARP (Niraparib, Olaparib), VEGF(R) (Axitinib, Bevacizumab, Ramucirumab), and less-selective tyrosine (receptor) kinase inhibitors (Bosutinib, Brigatinib, Entrectinib, Lenvatinib, Pazopanib, Sorafenib, Sunitinib). Local failure (LF) and radiation necrosis were determined radiographically with clinical impression (grade 2 (symptomatic) or higher (G2+)) and compared between different systemic agents.

RESULTS

The study included 95 patients with 310 metastases (SRS 246, SRT 64 metastases). Most common primary histologies were non-small cell lung cancer (36% 34/95), breast cancer (28% 27/95), and melanoma (16% 15/95). Overall survival at 1 and 2 years was 80% (76/95) and 55% (52/95), respectively. Median follow-up was 16.6 (range 3-91) months. Median tumor size was 7mm (range 1-75mm). Median number of brain metastases per patient was 2.5 (range 1-12). The G2+ radiation necrosis rate was 5.8% (18/310) while the LF rate was 9.7% (30/310) per metastasis. There was no significant difference in G2+ radiation necrosis by class of targeted therapy. Sixty-two percent (59/95) of patients experienced distant intracranial failure. Median intracranial progression free survival (PFS) was 8.0 (range 0.4-61.4) months.

CONCLUSION

Although heterogeneous, patients treated with SRS/SRT and ongoing CNS-active targeted systemic therapies have on average >6 month intracranial PFS and little evidence of significant toxicity. We observed <6% G2+ radiation necrosis for this cohort, and no particular class of agent was associated with a significantly higher rate of G2+ radiation necrosis.

Comparison of Standard vs. Relative Risk Models to Define Candidates for Deintensification in Locoregionally Advanced P16+ Oropharyngeal Cancer

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE(S)

Various methods to identify candidates for treatment deintensification with p16+ oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) have been used, but the optimal approach is unknown.

MATERIALS/METHODS

Multi-institutional cohort study of 385 patients with previously untreated p16+ OPSCC undergoing definitive radiotherapy (RT) with or without systemic therapy between 2009-2020. Chemotherapy intensity was categorized as high (bolus cisplatin and/or induction chemotherapy), medium (weekly cisplatin), or low (non-cisplatin or RT alone). Standard favorable vs. unfavorable risk was defined using NRG HN005 eligibility criteria. High vs. low relative risk (RR) group was defined using the HNCIG omega score (≥ 0.80 vs. < 0.80), which quantifies the proportion of a patient's overall event risk due to cancer. We used multivariable ordinal logistic regression to estimate effects of age (yrs), sex, performance status (PS), Charlson comorbidity index (CCI), T/N (AJCC 8th), current smoking, and pack-years (> 10 vs. ≤ 10) on treatment allocation. Effects on relative event hazards were estimated using generalized competing event regression.

RESULTS

Median follow-up time was 44.2 months. Chemotherapy intensity was high in 206 (54%), medium in 108 (28%), and low in 71 (18%). 280 patients (73%) were unfavorable risk and 197 (51%) were high RR. 178 patients (46%) had discordant risk classification. On univariable analysis, significant predictors of higher intensity chemotherapy (normalized odds ratio (OR)) were CCI 0-1 (OR 1.49, 95% CI: 1.23-1.79), high omega score (OR 1.46; 1.20-1.77), decreased age (OR 1.43; 1.18-1.74), and PS 0 (OR 1.22; 1.01-1.48). Controlling for CCI, higher omega score was associated with significantly higher odds of intensive chemotherapy (OR 1.35; 1.10-1.65, but unfavorable risk (HN005 ineligibility) was not (OR 1.19; 0.98-1.44). Higher omega score was also associated with significantly higher RR for cancer recurrence (Rec) vs. competing mortality (CM) events (relative HR (rHR) 1.76; 1.12-2.75), but unfavorable risk was not (rHR 1.05; 0.63-1.75). Among patients receiving cisplatin, 50 favorable risk patients (58%) had high RR; all of their event risk was due to cancer recurrence (Table). The 110 unfavorable risk patients (48%) with low omega score had significantly lower RR for cancer events compared to the high omega score group (rHR 0.49; 0.29-0.84).

CONCLUSION

Many patients with favorable risk p16+ OPSCC have high relative risk for cancer events, which correlates with a benefit of intensive treatment. The HNCIG omega score is a strong predictor of allocation to intensive chemotherapy and may help identify candidates for deintensification.

Surgically Targeted Radiation Therapy (STaRT) for Brain Metastases: Initial Experience from a Prospective Multi-Institutional Registry

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE(S)

Resection and intraoperative brachytherapy for patients with large, operable brain metastasis allows for both relief of mass effect and the delivery of radiotherapy (RT) to the resection cavity with a favorable dosimetric profile. The objective of this study was to analyze early patterns-of-care and treatment-related toxicity outcomes for brain metastasis patients treated with surgically targeted radiation therapy (STaRT) using a novel brachytherapy carrier.

MATERIALS/METHODS

Patients with brain metastasis, de novo and recurrent disease, who enrolled onto a prospective multi-institutional observational study (NCT04427384) were the subject of this analysis. Patients underwent resection and immediate implantation of bioresorbable, conformable, 20 mm x 20 mm x 4 mm collagen tile brachytherapy device(s) containing four uniform-intensity Cesium-131 sources. Toxicities were categorized using the CTCAE v5.0 adverse event (AE) criteria.

RESULTS

From 10/2020 to 01/2023, 13 participating sites enrolled and treated 48 patients with 51 metastases (13 with de novo and 35 patients with recurrent brain metastases), and 3 patients had 2 lesions implanted at the same procedure. Median age was 61 years (range: 28-80), 52% were female, and the most common primary types were lung (56%) and breast (13%). The median maximum pre-operative dimension was 3.4 cm (range: 1.7-5.7) and median pre-operative tumor volume 13.7cm3 (range: 1.7-132). 64% had received prior RT with a median time from last RT to STaRT of 14.6 months range: 3.5-57.3). Median KPS at screening was 80 (range: 50-100), and remained stable at post op visit (80, range: 50-100), and at 3-months following treatment (80, range 50-100), respectively (p>0.05). The median time for implantation was 3 minutes (range: 0.4-30). At a median follow-up of 4 months (range: <1-18), no patient experienced a radiation-attributed AE, and only 1 attributable Gr >3 AE was noted (Gr 5 intracerebral hemorrhage deemed probably related to surgery and unrelated to the implanted device).

CONCLUSION

Early results from this prospective multi-center trial demonstrate the feasibility and safety of STaRT. The lack of radiation-related AE, even with short follow-up, is intriguing given the relatively large lesion size and proportion of patients treated for recurrent, previously irradiated disease. Additional follow-up will provide data on tumor control outcomes and radiation necrosis rates using this novel technique.

An Automated Brain Metastasis Detection and Segmentation System from MRI with a Large Multi-Institutional Dataset

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE(S)

Developments of automated systems for brain metastasis (BM) detection and segmentation from MRI for assisting early detection and stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) have been reported but most based upon relatively small datasets from single institutes. This work aims to develop and evaluate a system using a large multi-institutional dataset, and to improve both identification of small/subtle BMs and segmentation accuracy of large BMs.

MATERIALS/METHODS

A 3D U-Net system was trained and evaluated to detect and segment intraparenchymal BMs with a size > 2mm using 1856 MRI volumes from 1791 patients treated with SRS from seven institutions (1539 volumes for training, 183 for validation, and 134 for testing). All patients had 3D post-Gd T1w MRI scans pre-SRS. Gross tumor volumes (GTVs) of BMs for SRS were curated by each institute first. Then, additional efforts were spent to create GTVs for the untreated and/or uncontoured BMs, including central reviews by two radiologists, to improve accuracy of ground truth. The training dataset was augmented with synthetic BMs of 3773 MRIs using a 3D generative pipeline. Our system consists of two U-Nets with one using small 3D patches dedicated for detecting small BMs and another using large 3D patches for segmenting large BMs, and a random-forest based fusion module for combining the two network outputs. The first U-Net was trained with 3D patches containing at least one BM < 0.1 cm3. For detection performance, we measured BM-level sensitivity and case-level false-positive (FP) rate. For segmentation performance, we measured BM-level Dice similarity coefficient (DSC) and 95-percentile Hausdorff distance (HD95). We also stratified performances based upon BM sizes.

RESULTS

For 739 BMs in the 134 testing cases, the overall lesion-level sensitivity was 0.870 with an average case-level FP of 1.34±1.92 (95% CI: 1.02-1.67). The sensitivity was >0.969 for the BMs >0.1 cm3, but dropped to 0.755 for the BMs < 0.1 cm3 (Table 1). The average DSC and HD95 for all detected BMs were 0.786 and 1.35mm. The worse performance for BMs > 20 cm3 was caused by a case with 83 cm3 GTV and artifacts in the MRI volume.

CONCLUSION

We achieved excellent detection sensitivity and segmentation accuracy for BMs > 0.1 cm3, and promising performance for small BMs (<0.1cm3) with a controlled FP rate using a large multi-institutional dataset. Clinical utility for assisting early detection and SRS planning will be investigated. Table 1: Per-lesion detection and segmentation performance stratified by individual BM size. N is the number of BMs in each category.

Identifying a Dose Constraint for the Parotid Ducts: Impact on Patient Reported Xerostomia and Comparison to Conventional Parotid Gland Mean Dose Sparing

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE(S)

(1) Identify a dose constraint for the parotid ducts to reduce patient reported xerostomia and compare effectiveness to QUANTEC constraint. (2) Determine if conventionally planned patients meet this constraint by using atlas-based duct segmentation.

MATERIALS/METHODS

(1) 38 patients with oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) were treated prospectively on trial with MRI sialography guided parotid duct sparing radiation therapy (parotid duct sparing cohort). These patients were compared to a historical cohort of 89 similar patients treated with conventional parotid gland mean dose sparing for salivary gland dosimetry and patient reported xerostomia (PRO-CTCAE ≥ Moderate). (2) A contour atlas comprised of 24 patients with MRI sialograms was created. Atlas-based segmentation was generated on the remaining 14 patients with MRI sialograms to assess for contour accuracy. Atlas-based parotid duct contours were generated on 111 patients treated with conventional parotid gland mean dose sparing to facilitate a dosimetric comparison to the parotid duct sparing cohort.

RESULTS

(1) In the parotid duct sparing cohort, patients whose parotid ducts (bilateral) were planned for a mean dose <14 Gy reported significantly (p<0.01) lower rates of xerostomia compared to patients whose ducts were planned to receive >14 Gy (26% (5/19) versus 86% (12/14) at 6 months post-RT and 22% (4/18) versus 73% (8/11) at 12 months post-RT). This improvement compares favorably to the QUANTEC constraint of bilateral parotid glands < 25 Gy (see Table). (2) The atlas-based duct contours were found to have a mean distance-to-agreement of 5mm and an average absolute dose difference of 4.5 Gy compared to the MRI sialography defined duct contours. The average duct dose for those undergoing MRI sialography guided duct sparing was found to be 13.5 Gy compared to an estimated (via atlas-based segmentation) 22.3 Gy for those receiving conventional parotid gland mean dose sparing (p < 0.01). 20% (22/111) patients receiving conventional parotid gland mean dose sparing met the 14 Gy parotid duct constraint versus 60% of patients undergoing MRI sialography guided parotid duct sparing.

CONCLUSION

Parotid duct sparing (parotid duct dose <14 Gy) was both more effective (∼50% [76% to 26%] absolute xerostomia reduction at 6mo and ∼24% [46% to 22%] absolute xerostomia reduction at 12 mo) and more achievable (∼60% of patients vs ∼35% patients) than mean dose parotid gland sparing per QUANTEC constraint. Atlas-based segmentation estimated that MRI sialography guided parotid duct sparing reduced the parotid duct dose by 9 Gy and that only 20% of patients met the parotid duct dose constraint (<14 Gy) with conventional parotid gland mean dose sparing.

Multi-Institutional Report of Re-Irradiation for Recurrent High-Grade Glioma

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE(S)

Significant heterogeneity exists with regards to prior published reports of re-irradiation (re-RT) in patients with recurrent high grade glioma (HGG). A multi-institutional database of 10 academic centers across the United States was created to analyze prognostic outcomes for re-RT for recurrent HGG, which included WHO Grade III and Grade IV tumors.

MATERIALS/METHODS

Patients with HGG who had initially received standard radiotherapy (RT) and were subsequently treated with a course of re-RT at recurrence were included in the study. Factors assessed to delineate a significant association with overall survival (OS) and toxicity included age, KPS, number of relapses, dose, use of bevacizumab (BEV) or temozolomide (TMZ), time from prior RT, histology, RT target, re-RT target> 5cm and extent of resection, and MGMT methylation status. The Kaplan-Meier Method was used to estimate OS. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to identify factors associated with OS. Toxicity outcomes were assessed using logistic regression. Significance was assumed if p<0.05. Data management and decision management software were used for all analyses.

RESULTS

Between 2001 and 2022, 280 patients from 10 academic institutions were treated with re-RT for diagnosis of recurrent HGG. 133 patients (71.1%) had a histologic glioblastoma (GBM) at the time of re-RT, with the remainder having Grade 3 gliomas. Median dose delivered at re-RT was 47 Gy BED10 (IQR 47 - 53 Gy BED10), with the most common regimen being 35 Gy in 10 fractions. 83 patients (56%) had GTV greater than 5 cm treated with re-RT. 183 patients (79%) received concurrent systemic therapy, including 95 (41%) who received concurrent TMZ and 86 (45%) who received concurrent BEV. Median OS for the entire cohort was 10 months. Increasing dose at re-RT was associated with improved OS (OR 0.80 95% CI 0.67-0.95, p = 0.10 per 10 Gy BED10), as was dose greater than 47 Gy BED10, which is equivalent to 35 Gy in 10 fractions (OR 0.70, 95% CI 0.54-0.91). Concurrent TMZ was also associated with improved OS (OR 0.68, 95% CI 0.46-0.83, p < 0.01). 32/143 (22%) patients evaluable for toxicity experienced Grade 2 or greater adverse radiation effect (ARE). Use of BEV was associated with decreased toxicity (OR 0.45, 95% CI 0.21-0.98, p = 0.05). Dose at re-RT (OR 1.07 per 10 Gy BED10, p = 0.78), a GTV > 5cm (OR 1.39, p = 0.44), and the use of concurrent TMZ (OR 1.90, p = 0.10) were not associated with Grade 2 or greater ARE.

CONCLUSION

Higher dose of re-RT and use of concurrent TMZ led to improved OS in recurrent HGG patients without an associated increased rate of ARE. Use of BEV decreased the likelihood of Grade 2 or greater ARE in the re-RT setting for these recurrent HGG patients.

Factors Associated with Short Interval from Treatment to Death in Patients Treated with Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy for Lung Metastases: Experience at a Large Academic Facility

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE(S)

Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) is increasingly used to treat patients with lung metastases, as several studies have demonstrated a survival benefit in patients with oligometastatic disease, while in other cases it is used for palliation as in the re-irradiation setting. With increasing use, we queried whether SBRT is given more frequently toward the end of life for patients with lung metastases and assessed factors associated with a shorter interval from SBRT to death.

MATERIALS/METHODS

A sample of patients who received stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) to lung metastases between 2014-2022 at a single academic institution were identified. Medical records were reviewed for patient demographic, disease, and treatment details, including age, sex, race, insurance status, Karnofsky performance status (KPS), and time from SBRT to death. Descriptive statistics including chi-square and t-test analyses were used to compare patients who did versus did not die within 180 days of completion of SBRT.

RESULTS

A total of 81 episodes of SBRT for lung metastases were identified. Of these, median age was 68 years (range 22-86), 82.7% had KPS >70, a majority had Medicare/Medicaid (61.7%, 50/81) or private insurance (33.3%, 27/81), and 63% were male. Only 9 of the 81 patients (11.1%) died within 180 days of SBRT completion. Death within 180 days occurred in 7.3% of treatments prior to 2018 compared to 15.0% of more recent treatments, but this difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.27; Table 1). Non-White race, KPS ≤70, and lack of insurance were all associated with increased likelihood of death within 180 days of SBRT (p<0.001 all comparisons).

CONCLUSION

Few patients treated with SBRT for lung metastases in our series died within 180 days of SBRT completion, and there did not appear to be a significant increase in 180-day mortality post-SBRT in recent years. While limited by the small number of events, race, KPS, and insurance status were significantly associated with likelihood of death within 180 days of SBRT. Additional work is needed to better appreciate what patients may benefit from SBRT for lung metastases. Table 1: Characteristics of patients that did versus did not die within 180 days of SBRT for lung metastases.

Hippocampal-Sparing Radiotherapy in Primary Sinonasal and Cutaneous Head and Neck Malignancies: A Feasibility Study

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE(S)

Patients with primary sinonasal and cutaneous head and neck (H&N) malignancies often receive meaningful hippocampal doses, but the hippocampus is not a classic avoidance structure in radiation planning of these primary sites. This series characterizes the feasibility and tradeoffs of hippocampal-sparing radiotherapy (HSRT) for patients with primary sinonasal and cutaneous H&N malignancies.

MATERIALS/METHODS

We retrospectively identified patients at a single institution treated definitively for primary sinonasal or cutaneous malignancies of the H&N. Each patient received (chemo)radiation and all received clinically-significant radiation dose to one or both hippocampi. We created new HSRT plans for each patient with intensity-modulated radiotherapy using original target and organ-at-risk (OAR) volumes. Hippocampi were contoured based on Radiation Therapy Oncology Group guidelines. Absolute and relative differences in radiation dose to the hippocampi, planning target volumes (PTV), and OARs were recorded. We used paired-samples t-tests to compare hippocampal and PTV dosimetric measures with and without HSRT.

RESULTS

Thirty-seven patients were included (22 sinonasal, 11 cutaneous H&N, and 4 parotid primary tumors). Median prescription dose was 6600cGy (range: 5000-7440cGy). The most common fractionation regimens were 200cGy/fraction daily (51%, 19/37 patients) and 120cGy/fraction twice daily (41%, 15/37 patients). There were significant decreases in hippocampal Dmax and D100% using HSRT without compromising PTV coverage (Table 1). HSRT resulted in a relative increase of mean lacrimal gland dose by an average of 3.8%, optic chiasm Dmax by 1.3%, and whole brain Dmax of 1.2%. However, other OAR doses were lower with HSRT, including parotid gland mean dose, lens Dmax, optic nerve Dmax, cochlea mean dose, brainstem Dmax, and whole brain mean dose.

CONCLUSION

HSRT is feasible and results in meaningful radiation dose reduction to the hippocampi without reducing PTV coverage or increasing dose to other OARs. The hippocampi should be regularly included as avoidance structures when treating primary sinonasal and cutaneous H&N tumors with radiation. We suggest target hippocampal constraints of Dmax < 1600cGy and D100% < 500cGy when feasible (without compromising PTV coverage). The clinical significance of HSRT in patients with primary H&N tumors should be investigated prospectively.

Definitive Chemoradiation Treatment Response Evaluation Using NI-RADS and ctHPVDNA for HPV-Associated Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE(S)

To compare the evaluation of treatment response among patients with human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) treated with definitive (chemo)radiotherapy (CRT).

MATERIALS/METHODS

Patients with locally advanced HPV-associated OPSCC treated with definitive radiotherapy (RT) or CRT from 2019 to 2022 at a single institution were reviewed. Patients underwent standard 3-month post-CRT positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) scan with or without contrast enhanced CT (CECT) of the head and neck. Plasma circulating tumor HPV DNA (ctHPVDNA) was collected from 2-8 months post-CRT. Equivocal findings on post-CRT imaging prompted repeat evaluation. Imaging response was assessed via NI-RADS (Neck Imaging Reporting and Data System) risk classification and independently reviewed by two board certified radiologists, both blinded to outcomes and ctHPVDNA values.

RESULTS

Our cohort of 52 patients included: 87% males; median age 61.5; 63% never smokers, 31% former smokers, 6% current smokers; 44% tonsil primary, 46% base of tongue; 4% T0, 25% T1, 40% T2, 12% T3, 17% T4; 6% N0, 15% N1, 2% N2a, 44% N2b, 25% N2c, 8% N3 (AJCC 7th edition). Concurrent systemic therapy was received in 90%. During this period 71 PET/CTs and 15 CECTs were reviewed for treatment response evaluation; 44% (23/52) patients required additional imaging for equivocal findings; 62 ctHPVDNA blood samples were co-analyzed for treatment evaluation. The highest risk classification score between mucosa, primary, and/or neck site was: 42% NI-RADS 1, 48% NI-RADS 2, and 10% NI-RADS 3. Only patients with locoregional disease recurrence/progression were included for evaluation comparison between imaging and circulating biomarkers. No cancer events occurred without imaging and/or ctHPVDNA detection. Patients with NI-RADS score ≥2 during first post-CRT imaging evaluation more frequently underwent additional imaging (70% vs 30%, p<0.001). NI-RADS risk classification suggested 5 locoregional events (2 true positives, 3 false positives) resulting in 100% sensitivity, 94% specificity, 40% positive predictive value (PPV), and 100% negative predictive value (NPV). Circulating tumor HPV-DNA identified 2 locoregional events (2 true positives, 0 false positives) resulting in 100% sensitivity, 100% specificity, 100% PPV, and 100% NPV. Salvage operations were performed in 2 of 3 patients with false positive disease by NI-RADS classification without any evidence of cancer on final pathology.

CONCLUSION

While limited by the small number of recurrence events in this cohort, ctHPVDNA for HPV-associated OPSCC in conjunction with post-treatment imaging evaluation may limit the need for repeat imaging and unwarranted salvage operations that increase patient worry, morbidity, and financial toxicity. Additional prospective study is warranted.

Molecular epidemiology and genomic dynamics of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates causing relapse infections

Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) is one of the leading causes of chronic infections, including reinfection, relapse, and persistent infection, especially in cystic fibrosis patients. Relapse P. aeruginosa infections are more harmful because of repeated hospitalization and undertreatment of antimicrobials. However, relapse P. aeruginosa infection in China remains largely unknown. Herein, we performed a 3-year retrospective study from 2019 to 2022 in a tertiary hospital, which included 442 P. aeruginosa isolates from 196 patients. Relapse infection was identified by screening clinical records and whole-genome sequencing (WGS). We found that 31.6% (62/196) of patients had relapsed infections. The relapse incidence of carbapenem-resistant P. aeruginosa infection (51.4%) is significantly higher than that of carbapenem-susceptible P. aeruginosa infection (20.2%, P < 0.0001). These isolates were assigned to 50 distinct sequence types and sporadically distributed in phylogeny, indicating that relapsed infections were not caused by certain lineages. Fast adaptation and evolution of P. aeruginosa isolates were reflected by dynamic changes of antimicrobial resistance, gene loss and acquisition, and single-nucleotide polymorphisms during relapse episodes. Remarkably, a convergent non-synonymous mutation that occurs in a pyochelin-associated virulence gene fptA (T1056C, M252T) could be a considerable target for the diagnosis and treatment of relapse P. aeruginosa infection. These findings suggest that integrated utilization of WGS and medical records provides opportunities for improved diagnostics of relapsed infections. Continued surveillance of the genomic dynamics of relapse P. aeruginosa infection will generate further knowledge for optimizing treatment and prevention in the future.IMPORTANCEPseudomonas aeruginosa is a predominant pathogen that causes various chronic infections. Relapse infections promote the adaptation and evolution of antimicrobial resistance and virulence of P. aeruginosa, which obscure evolutionary trends and complicate infection management. We observed a high incidence of relapse P. aeruginosa infection in this study. Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) revealed that relapse infections were not caused by certain lineages of P. aeruginosa isolates. Genomic dynamics of relapse P. aeruginosa among early and later stages reflected a plasticity scattered through the entire genome and fast adaptation and genomic evolution in different ways. Remarkably, a convergent evolution was found in a significant virulence gene fptA, which could be a considerable target for diagnosis and treatment. Taken together, our findings highlight the importance of longitudinal surveillance of relapse P. aeruginosa infection in China since cystic fibrosis is rare in Chinese. Integrated utilization of WGS and medical records provides opportunities for improved diagnostics of relapse infections.

Spatial-MGCN: a novel multi-view graph convolutional network for identifying spatial domains with attention mechanism

MOTIVATION

Recent advances in spatial transcriptomics technologies have enabled gene expression profiles while preserving spatial context. Accurately identifying spatial domains is crucial for downstream analysis and it requires the effective integration of gene expression profiles and spatial information. While increasingly computational methods have been developed for spatial domain detection, most of them cannot adaptively learn the complex relationship between gene expression and spatial information, leading to sub-optimal performance.

RESULTS

To overcome these challenges, we propose a novel deep learning method named Spatial-MGCN for identifying spatial domains, which is a Multi-view Graph Convolutional Network (GCN) with attention mechanism. We first construct two neighbor graphs using gene expression profiles and spatial information, respectively. Then, a multi-view GCN encoder is designed to extract unique embeddings from both the feature and spatial graphs, as well as their shared embeddings by combining both graphs. Finally, a zero-inflated negative binomial decoder is used to reconstruct the original expression matrix by capturing the global probability distribution of gene expression profiles. Moreover, Spatial-MGCN incorporates a spatial regularization constraint into the features learning to preserve spatial neighbor information in an end-to-end manner. The experimental results show that Spatial-MGCN outperforms state-of-the-art methods consistently in several tasks, including spatial clustering and trajectory inference.

Effects of the coexistence of antibiotics and heavy metals on the fate of antibiotic resistance genes in chicken manure and surrounding soils

Both heavy metals and antibiotics exert selection pressure on bacterial resistance, and as they are commonly co-contaminated in the environment, they may play a larger role in bacterial resistance. This study examined how breeding cycles affect antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in chicken manure and the surrounding topsoils at 20, 50, 100, 200, and 300 m from twelve typical laying hen farms in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of northwest China. Six antibiotics, seven heavy metals, ten mobile genetic elements (MGEs), and microbial community affected the ARGs profile in chicken dung and soil samples. Tetracycline antibiotic residues were prevalent in chicken manure, as were relatively high content of aureomycin during each culture period. Zinc (Zn) content was highest among the seven heavy metals in chicken feces. Chicken dung also enriched aminoglycosides, MLSB, and tetracycline ARGs, notably during brooding and high production. The farm had a minimal influence on antibiotics in the surrounding soil, but its effect on ARGs and MGEs closer to the farm (50 m) was stronger, and several ARGs and MGEs increased with distance. Manure microbial composition differed dramatically throughout breeding cycles and sampling distances. ARGs were more strongly related with antibiotics and heavy metals in manure than soil, whereas MGEs were the reverse. Antibiotics, heavy metals, MGEs, and bacteria in manure accounted 12.28%, 22.25%, 0.74%, and 0.19% of ARGs composition variance, respectively, according to RDA and VPA. Bacteria (2.89%) and MGEs (2.82%) only affected soil ARGs composition. These findings showed that heavy metals and antibiotics are the main factors affecting faecal ARGs and bacteria and MGEs soil ARGs. This paper includes antibiotic resistance data for large-scale laying hen husbandry in northwest China and a theoretical framework for decreasing antibiotic resistance.

Study on the Effect of Foam Stability on the Properties of Foamed Lightweight Soils

The properties of prepared foamed lightweight soils (FLSs) using prefabricated foam requires high foam stability. This paper investigates the geometrical characteristics of different foam densities, different types of foaming agents in the air, and the presence of slurry. Then, it studies their effects on the pore structure and mechanical properties of FLS. Results show that with the increase in foam density the bleeding rate of foam in the air for 1 h increases and the foam with a foam density of 50 kg/m3 is the most stable in the air. The stability of foam in slurry is not directly related to the property of foam in the air. The FLS prepared with the same foaming agent had the best performance with the FLS designed with a foam density of 50 kg/m3, which had the smallest average pore size and the most minor pore size distribution, and had the highest compressive strength. Among the three different foaming agents, Type-S was the best, and the slurry had the lowest rate of increase in wet density after the defoaming test, indicating that the foam had the best stability in the cement slurry. The FLS prepared with the density of 50 kg/m3 using the Type-S foaming agent and mixed with the slurry of cement, fly ash:slag:water = 105:105:140:227.5, was hardened to a mean pore size of 299 μm, and the 7 days, 28 days, and 56 days compressive strengths were 0.92 MPa, 2.04 MPa, and 2.48 MPa, respectively, which had the smallest average pore size and the highest compressive strength among the FLSs prepared using the three foaming agents.

Effects of farmland abandonment on anthropogenic-alluvial soil microbiota and contaminant residues in Lycium barbarum fields

AIMS

There has been an increasing tendency to abandon crop cultivation and farming in old Lycium barbarum (wolfberry) stands to allow for natural restoration. However, little research has been dedicated to deciphering how soil quality changes in L. barbarum fields following abandonment from a physicochemical and microbiological perspective. Here we assessed the effects of farmland abandonment on anthropogenic-alluvial soil microbiota and contaminant residues in L. barbarum fields in Ningxia, China.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Soil microbiota, heavy metal, and neonicotinoid pesticide profiles in L. barbarum fields abandoned for one to four years were characterized. Microbial community analysis was performed by high-throughput sequencing of the bacterial 16S ribosomal RNA genes and the fungal nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer region. Soil bacterial diversity increased from before abandonment to year three after abandonment, and fungal diversity peaked in year one after abandonment. Enrichment of potentially beneficial taxa (e.g. Limnobacter, Cavicella) as well as pathogenic taxa (e.g. Ilyonectria) was observed in the abandoned field soils, along with depletion of other taxa (e.g. Planococcus, Bipolaris). Soil copper, zinc, cadmium, imidacloprid, and acetamiprid concentrations all decreased with increasing time since abandonment and had varied correlations with soil quality, microbial diversity, and the relative abundances of major phyla. Soil available phosphorus, nitrate-nitrogen, and pH were the key factors shaping bacterial communities. The structuring of fungal communities was strongly influenced by soil pH, available phosphorus, and available nitrogen contents.

CONCLUSIONS

There were positive consequences of farmland abandonment in L. barbarum fields, such as optimized microbial community structure, reduced heavy metal accumulation, and enhanced pesticide degradation.

[A prospective cohort study of long-term fasting blood glucose variability and risk of mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes]

Objective: To investigate the association between long-term fasting blood glucose (FPG) variability and all-cause mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods: A total of 7 174 type 2 diabetic patients included in National Basic Public Health Service Program in Changshu of Jiangsu Province were recruited as participants. Long-term glucose variability was assessed using standard deviation (SD), coefficient of variation (CV), average real variability (ARV), and variability independent of the mean (VIM) across FPG measurements at the more than three visits. Death information were mainly obtained from the death registry system in Jiangsu. Then Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to estimate the associations of four variability indicators and all-cause mortality's hazard ratios (HRs) and their 95%CIs. Results: Among 55 058.50 person-years of the follow-up, the mean follow-up time was 7.67 years, and 898 deaths occurred during the follow-up period. After adjustment, compared with T1 group, the Cox regression model showed that HRs of T3 group in SD, CV, ARV and VIM were 1.24 (95%CI: 1.03-1.49), 1.20 (95%CI: 1.01-1.43), 1.28 (95%CI: 1.07-1.55) and 1.20 (95%CI:1.01-1.41), respectively. HRs of per 1 SD higher SD, CV, ARV and VIM were 1.13 (95%CI: 1.06-1.21), 1.08 (95%CI: 1.01-1.15), 1.05 (95%CI: 1.00-1.12) and 1.09 (95%CI: 1.02-1.16) for all-cause mortality, respectively. In the stratified analysis, age, gender, hypoglycemic agent and insulin uses had no effect on the above associations (all P for interaction >0.05). Conclusion: Long-term FPG glycemic variability was positively associated with the risk of all-cause mortality in type 2 diabetes patients.

Ionizing radiation alters functional neurotransmission in Drosophila larvae

Introduction

Patients undergoing cranial ionizing radiation therapy for brain malignancies are at increased risk of long-term neurocognitive decline, which is poorly understood and currently untreatable. Although the molecular pathogenesis has been intensively researched in many organisms, whether and how ionizing radiation alters functional neurotransmission remains unknown. This is the first study addressing physiological changes in neurotransmission after ionizing radiation exposure.

Methods

To elucidate the cellular mechanisms of radiation damage, using calcium imaging, we analyzed the effects of ionizing radiation on the neurotransmitter-evoked responses of prothoracicotropic hormone (PTTH)-releasing neurons in Drosophila larvae, which play essential roles in normal larval development.

Results

The neurotransmitters dopamine and tyramine decreased intracellular calcium levels of PTTH neurons in a dose-dependent manner. In gamma irradiated third-instar larvae, a dose of 25 Gy increased the sensitivity of PTTH neurons to dopamine and tyramine, and delayed development, possibly in response to abnormal functional neurotransmission. This irradiation level did not affect the viability and arborization of PTTH neurons and successful survival to adulthood. Exposure to a 40-Gy dose of gamma irradiation decreased the neurotransmitter sensitivity, physiological viability and axo-dendritic length of PTTH neurons. These serious damages led to substantial developmental delays and a precipitous reduction in the percentage of larvae that survived to adulthood. Our results demonstrate that gamma irradiation alters neurotransmitter-evoked responses, indicating synapses are vulnerable targets of ionizing radiation.

Discussion

The current study provides new insights into ionizing radiation-induced disruption of physiological neurotransmitter signaling, which should be considered in preventive therapeutic interventions to reduce risks of neurological deficits after photon therapy.

Differentiating malignant and benign pleural effusion in patients with lung cancer: an 18F-FDG PET/CT retrospectively study

Rationale

To explore the clinical role of ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT) in differentiating malignant pleural effusion (MPE) from benign pleural effusion (BPE) in patients with lung cancer.

Methods

Over a 8-year period, we retrospectively reviewed PET/CT data of lung cancer patients with pleural effusion, with 237 participants enrolled for analysis. The nature of pleural effusion was confirmed using pleural cytology or biopsy. MPE versus BPE comparison and multiple regression analysis were performed. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used for evaluating the diagnostic performance.

Results

Of the 237 participants, 170 had MPEs and 67 had BPEs. Compared with BPEs, MPEs had higher pleural SUVmax and thicker pleura and were more common among non-small cell lung cancers, peripheral tumors, and women (p < 0.05). BPEs had larger and higher ¹⁸F-FDG uptake thoracic lymph nodes and more complications of pneumonia (p < 0.05) than MPEs. Multiple regression analysis was used to identify the pleural SUVmax (odds ratio, OR = 38.8), sex (OR = 0.033), and mediastinal lymphoid node size (OR = 0.86) as independent risk factors for MPEs. The sensitivity, specificity, and area under the ROC curve (AUC) in the combined ROC curve analysis by using the three factors were 95.3%, 95.5%, and 0.989, respectively.

Conclusion

¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT integrated imaging is an effective non-invasive method for differential diagnosis of MPE in patients with lung cancer. Pleural SUVmax combined with thoracic lymph nodes and sex has high diagnostic value.

Preparation and Properties of Low-Carbon Foamed Lightweight Soil with High Resistance to Sulphate Erosion Environments

Foamed lightweight soil (FLS) is a lightweight cementitious material containing a large number of tiny closed pores and has been widely used as a filler in places such as railways, roads and airports. However, there has been little research into the resistance of FLS to sulphate attack in practical engineering applications. The performance of FLS against different sulphate erosion concentrations was studied to elucidate the engineering characteristics of using large volumes of FLS as fill material for the road base in the construction of intelligent networked vehicle test sites. The results showed that the compressive strength of FLS prepared using 30% Portland cement (C), 30% granulated blast furnace slag (GBFS), 40% fly ash (FA) and a small amount of a concrete antiseptic agent (CA) as cementitious materials reached 0.8 and 1.9 MPa at 7 and 28 d, respectively, when the wet density was about 600 kg/m³, which met the design requirements. The FLS prepared via the above-mentioned cementitious system had a low carbon emission, with a CO₂ emission reduction rate of up to 70%. It also had excellent sulphate attack resistance: the corrosion resistance coefficient of the cementitious material system reached 0.97, which was considerably better than that of C (0.83). For an erosion medium environment with SO₄^2- concentrations of less than 1000 mg/L (moderate), 40% GBFS or FA can be used to prepare FLS. When the concentration of SO₄^2- is less than 4000 mg/L (severe), 30% C, 30% GBFS and 40% FA can be used as cementitious materials, preferably in combination with an appropriate amount of CA, to prepare FLS.

Control and regulation of the performance of fullerene-based dye-sensitized solar cells with a D-D-A structure by external electric fields

We investigated the modulating effect of an electric field (F_ext) on the photovoltaic properties of triphenylamine-based sensitizers with a D-D-A structure and compared the photovoltaic parameters at different electric field intensities. The results show that F_ext can effectively adjust the photoelectric properties of the molecule. From the change of the parameters that measures the degree of electron delocalization, it can be seen that the F_ext can effectively strengthen the electronic communication and promote the charge transfer process within the molecule. And the dye molecule under a strong F_ext has a narrower energy gap, more favorable injection, regeneration driving force and a larger conduction band energy level shift, which ensures that the dye molecule can exhibit larger V_oc and J_sc under a strong F_ext. The results of calculations on the photovoltaic parameters of dye molecules show that dye molecules can exhibit better photovoltaic performance under the action of F_ext, which provides beneficial predictions and prospects for the development of highly efficient DSSCs.

Brachyury positively regulates extracellular matrix synthesis via directly promoting aggrecan transcription in nucleus pulposus

Nucleus pulposus (NP) degeneration is characterized by the decreased cellularity of nucleus pulposus cells (NPCs) and diminished content of hydrophilic extracellular matrix (ECM). Overexpression of brachyury has been reported to reverse the degenerated NPCs into healthy phenotypes. However, the direct correlation between brachyury and ECM has not been fully elucidated. This study revealed that brachyury expression decreased in human degenerated NP tissues and Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced degenerated rat NPCs model. In vitro and in vivo experiments further showed that brachyury deficiency suppressed the synthesis of aggrecan and collagen II in NP. Mechanistically, ChIP-qPCR assays demonstrated that brachyury bound to the promoter region of aggrecan in NPCs. Furthermore, luciferase reporter assays revealed that brachyury transcriptionally activated aggrecan expression through binding with a novel specific motif. In rat in vivo model, brachyury overexpression partially reversed the degenerative phenotype. In conclusion, brachyury positively regulated ECM synthesis via directly promoting aggrecan transcription in NPCs. Accordingly, it may be helpful to be developed into a promising therapeutic target for NP degeneration.