Reduced sensitivity to thyroid hormones is associated with lung function in euthyroid individuals

Background

The thyroid gland exhibits a subtle interconnection with the lungs. We further investigated the correlation between thyroid hormone sensitivity and lung function in euthyroid individuals.

Methods

Data on spirometry and mortality for participants aged 19-79 years were extracted from the NHANES database. Obstructive lung function was defined as a forced expiratory volume in 1 s to forced vital capacity ratio (FEV1/FVC) < 0.70, while restrictive lung function was considered when FEV1/FVC ≥0.70 and baseline FVC <80 % predicted. Central and peripheral sensitivities to thyroid hormones were mainly evaluated by Thyroid Feedback Quantile-based Index (TFQI) and Free Triiodothyronine/Free thyroxine (FT3/FT4) ratio. Logistic regression and subgroup analysis were used to examine potential associations between thyroid hormone sensitivity and lung function. The association between TFQI and all-cause mortality risk was also investigated.

Results

A total of 6539 participants were analyzed, 900 with obstructive lung function and 407 with restrictive lung function. The prevalence of impaired lung function, both obstructive and restrictive, increased with higher TFQI levels. Logistic regression analysis showed that increased TFQI and decreased FT3/FT4 levels were independent risk factors for obstructive and restrictive lung function (P < 0.05). After adjusting for the impact of lung function, TFQI (HR = 1.25, 95 % CI 1.00-1.56, P = 0.048) was an independent risk factor for all-cause mortality.

Conclusion

Reduced sensitivity to thyroid hormones has been linked to impaired lung function. TFQI and FT3/FT4 are potential epidemiological tools to quantify the role of central and peripheral thyroid resistance in lung function.

Intensity-Specific Physical Activity Measured by Accelerometer, Genetic Susceptibility, and the Risk of Kidney Stone Disease: Results From the UK Biobank

RATIONALE & OBJECTIVE

Kidney stone disease (KSD), a significant healthcare problem within both developed and developing countries, has been associated with genetic risk factors. As well, an association between physical activity and KSD risk has been hypothesized but studies have yielded inconsistent findings. This study aimed to investigate the association between the intensity of physical activity and the incidence of KSD accounting for genetic risk.

STUDY DESIGN

Prospective cohort study.

SETTING & PARTICIPANTS

A total of 80,473 participants from the UK Biobank Study.

EXPOSURES

Physical activity levels, including total physical activity (TPA), moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA), and light-intensity physical activity (LPA), were measured using accelerometers and quantified using a machine learning model. A polygenic risk score (PRS) for KSD was also constructed.

OUTCOMES

Individuals with KSD were identified using the International Classification of Diseases 10th Edition, and procedure codes for KSD surgery.

ANALYTICAL APPROACH

A Fine and Gray survival model was used to estimate the associations of incident KSD with TPA, MVPA, LPA, and PRS (as categorical variables). Restricted cubic splines were used to examine potential non-linear associations within the fully adjusted models.

RESULTS

During an average follow-up of 6.19 years, 421 participants developed KSD. Participants in the highest quartiles of TPA, MVPA, and LPA had lower adjusted rates of KSD compared to those in the lowest quartiles: HRs (95% confidence interval) of 0.50 (0.44, 0.56), 0.57 (0.51, 0.64), and 0.66 (0.59, 0.74), respectively. TPA, MVPA, and LPA were associated with lower risk of KSD in participants with low and high genetic predisposition for KSD.

LIMITATIONS

Selection bias as participants who provided accelerometry data may have been more adherent to health care.

CONCLUSION

Physical activity was negatively associated with the risk of KSD, regardless of the genetic risk. Future large studies are warranted to confirm and explain the mechanisms underlying these associations.

CenterNet++ for Object Detection

There are two mainstream approaches for object detection: top-down and bottom-up. The state-of-the-art approaches are mainly top-down methods. In this paper, we demonstrate that bottom-up approaches show competitive performance compared with top-down approaches and have higher recall rates. Our approach, named CenterNet, detects each object as a triplet of keypoints (top-left and bottom-right corners and the center keypoint). We first group the corners according to some designed cues and confirm the object locations based on the center keypoints. The corner keypoints allow the approach to detect objects of various scales and shapes and the center keypoint reduces the confusion introduced by a large number of false-positive proposals. Our approach is an anchor-free detector because it does not need to define explicit anchor boxes. We adapt our approach to backbones with different structures, including 'hourglass'-like networks and 'pyramid'-like networks, which detect objects in single-resolution and multi-resolution feature maps, respectively. On the MS-COCO dataset, CenterNet with Res2Net-101 and Swin-Transformer achieve average precisions (APs) of 53.7% and 57.1%, respectively, outperforming all existing bottom-up detectors and achieving state-of-the-art performance. We also design a real-time CenterNet model, which achieves a good trade-off between accuracy and speed, with an AP of 43.6% at 30.5 frames per second (FPS).

The association between renal pelvis urine density and the risk of severe infectious complications in patient with symptom-free hydronephrosis after shock wave lithotripsy: a multi-center prospective study

Finding reliable and easy-to-obtain predictors of severe infectious complications after shock wave lithotripsy (SWL) is a major clinical need, particular in symptom-free hydronephrosis. Therefore, we aim to prospectively investigate the predictive value of Hounsfield units (HU) in renal pelvis urine for the risk of severe infectious complications in patients with ureteral stones and symptom-free hydronephrosis after SWL. This multi-center prospective study was conducted from June 2020 to December 2023. The HU of renal pelvis urine was measured by non-enhanced computed tomography. The severe infectious complications included systemic inflammatory response syndrome, sepsis, and septic shock. Binary logistic regression models assessed the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Finally, 1,436 patients with ureteral stones were enrolled in this study. 8.9% (128/1,436) of patients experienced severe infectious complications after SWL treatment. After adjusting confounding variables, compared with the patients in the lowest renal pelvis urine density quartile, the OR (95% CI) for the highest quartile was 32.36 (13.32, 78.60). There was a positive linear association between the HU value of renal pelvis urine and the risk of severe infectious complications after SWL (P for trend < 0.001). Furthermore, this association was also observed stratified by age, gender, BMI, stone size, stone location and hydronephrosis grade (all P for interaction > 0.05). Additionally, the nonlinear association employed by restricted cubic splines is not statistically significant (nonlinear P = 0.256). The AUROC and 95%CI of renal pelvis urine density were 0.895 (0.862 to 0.927, P value < 0.001). The cut-off value was 12.0 HU with 78.59% sensitivity and 85.94% specificity. This multi-center prospective study demonstrated a positive linear association between HU in renal pelvis urine and the risk of severe infectious complications in patients with ureteral stones and symptom-free hydronephrosis after SWL, regardless of age, gender, BMI, stone size, stone location, and hydronephrosis grade. These findings might be helpful in the SWL treatment decision-making process.

Learning to Holistically Detect Bridges From Large-Size VHR Remote Sensing Imagery

Bridge detection in remote sensing images (RSIs) plays a crucial role in various applications, but it poses unique challenges compared to the detection of other objects. In RSIs, bridges exhibit considerable variations in terms of their spatial scales and aspect ratios. Therefore, to ensure the visibility and integrity of bridges, it is essential to perform holistic bridge detection in large-size very-high-resolution (VHR) RSIs. However, the lack of datasets with large-size VHR RSIs limits the deep learning algorithms' performance on bridge detection. Due to the limitation of GPU memory in tackling large-size images, deep learning-based object detection methods commonly adopt the cropping strategy, which inevitably results in label fragmentation and discontinuous prediction. To ameliorate the scarcity of datasets, this paper proposes a large-scale dataset named GLH-Bridge comprising 6,000 VHR RSIs sampled from diverse geographic locations across the globe. These images encompass a wide range of sizes, varying from 2,048 × 2,048 to 16,384 × 16,384 pixels, and collectively feature 59,737 bridges. These bridges span diverse backgrounds, and each of them has been manually annotated, using both an oriented bounding box (OBB) and a horizontal bounding box (HBB). Furthermore, we present an efficient network for holistic bridge detection (HBD-Net) in large-size RSIs. The HBD-Net presents a separate detector-based feature fusion (SDFF) architecture and is optimized via a shape-sensitive sample re-weighting (SSRW) strategy. The SDFF architecture performs inter-layer feature fusion (IFF) to incorporate multi-scale context in the dynamic image pyramid (DIP) of the large-size image, and the SSRW strategy is employed to ensure an equitable balance in the regression weight of bridges with various aspect ratios. Based on the proposed GLH-Bridge dataset, we establish a bridge detection benchmark including the OBB and HBB tasks, and validate the effectiveness of the proposed HBD-Net. Additionally, cross-dataset generalization experiments on two publicly available datasets illustrate the strong generalization capability of the GLH-Bridge dataset. The dataset and source code will be released at https://luo-z13.github.io/GLH-Bridge-page/.

Spatial Shifts of Reflected Light Beam on Hexagonal Boron Nitride/Alpha-Molybdenum Trioxide Structure

This investigation focuses on the Goos-Hänchen (GH) and Imbert-Fedorov (IF) shifts on the surface of the uniaxial hyperbolic material hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) based on the biaxial hyperbolic material alpha-molybdenum (α-MoO3) trioxide structure, where the anisotropic axis of hBN is rotated by an angle with respect to the incident plane. The surface with the highest degree of anisotropy among the two crystals is selected in order to analyze and calculate the GH- and IF-shifts of the system, and obtain the complex beam-shift spectra. The addition of α-MoO3 substrate significantly amplified the GH shift on the system's surface, as compared to silica substrate. With the p-polarization light incident, the GH shift can reach 381.76λ0 at about 759.82 cm-1, with the s-polarization light incident, the GH shift can reach 288.84λ0 at about 906.88 cm-1, and with the c-polarization light incident, the IF shift can reach 3.76λ0 at about 751.94 cm-1. The adjustment of the IF shift, both positive and negative, as well as its asymmetric nature, can be achieved by manipulating the left and right circular polarization light and torsion angle. The aforementioned intriguing phenomena offer novel insights for the advancement of sensor technology and optical encoder design.

The association between mammographic density and breast cancer risk in Chinese women: a systematic review and meta-analysis

PURPOSE

Breast density has consistently been shown to be an independent risk factor for breast cancer in Western populations; however, few studies have evaluated this topic in Chinese women and there is not yet a unified view. This study investigated the association between mammographic density (MD) and breast cancer risk in Chinese women.

METHODS

The PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, and Wanfang databases were systematically searched in June 2023 to include all studies on the association between MD and breast cancer risk in Chinese women. A total of 13,977 breast cancer cases from 14 studies were chosen, including 10 case-control/cross-sectional studies, and 4 case-only studies. For case-control/cross-sectional studies, the odds ratios (ORs) of MD were combined using random effects models, and for case-only studies, relative odds ratios (RORs) were combinations of premenopausal versus postmenopausal breast cancer cases.

RESULTS

Women with BI-RADS density category II-IV in case-control/cross-sectional studies had a 0.93-fold (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.55, 1.57), 1.08-fold (95% CI 0.40, 2.94), and 1.24-fold (95% CI 0.42, 3.69) higher risk compared to women with the lowest density category. Combined RORs for premenopausal versus postmenopausal women in case-only studies were 3.84 (95% CI 2.92, 5.05), 22.65 (95% CI 7.21, 71.13), and 42.06 (95% CI 4.22, 419.52), respectively, for BI-RADS density category II-IV versus I.

CONCLUSIONS

For Chinese women, breast cancer risk is weakly associated with MD; however, breast cancer risk is more strongly correlated with mammographic density in premenopausal women than postmenopausal women. Further research on the factors influencing MD in premenopausal women may provide meaningful insights into breast cancer prevention in China.

Impaired sensitivity to thyroid hormones is associated with albuminuria in the euthyroid population: results from NHANES

PURPOSE

The relationship between thyroid hormone sensitivity and albuminuria remains unclear. We aimed to investigate the association between thyroid hormone sensitivity and the risk of albuminuria in a euthyroid population.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study included 7634 euthyroid adults collected from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) between 2007 and 2012. Central sensitivity to thyroid hormones was evaluated using the thyroid-stimulating hormone index (TSHI), the thyrotrophic thyroxine resistance index (TT4RI), and the thyroid feedback quantile-based index (TFQI). Peripheral sensitivity to thyroid hormones was measured using the free triiodothyronine/free thyroxine (FT3/FT4) ratio. Furthermore, the independent relationship between sensitivity to thyroid hormones and albuminuria was assessed.

RESULTS

The proportion of albuminuria increased with a higher interquartile range of TFQI levels (7.31% vs. 7.89% vs. 7.95% vs. 9.89%, P = 0.024). Furthermore, TFQI was found to be independently associated with the risk of albuminuria after adjusting for confounding factors (OR = 1.28, 95% CI 1.01-1.60, P = 0.037). Subgroup analysis revealed a significant relationship between TFQI and albuminuria, especially among individuals over 60.

CONCLUSIONS

In euthyroid subjects, impaired central sensitivity to thyroid hormones is associated with albuminuria. TFQI holds significant potential as an epidemiological tool for quantifying the impact of impaired central sensitivity on the risk of albuminuria.

Predictive markers for infections after extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy in patients with kidney stone based on a large prospective cohort

OBJECTIVE

Infections in patients with kidney stones after extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (SWL) is a common clinical issue. However, the associated factors are unclear. Therefore, we aim to develop and validate a predictive model for infections after SWL in patients with kidney stone.

METHODS

Between June 2020 and May 2022, consecutive kidney stone patients were enrolled. Of them, 553 patients comprised the development cohort. One hundred sixty-five patients comprised the validation cohort. The data were prospectively collected. The stepwise selection was applied using the likelihood ratio test with Akaike's information criterion as the stopping rule; A predictive model was constructed through multivariate logistic regression. The performance was evaluated regarding discrimination, calibration, and clinical usefulness.

RESULTS

Predictors of infections after SWL in treating kidney stones included older age (OR = 1.026, p = 0.041), female (OR = 2.066, p = 0.039), higher BMI (OR = 1.072, p = 0.039), lower stone density (OR = 0.995, p < 0.001), and higher grade of hydronephrosis (OR = 5.148, p < 0.001). For the validation cohort, the model showed good discrimination with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.839 (95% CI 0.736, 0.941) and good calibration. Decision curve analysis demonstrated that the model was also clinically useful.

CONCLUSION

This study indicated that age, gender, BMI, stone density, and hydronephrosis grade were significant predictors of infections after SWL in treating kidney stones. It provided evidence in optimizing prevention and perioperative treatment strategies to reduce the risk of infection after SWL.

Identification of Senescence-Associated Biomarkers in Diabetic Glomerulopathy Using Integrated Bioinformatics Analysis

Background

Cellular senescence is thought to play a significant role in the onset and development of diabetic nephropathy. The goal of this study was to explore potential biomarkers associated with diabetic glomerulopathy from the perspective of senescence.

Methods

Datasets about human glomerular biopsy samples related to diabetic nephropathy were systematically obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus database. Hub senescence-associated genes were investigated by differential gene analysis and Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator analysis. Cluster analysis was employed to identify senescence molecular subtypes. A single-cell dataset was used to validate the above findings and further evaluate the senescence environment. The relationship between these genes and the glomerular filtration rate was explored based on the Nephroseq database. These gene expressions have also been explored in various kidney diseases.

Results

Twelve representative senescence-associated genes (VEGFA, IQGAP2, JUN, PLAT, ETS2, ANG, MMP14, VEGFC, SERPINE2, CXCR2, PTGES, and EGF) were finally identified. Biological changes in immune inflammatory response, cell cycle regulation, metabolic regulation, and immune microenvironment have been observed across different molecular subtypes. The above results were also validated based on single-cell analysis. Additionally, we also identified several significantly altered cell communication pathways, including COLLAGEN, PTN, LAMININ, SPP1, and VEGF. Finally, almost all these genes could well predict the occurrence of diabetic glomerulopathy based on receiver operating characteristic analysis and are associated with the glomerular filtration rate. These genes are differently expressed in various kidney diseases.

Conclusion

The present study identified potential senescence-associated biomarkers and further explored the heterogeneity of diabetic glomerulopathy that might provide new insights into the diagnosis, assessment, management, and personalized treatment of DN.

Visible-Light-Enhanced Hydrogen Evolution through Anodic Furfural Electro-Oxidation Using Nickel Atomically Dispersed Copper Nanoparticles

A novel copper nanoparticle variant, denoted as Cu98Ni2 NPs, which incorporate Ni atoms in an atomically dispersed manner, has been successfully synthesized via a straightforward one-pot electrochemical codeposition process. These nanoparticles were subsequently employed as an anode to facilitate the oxidation of furfural, leading to the production of hydrogen gas. Voltammetric measurements revealed that the inclusion of trace amounts of Ni atoms in the nanoparticles resulted in a pronounced synergistic electronic effect between Cu and Ni. Consequently, a 43% increase in current density at 0.1 V was observed in comparison to pure Cu NPs. Importantly, when the Cu98Ni2 NPs were irradiated with visible light, a remarkable current density enhancement factor of 505% at 0.1 V was achieved relative to that of pure Cu NPs in the absence of light. This enhancement can be attributed to localized surface plasmon resonance induced by visible light, which triggers photothermal and photoelectric effects. These effects collectively contribute to the significant overall improvement in the electrocatalytic oxidation of furfural, leading to enhanced hydrogen evolution.

Hollow Plasmonic P-Metal-N S-Scheme Heterojunction Photoreactor with Spatially Separated Dual Cocatalysts toward Artificial Photosynthesis

Semiconductor-based step-scheme (S-scheme) heterojunctions possess many merits toward mimicking natural photosynthesis. However, their applications for solar-to-chemical energy conversion are hindered by inefficient charge utilization and unsatisfactory surface reactivity. Herein, two synergistic protocols are demonstrated to overcome these limitations based on the construction of a hollow plasmonic p-metal-n S-scheme heterojunction photoreactor with spatially separated dual noble-metal-free cocatalysts. On one side, plasmonic Au, inserted into the heterointerfaces of CuS@ZnIn2 S4 core-shell nanoboxes, not only accelerates the transfer and recombination of useless charges, enabling a more thorough separation of useful ones for CO2 reduction and H2 O oxidation but also generates hot electrons and holes, respectively injects them into ZnIn2 S4 and CuS, further increasing the number of active carriers participating in redox reactions. On the other side, Fe(OH)x and Ti3 C2 cocatalysts, separately located on the CuS and ZnIn2 S4 surface, enrich the redox sites, adjust the reduction potential and pathway for selective CO2 -to-CH4 transformation, and balance the transfer and consumption of photocarriers. As expected, significantly enhanced activity and selectivity in CH4 production are achieved by the smart design along with nearly stoichiometric ratios of reduction and oxidation products. This study paves the way for optimizing artificial photosynthetic systems via rational interfacial channel introduction and surface cocatalyst modification.

Application and Technical Challenges in Design, Cloning, and Transfer of Large DNA

In the field of synthetic biology, rapid advancements in DNA assembly and editing have made it possible to manipulate large DNA, even entire genomes. These advancements have facilitated the introduction of long metabolic pathways, the creation of large-scale disease models, and the design and assembly of synthetic mega-chromosomes. Generally, the introduction of large DNA in host cells encompasses three critical steps: design-cloning-transfer. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the three key steps involved in large DNA transfer to advance the field of synthetic genomics and large DNA engineering.

Effect of Pre-Rolling on Microstructure and Fatigue Crack Propagation Resistance of a Third-Generation Al-Li Alloy

The effect of pre-rolling on the microstructure and fatigue crack (FC) propagation resistance of the Al-Cu-Li alloy was studied using tensile testing, fatigue testing, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffractometer (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results revealed that reducing the alloy thickness through pre-rolling by up to 12% enhanced both tensile strength and yield strength, albeit at the expense of reduced elongation. In addition, the FC growth rate decreased by up to 9% pre-rolling, reaching the minimum, while the application of additional mechanical stress during the pre-rolling increases this parameter. Deformations in the Al-Cu-Li alloy with less than a 9% thickness reduction were confined to the surface layer and did not extend to the central layer. This non-uniform deformation induced a compressive stress gradient in the thickness direction and led to an inhomogeneous distribution of T1 phase, resembling the structure generated by shot peening. The superior FC propagation resistance in the 9% pre-rolled alloy could be primarily attributed to the optimum balance of compressive residual stress and work hardening.

Holistically-Attracted Wireframe Parsing: From Supervised to Self-Supervised Learning

This article presents Holistically-Attracted Wireframe Parsing (HAWP), a method for geometric analysis of 2D images containing wireframes formed by line segments and junctions. HAWP utilizes a parsimonious Holistic Attraction (HAT) field representation that encodes line segments using a closed-form 4D geometric vector field. The proposed HAWP consists of three sequential components empowered by end-to-end and HAT-driven designs: 1) generating a dense set of line segments from HAT fields and endpoint proposals from heatmaps, 2) binding the dense line segments to sparse endpoint proposals to produce initial wireframes, and 3) filtering false positive proposals through a novel endpoint-decoupled line-of-interest aligning (EPD LOIAlign) module that captures the co-occurrence between endpoint proposals and HAT fields for better verification. Thanks to our novel designs, HAWPv2 shows strong performance in fully supervised learning, while HAWPv3 excels in self-supervised learning, achieving superior repeatability scores and efficient training (24 GPU hours on a single GPU). Furthermore, HAWPv3 exhibits a promising potential for wireframe parsing in out-of-distribution images without providing ground truth labels of wireframes.

Smart Public Transportation Sensing: Enhancing Perception and Data Management for Efficient and Safety Operations

The use of cloud computing, big data, IoT, and mobile applications in the public transportation industry has resulted in the generation of vast and complex data, of which the large data volume and data variety have posed several obstacles to effective data sensing and processing with high efficiency in a real-time data-driven public transportation management system. To overcome the above-mentioned challenges and to guarantee optimal data availability for data sensing and processing in public transportation perception, a public transportation sensing platform is proposed to collect, integrate, and organize diverse data from different data sources. The proposed data perception platform connects multiple data systems and some edge intelligent perception devices to enable the collection of various types of data, including traveling information of passengers and transaction data of smart cards. To enable the efficient extraction of precise and detailed traveling behavior, an efficient field-level data lineage exploration method is proposed during logical plan generation and is integrated into the FlinkSQL system seamlessly. Furthermore, a row-level fine-grained permission control mechanism is adopted to support flexible data management. With these two techniques, the proposed data management system can support efficient data processing on large amounts of data and conducts comprehensive analysis and application of business data from numerous different sources to realize the value of the data with high data safety. Through operational testing in real environments, the proposed platform has proven highly efficient and effective in managing organizational operations, data assets, data life cycle, offline development, and backend administration over a large amount of various types of public transportation traffic data.

Image-to-Character-to-Word Transformers for Accurate Scene Text Recognition

Leveraging the advances of natural language processing, most recent scene text recognizers adopt an encoder-decoder architecture where text images are first converted to representative features and then a sequence of characters via 'sequential decoding'. However, scene text images suffer from rich noises of different sources such as complex background and geometric distortions which often confuse the decoder and lead to incorrect alignment of visual features at noisy decoding time steps. This paper presents I2C2W, a novel scene text recognition technique that is tolerant to geometric and photometric degradation by decomposing scene text recognition into two inter-connected tasks. The first task focuses on image-to-character (I2C) mapping which detects a set of character candidates from images based on different alignments of visual features in an non-sequential way. The second task tackles character-to-word (C2W) mapping which recognizes scene text by decoding words from the detected character candidates. The direct learning from character semantics (instead of noisy image features) corrects falsely detected character candidates effectively which improves the final text recognition accuracy greatly. Extensive experiments over nine public datasets show that the proposed I2C2W outperforms the state-of-the-art by large margins for challenging scene text datasets with various curvature and perspective distortions. It also achieves very competitive recognition performance over multiple normal scene text datasets.

TRAF7-targeted HOXA5 acts as a tumor suppressor in prostate cancer progression and stemness via transcriptionally activating SPRY2 and regulating MEK/ERK signaling

Homeobox A5 (HOXA5), a homeodomain transcription factor, is considered a tumor suppressor in cancer progression; however, its function in prostate cancer (PCa) remains unclear. This study focused on the relevance of HOXA5 in PCa progression. We identified the downregulation of HOXA5 in PCa tissues based on the TCGA database and further verified in 30-paired PCa and adjacent normal tissues. Functional studies revealed that HOXA5 upregulation impaired the stem-like characteristics and malignant behaviors of PCa cells in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, HOXA5 was found to be regulated by tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated factor 7 (TRAF7), a putative E3-ubiquitin ligase. We observed that TRAF7 was overexpressed in PCa and subsequently enhanced the degradation of HOXA5 protein via its ubiquitin ligase activity, contributing to the acquisition of an aggressive PCa phenotype. For its downstream mechanism, we demonstrated that sprouty RTK signaling antagonist 2 (SPRY2) served as a downstream target of HOXA5. HOXA5 could directly bind to the SPRY2 promoter, thereby regulating the SPRY2-mediated MEK/ERK signaling pathway. Silencing SPRY2 largely compromised the tumor-suppressive effect of HOXA5 in PCa progression and cancer stemness. Our findings highlight the previously-underappreciated signaling axis of TRAF7-HOXA5-SPRY2, which provides a novel prognostic and therapeutic target for PCa treatment.

Measuring the Capability of Biological Incident Rescue Teams in China: A Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process Based Model - Tianjin Municipality, China, 2022-2023

Introduction

The swift advancement of biotechnology has presented both opportunities and challenges to our society, thrusting biosafety to the forefront of concern. Consequently, the evaluation of rescue capabilities in the event of a bioterrorism incident becomes of paramount importance. Currently, there is a notable absence of specific measurement criteria and a comprehensive evaluation system. This paper aims to establish a systematic approach towards assessing emergency response capabilities in the context of bioterrorism incidents.

Methods

We employed an enhanced Delphi methodology to establish an index evaluation framework. Subsequently, the weight of the judgment matrix was ascertained via the application of the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation approach. This led to the creation of a fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model for bioterrorism rescue capability.

Results

A modified Delphi study was conducted involving 11 experts across two rounds, achieving a response rate of 100%. The Kendall coordination coefficients recorded in the first and second rounds were 0.303 and 0.632, respectively (P<0.05). Upon comprehensive analysis involving score, coefficient of variation, and full score ratio, we distinguished five primary indicators and 25 secondary indicators. Subsequently, an evaluation model was developed based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) tailored to assess the response to a rescue from bioterrorism.

Discussion

The expert panel confirmed consensus on all aspects of the model, validating its comprehensive content. The succeeding course of action involves converting the assessment model to a measurable scale, affirming its functionality, and implementing it in practical evaluation tasks to further enhance the capabilities of the biological incident rescue team.

Knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with bioterrorism preparedness in healthcare workers: a systematic review

Introduction

Bioterrorism is an important issue in the field of biosecurity, and effectively dealing with bioterrorism has become an urgent task worldwide. Healthcare workers are considered bioterrorism first responders, who shoulder essential responsibilities and must be equipped to deal with bioterrorism. This study aims to extract and summarize the main research components of the bioterrorism knowledge, attitude, and practice dimensions among healthcare workers.

Method

This study utilized a systematic review research design based on the PRISMA 2020 guidelines. A literature search was conducted in the PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases for peer-reviewed literature, and the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) version 2018 was used to assess the quality of the literature.

Result

A total of 16 studies were included in the final selection. Through the analysis and summary of the included studies, three main aspects and 14 subaspects of the knowledge dimension, three main aspects and 10 subaspects of the attitude dimension, and two main aspects and six subaspects of the practice dimension were extracted.

Conclusion

This study conducted a literature review on bioterrorism knowledge, attitudes, and practices for healthcare workers based on the PRISMA 2020 guidelines. The findings can guide improvements in health literacy and provide beneficial information to professional organizations that need to respond effectively to bioterrorism.

Embedding Nano-Piezoelectrics into Heterointerfaces of S-Scheme Heterojunctions for Boosting Photocatalysis and Piezophotocatalysis

Step-scheme (S-scheme) heterojunctions have exhibited great potential in photocatalysis due to their extraordinary light harvesting and high redox capacities. However, inadequate S-scheme recombination of useless carriers in weak redox abilities increases the probability of their recombination with useful ones in strong redox capabilities. Herein, a versatile protocol is demonstrated to overcome this impediment based on the insertion of nano-piezoelectrics into the heterointerfaces of S-scheme heterojunctions. Under light excitation, the piezoelectric inserter promotes interfacial charge transfer and produces additional photocarriers to recombine with useless electrons and holes, ensuring a more thorough separation of powerful ones for CO2 reduction and H2 O oxidation. When introducing extra ultrasonic vibration, a piezoelectric polarization field is established, which allows efficient separation of charges generated by the embedded piezoelectrics and expedites their recombination with weak carriers, further increasing the number of strong ones participating in the redox reactions. Encouraged by the greatly improved charge utilization, significantly enhanced photocatalytic and piezophotocatalytic activities in CH4 , CO, and O2 production are achieved by the designed stacked catalyst. This work highlights the importance in strengthening the necessary charge recombination in S-scheme heterojunctions and presents an efficient and novel strategy to synergize photocatalysis and piezocatalysis for renewable fuels and value-added chemicals production.

Adherence to healthy lifestyle was associated with an attenuation of the risk of chronic kidney disease from metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease: Results from two prospective cohorts

AIMS

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) are important risk factors of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Whether adherence to a healthy lifestyle can modify these effects remain unknown. This study aimed to evaluate the modification effects of healthy lifestyle on the associations among NAFLD, MAFLD, and the risk of CKD, with taking into the effect of genetic risk.

METHODS

The Tianjin Chronic Low-grade Systemic Inflammation and Health Cohort Study (TCLSIH), the UK Biobank Study (UKB). The outcome was incident CKD. The exposures including NAFLD, MAFLD, healthy lifestyle, and a genetic risk score (GRS) for CKD.

RESULTS

After 1,135,334 person-year follow-up, we documented 2975 incident CKD cases in the two cohorts. MAFLD and NAFLD were associated with a higher risk of CKD, particularly in patients with MAFLD. In the TCLSIH and UKB, the hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) of incident CKD for MAFLD were 1.47 (1.30, 1.66) and 1.73 (1.57, 1.91), respectively. Adherence to a healthier lifestyle decreased the risk of CKD from MAFLD with significant interaction effects (TCLSIH: Pinteraction = 0.02; UKB: Pinteraction = 0.04). Participants with a lower CKD-GRS experienced a higher risk of CKD from MAFLD, but achieved two healthy lifestyles can significantly decreased the risk of CKD in patients with MAFLD.

CONCLUSIONS

MAFLD and NAFLD are associated with a higher CKD risk, particularly MAFLD. Adherence to a healthier lifestyle was associated with a lower risk of CKD from MAFLD. These results highlight the important role of following a healthy lifestyle to prevent CKD.

Hybrid Immuno-RT for Bulky Tumors: Standard Fractionation with Partial Tumor SBRT

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE(S)

Bulky tumors remain challenging to be treated. Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) is effective against radioresistant tumor cells and can induce immunogenic cell death (ICD) that leads to T-cell-mediated antitumor effects. Low-dose radiation (LDRT) can inflame the tumor microenvironment (TME) by recruiting T cells. We designed a novel radiotherapy technique (RT, ERT) whose dose distribution map resembles the "eclipse" by concurrently delivering LDRT to the whole tumor, meanwhile SBRT to only a part of the same tumor. This study examined the safety and efficacy of ERT to bulky lesions with PD-1 inhibitors in mice and patients.

MATERIALS/METHODS

In mice with CT26 colon or LLC1 lung bulky tumors (400 - 500 cm3), the whole tumor was irradiated by LDRT (2 Gy x 3), meanwhile the tumor center was irradiated by SBRT (10 Gy x 3); αPD-1 was given weekly. The dependence of therapeutic effects on CD8+ T cells was determined using depleting antibodies. Frequencies of CD8+ T cells and M1 macrophages (Mφ) were determined by flow cytometry. Multiplex Immunohistochemistry (mIHC) was applied to analyze the number and the location of CD8+ T cells and their subpopulations, as well as the phospho-eIF2α level (the ICD marker) of tumor cells in TME. Patients with advanced lung or liver bulky tumors who failed standard treatment or with oncologic emergencies were treated. Kaplan-Meier method was applied to estimate patients' progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS).

RESULTS

ERT/αPD-1 is superior to SBRT/αPD-1 or LDRT/αPD-1 in controlling bulky tumors in both mouse models in a CD8+ T-cell dependent manner. In the CT26 model, ERT/αPD-1 resulted in complete tumor regression in 3/11 mice and induced more CD8+ T cells and M1 Mφ in TME compared to other groups. mIHC analysis showed that ERT/αPD-1 induced higher bulk, stem-like (TCF1+ TIM3- PD-1+), and more differentiated (TCF1- TIM3+ PD-1+) CD8+ T cells infiltration into the tumor center and periphery compared to other groups. Compared to untreated or LDRT-treated tumor centers, tumor centers irradiated with ERT or SBRT showed elevated phospho-eIF2α accompanied by higher dendritic cell infiltration. In total, 39 advanced cancer patients were treated with ERT/αPD-1 or plus chemotherapy. Radiation-induced pneumonitis occurred in 1 of 26 patients receiving thoracic ERT. There were two cases of grade III toxicity associated with PD-1 inhibitors. No toxicity above grade III was observed. The objective response rate was 38.5%. The median PFS was 5.6 months and median OS was not reached at a median follow-up of 11.7 months.

CONCLUSION

ERT/αPD-1 showed superior efficacy in controlling bulky tumor in two mouse models. The hybrid immuno-RT (ERT) combing PD-1 inhibitors was safe and effective in patients with bulky tumors. Further clinical trials in combination with bioimaging to identify the optimal SBRT target region for the bulky tumor are warranted.

Synthesis and Screening of Chemical Agents Targeting Viral Protein Genome-Linked Protein of Telosma Mosaic Virus

The viral protein genome-linked protein (VPg) of telosma mosaic virus (TeMV) plays an important role in viral reproduction. In this study, the expression conditions of TeMV VPg were explored. A series of novel benzenesulfonamide derivatives were synthesized. The binding sites of the target compounds and TeMV VPg were studied by molecular docking, and the interaction was verified by microscale thermophoresis. The study revealed that the optimal expression conditions for TeMV VPg were in Escherichia coli Rosetta with IPTG concentration of 0.8 mM and induction temperature of 25 °C. Compounds A4, A6, A9, A16, and A17 exhibited excellent binding affinity to TeMV VPg, with Kd values of 0.23, 0.034, 0.19, 0.086, and 0.22 μM, respectively. LYS 121 is the key amino acid site. Compounds A9 inhibited the expression of TeMV VPg in Nicotiana benthamiana. The results suggested that TeMV VPg is a potential antiviral target to screen anti-TeMV compounds.

Diagnostic value of mesenteric CTA combined with D-dimer level and inflammatory factor changes in severity of mesenteric artery embolism

Objective

To investigate the value of mesenteric CTA combined with D-dimer (DD) level and inflammatory factor changes in evaluating the severity of mesenteric artery embolism.

Methods

This is a retrospective study. The imaging data of mesenteric CTA and the levels of plasma DD and inflammatory factors in 120 patients with mesenteric artery embolism confirmed by DSA or surgery in Baoding No.1 Central Hospital were analyzed retrospectively from January 2021 to December 2022. The coincidence rate of CTA alone and CTA combined with DD and inflammatory factors with the results of surgery or DSA was compared and analyzed. The specificity, sensitivity and accuracy of CTA alone and CTA combined with DD and inflammatory factors in diagnosing superior mesenteric artery embolism were compared. The correlations of different severity of mesenteric artery embolism with DD and inflammatory factor levels were compared and analyzed.

Results

There was a significant difference in the coincidence rate between CTA diagnosis and CTA combined with DD and inflammatory factors diagnosis (p= 0.01). And the sensitivity and accuracy of the latter were significantly higher than those of the former (sensitivity, p= 0.01; accuracy, p= 0.00). The levels of plasma DD, TNF-a, CRP and IL-6 in the intestinal wall thinning group were significantly higher than those in the thickening group (p= 0.00). The above indexes increased significantly in the decreased intestinal wall enhancement group compared with the increased intestinal wall enhancement group (p= 0.00). DD, TNF-ɑ, CRP and IL-6 levels increased with the increase in stenosis severity.

Conclusion

Mesenteric CTA combined with plasma DD and inflammatory factor levels can effectively determine the severity of mesenteric arterial embolism, and provide a scientific basis for early clinical diagnosis and treatment.

Association of loneliness and social isolation with mental disorders among medical residents during the COVID-19 pandemic: A multi-center cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

Loneliness and social isolation usually increase the risk of mental disorders. However, this association among Chinese medical residents during the COVID-19 pandemic remains unclear.

METHODS

This study was conducted in September 2022; 1,338 medical residents from three hospitals in Northeastern China were included in the final analysis. The data were collected via online self-administered questionnaires. Adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were determined for adjusting for potential confounders by binary logistic regression.

RESULTS

Among the 1,338 participants, 12.93% (173), 9.94% (133), and 9.72% (130) had experienced major depression, major anxiety, and suicidal ideation, respectively. Further, 24.40% (327) and 44.50% (596) of the total participants had experienced loneliness and social isolation. Loneliness increased the risk of major depression, major anxiety, and suicidal ideation (all p<0.001); Compared with the lowest quartile, the odds ratios of the highest quartile were 4.81, 4.63, and 5.34. The same result was obtained in relation to social isolation (all p<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

The findings of this study revealed a considerable prevalence of loneliness, social isolation, and mental disorders among Chinese medical residents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Both loneliness and social isolation increased the risk of major depression, major anxiety, and suicidal ideation.

Chidamide and Oxaliplatin Synergistically Inhibit Colorectal Cancer Growth by Regulating the RPS27A-MDM2-P53 Axis

Purpose

The present study explored the anti-tumor effects of chidamide plus oxaliplatin on colorectal cancer (CRC) and examined its underlying mechanism.

Material and Methods

First, the Combination Index (CI) of chidamide and oxaliplatin was evaluated via CCK-8 assay. Second, the effects of chidamide and oxaliplatin monotherapy and the combined treatment on cell proliferation, invasion, migration, and apoptosis were detected. Third, whole-transcriptome RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) was performed to seek the potential targeted gene by which chidamide plus oxaliplatin exerted anti-tumor effects. Fourth, the validation of the targeted gene and the signal pathway it regulated were performed. Finally, the anti-tumor effect of chidamide plus oxaliplatin on mice xenograft was examined.

Results

Chidamide and oxaliplatin acted synergistically to inhibit CRC growth in vitro and in vivo (CI<1). Besides, compared with oxaliplatin monotherapy, chidamide could significantly enhance oxaliplatin-induced inhibition in cell proliferation, invasion, and migration, and promotion in HCT-116 and RKO cell apoptosis (P<0.05). The RNA-seq displayed that, compared to oxaliplatin monotherapy, RPS27A mRNA was evidently decreased in HCT-116 cells treated with chidamide plus oxaliplatin (P<0.001). Then, we found RPS27A was highly expressed in CRC tissues and CRC cell lines (P<0.001). Silence of RPS27A attenuated proliferation and induced apoptosis in HCT-116 and RKO cells via downregulation of MDM2 expression and upregulation of P53. Next, RPS27A overexpression could partially reverse chidamide plus oxaliplatin induced growth inhibition and apoptosis in HCT-116 and RKO cells (P<0.01). RPS27A overexpression could promote the upregulation of MDM2 and downregulation of P53 after the combined treatment of chidamide with oxaliplatin.

Conclusion

Chidamide and oxaliplatin acted synergistically to suppress CRC growth by the inhibition of the RPS27A-MDM2-p53 axis.

The association between mammographic density and breast cancer molecular subtypes: a systematic review and meta-analysis

AIM

To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the whether high mammographic density (MD) is differentially associated with all subtypes of breast cancer.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Embase databases were searched systematically in October 2022 to include all studies that investigated the association between MD and breast cancer subtype. Aggregate data of 17,193 breast cancer cases from 23 studies were selected, including five cohort/case-control and 18 case-only studies. The relative risk (RR) of MD were combined using random/fixed effects models for case-control studies, and for case-only studies, relative risk ratios (RRRs) were a combination of luminal A, luminal B, and HER2-positive versus triple-negative tumours.

RESULTS

Women in the highest density category in case-control/cohort studies had a 2.24-fold (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.53, 3.28), 1.81-fold (95% CI 1.15, 2.85), 1.44-fold (95% CI 1.14, 1.81), and 1.59-fold (95% CI 0.89, 2.85) higher risk of triple-negative, HER-2 (human epidermal growth factor receptor 2) positive, luminal A, and luminal B breast cancer compared to women in the lowest density category. RRRs for breast tumours being luminal A, luminal B, and HER-2 positive versus triple-negative in case-only studies were 1.62 (95% CI 1.14, 2.31), 1.81 (95% CI 1.22, 2.71) and 2.58 (95% CI 1.63, 4.08), respectively, for BIRADS 4 versus BIRADS 1.

CONCLUSION

The evidence indicates MD is a potent risk factor for the majority of breast cancer subtypes to different degrees. Increased MD is more strongly linked to HER-2-positive cancers compared to other breast cancer subtypes. The application of MD as a subtype-specific risk marker may facilitate the creation of personalised risk prediction models and screening procedures.

Patch-Based Separable Transformer for Visual Recognition

The computational complexity of transformers limits it to be widely deployed onto frameworks for visual recognition. Recent work Dosovitskiy et al. 2021 significantly accelerates the network processing speed by reducing the resolution at the beginning of the network, however, it is still hard to be directly generalized onto other downstream tasks e.g.object detection and segmentation like CNN. In this paper, we present a transformer-based architecture retaining both the local and global interactions within the network, and can be transferable to other downstream tasks. The proposed architecture reforms the original full spatial self-attention into pixel-wise local attention and patch-wise global attention. Such factorization saves the computational cost while retaining the information of different granularities, which helps generate multi-scale features required by different tasks. By exploiting the factorized attention, we construct a Separable Transformer (SeT) for visual modeling. Experimental results show that SeT outperforms the previous state-of-the-art transformer-based approaches and its CNN counterparts on three major tasks including image classification, object detection and instance segmentation.¹.

A synthetic Tn-BSA conjugate vaccine bearing chitotriose as built-in adjuvant

Chitotriose (CTS), the hydrolysate of chitosan, is readily soluble in water because of the shorter chain lengths of the oligomers and the free amino groups in the d-glucosamine units. In the current study, we report the synthesis of novel conjugate vaccine Tn-BSA-CTS with chitotriose as built-in adjuvant, along with an evaluation of the effect of adjuvant chitotriose (CTS). Immunological evaluations of the resultant conjugate vaccine revealed that Tn-BSA-CTS could provoke the highest titers of IgG antibodies (102,400). The Tn-BSA-CTS conjugate remarkably enhanced both humoral and cellular immunity. The obtained results demonstrate the potential of CTS as a novel vaccine adjuvant in the development of antitumor vaccine and the covalent linkage of tumor vaccine to CTS might be available strategy to increase the efficacy against cancer.

Prospective comparison of extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy and ureteroscopy in distal ureteral stones

The optimal treatment modality of distal ureteral stones is controversial. Therefore, we conducted a prospective study to evaluate the efficacy, safety, and cost of early second shock wave lithotripsy (SWL) sessions versus ureterorenoscopy (URS) in patients with distal ureteral stones. This prospective study was conducted in a tertiary hospital from June 2020 to April 2022. Patients who underwent SWL or URS for distal ureteral stones were enrolled in this study. The stone-free rate (SFR), secondary treatment rate, complications, and costs were recorded. Propensity-score matching (PSM) analysis was also performed. A total of 1023 patients were included, of whom 68.4% (700) were treated with SWL and 31.6% (323) with URS. Based on PSM, SWL had an equivalent SFR (87.4% vs. 84.9%, P = 0.325) at one month after SWL and secondary treatment rate (10.7% vs.10.8%, P = 0.958) when compared with URS. Complications were rare and comparable between the SWL and URS groups (6.0% vs. 5.9%, P > 0.05), while the incidence of ureteral injuries (i.e., perforations) was higher in the URS group compared with the SWL group (1.3% vs. 0%, P = 0.019). The hospital stay was significantly shorter (1 day vs. 2 days, P < 0.001) and the costs considerably less (2000 RMB vs. 25,030 RMB; P < 0.001) in the SWL group compared with the URS group. This prospective study demonstrated that early second SWL sessions had equivalent efficacy in addition to reduced complication rates and costs compared with URS in patients with distal ureteral stones. Our findings may help guide clinical decision making.

Associations between lumbar bone mineral density, serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D and history of kidney stones in adults aged 30-69 years in the USA (NHANES 2011-2018)

OBJECTIVES

Most kidney stones contain calcium, which is closely associated with human bone health. Therefore, we aimed to determine the relationship between the history of kidney stones and human bone health. This study examined the associations between lumbar bone mineral density (BMD), serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OHD) and a history of kidney stones in individuals aged between 30 years and 69 years.

DESIGN AND DATA ANALYSIS

A multivariate logistic regression model was used to estimate the relationship between lumbar BMD, serum 25-OHD levels and kidney stones in this cross-sectional study. All models incorporated survey sample weights and were adjusted for covariates.

SETTING

National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2011-2018. The exposure and outcomes of this study included the lumbar BMD and presence of kidney stones.

PARTICIPANTS

All the 7500 participants for this cross-sectional survey were selected from the NHANES between 2011 and 2018.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

The main outcome of this study was the presence of kidney stones. The interviewers asked the questions on kidney stones while the respondents were at home, using a computer-assisted personal interview system.

RESULTS

Lumbar BMD was negatively correlated with a history of kidney stones in all three multivariate linear regression models; the negative association existed in all genders after adjusting for all confounding factors. In the multiple regression analysis, there was an interaction between serum 25-OHD and lumbar BMD (p<0.05) regarding the influence on kidney stones; the negative association between lumbar BMD and kidney stones was more obvious in the higher 25-OHD group (≥50 nmol/L).

CONCLUSION

The study results suggest that maintaining a high lumbar BMD may reduce the incidence of kidney stone formation. Simultaneously, maintaining a high serum 25-OHD level may be more beneficial in preventing the occurrence or recurrence of stones while ensuring a high lumbar BMD.

The sensitivity of photosynthesis to magnesium deficiency differs between rice (Oryza sativa L.) and cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.)

Magnesium is an essential macronutrient for plant photosynthesis, and in response to Mg deficiency, dicots appear more sensitive than monocots. Under Mg deficiency, we investigated the causes of differing photosynthetic sensitivities in a dicot and a monocot species. Rice (Oryza sativa L.) and cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) were grown in hydroponic culture to explore their physiological responses to Mg deficiency stress. Both Mg-deficient rice and cucumber plants exhibited lower biomass, leaf area, Mg concentration, and chlorophyll content (Chl) compared with Mg-sufficient plants. However, a more marked decline in Chl and carotenoid content (Car) occurred in cucumber. A lower CO2 concentration in chloroplasts (C c) was accompanied by a decrease in the maximum rate of electron transport (J max) and the maximum rate of ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylation (V cmax), restricting CO2 utilization in Mg-deficient plants. Rice and cucumber photorespiration rate (P r) increased under Mg deficiency. Additionally, for cucumber, Car and non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) were reduced under lower Mg supply. Meanwhile, cucumber Mg deficiency significantly increased the fraction of absorbed light energy dissipated by an additional quenching mechanism (Φf,D). Under Mg deficiency, suppressed photosynthesis was attributed to comprehensive restrictions of mesophyll conductance (g m), J max, and V cmax. Cucumber was more sensitive to Mg deficiency than rice due to lower NPQ, higher rates of electron transport to alternative pathways, and subsequently, photooxidation damage.

Genome-wide identification of Aux/IAA and ARF gene families reveal their potential roles in flower opening of Dendrobium officinale

BACKGROUND

The auxin indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) is a vital phytohormone that influences plant growth and development. Our previous work showed that IAA content decreased during flower development in the medicinally important orchid Dendrobium officinale, while Aux/IAA genes were downregulated. However, little information about auxin-responsive genes and their roles in D. officinale flower development exists.

RESULTS

This study validated 14 DoIAA and 26 DoARF early auxin-responsive genes in the D. officinale genome. A phylogenetic analysis classified the DoIAA genes into two subgroups. An analysis of cis-regulatory elements indicated that they were related by phytohormones and abiotic stresses. Gene expression profiles were tissue-specific. Most DoIAA genes (except for DoIAA7) were sensitive to IAA (10 μmol/L) and were downregulated during flower development. Four DoIAA proteins (DoIAA1, DoIAA6, DoIAA10 and DoIAA13) were mainly localized in the nucleus. A yeast two-hybrid assay showed that these four DoIAA proteins interacted with three DoARF proteins (DoARF2, DoARF17, DoARF23).

CONCLUSIONS

The structure and molecular functions of early auxin-responsive genes in D. officinale were investigated. The DoIAA-DoARF interaction may play an important role in flower development via the auxin signaling pathway.

Associations between grain intake and hospitalized nephrolithiasis in Chinese adults: a case-control study

Introduction: nephrolithiasis is one of the most common urological disorders. Grains are essential staple foods worldwide. This study aimed to investigate the associations between whole grains and refined grains intake, and hospitalized nephrolithiasis in a Chinese population. Methods: the patients and healthy participants were enrolled in the Shenyang sub-cohort of Tianjin Chronic Low-Grade Systemic Inflammation and Health Cohort Study. After selecting and matching by age (±one year) and sex using a 1 : 2 ratio, a total of 666 participants (222 patients and 444 healthy controls) were included. Whole grains and refined grains intake was measured using a validated self-administered food frequency questionnaire. Multivariate conditional logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the associations between whole grains and refined grains intake with hospitalized nephrolithiasis. Results: after multivariable adjustments, a higher intake of whole grains was inversely associated with hospitalized nephrolithiasis. Compared to participants with the lowest tertile of whole grains intake, the adjusted odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of hospitalized nephrolithiasis for participants in the highest tertile was 0.58 (0.26, 0.81) (P for trend = 0.020). In contrast, a higher intake of refined grains was positively associated with nephrolithiasis. Compared to participants with the lowest tertile of refined grains intake, the adjusted OR (95% CI) of hospitalized nephrolithiasis for participants in the highest tertile was 3.75 (1.48, 9.52) (P for trend = 0.006). The results were consistent in both genders. Conclusion: the consumption of whole grains was found to be negatively associated with hospitalized nephrolithiasis, while the consumption of refined grains was positively associated with hospitalized nephrolithiasis. Therefore, a substitution of whole grains for refined grains consumption may assist in hospitalized nephrolithiasis prevention.

Embedding Plasmonic Metal into Heterointerface of MOFs-Encapsulated Semiconductor Hollow Architecture for Boosting CO2 Photoreduction

Coupling hollow semiconductor with metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) holds great promise for constructing high-efficient CO₂ photoreduction systems. However, energy band mismatch between them makes it difficult to exert their advantages to maximize the overall photocatalytic efficiency, since that the blockage of desirable interfacial charge transfer gives rise to the enrichment of photoelectrons and CO₂ molecules on the different locations. Herein, an interfacial engineering is presented to overcome this impediment, based on the insertion of plasmonic metal into the heterointerfaces between them, forming a stacked semiconductor/metal@MOF photocatalyst. Experimental observations and theoretical simulations validate the critical roles of embedded Au in maneuvering the charge separation/transfer and surface reaction: (i) bridges the photoelectron transfer from hollow CdS (H-CdS) to ZIF-8; (ii) produces hot electrons and shifts them to ZIF-8; (iii) induces the formation of ZIF-8 defects in promoting the CO₂ adsorption/activation and transformation to CO with low energy barriers. Consequently, the as-prepared H-CdS/Au@ZIF-8 with optimal ZIF-8 thickness exhibits distinctly boosted activity and superb selectivity in CO production as compared with H-CdS@ZIF-8 and other counterparts. This work provides protocols to take full advantages of components involved for enhanced solar-to-chemical energy conversion efficiency of hybrid artificial photosynthetic systems through rationally harnessing the charge transfer between them.

The Accumulation and Biosynthesis of Anthocyanin in Black, White, and Yellow Waxy Corns (Zea mays L. sinensis kulesh) during Kernel Maturation

Waxy corn kernels with different colors have high phenolic content and good application potential in medicine and food healthcare. In our work, the content changes of phenolic and anthocyanins profiles were related to genes in the anthocyanin biosynthesis pathway, and the antioxidant activities of three different colors of waxy corn kernels (black, white, and yellow) were determined during kernel development. Results showed that growing temperature and light intensity could affect the accumulation of phytochemicals and antioxidant activities in waxy corns during maturation. Phenolic and antioxidant activities decreased over kernel maturation, and spring had higher nutrition levels during the best harvest time (20 and 25 days after pollination in the spring and autumn, respectively) for waxy corns. Cyanidin-3-O-glucoside and pelargonidin-3-O-glucoside were the main anthocyanins detected in the black waxy corns. The contents of cyanidin are higher than pelargonidin followed by peonidin in the autumn, while on the other hand, pelargonidin had a slightly higher content compared to cyanidin in the spring. DFR, CF1, and ANS were the key genes affecting anthocyanin accumulation. This work provided information on the best harvest time for the pigment of waxy corn in order to achieve relatively high phenolic profiles and antioxidant activities. It also illustrated the possible relationship between weather conditions, gene expression levels, and phenolic content during kernel development.

Associations between dietary patterns and nephrolithiasis risk in a large Chinese cohort: is a balanced or plant-based diet better?

Purpose: Individual food items and nutrients are associated with the development of nephrolithiasis. Few studies have investigated the association between dietary patterns, particularly plant-based diets, and this disease. We aim to explore the associations between dietary patterns and incident nephrolithiasis risk. Materials and methods: This prospective cohort study included 26 490 participants. Factor analysis was applied to dietary information to identify three a posteriori dietary patterns, and six a priori plant-based dietary patterns (overall plant-based diet index [PDI], healthful plant-based diet index [hPDI], unhealthful plant-based diet index [uPDI], vegan diet, lacto-ovo-vegetarian diet, and fish-vegetarian diet) were defined. Nephrolithiasis was diagnosed using ultrasonography. Cox proportional hazard regression models were used to assess the hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for incident nephrolithiasis related to dietary patterns. Results: After 101 094 person-years follow-up, we documented 806 incident nephrolithiasis cases. An a posteriori balanced dietary pattern characterized by a higher intake of vegetables, eggs, grains, legumes, legume products, and meat was associated with a lower risk of nephrolithiasis (P for trend = 0.02). Compared to the reference group in the lowest quartile of the balanced pattern, participants in the highest quartile had an adjusted HR (95% CI) of 0.72 (0.53-0.96) for incident nephrolithiasis. Adherence to the uPDI increased the risk of incident nephrolithiasis (P for trend < 0.01; adjusted HR_{4th quartile vs. 1st quartile}, 1.46, 95% CI, 1.14-1.97). No significant association was found between other a posteriori or a priori dietary patterns and incident nephrolithiasis. Conclusions: Adherence to a balanced dietary pattern, but not a plant-based diet, was associated with a lower nephrolithiasis risk. Moreover, higher uPDI consumption increased incident nephrolithiasis risk.

Triage Algorithms for Mass-Casualty Bioterrorism: A Systematic Review

OBJECTIVES

To understand existing triage algorithms, propose improvement measures through comparison to better deal with mass-casualty incidents caused by bioterrorism.

STUDY DESIGN

Systematic review.

METHODS

Medline, Scopus and Web of Science were searched up to January 2022. The studies investigating triage algorithms for mass-casualty bioterrorism. Quality assessment was performed using the International Narrative Systematic Assessment tool. Data extractions were performed by four reviewers.

RESULTS

Of the 475 titles identified in the search, 10 studies were included. There were four studies on triage algorithms for most bioterrorism events, four studies on triage algorithms for anthrax and two studies on triage algorithms for mental or psychosocial problems caused by bioterrorism events. We introduced and compared 10 triage algorithms used for different bioterrorism situations.

CONCLUSION

For triage algorithms for most bioterrorism events, it is necessary to determine the time and place of the attack as soon as possible, control the number of exposed and potentially exposed people, prevent infection and determine the type of biological agents used. Research on the effects of decontamination on bioterrorism attacks needs to continue. For anthrax triage, future research should improve the distinction between inhalational anthrax symptoms and common disease symptoms and improve the efficiency of triage measures. More attention should be paid to triage algorithms for mental or psychosocial problems caused by bioterrorism events.

Development and validation of a predictive model for stone-free failure after extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy in patients with ureteral stone in a large prospective cohort

PURPOSE

To develop and validate a nomogram for predicting stone-free failure after shock wave lithotripsy (SWL) guided by ultrasound in patients with ureteral stones.

METHODS

The development cohort consisted of 1698 patients who underwent SWL guided by ultrasound at our center from June 2020 through August 2021. Multivariate unconditional logistic regression analysis was used for building a predictive nomogram with regression coefficients. An independent validation cohort consisted of 712 consecutive patients from September 2020 through April 2021. The performance of the predictive model was assessed in regard to discrimination, calibration, and clinical usefulness.

RESULTS

Predictors of stone-free failure included distal stone location (odds ratio = 1.540, P < 0.001), larger stone size (odds ratio = 1.722, P < 0.001), higher stone density (odds ratio = 1.722, P < 0.001), larger skin to stone distance (SSD) (odds ratio = 1.058, P < 0.001), and higher grade of hydronephrosis (odds ratio = 1.755, P = 0.010). For the validation cohort, the model showed good discrimination with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.925 (95% confidence interval, 0.898, 0.953) and good calibration (unreliability test, P = 0.412). Decision curve analysis demonstrated that the model was also clinically useful.

CONCLUSIONS

This study demonstrated that stone location, stone size, stone density, SSD, and hydronephrosis grade were significant predictors of stone-free failure after SWL guided by ultrasound in patients with ureteral stones. This may guide clinical practice.

Spatially Separated Redox Cocatalysts on Ferroelectric Nanoplates for Improved Piezophotocatalytic CO2 Reduction and H2O Oxidation

Utilizing solar and mechanical vibration energy for catalytic CO₂ reduction and H₂O oxidation is emerging as a promising way to simultaneously generate renewable energy and mitigate climate change, making it possible to integrate two energy resources into a reaction system for artificial piezophotosynthesis. However, the practical applications are hindered by undesirable charge recombination and sluggish surface reaction in the photocatalytic and piezocatalytic processes. This study proposes a dual cocatalyst strategy to overcome these obstacles and improve the piezophotocatalytic performance of ferroelectrics in overall redox reactions. With the photodeposition of AuCu reduction and MnO_x oxidation cocatalysts on oppositely poled facets of PbTiO₃ nanoplates, band bending occurs along with the formation of built-in electric fields on the semiconductor-cocatalyst interfaces, which, together with an intrinsic ferroelectric field, piezoelectric polarization field, and band tilting in the bulk of PbTiO₃, provide strong driving forces for the directional drift of piezo- and photogenerated electrons and holes toward AuCu and MnO_x, respectively. Besides, AuCu and MnO_x enrich the active sites for surface reactions, significantly reducing the rate-determining barrier for CO₂-to-CO and H₂O-to-O₂ transformation, respectively. Benefiting from these features, AuCu/PbTiO₃/MnO_x delivers remarkably improved charge separation efficiencies and significantly enhanced piezophotocatalytic activities in CO and O₂ generation. This strategy opens a door for the better coupling of photocatalysis and piezocatalysis to promote the conversion of CO₂ with H₂O.

Development and validation of a predictive model for major complications after extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy in patients with ureteral stones: based on a large prospective cohort

The risk factors of complications after SWL are not well characterized. Therefore, based on a large prospective cohort, we aimed to develop and validate a nomogram for predicting major complications after extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (SWL) in patients with ureteral stones. The development cohort included 1522 patients with ureteral stones who underwent SWL between June 2020 and August 2021 in our hospital. Five hundred and fifty-three patients with ureteral stones participated in the validation cohort from September 2020 to April 2022. The data were prospectively recorded. Backward stepwise selection was applied using the likelihood ratio test with Akaike's information criterion as the stopping rule. The efficacy of this predictive model was assessed concerning its clinical usefulness, calibration, and discrimination. Finally, 7.2% (110/1522) of patients in the development cohort and 8.7% (48/553) of those in the validation cohort suffered from major complications. We identified five predictive factors for major complications: age, gender, stone size, Hounsfield unit of stone, and hydronephrosis. This model showed good discrimination with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curves of 0.885 (0.872-0.940) and good calibration (P = 0.139). The decision curve analysis showed that the model was clinically valuable. In this large prospective cohort, we found that older age, female gender, higher Hounsfield unit, size, and grade of hydronephrosis were risk predictors of major complications after SWL. This nomogram will be helpful in preoperative risk stratification to provide individualized treatment recommendations for each patient. Furthermore, early identification and appropriate management of high-risk patients may decrease postoperative morbidity.

Supervised Phenotype Discovery From Multimodal Brain Imaging

Data-driven discovery of image-derived phenotypes (IDPs) from large-scale multimodal brain imaging data has enormous potential for neuroscientific and clinical research by linking IDPs to subjects' demographic, behavioural, clinical and cognitive measures (i.e., non-imaging derived phenotypes or nIDPs). However, current approaches are primarily based on unsupervised approaches, without the use of information in nIDPs. In this paper, we proposed a semi-supervised, multimodal, and multi-task fusion approach, termed SuperBigFLICA, for IDP discovery, which simultaneously integrates information from multiple imaging modalities as well as multiple nIDPs. SuperBigFLICA is computationally efficient and largely avoids the need for parameter tuning. Using the UK Biobank brain imaging dataset with around 40,000 subjects and 47 modalities, along with more than 17,000 nIDPs, we showed that SuperBigFLICA enhances the prediction power of nIDPs, benchmarked against IDPs derived by conventional expert-knowledge and unsupervised-learning approaches (with average nIDP prediction accuracy improvements of up to 46%). It also enables the learning of generic imaging features that can predict new nIDPs. Further empirical analysis of the SuperBigFLICA algorithm demonstrates its robustness in different prediction tasks and the ability to derive biologically meaningful IDPs in predicting health outcomes and cognitive nIDPs, such as fluid intelligence and hypertension.

Prospective comparison of extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy versus flexible ureterorenoscopy in patients with non-lower pole kidney stones under the COVID-19 pandemic

Both shock wave lithotripsy (SWL) and flexible ureterorenoscopy (F-URS) are recommended as the first choice for non-lower pole kidney stones. Therefore, we conducted a prospective study to evaluate the efficacy, safety, and cost of SWL versus F-URS in patients with solitary non-lower pole kidney stones ≤ 20 mm under the COVID-19 pandemic. This prospective study was conducted in a tertiary hospital from June 2020 to April 2022. Patients who underwent lithotripsy (SWL or F-URS) for non-lower pole kidney stones were enrolled in this study. The stone-free rate (SFR), retreatment rate, complications, and cost were recorded. Propensity score-matched (PSM) analysis was performed. A total of 699 patients were finally included, of which 81.3% (568) were treated with SWL and 18.7% (131) underwent F-URS. After PSM, SWL showed equivalent SFR (87.9% vs. 91.1%, P = 0.323), retreatment rate (8.6% vs. 4.8%, P = 0.169), and adjunctive procedure (2.6% vs. 4.9%, P = 0.385) compared with F-URS. Complications were scarce and also comparable between SWL and F-URS (6.0% vs 7.7%, P > 0.05), while the incidence of ureteral perforation was higher in the F-URS group compared with the SWL group (1.5% vs 0%, P = 0.008). The hospital stay was significantly shorter (1 day vs 2 days, P < 0.001), and the cost was considerably less (1200 vs 30,083, P < 0.001) in the SWL group compared with the F-URS group. This prospective cohort demonstrated that SWL had equivalent efficacy with more safety and cost benefits than F-URS in treating patients with solitary non-lower pole kidney stones ≤ 20 mm. During the COVID-19 pandemic, SWL may have benefits in preserving hospital resources and limiting opportunity for virus transmission, compared to URS. These findings may guide clinical practice.

Chromosomal-level genome assembly of the high-quality Xian/Indica rice (Oryza sativa L.) Xiangyaxiangzhan

The indica rice variety XYXZ carries elite traits including appearance and eating quality. Here, we report the de novo assembly of XYXZ using Illumine paired-end whole-genome shotgun sequencing and Nanopore sequencing. We annotated 39,722 protein-coding genes in the 395.04 Mb assembly. In comparison to other cultivars, XYXZ showed a larger gene size including the transcripts and introns, and more exons per gene. And hundreds of ultra-long genes were also detected. A total of 4362 complete LTRs were annotated, and among them, many were located next to or in protein-coding genes including several genes related to rice quality. We observed the different distributions of LTRs in these genes among XYXZ, Nipponbare, and R498, implying these LTRs might potentially affect expressions of the proximal genes and rice quality. Overall, This chromosome-length genome assembly of XYXZ provides a valuable resource for gene discovery, genetic variation and evolution, and the breeding of high-quality rice.

Comparison of shock wave lithotripsy and ureteroscopy in patients with proximal ureteral stones under the COVID-19 pandemic

PURPOSE

To compare the effectiveness, safety, and cost between ultrasound-guided shock wave lithotripsy (SWL) with an early second session protocol and ureteroscopy (URS) in patients with proximal ureteral stones using the propensity score matching (PSM) method based on a large prospective study.

METHODS

This prospective study was conducted in a tertiary hospital from June 2020 to April 2022. Patients who underwent lithotripsy (SWL or URS) for proximal ureteral stones were enrolled. The stone-free rate (SFR), complications, and cost were recorded. PSM analysis was performed.

RESULTS

A total of 1230 patients were included, of whom 81.1% (998) were treated with SWL and 18.9% (232) were treated with URS. After PSM, the SWL group had an equivalent SFR at one month (88.7 vs. 83.6%, P = 0.114) compared with the URS group. Complications were rare and comparable between the two groups, while the incidence of ureteral injuries was higher in the URS group compared with the SWL group (1.4 vs. 0%, P = 0.011). The hospital stay was significantly shorter (1 day vs. 2 days, P < 0.001), and the cost was considerably less (2000 vs. 25,053, P < 0.001) in the SWL group compared with the URS group.

CONCLUSION

This prospective PSM cohort demonstrated that ultrasound-guided SWL with an early second session protocol had equivalent effectiveness but better safety and lower cost compared with URS in the treatment of patients with proximal ureteral stones, whether the stones were radiopaque or radiolucent. These results will facilitate treatment decisions for proximal ureteral stones.

[Analysis on the status quo of the awareness rate of core knowledge of cancer prevention and treatment and its influencing factors among residents in Liaoning Province in 2021]

Objective: To analyze the status quo of the knowledge and related factors of cancer prevention and treatment among residents in Liaoning Province in 2021. Methods: From August to November 2021, through network sampling method, 17 474 permanent residents aged 15-69 years in Liaoning Province were surveyed. The WeChat public account was used to collect information such as demographic characteristics and core knowledge of cancer prevention and treatment. The Chi-square test was used to compare the difference of the level of the cancer prevention and treatment knowledge among different groups. The multivariate logistic regression model was used to analyze the related factors. Results: Among the 17 474 subjects, 43.1% (7 528) were male and 58.7% (10 262) were urban residents. The overall awareness rate was 72.3%, and the awareness rate of cancer cognition, prevention, early diagnosis and treatment, cancer management and rehabilitation were 71.4%, 67.6%, 72.7%, 83.4% and 63.5%, respectively. The multivariate logistic regression model showed that the residents who were man (OR: 0.850, 95%CI: 0.781-0.925), in rural areas (OR: 0.753, 95%CI: 0.694-0.817), 55-59 years old (OR: 0.851, 95%CI: 0.751-0.963), quitters (OR: 0.721, 95%CI: 0.640-0.813) and smoker (OR: 0.724, 95%CI: 0.654-0.801) had lower awareness rates, while the residents who were 35-54 years old (OR: 1.312, 95%CI: 1.202-1.432), with an educational level of junior high school/senior high school/college degree or above (OR: 1.834-5.130, 95%CI: 1.575-6.047), technical personnel (OR: 1.592, 95%CI: 1.367-1.854), civil servant/institution staff (OR: 1.282, 95%CI: 1.094-1.503), enterprise/business/service staff (OR: 1.218, 95%CI: 1.071-1.385), retired (OR: 1.324, 95%CI: 1.114-1.573) and with family history of cancer (OR: 1.369, 95%CI: 1.266-1.481) had higher awareness rates. Conclusion: The level of the awareness of core knowledge of cancer prevention and treatment among residents in Liaoning Province has met the requirements of the Healthy China Action. Region, gender, education level, age, family history of cancer and smoking are relevant factors.

Plasmonic Metal Mediated Charge Transfer in Stacked Core-Shell Semiconductor Heterojunction for Significantly Enhanced CO2 Photoreduction

Construction of core-shell semiconductor heterojunctions and plasmonic metal/semiconductor heterostructures represents two promising routes to improved light harvesting and promoted charge separation, but their photocatalytic activities are respectively limited by sluggish consumption of charge carriers confined in the cores, and contradictory migration directions of plasmon-induced hot electrons and semiconductor-generated electrons. Herein, a semiconductor/metal/semiconductor stacked core-shell design is demonstrated to overcome these limitations and significantly boost the photoactivity in CO₂  reduction. In this smart design, sandwiched Au serves as a "stone", which "kills two birds" by inducing localized surface plasmon resonance for hot electron generation and mediating unidirectional transmission of conduction band electrons and hot electrons from TiO₂  core to MoS₂  shell. Meanwhile, upward band bending of TiO₂  drives core-to-shell migration of holes through TiO₂ -MoS₂  interface. The co-existence of TiO₂  → Au → MoS₂  electron flow and TiO₂  → MoS₂  hole flow contributes to spatial charge separation on different locations of MoS₂  outer layer for overall redox reactions. Additionally, reduction potential of photoelectrons participating in the CO₂  reduction is elaborately adjusted by tuning the thickness of MoS₂  shell, and thus the product selectivity is delicately regulated. This work provides fresh hints for rationally controlling the charge transfer pathways toward high-efficiency CO₂  photoreduction.

Mutualistic microbial community of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens and recombinant Yarrowia lipolytica co-produced lipopeptides and fatty acids from food waste

Bioconversion is an important method for transforming food waste (FW) into high value-added products, rendering it harmless, and recycling resources. An artificial microbial consortium (AMC) was constructed to produce FW-based lipopeptides in order to investigate the strategy of FW bioconversion into value-added products. Exogenous fatty acids as a precursor significantly improved the lipopeptide production of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens HM618. To enhance fatty acid synthesis and efflux in AMC, the recombinant Yarrowia lipolytica YL21 (strain YL21) was constructed by screening 12 target genes related to fatty acids to replace exogenous fatty acids in order to improve lipopeptide production. The levels of fengycin, surfactin, and iturin A in the AMC of strains HM618 and YL21 reached 76.19, 192.80, and 31.32 mg L^-1, increasing 7.24-, 12.13-, and 3.23-fold compared to the results from the pure culture of strain HM618 in flask with Landy medium, respectively. Furthermore, free fatty acids were almost undetectable in the co-culture of strains HM618 and YL21, although its level was around 1.25 g L^-1 in the pure culture of strain YL21 with Landy medium. Interestingly, 470.24 mg L^-1 of lipopeptides and 18.11 g L^-1 of fatty acids were co-produced in this AMC in a bioreactor with FW medium. To our knowledge, it is the first report of FW biotransformation into co-produce of lipopeptides and fatty acids in the AMC of B. amyloliquefaciens and Y. lipolytica. These results provide new insights into the biotransformation potential of FW for value-added co-products by AMC.