Three-dimensional pseudo-continuous arterial spin-labelled perfusion imaging for diagnosing upper cervical lymph node metastasis in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma: a whole-node histogram analysis

AIM

To evaluate whole-node histogram parameters of blood flow (BF) maps derived from three-dimensional pseudo-continuous arterial spin-labelled (3D pCASL) imaging in discriminating metastatic from benign upper cervical lymph nodes (UCLNs) for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Eighty NPC patients with a total of 170 histologically confirmed UCLNs (67 benign and 103 metastatic) were included retrospectively. Pre-treatment 3D pCASL imaging was performed and whole-node histogram analysis was then applied. Histogram parameters and morphological features, such as minimum axis diameter (MinAD), maximum axis diameter (MaxAD), and location of UCLNs, were assessed and compared between benign and metastatic lesions. Predictors were identified and further applied to establish a combined model by multivariate logistic regression in predicting the probability of metastatic UCLNs. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to analyse the diagnostic performance.

RESULTS

Metastatic UCLNs had larger MinAD and MinAD/MaxAD ratio, greater energy and entropy values, and higher incidence of level II (upper jugular group), but lower BF10th value than benign nodes (all p<0.05). MinAD, BF10th, energy, and entropy were validated as independent predictors in diagnosing metastatic UCLNs. The combined model yielded an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.932, accuracy of 84.42 %, sensitivity of 80.6 %, and specificity of 90.29 %.

CONCLUSIONS

Whole-node histogram analysis on BF maps is a feasible tool to differentiate metastatic from benign UCLNs in NPC patients, and the combined model can further improve the diagnostic efficacy.

Acute exposure to seasonal PM2.5 induces toxicological responses in A549 cells cultured at the air-liquid interface mediated by oxidative stress and endoplasmic reticulum stress

Atmospheric fine particulate matter (PM2.5) enters the human body through respiration and poses a threat to human health. This is not only dependent on its mass concentration in the atmosphere, but also related to seasonal variations in its chemical components, which makes it important to study the cytotoxicity of PM2.5 in different seasons. Traditional immersion exposure cannot simulate the living environment of human epithelial cells in the human body, making this method unsuitable for evaluating the inhalation toxicity of PM2.5. In this study, a novel air-liquid interface (ALI) particulate matter exposure device (VITROCELL Cloud 12 system) was used to evaluate the toxic effects and potential mechanisms of human lung epithelial cells (A549) after exposure to seasonal PM2.5. PM2.5 samples from four seasons were collected and analyzed for chemical components. After 6 h of exposure to seasonal PM2.5, winter PM2.5 exhibited the highest cytotoxicity among most toxicity indicators, especially apoptosis rate, reactive oxygen species (ROS), inflammatory responses and DNA damage (γ-H2AX). The effect of autumn PM2.5 on apoptosis rate was significantly higher than that in spring, and there was no significant difference in other toxicity indicators between spring and autumn. The cytotoxicity of summer PM2.5 was the lowest among the four seasons. It should be noted that even exposure to low doses of summer PM2.5 leads to significant DNA damage in A459 cells. Correlation analysis results showed that water-soluble ions, metallic elements, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were associated with most toxicological endpoints. Inhibitors of oxidative stress and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress significantly inhibited cellular damage, indicating that PM2.5-induced cytotoxicity may be related to the generation of ROS and ER stress. In addition, PM2.5 can induce ER stress through oxidative stress, which ultimately leads to apoptosis.

Fault-Tolerant Cubature Kalman Filter for Engineering Estimation Control Systems

The cubature Kalman filter (CKF) overcomes the limitations of the Kalman filter in strong nonlinear systems, which has been widely used in many fields. However, in practical engineering, the abnormal measurement information obtained by the sensor causes the measurement noise covariance to change, which may deteriorate the filtering performance and even cause the filter failure. The fault-tolerant filter can deal with the state estimation problem for the systems with abnormal measurements. The key of the fault-tolerant filter is to forcefully correct filter innovation by using a fading factor. The fault-tolerant filter technology has been extensively applied in many practical systems, but it is still lack of reasonable theoretical analysis. To this end, the measurement noise model is established and the magnitude of the noise deviation is analyzed. The filtering performance under abnormal measurement is analyzed by three mean squared errors (MSEs), which are the ideal MSE, the filter calculated MSE and the true MSE. In order to solve the influence of sampling approximation deviation of CKF on fault detection, an improved fault detection algorithm is proposed. The performance of fault-tolerant CKF is analyzed from two views. The first view is about comparing the filter calculated MSEs of CKF and of fault-tolerant CKF, the second view is about comparing the relative closeness of the filter calculated MSE to the true MSE for the two algorithms. Numerical examples further verify these conclusions.

A functionalized glass fiber as the adsorbent for efficient analysis of endocrine disruptors in aqueous environments

Estrogens and bisphenols are typical endocrine disruptors (EDs) that pose a potential hazard to the human body due to their widespread presence in aqueous environments. In this study, a β-cyclodextrin porous crosslinked polymer (β-CD-PCP) was prepared in-situ on a glass fiber surface by a nucleophilic substitution reaction. An effective and sensitive solid phase microextraction method using functionalized glass fiber with β-CD-PCP coating as the adsorbent was established for the detection of 11 EDs in a water environment. The β-CD-PCP was in-situ prepared on a glass fiber surface by a nucleophilic substitution reaction. The β-CD-PCP successfully separated five estrogens (ESTs) and six bisphenols (BPs) through hydrophobic and π-π interactions. The conditions affecting extraction were optimized. Under the optimized conditions, the ESTs obtained a high enrichment effect (1795-2328), low limits of detection (0.047 µg L-1) and a good linearity range (0.2-15.0 µg L-1). Furthermore, the spiked recoveries of analyte ESTs in aqueous environments were between 82.9-115.7 %. The results indicated that the prepared functionalized glass fibers exhibited good adsorption properties, and the established analytical method was reliable for monitoring trace ESTs and BPs in aqueous environments.

Toxicological responses of A549 and HCE-T cells exposed to fine particulate matter at the air-liquid interface

Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) can enter the human body in various ways and have adverse effects on human health. Human lungs and eyes are exposed to the air for a long time and are the first to be exposed to PM2.5. The "liquid immersion exposure method" has some limitations that prevent it from fully reflecting the toxic effects of particulate matter on the human body. In this study, the collected PM2.5 samples were chemically analyzed. An air-liquid interface (ALI) model with a high correlation to the in vivo environment was established based on human lung epithelial cells (A549) and immortalized human corneal epithelial cells (HCE-T). The VITROCELL Cloud 12 system was used to distribute PM2.5 on the cells evenly. After exposure for 6 h and 24 h, cell viability, apoptosis rate, reactive oxygen species (ROS) level, expression of inflammatory factors, and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) damage were measured. The results demonstrated significant dose- and time-dependent effects of PM2.5 on cell viability, cell apoptosis, ROS generation, and DNA damage at the ALI, while the inflammatory factors showed dose-dependent effects only. It should be noted that even short exposure to low doses of PM2.5 can cause cell DNA double-strand breaks and increased expression of γ-H2AX, indicating significant genotoxicity of PM2.5. Increased abundance of ROS in cells plays a crucial role in the cytotoxicity induced by PM2.5 exposure These findings emphasize the significant cellular damage and genotoxicity that may result from short-term exposure to low levels of PM2.5.

Insight into the interaction of tetrabromobisphenol A with sediment-derived dissolved organic carbon in a multiphase system by direct immersion solid phase microextraction

Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA), a ubiquitously used commercial brominated flame retardant (BFR), has been widely detected in aquatic environments, and has aroused much attention due to its potential adverse effects on aquatic organisms. However, current research on the environmental fate and transport of TBBPA in the sediment-dissolved organic carbon (DOC)-water polyphase system is lacking. In this study, the sorption behavior of TBBPA in a water-DOC-sediment system was investigated using the direct-immersion solid-phase microextraction (DI-SPME) method, and the free dissolved concentration (Cw-SPME) and DOC adsorption concentration (CDOC) of TBBPA in water were measured by applying this DI-SPME approach. In addition, the effects of pH, ionic strength, and soluble organic concentration on the adsorption of TBBPA in the multiphase system were evaluated. The adsorption kinetics experimental results show that the adsorption behavior of TBBPA on sediments conforms to a linear model, suggesting that it could be mainly absorbed by sediments. The solid-water partition coefficient (Kd) of TBBPA was artificially reduced 1.54 times using the traditional liquid-liquid extraction method because the sorption behavior of the DOC was ignored, which could be accurately corrected using the DI-SPME method. The logKd and logKOC of TBBPA in the multiphase system were 4.12 ± 0.25 and 6.48 ± 0.25, respectively. Finally, the interference experiment revealed that the sorption behavior of TBBPA was affected by the pH, ionic strength (calcium ion), and humic acid concentration, apart from the lead ion concentration itself.

Complete chloroplast genome of Tricyrtis xianjuensis Li, Chen & Ma 2014 (Liliaceae): a species endemic to Zhejiang province, China

Tricyrtis xianjuensis Li, Chen & Ma 2014 is a rare and endangered species endemic to Zhejiang province, with fewer than 200 individuals in the wild. In our present study, the complete chloroplast genome of T. xianjuensis was assembled by using high-throughput sequencing data, and its genomic features were described and comparative genomic analyses within Liliaceae family were performed. The complete chloroplast genome of T. xianjuensis was 155,748 bp in length, exhibiting a GC content of 37.3%. This genome structure contained two inverted repeats (IRs), as well as a small single-copy (SSC) and a large single-copy (LSC) region. The IR region measured 26,371 bp, while the SSC and LSC regions were 17,729 bp and 85,277 bp in length, respectively. A total of 137 genes were identified, including 85 protein-coding genes, 38 tRNA genes, eight rRNA genes, and six pseudogenes. Phylogenic analysis revealed T. xianjuensis shared a clade with T. formosana Baker 1879 and T. macropoda Miq. 1867, with a support rate of 100%. The assembly and analysis of T. xianjuensis chloroplast genome provided an insight into further studies on the conservation genetics of this endangered species.

A New Siamese Heterogeneous Convolutional Neural Networks Based on Attention Mechanism and Feature Pyramid

Accuracy and speed are the most important indexes for evaluating many object tracking algorithms. However, when constructing a deep fully convolutional neural network (CNN), the use of deep network feature tracking will cause tracking drift due to the effects of convolution padding, receptive field (RF), and overall network step size. The speed of the tracker will also decrease. This article proposes a fully convolutional siamese network object tracking algorithm that combines the attention mechanism with the feature pyramid network (FPN), and uses heterogeneous convolution kernels to reduce the amount of calculations (FLOPs) and parameters. The tracker first uses a new fully CNN to extract image features, and introduces a channel attention mechanism in the feature extraction process to improve the representation ability of convolutional features. Then use the FPN to fuse the convolutional features of high and low layers, learn the similarity of the fused features, and train the fully CNNs. Finally, the heterogeneous convolutional kernel is used to replace the standard convolution kernel to improve the speed of the algorithm, thereby making up for the efficiency loss caused by the feature pyramid model. In this article, the tracker is experimentally verified and analyzed on the VOT-2017, VOT-2018, OTB-2013, and OTB-2015 datasets. The results show that our tracker has achieved better results than the state-of-the-art trackers.

The Cytotoxic Effects of Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5) from Different Sources at the Air-Liquid Interface Exposure on A549 Cells

The health of humans has been negatively impacted by PM2.5 exposure, but the chemical composition and toxicity of PM2.5 might vary depending on its source. To investigate the toxic effects of particulate matter from different sources on lung epithelial cells (A549), PM2.5 samples were collected from residential, industrial, and transportation areas in Nanjing, China. The chemical composition of PM2.5 was analyzed, and toxicological experiments were conducted. The A549 cells were exposed using an air-liquid interface (ALI) exposure system, and the cytotoxic indicators of the cells were detected. The research results indicated that acute exposure to different sources of particulate matter at the air-liquid interface caused damage to the cells, induced the production of ROS, caused apoptosis, inflammatory damage, and DNA damage, with a dose-effect relationship. The content of heavy metals and PAHs in PM2.5 from the traffic source was relatively high, and the toxic effect of the traffic-source samples on the cells was higher than that of the industrial- and residential-source samples. The cytotoxicity of particulate matter was mostly associated with water-soluble ions, carbon components, heavy metals, PAHs, and endotoxin, based on the analysis of the Pearson correlation. Oxidative stress played an important role in PM2.5-induced biological toxicity.

Metal surface defect detection based on improved YOLOv5

During the production of metal material, various complex defects may come into being on the surface, together with large amount of background texture information, causing false or missing detection in the process of small defect detection. To resolve those problems, this paper introduces a new model which combines the advantages of CSPlayer module and Global Attention Enhancement Mechanism based on the YOLOv5s model. First of all, we replace C3 module with CSPlayer module to augment the neural network model, so as to improve its flexibility and adaptability. Then, we introduce the Global Attention Mechanism (GAM) and build the generalized additive model. In the meanwhile, the attention weights of all dimensions are weighted and averaged as output to promote the detection speed and accuracy. The results of the experiment in which the GC10-DET augmented dataset is involved, show that the improved algorithm model performs better than YOLOv5s in precision, mAP@0.5 and mAP@0.5: 0.95 by 5.3%, 1.4% and 1.7% respectively, and it also has a higher reasoning speed.

[Effect of recombinant human thrombin for hemostasis in liver resection: a randomized controlled phase Ⅲ clinical trial]

Objective: To evaluate the hemostatic efficacy, safety and immunogenicity of recombinant human thrombin in the treatment of liver wounds that still ooze after conventional surgical hemostasis. Methods: A multicenter, stratified randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase Ⅲ trial with a planned enrollment of 510 subjects at 33 centers, with a 2∶1 randomization to the thrombin group versus the placebo group. An interim analysis will be conducted after approximately 70% of the subjects have completed the observation period. The primary efficacy endpoint was the rate of hemostasis within 6 minutes at the point of bleeding that could be evaluated. Safety analysis was performed one month after surgery, and the positive rates of anti-drug antibody (ADA) and neutralizing antibody were evaluated. Results: At the interim analysis, a total of 348 subjects had been randomized and received the study drug (215 were male and 133 were female). They were aged 19-69 (52.9±10.9)years. Among them, 232 were in the thrombin group and 116 were in the placebo group, with balanced and comparable demographics and baseline characteristics between the two groups. The hemostasis rate at 6 minutes was 71.6% (95%CI:65.75%-77.36%) in the thrombin group and 44.0% (95%CI: 34.93%-53.00%) in the placebo group, respectively (P<0.001). No grade≥3 drug-related adverse events and no drug-related deaths were reported from the study.No recombinant human thrombin-induced immunologically-enhanced ADA or immunologically-induced ADA was detected after topical use in subjects. Conclusion: Recombinant human thrombin has shown significant hemostatic efficacy and good safety in controlling bleeding during liver resection surgery, while also demonstrating low immunogenicity characteristics.

Complete chloroplast genome of a traditional medicinal plant Luisia hancockii Rolfe 1896: genomic features and phylogenetic relationship within subtribe Aeridinae (Orchidaceae)

Luisia hancockii Rolfe 1896 is an epiphytic orchid species. In our present study, the whole chloroplast genome sequence of L. hancockii was de novo assembled by using high-throughput Illumina reads, and phylogenetic analysis was conducted within species of subtribe Aeridinae. The complete chloroplast genome sequence of L. hancockii was 146,243 bp in length, with a typical quadripartite structure, and its large single-copy, small single-copy, and inverted repeat were 84,441 bp, 11,412 bp, and 25,195 bp long, respectively. The GC content of the whole chloroplast genome was 36.6%, while the GC contents of LSC, SSC, and IR were 33.8%, 27.5%, and 43.3%, respectively. The chloroplast genome consisted of 129 genes, including 74 protein-coding genes, eight rRNAs, 38 tRNAs, and nine pseudogenes. Phylogenic tree was generated using the best model GTR + R, and the results showed that L. hancockii was sister to Holcoglossum and Vanda species, with a support of 100%.

miR-3195 suppresses the malignant progression of osteosarcoma cells via targeting SOX4

BACKGROUND

Osteosarcoma (OS) is a highly invasive primary malignancy of the bone that is common in children and adolescents. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are novel diagnostic and predictive biomarkers for cancers. The miRNA miR-3195 is aberrantly expressed in multiple types of tumors. However, the expression levels and biological functions of miR-3195 in OS remain unclear.

METHODS

Two Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets (GSE69470 and GSE16088) were used to analyze differentially expressed miRNAs and mRNAs in osteosarcoma cell lines and OS tissues. Quantitative RT-PCR was used to detect the expression levels of miR-3195 and the SRY-box transcription factor 4 (SOX4) mRNA in OS tissues and cell lines. The relationship between miR-3195 and the 3'-upstream region (3'-UTR) in the SOX4 mRNA (predicted through bioinformatics) was analyzed using Pearson's correlation analysis and confirmed by a dual-luciferase reporter gene experiment. Cell counting kit-8 assays, colony formation assays, flow cytometry, wound healing assays, transwell assays, and western blotting were performed to explore the effects of miR-3195 levels on SOX4 affected OS cell biological behavior.

RESULTS

Our results revealed that miR-3195 was the most down-regulated miRNA and SOX4 was the most up-regulated mRNA by Bioinformatic analysis. It was further confirmed miR-3195 had low expression, and SOX4 had high expression levels in clinical OS tissue samples; the expression levels of both genes were negatively correlated with each other in OS tissues. Overexpression of miR-3195 in OS cell lines significantly inhibited cell proliferation, migration, and invasiveness, while promoting apoptosis; all these effects were reversed by increasing SOX4 expression levels. We also found that miR-3195 could directly bind with the SOX4 gene and down-regulate SOX4 expression.

CONCLUSIONS

miR-3195 can modulate proliferation, migration, invasiveness, and apoptosis in OS cells by regulating the SOX4 gene. Thus, the miR-3195/SOX4 signaling may be a novel therapeutic target in OS treatment.

CYP2C19 Polymorphisms and Clinical Outcomes Following Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) in the Million Veterans Program

Background

CYP2C19 loss-of-function (LOF) alleles decrease the antiplatelet effect of clopidogrel following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients presenting with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). The impact of genotype in stable ischemic heart disease (SIHD) is unclear.

Objectives

Determine the association of CYP2C19 genotype with major adverse cardiac events (MACE) after PCI for ACS or SIHD.

Methods

Million Veterans Program (MVP) participants age <65 years with a PCI documented in the VA Clinical Assessment, Reporting and Tracking (CART) Program between 1/1/2009 to 9/30/2017, treated with clopidogrel were included. Time to MACE defined as the composite of all-cause death, stroke or myocardial infarction within 12 months following PCI.

Results

Among 4,461 Veterans (mean age 59.1 ± 5.1 years, 18% Black); 44% had ACS, 56% had SIHD and 29% carried a CYP2C19 LOF allele. 301 patients (6.7%) experienced MACE while being treated with clopidogrel, 155 (7.9%) in the ACS group and 146 (5.9%) in the SIHD group. Overall, MACE was not significantly different between LOF carriers vs. noncarriers (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 1.18, confidence interval [95%CI] 0.97-1.45, p=0.096). Among patients presenting with ACS, MACE risk in LOF carriers versus non-carriers was numerically higher (HR 1.30, 95%CI 0.98-1.73, p=0.067). There was no difference in MACE risk in patients with SIHD (HR 1.09, 95%CI 0.82-1.44; p=0.565).

Conclusions

CYP2C19 LOF carriers presenting with ACS treated with clopidogrel following PCI experienced a numerically greater elevated risk of MACE events. CYP2C19 LOF genotype is not associated with MACE among patients presenting with SIHD.

Measurement of the Positive Muon Anomalous Magnetic Moment to 0.20 ppm

We present a new measurement of the positive muon magnetic anomaly, a_{μ}≡(g_{μ}-2)/2, from the Fermilab Muon g-2 Experiment using data collected in 2019 and 2020. We have analyzed more than 4 times the number of positrons from muon decay than in our previous result from 2018 data. The systematic error is reduced by more than a factor of 2 due to better running conditions, a more stable beam, and improved knowledge of the magnetic field weighted by the muon distribution, ω[over ˜]_{p}^{'}, and of the anomalous precession frequency corrected for beam dynamics effects, ω_{a}. From the ratio ω_{a}/ω[over ˜]_{p}^{'}, together with precisely determined external parameters, we determine a_{μ}=116 592 057(25)×10^{-11} (0.21 ppm). Combining this result with our previous result from the 2018 data, we obtain a_{μ}(FNAL)=116 592 055(24)×10^{-11} (0.20 ppm). The new experimental world average is a_{μ}(exp)=116 592 059(22)×10^{-11} (0.19 ppm), which represents a factor of 2 improvement in precision.

The Role of Radiation Therapy for Metastatic Cervical Cancer

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE(S)

Survival rates for women with metastatic cervical cancer (CC) are low, with limited management options. Radiation therapy (RT) for metastatic disease has led to prolonged survival in other malignancies, however, the data are scarce in CC. Herein, we evaluated the effect of RT for metastatic CC.

MATERIALS/METHODS

A total of 58 patients with metastatic CC between September 2019 and January 2023 were retrospectively analyzed. All the patients were treated with platinum-based chemotherapy combined with targeted therapy or immunotherapy followed with or without RT (NRT). The recent efficacy, survival status and prognostic factors were analyzed statistically.

RESULTS

Objective response rate (ORR) was 63.6% with one complete and twenty partial responses in RT group (n = 33) and 40.0% with two complete and eight partial responses in NRT group (n = 25), respectively (p = 0.074). Disease control rate (DCR) of the RT and NRT groups were 79.4% vs 80.0%, respectively (p = 0.861). Median follow-up time was 17 months (3-39months). In RT group, 11(33.3%) patients experienced local regional or distant failure and 9 (27.3%) patients were dead. In NRT group, 15(60%) patients had progression and 8 (32%) patients dead. There was no significant difference between the two groups in overall survival (OS); however, RT group displayed superior progression-free survival (PFS) (1-year OS: 72.7% vs. 68.0%, p = 0.460; 1-year PFS: 66.7% vs. 40.0%, p = 0.039). The multivariate analysis showed that RT, immunotherapy, lymph node metastasis only relevant predictor of superior PFS but not OS. In subgroup analysis, patients treated with RT appeared to have a better PFS in some specific cohorts, such as age>45 years (72.0% vs 36.4% P = 0.015), squamous carcinoma histology (71.0% vs 40.9% P = 0.017), metastatic at diagnosis (75.0% vs 47.6% P = 0.012), non-targeted therapy (72.4% vs 43.8% P = 0.040). No significant increase in treatment-related toxicity was observed in the RT group compared with the NRT group.

CONCLUSION

RT provided superior PFS in metastatic CC patients compared to NRT, and well tolerated. Moreover, RT, immunotherapy, lymph node metastasis only were independent significant prognostic factors for PFS. Subgroup analysis showed that combination of RT and chemotherapy obtained favorable PFS in metastatic CC patients with age>45 years, squamous carcinoma histology, metastatic at diagnosis, non-targeted therapy. Studies with a larger sample size and longer follow-up are warranted.

Radiation Induced Lung Injury in Rats after Pre-Oxygenation Radiotherapy

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE(S)

Deep inspiratory breath holding (DIBH) has been widely used during the radiotherapy of thoracic tumors. The main disadvantage of voluntary DIBH is the short duration of each breath hold. The hypocapnia induced by hyperoxia (oxygen concentration > 50%) pre-oxygenation (PreO2) combined with mechanical hyperventilation has been reported to prolong the duration of single breath hold, but its safety remains controversial, especially the sensitivity of lung tissue to radiation damage under hyperoxia exposure has not been elucidated. In this study, we aim to investigate the changes of radiation induced lung injury in rats after PreO2 radiation.

MATERIALS/METHODS

We evaluated the lung tissue of rats at different time points (48h, 2w, 4w, 8w, 12w) after thoracic radiation (15Gy single fraction to the right lung), and sequenced the transcriptome of lung tissue at 48 hours after irradiation. Rat cohorts (n = 7/group): 1. Control (Con); 2. Radiation group (RT); 3. Pre-oxygenation (oxygen concentration > 90%) for 8 hours before thoracic radiation (PreO2).

RESULTS

The inflammatory exudation emerged in the pulmonary interstitium at 48 hours, and reached the most serious alveolitis after four weeks of irradiation (the comparison of alveolitis scores in RT4w vs Con4w and PreO2(4w) vs Con4w, P<0.001) on hematoxylin-eosin staining. While the alveolitis scores in RT group and PreO2 group were not statistically different at each time point. Masson staining showed that the pulmonary fibrosis in the RT group and the PreO2 group reached an obvious pathological change at 12 weeks after irradiation, but the difference between the two groups was not significant. Transcriptome sequencing showed that the number of differential genes in PreO2 vs Con was 559 (302 up-regulated genes and 257 down-regulated genes). The GO enrichment analysis indicated that chromosome segregation was the most significant functional item with P value in the comparative analysis, and the KEGG enrichment analysis suggested that cell division was the most significant enrichment pathway of these differential genes. While there was a small quantity of differential genes in PreO2 vs RT group (3 up-regulated genes and 12 down-regulated genes). Pentose and glucuronate conversions were the most significant enrichment pathway of these differential genes.

CONCLUSION

This study demonstrated that PreO2 radiotherapy did not increase the severity of radiation induced lung injury in rats compared to conventional radiotherapy. Further study should be conducted to confirm these results and to investigate the regulatory mechanism of pneumonia caused by PreO2 radiotherapy.

Deep Learning-Based Multi-Modality Segmentation of Primary Gross Tumor Volume in CT and MRI for Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE(S)

The delineation of primary gross tumor volume (GTV) of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is an essential step for radiotherapy planning. In clinical practice, radiation oncologists manually delineate the GTV in planning CT with the help of diagnostic MRI. This is because NPC tumors are closely adjacent to many important anatomic structures, and CT and MRI provide complementary strength to accurately determine the tumor extension boundary. Manual delineation is time-consuming with the potential registration errors between MRI and CT decreasing the delineation accuracy. In this study, we propose a fully automated GTV segmentation method based on CT and MRI by first aligning MRI to CT, and then, segmenting the GTV using a multi-modality deep learning model.

MATERIALS/METHODS

We collected 104 nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients with both planning CT and diagnostic MRI scans (T1 & T2 phases). An experienced radiation oncologists manually delineated the GTV, which was further examined by another senior radiation oncologist. Then, a coarse to fine cross-modality registration from MRI to CT was conducted as follows: (1) A rigid transformation was performed on MRI to roughly align MRI to CT with similar anatomic position. (2) Then, the region of interest (RoI) on both CT and rigid-transformed MRI were cropped. (3) A leading cross-modality deformable registration algorithm, named DEEDS, was applied on the cropped MRI and CT RoIs to find an accurate local alignment. Next, using CT and registered MRI as the combined input, a multi-modality deep segmentation network based on nnUNet was trained to generate the GTV prediction. 20% patients were randomly selected as the unseen testing set to quantitatively evaluate the performance.

RESULTS

The quantitative NPC GTV segmentation performance is summarized in Table 1. The deep segmentation model using CT alone achieved reasonable high performance with 76.6% Dice score and 1.34mm average surface distance (ASD). When both CT and registered MRI were used, the segmentation model further improved the performance by 0.9% Dice score increase and 11% relative ASD error reduction, demonstrating the complementary strength of CT and MRI in determining NPC GTV. Notably, the achieved 77.5% Dice score and 1.19mm ASD by the multimodality model is among the top performing results reported in recent automatic NPC GTV segmentation using either CT or MRI modality.

CONCLUSION

We developed a fully automated multi-modal deep-learning model for NPC GTV segmentation. The developed model can segment the NPC GTV in high accuracy. With further optimization and validation, this automated model has potential to standardize the NPC GTV segmentation and significantly decrease the workload of radiation oncologists in clinical practice.

Two Recurrent Neural Networks With Reduced Model Complexity for Constrained l₁-Norm Optimization

Because of the robustness and sparsity performance of least absolute deviation (LAD or l1 ) optimization, developing effective solution methods becomes an important topic. Recurrent neural networks (RNNs) are reported to be capable of effectively solving constrained l1 -norm optimization problems, but their convergence speed is limited. To accelerate the convergence, this article introduces two RNNs, in form of continuous- and discrete-time systems, for solving l1 -norm optimization problems with linear equality and inequality constraints. The RNNs are theoretically proven to be globally convergent to optimal solutions without any condition. With reduced model complexity, the two RNNs can significantly expedite constrained l1 -norm optimization. Numerical simulation results show that the two RNNs spend much less computational time than related RNNs and numerical optimization algorithms for linearly constrained l1 -norm optimization.

Mixed-Lineage Leukemia 1 Inhibition Enhances the Differentiation Potential of Bovine Embryonic Stem Cells by Increasing H3K4 Mono-Methylation at Active Promoters

Mixed-lineage leukemia 1 (MLL1) introduces 1-, 2- and 3-methylation into histone H3K4 through the evolutionarily conserved set domain. In this study, bovine embryonic stem cells (bESCs, known as bESCs-F7) were established from in vitro-fertilized (IVF) embryos via Wnt signaling inhibition; however, their contribution to the endoderm in vivo is limited. To improve the quality of bESCs, MM-102, an inhibitor of MLL1, was applied to the culture. The results showed that MLL1 inhibition along with GSK3 and MAP2K inhibition (3i) at the embryonic stage did not affect bESCs' establishment and pluripotency. MLL1 inhibition improved the pluripotency and differentiation potential of bESCs via the up-regulation of stem cell signaling pathways such as PI3K-Akt and WNT. MLL1 inhibition decreased H3K4me1 modification at the promoters and altered the distribution of DNA methylation in bESCs. In summary, MLL1 inhibition gives bESCs better pluripotency, and its application may provide high-quality pluripotent stem cells for domestic animals.

Context-aware deep network for coronary artery stenosis classification in coronary CT angiography

Automatic coronary artery stenosis grading plays an important role in the diagnosis of coronary artery disease. Due to the difficulty of learning the informative features from varying grades of stenosis, it is still a challenging task to identify coronary artery stenosis from coronary CT angiography (CCTA). In this paper, we propose a context-aware deep network (CADN) for coronary artery stenosis classification. The proposed method integrates 3D CNN with Transformer to improve the feature representation of coronary artery stenosis in CCTA. We evaluate the proposed method on a multicenter dataset (APOLLO study with NCT05509010). Experimental results show that our proposed method can achieve the accuracy of 0.84, 0.83, and 0.86 for stenosis diagnosis on the lesion, artery, and patient levels, respectively.

Global contextual attention augmented YOLO with ConvMixer prediction heads for PCB surface defect detection

To solve the problem of missed and false detection caused by the large number of tiny targets and complex background textures in a printed circuit board (PCB), we propose a global contextual attention augmented YOLO model with ConvMixer prediction heads (GCC-YOLO). In this study, we apply a high-resolution feature layer (P2) to gain more details and positional information of small targets. Moreover, in order to suppress the background noisy information and further enhance the feature extraction capability, a global contextual attention module (GC) is introduced in the backbone network and combined with a C3 module. Furthermore, in order to reduce the loss of shallow feature information due to the deepening of network layers, a bi-directional weighted feature pyramid (BiFPN) feature fusion structure is introduced. Finally, a ConvMixer module is introduced and combined with the C3 module to create a new prediction head, which improves the small target detection capability of the model while reducing the parameters. Test results on the PCB dataset show that GCC-YOLO improved the Precision, Recall, mAP@0.5, and mAP@0.5:0.95 by 0.2%, 1.8%, 0.5%, and 8.3%, respectively, compared to YOLOv5s; moreover, it has a smaller model volume and faster reasoning speed compared to other algorithms.

Development and validation of a survival prediction model and risk stratification for pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms

PURPOSE

We explored risk variables associated with cancer-specific survival (CSS) in patients with pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms (PNENs) and created a network dynamic nomogram model to predict patient survival time.

METHODS

A total of 7750 patients with PNENs were included in this analysis, including 134 with functional PNENs and 7616 with nonfunctional PNENs. Clinical feature and prognosis differences between functional and nonfunctional PNENs were compared. Independent prognostic factors affecting CSS were analyzed by univariate and multifactorial Cox regression. Nomogram and web-based prognosis prediction of PNENs were developed and validated by C indices, decision curve analysis, and calibration plots.

RESULTS

Patients with functional PNENs were younger at diagnosis than those with nonfunctional PNENs. Functional PNENs had better prognoses than nonfunctional PNENs (5-year survival rates: 78.55% and 71.10%, respectively). Univariate and multifactorial Cox regression analyses showed that tumor infiltration (T), nodal metastasis (N), metastasis (M), tumor site, differentiation grade, age, marital status, and surgical treatment were independent prognostic risk factors for CSS, which were included in the prognostic nomogram and web-based prognosis calculator. The calibration plots and decision curve analysis showed that the nomogram had excellent prediction and clinical practical ability. The C indices for CSS in the training and validation cohorts were 0.848 (95% CI 0.838-0.8578) and 0.823 (95% CI 0.807-0.839), respectively. We scored all patients according to the nomogram and divided patients into three different risk groups. The prognosis of the low-risk population was significantly better than those of the middle- and high-risk populations based on Kaplan-Meier survival curve.

CONCLUSION

We analyzed the clinical features of PNENs and developed a convenient and web dynamic nomogram to predict CSS.

Open-source lower controller for twelve degrees of freedom hydraulic quadruped robot with distributed control scheme

Nowadays, hydraulic quadruped robot shows high power density, good impact resistance and robustness in the research. The controller is the key to realize these features. This paper shows the design of an open-source single-leg controller for the hydraulic quadruped robot Spurlos using a distributed control scheme. The single-leg system of the hydraulic quadruped robot Spurlos contains three angle encoders, three servo valves and six pressure sensors, which has the same components as most single-leg systems. Through the chips designed in the controller, the signal can be received from the encoders and the sensors, meanwhile the signal can be delivered to the servo valves. The software part of the controller adopts the MBD (Model-Based Design) method, which can greatly improve the development efficiency. According to the experiments, the controller design is reasonable, stable operation, and can satisfy the requirements of the hydraulic quadruped robot for leg motion control. The controller designed in this paper provides a solution to the problem that there is no ready-made control board for hydraulic quadruped robot which have three degrees of freedom for each leg. It enables the control researches for hydraulic quadruped robots to be more easily implemented.

Ecotoxicity induced by total, water soluble and insoluble components of atmospheric fine particulate matter exposure in Caenorhabditis elegans

Although PM_2.5 could cause toxicity in environmental organisms, the toxicity difference of PM_2.5 under different solubilities is still poorly understood. To acquire a better knowledge of the ecotoxicity of PM_2.5 under different solubilities, the model animal Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) was exposed to Total-PM_2.5, water insoluble components of PM_2.5 (WIS-PM_2.5) and water soluble components of PM_2.5 (WS-PM_2.5). The physiological (growth, locomotion behavior, and reproduction), biochemical (germline apoptosis, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production) indices, and the related gene expression were examined. According to the findings, acute exposure to these three components caused adverse physiological effects on growth and locomotion behavior, and significantly induced germline apoptosis or ROS production. In contrast, prolonged exposure showed stronger adverse effects than acute exposure. Additionally, the results of multiple toxicological endpoints showed that the toxicity effects of WIS-PM_2.5 are more intense than WS-PM_2.5, which means that insoluble components contributed more to the toxicity of PM_2.5. Prolonged exposure to 1000 mg/L WS-PM_2.5, WIS-PM_2.5, and Total-PM_2.5 dramatically altered the expression of stress-related genes, which further indicated that apoptosis, DNA damage and oxidative stress play a crucial part in toxicity induced by PM_2.5.

Covalent Organic Frameworks-Based Electrochemical Sensors for Food Safety Analysis

Food safety is a key issue in promoting human health and sustaining life. Food analysis is essential to prevent food components or contaminants causing foodborne-related illnesses to consumers. Electrochemical sensors have become a desirable method for food safety analysis due to their simple, accurate and rapid response. The low sensitivity and poor selectivity of electrochemical sensors working in complex food sample matrices can be overcome by coupling them with covalent organic frameworks (COFs). COFs are a kind of novel porous organic polymer formed by light elements, such as C, H, N and B, via covalent bonds. This review focuses on the recent progress in COF-based electrochemical sensors for food safety analysis. Firstly, the synthesis methods of COFs are summarized. Then, a discussion of the strategies is given to improve the electrochemistry performance of COFs. There follows a summary of the recently developed COF-based electrochemical sensors for the determination of food contaminants, including bisphenols, antibiotics, pesticides, heavy metal ions, fungal toxin and bacterium. Finally, the challenges and the future directions in this field are discussed.

Mechanisms and Consequences of Variable TRPA1 Expression by Airway Epithelial Cells: Effects of TRPV1 Genotype and Environmental Agonists on Cellular Responses to Pollutants in Vitro and Asthma

BACKGROUND

Transient receptor potential ankyrin-1 [transient receptor potential cation channel subfamily A member 1 (TRPA1)] and vanilloid-1 [transient receptor potential cation channel subfamily V member 1 (TRPV1)] detect inhaled irritants, including air pollutants and have roles in the development and exacerbation of asthma.

OBJECTIVES

This study tested the hypothesis that increased expression of TRPA1, stemming from expression of the loss-of-function TRPV1 (I585V; rs8065080) polymorphic variant by airway epithelial cells may explain prior observations of worse asthma symptom control among children with the TRPV1 I585I/V genotype, by virtue of sensitizing epithelial cells to particulate materials and other TRPA1 agonists.

METHODS

TRP agonists, antagonists, small interfering RNA (siRNA), a nuclear factor kappa light chain enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB) pathway inhibitor, and kinase activators and inhibitors were used to modulate TRPA1 and TRPV1 expression and function. Treatment of genotyped airway epithelial cells with particulate materials and analysis of asthma control data were used to assess consequences of TRPV1 genotype and variable TRPA1 expression on cellular responses in vitro and asthma symptom control among children as a function of voluntarily reported tobacco smoke exposure.

RESULTS

A relationship between higher TRPA1 expression and function and lower TRPV1 expression and function was revealed. Findings of this study pointed to a mechanism whereby NF-κB promoted TRPA1 expression, whereas NF-κB-regulated nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain, leucine rich repeat and pyrin domain containing 2 (NLRP2) limited expression. Roles for protein kinase C and p38 mitogen activated protein kinase were also demonstrated. Finally, the TRPV1 I585I/V genotype was associated with increased TRPA1 expression by primary airway epithelial cells and amplified responses to selected air pollution particles in vitro. However, the TRPV1 I585I/V genotype was not associated with worse asthma symptom control among children exposed to tobacco smoke, whereas other TRPA1 and TRPV1 variants were.

DISCUSSION

This study provides insights on how airway epithelial cells regulate TRPA1 expression, how TRPV1 genetics can affect TRPA1 expression, and that TRPA1 and TRPV1 polymorphisms differentially affect asthma symptom control. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP11076.

Association of residential greenness with the risk of metabolic syndrome in Chinese older adults: a longitudinal cohort study

AIMS

We aimed to investigate the association between residential greenness and MetS in older Chinese adults.

METHODS

Longitudinal data on sociodemographic characteristics and lifestyle were collected from the Shenzhen Healthy Ageing Research (SHARE) cohort. Greenness exposure was assessed through satellite-derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) values in the 250-m, 500-m, and 1250-m radius around the residential address for each participant. MetS was defined by standard guidelines for the Chinese population.

RESULTS

A total of 49,893 older Chinese adults with a mean age of 70.96 (SD = 5.26) years were included in the study. In the fully adjusted models, participants who lived in the highest quartile of NDVI_250-m, NDVI_500-m, and NDVI_1250-m had a 15% (odds ratio, OR = 0.85, 95% confidence interval, CI: 0.80-0.90), 12% (OR = 0.88, 95% CI: 0.83-0.93), and 11% (OR = 0.89, 95% CI: 0.85-0.95) lower incidence of MetS, respectively, than those living in the lowest quartile (all p-_trend < 0.01). Interactions and subgroup analyses showed that age, sex, smoking status, and drinking status were significant effect modifiers (p-_interaction for all NDVI < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Residential greenness is associated with a lower risk of MetS in Chinese older adults, especially for young older adults, females, non-smokers, and non-drinkers.

Utilization of sewage sludge ash in ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC): Microstructure and life-cycle assessment

In this research, an economical and eco-friendly ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) with compressive strength of more than 120 MPa was prepared with the dosage of sewage sludge ash (SSA) at 8 wt%. The results indicate that the addition of SSA has an adverse influence on the workability of UHPC samples due to its special morphology. Furthermore, the microstructure and phase assemblage of SSA-based UHPC were determined and the results show that SSA inhibits the early hydration of cement clinker, while promotes the precipitation of additional hydration products at later curing ages due to its pozzolanic reaction. The pore structure analysis of SSA-based UHPC determined by mercury intrusion porosimetry indicates that the addition of SSA increases the cumulative pore volume, while decreases the large pore volume of UHPC. Economic and environmental analysis indicates that using SSA-based UHPC greatly reduces the unit cost and the impacts on the environment.

Reproductive toxicity and underlying mechanisms of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) on Caenorhabditis elegans in different seasons

Although numerous studies have investigated that atmospheric fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) can be toxic to environmental organisms, the research on the reproductive toxicity of PM_2.5 is limited, and the key toxic components and underlying mechanisms remain unknown. In this work, PM_2.5 samples of four seasons in Nanjing from March 1, 2021, to February 28, 2022 were collected and the chemical components were analyzed. Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) was employed to conduct the toxicological testing. The reproductive toxicity of PM_2.5 to C. elegans in different seasons was evaluated by multiple reproductive endpoints. Exposure to high concentrations of PM_2.5 significantly decreased the brood size and the number of fertilized eggs in utero. PM_2.5 exposure also increased the number of germ cell corpses and caused abnormal expression of apoptosis-related genes (ced-9, ced-4, and ced-3), which confirmed that PM_2.5 induced germline apoptosis. In addition, PM_2.5 exposure significantly increased the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in C. elegans and the fluorescence intensity of HUS-1 protein in of transgenic strain WS1433. Meanwhile, the expression of genes related to DNA damage (cep-1, clk-2, egl-1, and hus-1) and oxidative stress (mev-1, isp-1, and gas-1) also significantly altered in C. elegans, suggesting induction of DNA damage and oxidative stress. According to Pearson correlation analyses, DNA damage and oxidative stress were significantly correlated with multiple reproductive endpoints in C. elegans. Thus, it was speculated that PM_2.5 caused reproductive dysfunction and germ cell apoptosis in C. elegans may be by inducing ROS and DNA damage. In addition, heavy metals in PM_2.5 were significantly correlated with multiple endpoints at physiological and biochemical, suggesting that the heavy metals might be an important contributor to the reproductive toxicity induced by PM_2.5.

Plasma amyloid-beta levels and risk of new-onset atrial fibrillation in the general population

Background

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a major health burden worldwide, with significant sex differences in epidemiology and risk factors. Amyloid-β40 (Aβ40) and Amyloid-β42 (Aβ42), the hallmark of cerebral amyloid angiopathy, have recently been linked to prevalence and prognosis of several cardiovascular outcomes including stroke and coronary heart disease. However, whether these biomarkers are associated with incident AF remains largely unknown.

Purpose

To investigate the associations between plasma concentrations of Aβ40 and Aβ42 with new-onset AF.

Methods

4,134 participants without a history of AF at baseline (from 2002 to 2005) with qualified plasma samples in the Rotterdam Study were included in this study. AF was diagnosed by electrocardiograms, general practitioners' and hospital records. Cox proportional hazards regression models with natural cubic splines were used to assess the linear/nonlinear association between biomarkers and risk of new-onset AF. All models were adjusted for traditional cardiovascular risk factors.

Results

Mean age was 71.3±7.2 years and 2,383 (57.6%) were women. Median follow-up time was 9.2 years. In the fully adjusted model, higher levels of Aβ40 [hazard ratio, 95% confidence interval: 1.16 (1.05–1.28)] and Aβ42 [1.19 (1.09–1.31)], as well as Amyloid-β42 to β40 ratio (Aβ42/40) [1.09 (1.02–1.17)] were significantly associated with incident AF. The observed association between Aβ40 and AF attenuated after mutual adjustment for Aβ42 [1.05 (0.92–1.19)]. In addition, a J-shaped association was found between Aβ40 and AF with the lowest AF risk at Aβ40 values of 212.5 pg/ml.

Conclusions

Both Aβ40 and Aβ42 were independently significantly associated with new-onset AF in the general population independent of cardiovascular risk factors. Findings also suggest a stronger association between AF onset and Aβ42 and AF onset, compared to Aβ40. A nonlinear association was found between Aβ40 and AF, reflecting a substantially increased AF risk among participants with severely increased Aβ40 values.

Funding Acknowledgement

Type of funding sources: None.

Cardiometabolic multimorbidity and lifetime risk of atrial fibrillation among men and women

Background

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrythmia worldwide, with an increased risk of comorbidity, and significant sex differences in pathophysiology and prognosis. Cardiometabolic disorders, including obesity, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, coronary heart disease, stroke, and heart failure commonly coexist with AF. However, the sex-specific patterns and (combined) impact of cardiometabolic disorders on the risk of new-onset AF remains largely unknown.

Purpose

To examine the association between patterns of cardiometabolic multimorbidity and new-onset AF and lifetime risk of AF incidence among men and women.

Methods

4,113 men and 5,432 women free of prevalent AF at baseline (from 1996 to 2008) from the Rotterdam Study were included. AF incidents were assessed by electrocardiograms and general practitioners' and hospital records, and followed up to January 1st, 2014. Sex-specific Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to assess the association between the amount of cardiometabolic disorders and risks of new-onset AF. Models were adjusted for traditional cardiovascular risk factors. Remaining lifetime risk for AF was estimated across the cardiometabolic multimorbidity groups at index ages of 55, 65, and ≥75 years up to age 108.

Results

Mean age at baseline was 65.5±9.4 years. Median follow-up time was 10.8 years. In the fully-adjusted model, a significant association was found between the amount of cardiometabolic disorders and incident AF among women but not men. Compared to women without cardiometabolic disorders, women with 3 (hazard ratios, 95% conference intervals: 2.17 (1.24–3.79)) and ≥4 comorbidities (4.58 (2.22–9.48)) had higher AF risks. The lifetime risk for AF was significantly increased with the number of cardiometabolic disorders among both men and women. At index age of 55 years, the lifetime risks (95% confidence interval) for AF were 25.2% (17.1–33.4), 24.2% (20.0–28.9), 27.1% (23.2–31.0), 30.0% (24.3–35.7) and 34.1% (22.4–45.7), for 0, 1, 2, 3, and ≥4 comorbid cardiometabolic disorders among men, respectively. Corresponding risks were 16.3% (6.68–25.9), 20.3% (16.3–24.3), 27.6% (24.1–31.2), 23.6% (17.8–29.4) and 33.3% (16.0–50.2) among women.

Conclusions

We observed a significant combined impact of cardiometabolic disorders on AF risk, most evidently among women. Participants with cardiometabolic multimorbidity had a significantly increased lifetime risk of AF, especially at a young index age.

Funding Acknowledgement

Type of funding sources: None.

An innovative S-scheme AgCl/MIL-100(Fe) heterojunction for visible-light-driven degradation of sulfamethazine and mechanism insight

The development of high efficient photocatalysts for antibiotics contamination in water remains a severe challenge. In this study, a novel step-scheme (S-scheme) photocatalytic heterojunction nanocomposites were fabricated from integrating AgCl nanoparticles on the MIL-100(Fe) octahedron surface through facile multi-stage stirring strategy. The S-scheme heterojunction structure in AgCl/MIL-100(Fe) (AM) nanocomposite provided a more rational utilization of electrons (e^-) and holes (h⁺), accelerated the carrier transport at the junction interface, and enhanced the overall photocatalytic performance of nanomaterials. The visible-light-driven photocatalysts were used to degrade sulfamethazine (SMZ) which attained a high removal efficiency (99.9%). The reaction mechanisms of SMZ degradation in the AM photocatalytic system were explored by electron spin resonance (ESR) and active species capture experiments, which superoxide radical (•O₂^-), hydroxyl radical (•OH), and h⁺ performed as major roles. More importantly, the SMZ degradation pathway and toxicity assessment were proposed. There were four main pathways of SMZ degradation, including the processes of oxidation, hydroxylation, denitrification, and desulfonation. The toxicity of the final products in each pathway was lower than that of the parent according to the toxicity evaluation results. Therefore, this work might provide new insights into the environmentally-friendly photocatalytic processes of S-scheme AM nanocomposites for the efficient degradation of antibiotics pollutants.

Lithium chloride promotes neural functional recovery after local cerebral ischaemia injury in rats through Wnt signalling pathway activation

BACKGROUND

Lithium chloride (LiCl) has a significant neuroprotective effect in cerebral ischaemia. However, to date, there is a paucity of evidence on the role of LiCl in neural restoration after brain ischaemia and the signalling pathways involved remain unclear.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Therefore, to address this gap, the middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) rat model was used to simulate human ischaemia stroke. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were given MCAO for 90 min followed by reperfusion, and Dickkopf-1 (DKK1, 5.0 μg/kg) was administered half an hour before MCAO. Rats were then treated with hypodermic injection of LiCl (2.0 mmol/kg) twice a day for 1 week. After treatment, cognitive impairment was assessed by the Morris water maze test. Neurological deficit score, 2,3,5-triphenyl tetrazolium chloride staining, brain water content, and histopathology were used to evaluate brain damage. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to measure oxidative stress damage and inflammatory cytokines. Apoptosis of the hippocampal neurons was tested by western blot. The key factors of Wnt signalling pathway in the ischaemic penumbra were detected by immunofluorescence staining and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction.

RESULTS

Current experimental results showed that LiCl treatment significantly improved the impaired spatial learning and memory ability, suppressed oxidative stress, inflammatory reaction, and neuron apoptosis accompanied by attenuating neuronal damage, which subsequently decreased the brain oedema, infarct volume and neurological deficit. Furthermore, the treatment of LiCl activated Wnt signalling pathway. Interestingly, the aforementioned effects of LiCl treatment were markedly reversed by administration of DKK1, an inhibitor of Wnt signalling pathway.

CONCLUSIONS

These results indicate that LiCl exhibits neuroprotective effects in focal cerebral ischaemia by Wnt signalling pathway activation, and it might have latent clinical application for the prevention and treatment of ischaemic stroke.

P-382 Decrease of serum estradiol prior to human chorionic gonadotrophin administration have an impact on live birth in IVF/ICSI cycles

Study question

Whether decrease of serum estradiol prior to human chorionic gonadotrophin administration have an impact on live birth in IVF/ICSI cycles?

Summary answer

The E2 change before the day of hCG administration had significant correlation with live birth. The live birth rate decreased with decreasing serum E2 level.

What is known already

The objective of this study was to assess the effects of a decrease of estradiol (E2) levels on the day of human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) administration on in vitro fertilization /intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF/ICSI) outcomes, including cycles with long, antagonist and micro stimulus protocols.

Study design, size, duration

In this retrospective cohort study, 1303 patients who received IVF/ICSI non-donor treatment were identified. Patients were divided into two groups according to live birth and the characteristics of IVF/ICSI cycles were compared between groups, including baseline infertility parameters, ovarian stimulation characteristics and embryo laboratory manipulation parameters.

Participants/materials, setting, methods

In this retrospective cohort study, 1303 patients who received IVF/ICSI non-donor treatment were identified. Patients were divided into two groups according to live birth and the characteristics of IVF/ICSI cycles were compared between groups, including baseline infertility parameters, ovarian stimulation characteristics and embryo laboratory manipulation parameters. The multivariate logistic regression model was performed to adjust potential confounders and assess correlation between E2 dynamics before hCG administration and live birth.

Main results and the role of chance

Our results revealed that patients without live birth had higher age (32.13 ± 4.33 vs. 30.21 ± 3.71, P &lt; 0.001) and pervious miscarriages (0.57 ± 0.95 vs. 0.46 ± 0.83, P = 0.0295), while had lower number of oocytes retrieved (8.95 ± 4.69 vs. 12.36 ± 5.54, P &lt; 0.001), day of hCG E2 (8269.53 ± 4104.22 vs. 9580.71 ± 3534.11, P &lt; 0.001) and endometrium thickness (10.37 ± 3.66 vs. 11.50 ± 3.40, P &lt; 0.001) compared with patients with live birth. Additionally, the multivariate logistic regression analysis displayed significant impact of serum E2 change on the live birth, and the achievement of live birth [OR (95%CI) 0.81 (0.71, 0.92), P = 0.001] decreased with the decreasing level of serum E2 before hCG trigger day. Estradiol stratification analyses displayed the OR and 95% CI for the association between △E2 and live birth among patients with different levels of estradiol decline (&lt;25%, 25%–50%, 50%–75%, &gt;75%). Compared with the &lt;25% decline and 25%–50% decline groups, the ORs of 50%–75% and &gt;75% decline groups were 1.66 (95% CI: 1.12-2.45, P = 0.012) and 2.00 (95% CI: 1.39-2.89, P &lt; 0.001), respectively, after adjusting potential confounders.

Limitations, reasons for caution

There was concealment of randomization and blinding of outcome assessments reducing the risk of selection and measurement bias.

Wider implications of the findings

In summary, the E2 change before the day of hCG administration had significant correlation with live birth, and the live birth decreased with the decreasing level of serum E2 before hCG trigger day. The patients with a greater decline in the E2 level more likely to had poor clinical outcomes.

Trial registration number

Chi CTR1900026088