Cuttage is a common plant cultivation method, and the key to its survival is the restoration of water refilling, which remains unclear up to now. We report 3D dynamic imaging of water refilling of ...cuttage without resorting to any contrast agent. Hydrodynamics of the refilled water flow over time reveals the existence of a unit mass force field with a gradient along the refilling direction, which means that cutting plants also have a gradient force field to drive the recovery of water refilling, as predicted by Cohesion-Tension theory in normal plants. We found that force fields of different functional regions are isolated and independently distributed, which is conducive to ensure the safety of water transmission. At the same time, we also found that there is a so-called "inchworm effect" in the mass force field, which contributes to the force transfer inside the cutting through local force accumulation. Results of this paper demonstrate that the developed method for the measurement of mass force field in-vivo is applicable to help decipher the mechanism of plant water refilling.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Identification of complex associations between diseases and microbes is important to understand the pathogenesis of diseases and design therapeutic strategies. Biomedical experiment-based ...Microbe-Disease Association (MDA) detection methods are expensive, time-consuming, and laborious.
Here, we developed a computational method called SAELGMDA for potential MDA prediction. First, microbe similarity and disease similarity are computed by integrating their functional similarity and Gaussian interaction profile kernel similarity. Second, one microbe-disease pair is presented as a feature vector by combining the microbe and disease similarity matrices. Next, the obtained feature vectors are mapped to a low-dimensional space based on a Sparse AutoEncoder. Finally, unknown microbe-disease pairs are classified based on Light Gradient boosting machine.
The proposed SAELGMDA method was compared with four state-of-the-art MDA methods (MNNMDA, GATMDA, NTSHMDA, and LRLSHMDA) under five-fold cross validations on diseases, microbes, and microbe-disease pairs on the HMDAD and Disbiome databases. The results show that SAELGMDA computed the best accuracy, Matthews correlation coefficient, AUC, and AUPR under the majority of conditions, outperforming the other four MDA prediction models. In particular, SAELGMDA obtained the best AUCs of 0.8358 and 0.9301 under cross validation on diseases, 0.9838 and 0.9293 under cross validation on microbes, and 0.9857 and 0.9358 under cross validation on microbe-disease pairs on the HMDAD and Disbiome databases. Colorectal cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, and lung cancer are diseases that severely threat human health. We used the proposed SAELGMDA method to find possible microbes for the three diseases. The results demonstrate that there are potential associations between
and colorectal cancer and one between Sphingomonadaceae and inflammatory bowel disease. In addition,
may associate with autism. The inferred MDAs need further validation.
We anticipate that the proposed SAELGMDA method contributes to the identification of new MDAs.
Regulatory T (Treg) cells are essential for maintaining immune homeostasis and tolerance, but the mechanisms regulating the stability and function of Treg cells have not been fully elucidated. Here ...we show SUMO-specific protease 3 (SENP3) is a pivotal regulator of Treg cells that functions by controlling the SUMOylation and nuclear localization of BACH2. Treg cell-specific deletion of Senp3 results in T cell activation, autoimmune symptoms and enhanced antitumor T cell responses. SENP3-mediated BACH2 deSUMOylation prevents the nuclear export of BACH2, thereby repressing the genes associated with CD4
T effector cell differentiation and stabilizing Treg cell-specific gene signatures. Notably, SENP3 accumulation triggered by reactive oxygen species (ROS) is involved in Treg cell-mediated tumor immunosuppression. Our results not only establish the role of SENP3 in the maintenance of Treg cell stability and function via BACH2 deSUMOylation but also clarify the function of SENP3 in the regulation of ROS-induced immune tolerance.
Rodents are used extensively as animal models for the preclinical investigation of microvascular‐related diseases. However, motion artifacts in currently available imaging methods preclude real‐time ...observation of microvessels in vivo. In this paper, a pixel temporal averaging (PTA) method that enables real‐time imaging of microvessels in the mouse brain in vivo is described. Experiments using live mice demonstrated that PTA efficiently eliminated motion artifacts and random noise, resulting in significant improvements in contrast‐to‐noise ratio. The time needed for image reconstruction using PTA with a normal computer was 250 ms, highlighting the capability of the PTA method for real‐time angiography. In addition, experiments with less than one‐quarter of photon flux in conventional angiography verified that motion artifacts and random noise were suppressed and microvessels were successfully identified using PTA, whereas conventional temporal subtraction and averaging methods were ineffective. Experiments performed with an X‐ray tube verified that the PTA method could also be successfully applied to microvessel imaging of the mouse brain using a laboratory X‐ray source. In conclusion, the proposed PTA method may facilitate the real‐time investigation of cerebral microvascular‐related diseases using small animal models.
A pixel temporal averaging method is developed to eliminate motion artifacts and random noises aiming at real‐time and in vivo radiology of mouse cerebral microvessels.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an incurable neurodegenerative disease and many types of stem cells have been used in AD therapy with some favorable effects. In this study, we investigated the potential ...therapeutical effects of human dental pulp stem cells (hDPSCs) on AD cellular model which established by okadaic acid (OA)‐induced damage to human neuroblastoma cell line, SH‐SY5Y, in vitro for 24 h. After confirmed the AD cellular model, the cells were co‐culture with hDPSCs by transwell co‐culture system till 24 h for treatment. Then the cytomorphology of the hDPSCs‐treated cells were found to restore gradually with re‐elongation of retracted dendrites. Meanwhile, Cell Counting Kit‐8 assay and Hoechst 33258 staining showed that hDPSCs caused significant increase in the viability and decrease in apoptosis of the model cells, respectively. Observation of DiI labeling also exhibited the prolongation dendrites in hDPSCs‐treated cells which were obviously different from the retraction dendrites in AD model cells. Furthermore, specific staining of α‐tubulin and F‐actin demonstrated that the hDPSCs‐treated cells had the morphology of restored neurons, with elongated dendrites, densely arranged microfilaments, and thickened microtubular fibrils. In addition, results from western blotting revealed that phosphorylation at Ser 396 of Tau protein was significantly suppressed by adding of hDPSCs. These results indicate that hDPSCs may promote regeneration of damaged neuron cells in vitro model of AD and may serve as a useful cell source for treatment of AD.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
The qualit12y of shafting alignment is related to the reliability and safety of a ship’s operation, and bearing displacement adjustment (BDA) plays a key role in shafting alignment. To solve the ...problems encountered in ship shafting alignment in the actual construction, this study focused on the investigation of the shafting load measurement system based on the strain gauge method (SGM), used the optimization method based on quadratic programming (QP) to calculate the BDA and adopted algorithms based on the bearing load influence coefficients (BICs) to forecast the load after the adjustment. The experimental work, as well as the measurement, calculation and analysis of several real ships, indicated that the measurement, optimization and forecasting methods of the bearing load of the propulsion shafting of large ships in this study would be significant for guiding the actual construction work of ship shafting alignment.
Mn4+ activated red phosphor is one of the current research hot-spots in the field of white light emitting diodes(wLEDs). The shortest emission of Mn4+ 2E→4A2 transition in aluminate is 651 nm ...realized in MgAl2O4, but the doped manganese ions exists in multiple valence states(+2/+4/+3, etc.) due to the fact that there exist two cationic sites(Mg2+/Al3+) forming tetrahedron or octahedron coordination in the spinel structure. In this study, variation of the Al2O3 polymorphs(γ/α ratio) in the starting materials and post-annealing were used to control the doping sites and valence state of manganese ions in the MgAl2O4 structure. The results show that a high α/(α+γ) ratio of starting Al2O3 favors the formation of Mn2+ while a low α/(α+γ) ratio of starting Al2O3 favors the formation of Mn4+ dopant. By using highly active nano-γ-Al2O3 as the Al3+-bearing source, the occupancy of manganese ions in the Mg2+ site and the formation of Mn2+ valence state were effectively suppressed. Bright and pure Mg Al2O4:Mn4+ phosphors in which only the red luminescence from Mn4+ was observed in the visible spectral region were successfully prepared via once heat treatment at 1550 ℃ for 5 h in air. The intrinsic reason for the dependence of manganese doping valence state on the Al2O3 polymorph lies in that the reactivity of Al2O3 determined the sequences of doping reactions and then the doping site/valence of manganese ions in MgAl2O4:Mn. All the above data demonstrated that the control of reaction sequences was a new method to regulate the valence state of manganese in aluminate phosphors.
Purpose
The present study sets out to evaluate the feasibility, safety, and effectiveness of conversion surgery following induction immunochemotherapy for patients with initially unresectable locally ...advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) in a real-world scenario.
Materials and Methods
In this multi-center, real-world study (NCT04822103), patients who had unresectable ESCC disease were enrolled across eight medical centers in China. All patients received programmed death receptor-1 (PD-1) inhibitor plus chemotherapy every 3 weeks for at least two cycles. Patients with significant relief of cancer-related clinical symptoms and radiological responsive disease were deemed surgical candidates. Feasibility and safety profile of immunochemotherapy plus conversion surgery, radiological and pathological tumor responses, as well as short-term survival outcomes were evaluated. Moreover, data of an independent ESCC cohort receiving induction chemotherapy (iC) were compared.
Results
One hundred and fifty-five patients were enrolled in the final analysis. Esophagectomy was offered to 116 patients, yielding a conversion rate of 74.8%. R0 resection rate was 94%. Among the 155 patients, 107 (69.0%) patients experienced at least one treatment-related adverse event (TRAE) and 45 (29.0%) patients reported grade 3 and above TRAEs. Significant differences in responsive disease rate were observed between iC cohort and induction immunochemotherapy (iIC) cohort objective response rate: iIC: 63.2% vs. iC: 47.7%, p = 0.004; pathological complete response: iIC: 22.4% vs. iC: 6.7%, p = 0.001). Higher anastomosis fistula rate was observed in the iC group (19.2%) compared with the iIC group (4%). Furthermore, Significantly higher event-free survival was observed in those who underwent conversion surgery.
Conclusion
Our results supported that conversion surgery following immunochemotherapy is feasible and safe for patients with initially unresectable locally advanced ESCC. Both radiological and pathological response rates were significantly higher in the iIC cohort compared with those in the traditional iC cohort.
Abstract
Heating and cooling in buildings accounts for over 20% of total energy consumption in China. Therefore, it is essential to understand the thermal requirements of building occupants when ...establishing building energy codes that would save energy while maintaining occupants’ thermal comfort. This paper introduces the Chinese thermal comfort dataset, established by seven participating institutions under the leadership of Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology. The dataset comprises 41,977 sets of data collected from 49 cities across five climate zones in China over the past two decades. The raw data underwent careful quality control procedure, including systematic organization, to ensure its reliability. Each dataset contains environmental parameters, occupants’ subjective responses, building information, and personal information. The dataset has been instrumental in the development of indoor thermal environment evaluation standards and energy codes in China. It can also have broader applications, such as contributing to the international thermal comfort dataset, modeling thermal comfort and adaptive behaviors, investigating regional differences in indoor thermal conditions, and examining occupants’ thermal comfort responses.
Speckle-tracking X-ray imaging is an attractive candidate for dynamic X-ray imaging owing to its flexible setup and simultaneous yields of phase, transmission and scattering images. However, ...traditional speckle-tracking imaging methods suffer from phase distortion at locations with abrupt changes in density, which is always the case for real samples, limiting the applications of the speckle-tracking X-ray imaging method. In this paper, we report a deep-learning based method which can achieve dynamic X-ray speckle-tracking imaging with high-accuracy phase retrieval. The calibration results of a phantom show that the profile of the retrieved phase is highly consistent with the theoretical one. Experiments of polyurethane foaming demonstrated that the proposed method revealed the evolution of the complicated microstructure of the bubbles accurately. The proposed method is a promising solution for dynamic X-ray imaging with high-accuracy phase retrieval, and has extensive applications in metrology and quantitative analysis of dynamics in material science, physics, chemistry and biomedicine.