Despite multidisciplinary treatment for patients with advanced gastric cancer, their prognosis remains poor. Therefore, the development of novel therapeutic strategies is urgently needed, and ...immunotherapy utilizing anti‐programmed death 1/‐programmed death ligand‐1 mAb is an attractive approach. However, as there is limited information on how programmed death ligand‐1 is upregulated on tumor cells within the tumor microenvironment, we examined the mechanism of programmed death ligand‐1 regulation with a particular focus on interferon gamma in an in vitro setting and in clinical samples. Our in vitro findings showed that interferon gamma upregulated programmed death ligand‐1 expression on solid tumor cells through the JAK‐signal transducer and activator of transcription pathway, and impaired the cytotoxicity of tumor antigen‐specific CTL against tumor cells. Following treatment of cells with anti‐programmed death ligand‐1 mAb after interferon gamma‐pre‐treatment, the reduced anti‐tumor CTL activity by interferon gamma reached a higher level than the non‐treatment control targets. In contrast, programmed death ligand‐1 expression on tumor cells also significantly correlated with epithelial‐mesenchymal transition phenotype in a panel of solid tumor cells. In clinical gastric cancer samples, tumor membrane programmed death ligand‐1 expression significantly positively correlated with the presence of CD8‐positive T cells in the stroma and interferon gamma expression in the tumor. The results suggest that gastric cancer patients with high CD8‐positive T‐cell infiltration may be more responsive to anti‐programmed death 1/‐programmed death ligand‐1 mAb therapy.
PD‐L1 levels significantly correlated with CD8 (stroma) levels (P = .018), but not with CD3 nor CD4 in tumor/stroma in gastric cancer. Furthermore, PD‐L1 levels also significantly positively correlated with tumor IFN‐γ levels. The results suggests that upregulation of PD‐L1 may result from increased IFN‐γ production by CTLs which migrate to the tumor during immune activation.
This paper presents a compact and efficient 88-line MATLAB code for the parameterized level set method based topology optimization using radial basis functions (RBFs), which is applied to minimize ...the compliance of a two-dimensional linear elastic structure. This parameterized level set method using radial basis functions can maintain a relatively smooth level set function with an approximate re-initialization scheme during the optimization process. It also has less dependency on initial designs due to its capability in nucleation of new holes inside the material domain. The MATLAB code and simple modifications are explained in detail with numerical examples. The 88-line code included in the
appendix
is intended for educational purposes.
Abstract
As the water-gas shift (WGS) reaction serves as a crucial industrial process, strategies for developing robust WGS catalysts are highly desiderated. Here we report the construction of ...stabilized bulk-nano interfaces to fabricate highly efficient copper-ceria catalyst for the WGS reaction. With an in-situ structural transformation, small CeO
2
nanoparticles (2–3 nm) are stabilized on bulk Cu to form abundant CeO
2
-Cu interfaces, which maintain well-dispersed under reaction conditions. This inverse CeO
2
/Cu catalyst shows excellent WGS performances, of which the activity is 5 times higher than other reported Cu catalysts. Long-term stability is also very solid under harsh conditions. Mechanistic study illustrates that for the inverse CeO
2
/Cu catalyst, superb capability of H
2
O dissociation and CO oxidation facilitates WGS process via the combination of associative and redox mechanisms. This work paves a way to fabricate robust catalysts by combining the advantages of bulk and nano-sized catalysts. Catalysts with such inverse configurations show great potential in practical WGS applications.
To characterise the sleep of elite athletes and to identify factors associated with training and competition that negatively affect sleep.
Prognosis systematic review.
Three databases (PubMed, SCOPUS ...and SPORTDiscus) were searched from inception to 26 February 2018.
Included studies objectively reported total sleep time (TST) and/or sleep efficiency (SE) in elite athletes. Studies were required to be observational or to include an observational trial.
Fifty-four studies were included. During training, many studies reported athletes were unable to achieve TST (n=23/41) and/or SE (n=16/37) recommendations. On the night of competition, most studies reported athletes were unable to achieve TST (n=14/18) and/or SE (n=10/16) recommendations. TST was shorter (60 min) the night of competition compared with previous nights. SE was lower (1%) the night of competition compared with the previous night. TST was shorter the night of night competition (start ≥18:00; 80 min) and day competition (20 min) compared with the previous night. SE was lower (3%-4%) the night of night competition but unchanged the night of day competition compared with previous nights. Early morning training (start <07:00), increases in training load (>25%), late night/early morning travel departure times, eastward air travel and altitude ascent impaired sleep.
Athletes were often unable to achieve sleep recommendations during training or competition periods. Sleep was impaired the night of competition compared with previous nights. Early morning training, increases in training load, travel departure times, jet lag and altitude can impair athletes' sleep.
CRD42017074367.
In this paper, we systematically investigate the nonlocal Hirota equation with nonzero boundary conditions via Riemann–Hilbert method and multi-layer physics-informed neural networks algorithm. ...Starting from the Lax pair of nonzero nonlocal Hirota equation, we first give out the Jost function, scattering matrix, their symmetry and asymptotic behavior. Then, the Riemann–Hilbert problem with nonzero boundary conditions are constructed and the precise formulae of N-double poles solutions and N-simple poles solutions are written by determinants. Different from the local Hirota equation, the symmetry of scattering data for nonlocal Hirota equation is completely different, which results in disparate discrete spectral distribution. In particular, it could be more complicated and difficult to obtain the symmetry of scattering data under the circumstance of double poles. Besides, we also analyze the asymptotic state of one-double poles solution as t→∞. Whereafter, the multi-layer physics-informed neural networks algorithm is applied to research the data-driven soliton solutions of the nonzero nonlocal Hirota equation by using the training data obtained from the Riemann–Hilbert method. Most strikingly, the integrable nonlocal equation is firstly solved via multi-layer physics-informed neural networks algorithm. As we all know, the nonlocal equations contain the PT symmetry P:x→−x, or T:t→−t, which are different with local ones. Adding the nonlocal term into the neural network, we can successfully solve the integrable nonlocal Hirota equation by multi-layer physics-informed neural networks algorithm. The numerical results show that the algorithm can recover the data-driven soliton solutions of the integrable nonlocal equation well. Noteworthily, the inverse problems of the integrable nonlocal equation are discussed for the first time through applying the physics-informed neural networks algorithm to discover the parameters of the equation in terms of its soliton solution.
•We study the nonlocal Hirota equation with NZBCs, which is more complicated than one with ZBCs.•We give a more complex case of double poles for the nonlocal Hirota equation under ZBCs.•We study this nonlocal system with the PINN method for the first time.
We consider the problem of private information retrieval (PIR) from <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">N </tex-math></inline-formula> non-colluding and replicated databases when the user is ...equipped with a cache that holds an uncoded fraction <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">r </tex-math></inline-formula> from each of the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">K </tex-math></inline-formula> stored messages in the databases. We assume that the databases are unaware of the cache content. We investigate <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">D^{*}(r) </tex-math></inline-formula> the optimal download cost normalized with the message size as a function of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">K </tex-math></inline-formula>, <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">N </tex-math></inline-formula>, and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">r </tex-math></inline-formula>. For a fixed <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">K </tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">N </tex-math></inline-formula>, we develop an inner bound (converse bound) for the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">D^{*}(r) </tex-math></inline-formula> curve. The inner bound is a piece-wise linear function in <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">r </tex-math></inline-formula> that consists of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">K </tex-math></inline-formula> line segments. For the achievability, we develop explicit schemes that exploit the cached bits as side information to achieve <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">K-1 </tex-math></inline-formula> non-degenerate corner points. These corner points differ in the number of cached bits that are used to generate the one-side information equation. We obtain an outer bound (achievability) for any caching ratio by memory sharing between these corner points. Thus, the outer bound is also a piece-wise linear function in <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">r </tex-math></inline-formula> that consists of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">K </tex-math></inline-formula> line segments. The inner and the outer bounds match in general for the cases of very low-caching ratio and very high-caching ratio. As a corollary, we fully characterize the optimal download cost caching ratio tradeoff for <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">K=3 </tex-math></inline-formula>. For general <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">K </tex-math></inline-formula>, <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">N </tex-math></inline-formula>, and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">r </tex-math></inline-formula>, we show that the largest gap between the achievability and the converse bounds is 1/6. Our results show that the download cost can be reduced beyond memory sharing if the databases are unaware of the cached content.
Excessive use of agro-chemicals （such as mineral fertilizers） poses potential risks to soil quality. Application of organic amendments and reduction of inorganic fertilizer are economically feasible ...and environmentally sound approaches to de- velop sustainable agriculture. This study investigated and evaluated the effects of mineral fertilizer reduction and partial substitution of organic amendment on soil fertility and heavy metal content in a 10-season continually planted vegetable field during 2009-2012. The experiment included four treatments： 100% chemical fertilizer （CF100）, 80% chemical fertilizer （CF80）, 60% chemical fertilizer and 20% organic fertilizer （CF60＋OM20）, and 40% chemical fertilizer and 40% organic fertilizer （CF40＋OM40）. Soil nutrients, enzyme activity and heavy metal content were determined. The results showed that single chemical fertilizer reduction （CF80） had no significant effect on soil organic matter content, soil catalase activity and soil heavy metal content, but slightly reduced soil available N, P, K, and soil urease activity, and significantly reduced soil acid phosphatase activity. Compared with CF100, 40 or 60% reduction of chemical fertilizer supplemented with organic fertilizer （CF60＋OM20, CF40＋OM40） significantly increased soil organic matter, soil catalase activity and urease activity especially in last several seasons, but reduced soil available P, K, and soil acid phosphatase activity. In addition, continu- ous application of organic fertilizer resulted in higher accumulation of Zn, Cd, and Cr in soil in the late stage of experiment, which may induce adverse effects on soil health and food safety.
The World Health Organization has declared SARS-CoV-2 virus outbreak a worldwide pandemic. However, there is very limited understanding on the immune responses, especially adaptive immune responses ...to SARS-CoV-2 infection. Here, we collected blood from COVID-19 patients who have recently become virus-free, and therefore were discharged, and detected SARS-CoV-2-specific humoral and cellular immunity in eight newly discharged patients. Follow-up analysis on another cohort of six patients 2 weeks post discharge also revealed high titers of immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies. In all 14 patients tested, 13 displayed serum-neutralizing activities in a pseudotype entry assay. Notably, there was a strong correlation between neutralization antibody titers and the numbers of virus-specific T cells. Our work provides a basis for further analysis of protective immunity to SARS-CoV-2, and understanding the pathogenesis of COVID-19, especially in the severe cases. It also has implications in developing an effective vaccine to SARS-CoV-2 infection.
•SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies are detected in COVID-19 convalescent subjects•Most COVID-19 convalescent individuals have detectable neutralizing antibodies•Cellular immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 are found in COVID-19 convalescent subjects•Neutralization antibody titers correlate with the numbers of virus-specific T cells.
In blood samples from COVID-19 convalescent subjects, Ni et al. have detected SARS-CoV-2-specific humoral and cellular immunity. Most subjects display serum neutralizing activities, which correlate with the numbers of virus-specific T cells.
The unprecedented early spring frost that appears as a cold stress adversely affects growth and productivity in tea (
L.); therefore, it is indispensable to develop approaches to improve the cold ...tolerance of tea. Here, we investigated the effect of pretreatment with exogenous melatonin on the net photosynthetic rate, the maximum photochemical efficiency of PSII, chlorophyll content, lipid peroxidation, reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation, antioxidant potential, and redox homeostasis in leaves of tea plants following cold stress. Our results revealed that cold treatment induced oxidative stress by increasing ROS accumulation, which in turn affected the photosynthetic process in tea leaves. However, treatment with melatonin mitigated cold-induced reductions in photosynthetic capacity by reducing oxidative stress through enhanced antioxidant potential and redox homeostasis. This study provides strong evidence that melatonin could alleviate cold-induced adverse effects in tea plants.
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