Objectives
This study was conducted in order to establish and validate a radiomics model for predicting lymph node (LN) metastasis of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (IHC) and to determine its ...prognostic value.
Methods
For this retrospective study, a radiomics model was developed in a primary cohort of 103 IHC patients who underwent curative-intent resection and lymphadenectomy. Radiomics features were extracted from arterial phase computed tomography (CT) scans. A radiomics signature was built based on highly reproducible features using the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) method. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was adopted to establish a radiomics model incorporating radiomics signature and other independent predictors. Model performance was determined by its discrimination, calibration, and clinical usefulness. The model was internally validated in 52 consecutive patients.
Results
The radiomics signature comprised eight LN-status–related features and showed significant association with LN metastasis in both cohorts (
p
< 0.001). A radiomics nomogram that incorporates radiomics signature and CA 19-9 level showed good calibration and discrimination in the primary cohort (AUC 0.8462) and validation cohort (AUC 0.8921). Promisingly, the radiomics nomogram yielded an AUC of 0.9224 in the CT-reported LN-negative subgroup. Decision curve analysis confirmed the clinical utility of this nomogram. High risk for metastasis portended significantly lower overall and recurrence-free survival than low risk for metastasis (both
p
< 0.001). The radiomics nomogram was an independent preoperative predictor of overall and recurrence-free survival.
Conclusions
Our radiomics model provided a robust diagnostic tool for prediction of LN metastasis, especially in CT-reported LN-negative IHC patients, that may facilitate clinical decision-making.
Key Points
• The radiomics nomogram showed good performance for prediction of LN metastasis in IHC patients, particularly in the CT-reported LN-negative subgroup.
• Prognosis of high-risk patients remains dismal after curative-intent resection.
• The radiomics model may facilitate clinical decision-making and define patient subsets benefiting most from surgery.
•Strain YB possessed heterotrophic nitrification–aerobic denitrification ability.•Ammonium was found to be removed preferentially in mixed N-sources.•hao, napA and nirS genes were successfully ...expressed through PCR amplification.•High potential application of YB for the treatment of nitrogenous wastewater.
Acinetobacter junii YB was found to exhibit efficient heterotrophic nitrification and aerobic denitrification ability, with the maximum ammonium, nitrite and nitrate removal rate of 8.82, 8.45 and 7.98mg/L/h, respectively. Meanwhile, ammonium was found to be removed preferentially in the process of simultaneous nitrification and denitrification in mixed N-sources. The successful PCR amplification of hao, napA and nirS genes further provided additional evidence of heterotrophic nitrification and aerobic denitrification by strain YB. In addition, orthogonal test showed that dissolved oxygen was the most important determinant of nitrite removal, and the optimal conditions were C/N 15, pH 7.0, 37°C and 200rpm. Furthermore, stable nitrogen and organics removal were achieved by one-time dosing of enriched bacteria in a sequencing batch reactor. The inoculation of strain YB significantly improved the denitrification efficiency with minimal accumulation of nitrified products, which demonstrated high potential of the isolate for future practical applications.
Highlights • This review focuses on the behavioral and histopathological signature of AD in SAMP8 mice. • The behavioral and pathological features detected by the different methods in SAMP8 mice at ...different ages were listed. • The preclinical trials of potential therapeutic modalities using SAMP8 mice were summarized. • We compared the merits and limitations of SAMP8 mice with the transgenic mouse as AD animal model.
Realizing nano-filler well dispersed in epoxy matrix is essential for the fabrication of high-performance epoxy composites. However, the aggregation of untreated nano-filler in epoxy resin during ...static curing greatly reduces the material performance. Herein, we report an effective and facile approach to fabricate well-dispersed silica nanoparticle (SiNP)-reinforced epoxy composites through dynamic crosslinking depending on vitrimer chemistry. The epoxy vitrimer synthesized by dynamic crosslinking method was named as EVD, and the epoxy vitrimer synthesized by static curing method was named as EVS. EVD/SiO
2
nanocomposites were prepared by dynamic crosslinking technology with unmodified nano-SiO
2
as a reinforcement filler, sebacic acid as a curing agent, diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) as an epoxy monomer, zinc acetylacetonate as a transesterification catalyst, and a torque rheometer (internal mixer) as a dynamic crosslinking equipment, and EVS/SiO
2
nanocomposites were prepared by traditional static curing method as counterparts. The structure, properties, and stress relaxation of the EVD/SiO
2
and EVS/SiO
2
were comparatively investigated in detail. When the loading amount of SiO
2
was 5 wt%, EVD/SiO
2
-5 indicated 2.38 times tensile strength and 2.06 times elongation at break of EVS/SiO
2
-5. The Young's modulus of EVD/SiO
2
-5 (6.76 ± 1.07 MPa) was slightly higher than that of EVS/SiO
2
-5 (5.81 ± 1.06 MPa), which was attributed to more well-dispersed SiNP in EVD/SiO
2
-5. Moreover, the amount of SiO
2
can be filled up to 40 wt% in epoxy vitrimer to obtain high-modulus (1001 times of pure vitrimer) composite. We believe that this study provides a new idea for the preparation of other vitrimer composites with desired properties.
Graphical abstract
Corylin is a naturally occurring flavonoid isolated from the fruit of Psoralea corylifolia L. (Fabaceae), which is a Chinese medicinal herb in treating osteoporosis. Although a variety of ...pharmacological activities of corylin have been reported, its osteogenic action and the underlying mechanism in bone development remain unclear. In the present study, the involvement of bone‐specific genes in corylininduced differentiated osteoblasts was analyzed by RT‐PCR, promoter‐reporter assay, and Western blotting. In cultured osteoblasts, corylin‐induced cell differentiation and mineralization, as well as increased the expressions of vital biological markers for osteogenesis, such as Runx2, Osterix, Col1, and ALP. Corylin was proposed to have dual pathways in triggering the osteoblastic differentiation. First, the osteogenic function of corylin acted through the activation of Wnt/β‐catenin signaling. The nuclear translocation of β‐catenin of cultured osteoblasts, as determined by flow cytometry and confocal microscopy, was triggered by applied corylin, and which was blocked by DKK‐1, an inhibitor of Wnt/β‐catenin signaling. Second, the application of corylin‐induced estrogenic response in a dose‐dependent manner, and which was blocked by ICI 182 780, an antagonist of estrogen receptor. Furthermore, the activation of Runx2 promoter by corylin was abolished by both DKK‐1 and ICI 182,780, indicating that the corylin exhibited its osteogenic effect via estrogen and Wnt/β‐catenin signaling pathways. In addition, corylin regulated the metabolic profiles, as well as the membrane potential of mitochondria, in cultured osteoblasts. Corylin also stimulated the osteogenesis in bone micromass derived from mesenchymal progenitor cells. This study demonstrated the osteogenic activities of corylin in osteoblasts and micromass, suggesting that corylin has the potential to be developed as a novel pro‐osteogenic agent in targeting for the treatment of osteoblast‐mediated osteoporosis.
This study aimed to evaluate the associations between particulate matter (PM), lung function and Impulse Oscillometry System (IOS) parameters in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients ...and identity effects between different regions in Beijing, China.
In this retrospective study, we recruited 1348 outpatients who visited hospitals between January 2016 and December 2019. Ambient air pollutant data were obtained from the central monitoring stations nearest the participants' residential addresses. We analyzed the effect of particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter ≤ 2.5 μm (PM
) exposure on lung function and IOS parameters using a multiple linear regression model, adjusting for sex, smoking history, education level, age, body mass index (BMI), mean temperature, and relative humidity .
The results showed a relationship between PM
, lung function and IOS parameters. An increase of 10 µg/m
in PM
was associated with a decline of 2.083% (95% CI: -3.047 to - 1.103) in forced expiratory volume in one second /predict (FEV
%pred), a decline of 193 ml/s (95% CI: -258 to - 43) in peak expiratory flow (PEF), a decline of 0.932% (95% CI: -1.518 to - 0.342) in maximal mid-expiratory flow (MMEF); an increase of 0.732 Hz (95% CI: 0.313 to 1.148) in resonant frequency (F
), an increase of 36 kpa/(ml/s) (95% CI: 14 to 57) in impedance at 5 Hz (Z
) and an increase of 31 kpa/(ml/s) (95% CI: 2 to 54) in respiratory impedance at 5 Hz (R
). Compared to patients in the central district, those in the southern district had lower FEV
/FVC, FEV
%pred, PEF, FEF
, MMEF, X
, and higher F
, Z
and R
(p < 0.05).
Short-term exposure to PM
was associated with reductions in lung function indices and an increase in IOS results in patients with COPD. The heavier the PM
, the more severe of COPD.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Background
Improved methods are needed to predict outcomes in biliary tract cancers (BTCs). We aimed to build an immune-related signature and establish holistic models using machine learning.
Methods
...Samples were from 305 BTC patients treated with curative-intent resection, divided into derivation and validation cohorts in a two-to-one ratio. Spatial resolution of T cell infiltration and PD-1/PD-L1 expression was assessed by immunohistochemistry. An immune signature was constructed using classification and regression tree. Machine learning was applied to develop prediction models for disease-specific survival (DSS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS).
Results
The immune signature composed of CD3
+
, CD8
+
, and PD-1
+
cell densities and PD-L1 expression within tumor epithelium significantly stratified patients into three clusters, with median DSS varying from 11.7 to 80.8 months and median RFS varying from 6.2 to 62.0 months. Gradient boosting machines (GBM) outperformed rival machine-learning algorithms and selected the same 11 covariates for DSS and RFS prediction: immune signature, tumor site, age, bilirubin, albumin, carcinoembryonic antigen, cancer antigen 19-9, tumor size, tumor differentiation, resection margin, and nodal metastasis. The clinical-immune GBM models accurately predicted DSS and RFS, with respective concordance index of 0.776–0.816 and 0.741–0.781. GBM models showed significantly improved performance compared with tumor-node-metastasis staging system.
Conclusions
The immune signature promises to stratify prognosis and allocate treatment in resected BTC. The clinical-immune GBM models accurately predict recurrence and death from BTC following surgery.
Superhydrophobic surfaces are imperative in flexible polymer foams for diverse applications; however, traditional surface coatings on soft skeletons are often fragile and can hardly endure severe ...deformation, making them unstable and highly susceptible to cyclic loadings. Therefore, it remains a great challenge to balance their mutual exclusiveness of mechanical robustness and surface water repellency on flexible substrates. Herein, we describe how robust superhydrophobic surfaces on soft poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) foams can be achieved using an extremely simple, ultrafast, and environmentally friendly flame scanning strategy. The ultrafast flame treatment (1–3 s) of PDMS foams produces microwavy and nanosilica rough structures bonded on the soft skeletons, forming robust superhydrophobic surfaces (i.e., water contact angles (WCAs) > 155° and water sliding angles (WSAs) < 5°). The rough surface can be effectively tailored by simply altering the flame scanning speed (2.5–15.0 cm/s) to adjust the thermal pyrolysis of the PDMS molecules. The optimized surfaces display reliable mechanical robustness and excellent water repellency even after 100 cycles of compression of 60% strain, stretching of 100% strain, and bending of 90° and hostile environmental conditions (including acid/salt/alkali conditions, high/low temperatures, UV aging, and harsh cyclic abrasion). Moreover, such flame-induced superhydrophobic surfaces are easily peeled off from ice and can be healable even after severe abrasion cycles. Clearly, the flame scanning strategy provides a facile and versatile approach for fabricating mechanically robust and surface superhydrophobic PDMS foam materials for applications in complex conditions.
Long-term potentiation (LTP) is a neurobiological mechanism of cognitive function, and the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors is fundamental for LTP. Previous studies showed that over activation ...of NMDA receptors may be a crucial cause of LTP and cognitive impairment induced by stress or corticosterone. However, other studies showed that the function of NMDA receptors is insufficient since the NMDA receptors co-agonist D-serine could improve stress-induced cognitive impairment. The purpose of this study is to clarify whether over activation of NMDA receptors or hypofunction of NMDA receptors is involved in hippocampal impairment of LTP by corticosterone and the underlying mechanisms. Results showed that hippocampal LTP and object location recognition memory were impaired in corticosterone-treated mice. Corticosterone increased the glutamate level in hippocampal tissues, neither NMDA receptors antagonist nor its subtype antagonists alleviated impairment of LTP, while enhancing the function of NMDA receptors by D-serine did alleviate impairment of LTP by corticosterone, suggesting that hypofunction of NMDA receptors might be one of the main reasons for impairment of LTP by corticosterone. Further results showed that the level of D-serine and its precursor L-serine did not change. D-serine release-related protein Na
+
-independent alanine–serine–cysteine transporter-1 (ASC-1) in the cell membrane was decreased and increasing D-serine release by the selective activator of ASC-1 antiporter activity alleviated impairment of LTP by corticosterone. Taken together, this study demonstrates that hypofunction of NMDA receptors may be involved in impairment of LTP by corticosterone and reduced D-serine release may be an important reason for its hypofunction, which is an important complement to existing mechanisms of corticosterone-induced LTP and cognitive impairment.
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