Basic and clinical studies have demonstrated the efficacy of immunotherapy, a technical and conceptual breakthrough that has revolutionised cancer treatment. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a deadly ...malignancy with aetiologic diversity and a chronic course, is strongly influenced by the immune system, and was recently found to partially benefit from immune-checkpoint inhibitor therapy. Notably, HCC onco-immunology depends on diverse genetic and environmental factors that together shape cancer-promoting inflammation and immune dysfunction – critical processes that control HCC malignant progression and response to therapy. Herein, we summarise the current understanding of liver and HCC onco-immunology obtained through basic studies with mouse models and clinical practice in humans. In particular, we discuss preclinical and clinical findings that implicate immunomodulation as a major factor in HCC development and explain the basis for HCC-targeting immunotherapy.
Soil erosion is a widespread environmental problem that threatens environmental sustainability. The Loess Plateau (LP) in China is one of the most severely eroded areas in the world. In this study, ...the soil erosion dynamics were assessed by applying the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation and the Revised Wind Erosion Equation; further, the underlying drivers for soil erosion processes were investigated. In addition, implications of constraint effects in soil erosion control were discussed. The results showed that there was a substantial reduction in both wind and water erosion between 2000 and 2015; it is considered that vegetation restoration (mainly in relation to government-aided ecological restoration programs), increased precipitation, and a decrease in wind speed may have contributed to these trends. Land cover and soil properties contribute to spatial patterns of soil erosion. Thus, ecological restoration programs have promoted improvements in soil properties, leading to an eventual reduction. Constraint line analysis indicates that vegetation cover has a nonlinear and threshold effect on soil erosion through constraining the water condition (i.e., rainfall). With respect to water erosion, when rainfall is below the threshold (approximately 450–500 mm), it is not sufficient to maintain a good vegetation cover (about 30–40%), and vegetation cannot efficiently prevent soil erosion; however, once rainfall exceeds the threshold, the soil retention function of the vegetation is enhanced and soil loss is substantially reduced. In addition, there is a lower (10%) and an upper (40%) threshold at which vegetation can control wind erosion, which implies that plant cover lower than 10% has a minimal effect on reducing the wind velocity at the soil surface, and the effect of vegetation on reducing wind erosion is at its maximum when plant cover is 40% or above. However, if human intervention is removed, the limited amount of rainfall on the LP would be insufficient to support large areas of trees in the long-term; therefore, the constraint effects of the water condition on vegetation cover need to be considered to improve the efficiency of afforestation and reforestation efforts aimed at mitigating and preventing soil loss.
•We quantified the soil erosion change in a spatially explicit manner.•We investigated the driving forces of soil erosion change.•The constraint effect between wind erosion and vegetation cover was quantified.•The implications of constraint effect in soil erosion control were discussed.
The last few years have witnessed the emergence and evolution of a vibrant research stream on a large variety of online social media network (SMN) platforms. Recognizing anonymous, yet identical ...users among multiple SMNs is still an intractable problem. Clearly, cross-platform exploration may help solve many problems in social computing in both theory and applications. Since public profiles can be duplicated and easily impersonated by users with different purposes, most current user identification resolutions, which mainly focus on text mining of users' public profiles, are fragile. Some studies have attempted to match users based on the location and timing of user content as well as writing style. However, the locations are sparse in the majority of SMNs, and writing style is difficult to discern from the short sentences of leading SMNs such as Sina Microblog and Twitter. Moreover, since online SMNs are quite symmetric, existing user identification schemes based on network structure are not effective. The real-world friend cycle is highly individual and virtually no two users share a congruent friend cycle. Therefore, it is more accurate to use a friendship structure to analyze cross-platform SMNs. Since identical users tend to set up partial similar friendship structures in different SMNs, we proposed the Friend Relationship-Based User Identification (FRUI) algorithm. FRUI calculates a match degree for all candidate User Matched Pairs (UMPs), and only UMPs with top ranks are considered as identical users. We also developed two propositions to improve the efficiency of the algorithm. Results of extensive experiments demonstrate that FRUI performs much better than current network structure-based algorithms.
In this work, a double-layer nitrogen-doped microporous hollow carbon@MoS2/MoO2 nanosphere (NCs@MoS2/MoO2) is prepared via a facile method utilizing Mo-mediated in situ growth on polyaniline-coated ...polystyrene spheres and carbonization process. Because of its unique structure, the as-obtained NCs@MoS2/MoO2 exhibits a high specific capacitance (569 F g–1 at 1 A g–1) and excellent rate performance (54.8% capacitance retention) from 1 A g–1 (569 F g–1) to 20 A g–1 (312 F g–1) when directly used as a supercapacitor electrode. In a two-electrode system, it exhibits 81% capacitance retention and 91.4% Coulombic efficiency even after 5000 cycles at 5 A g–1. Therefore, the prepared NCs@MoS2/MoO2 shows to be an outstanding material for supercapacitor electrodes.
Modern people's concept of health is more comprehensive; in addition to physical health, they focus on mental health even more. Computer multimedia group psychological measurement is introduced, and ...a mental health education model is constructed in this paper. The model includes three interrelated levels: mechanism level, evaluation level, and target level. It emphasizes the key and core role of mental quality in mental health. It advocates incorporating mental quality into the evaluation and diagnosis system of the overall state of individual mental health, combines the classified qualitative assessment and quantitative assessment, and arranges appropriate prevention and intervention measures according to different types of individuals. Practice has proved that this method is effective.
Plant image identification has become an interdisciplinary focus in both botanical taxonomy and computer vision. The first plant image dataset collected by mobile phone in natural scene is presented, ...which contains 10,000 images of 100 ornamental plant species in Beijing Forestry University campus. A 26-layer deep learning model consisting of 8 residual building blocks is designed for large-scale plant classification in natural environment. The proposed model achieves a recognition rate of 91.78% on the BJFU100 dataset, demonstrating that deep learning is a promising technology for smart forestry.
Recently, increasing evidence has suggested the association between gut dysbiosis and Alzheimer's disease (AD) progression, yet the role of gut microbiota in AD pathogenesis remains obscure. Herein, ...we provide a potential mechanistic link between gut microbiota dysbiosis and neuroinflammation in AD progression. Using AD mouse models, we discovered that, during AD progression, the alteration of gut microbiota composition leads to the peripheral accumulation of phenylalanine and isoleucine, which stimulates the differentiation and proliferation of pro-inflammatory T helper 1 (Th1) cells. The brain-infiltrated peripheral Th1 immune cells are associated with the M1 microglia activation, contributing to AD-associated neuroinflammation. Importantly, the elevation of phenylalanine and isoleucine concentrations and the increase of Th1 cell frequency in the blood were also observed in two small independent cohorts of patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) due to AD. Furthermore, GV-971, a sodium oligomannate that has demonstrated solid and consistent cognition improvement in a phase 3 clinical trial in China, suppresses gut dysbiosis and the associated phenylalanine/isoleucine accumulation, harnesses neuroinflammation and reverses the cognition impairment. Together, our findings highlight the role of gut dysbiosis-promoted neuroinflammation in AD progression and suggest a novel strategy for AD therapy by remodelling the gut microbiota.
Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have a covalently closed circular conformation and are structurally stable. Those circRNAs with tumor‐suppressive properties play an important role in tumorigenesis and ...metastasis and thus may be used as therapeutic targets of cancers. Herein, we review the current understanding of the classification of circRNAs and summarize the functions and mechanisms of circRNAs that have tumor‐suppressive roles in various cancers, including liver cancer (circARSP91, circADAMTS13, circADAMTS14, circMTO1, hsa_circ_0079299, and circC3P1), bladder cancer (circFNDC3B, circITCH, circHIPK3, circRNA‐3, cdrlas, and circLPAR1), gastric cancer (circLARP4, circYAP1, hsa_cric_0000096, hsa_circ_0000993, and circPSMC3), breast cancer (circ_000911, hsa_circ_0072309, and circASS1), lung cancer (hsa_circ_0000977, circPTK2, circ_0001649, hsa_circ_100395, and circ_0006916), glioma (circ_0001946, circSHPRH, and circFBXW7), and colorectal cancer (circITGA7 and hsa_circ_0014717). Thanks to their structural stability, these tumor‐suppressive circRNAs may be used as potential and potent therapeutic targets. Moreover, we propose a new method for the classification of circRNAs. Based on whether they can be translated, circRNAs can be divided into noncoding circRNAs and coding circRNAs.
Tumor‐suppressive circRNAs may be used as potential and potent therapeutic targets. Moreover, we can propose a new method for the classification of circRNAs: based on whether they can be translated, circRNAs can be divided into noncoding circRNAs and coding circRNAs.
Recently, wearable electronic devices including electrical sensors, flexible displays, and health monitors have received considerable attention and experienced rapid progress. Wearable ...supercapacitors attract tremendous attention mainly due to their high stability, low cost, fast charging/discharging, and high efficiency; properties that render them value for developing fully flexible devices. In this Concept, the recent achievements and advances made in flexible and wearable supercapacitors are presented, especially highlighting the promising performances of yarn/fiber‐shaped and planar supercapacitors. On the basis of their working mechanism, electrode materials including carbon‐based materials, metal oxide‐based materials, and conductive polymers with an emphasis on the performance‐optimization method are introduced. The latest representative techniques and active materials of recently developed supercapacitors with superior performance are summarized. Furthermore, the designs of 1D and 2D electrodes are discussed according to their electrically conductive supporting materials. Finally, conclusions, challenges, and perspective in optimizing and developing the electrochemical performance and function of wearable supercapacitors for their practical utility are addressed.
The rapid development of wearable electronics including flexible displays, medical sensors, and portable power has become a notable technology trend. The latest development and advancement of flexible and wearable supercapacitors that could power flexible electronics are reviewed. The representative achievements based on different types of electrode materials are summarized. Furthermore, the design and assembly of yarn/fiber‐shaped and planar supercapacitors are introduced.
PDF
