COVID-19 is highly contagious, and the crude mortality rate could reach 49% in critical patients. Inflammation concerns on disease progression. This study analyzed blood inflammation indicators among ...mild, severe and critical patients, helping to identify severe or critical patients early.
In this cross-sectional study, 100 patients were included and divided into mild, severe or critical groups according to disease condition. Correlation of peripheral blood inflammation-related indicators with disease criticality was analyzed. Cut-off values for critically ill patients were speculated through the ROC curve.
Significantly, disease severity was associated with age (R = -0.564, P < 0.001), interleukin-2 receptor (IL2R) (R = -0.534, P < 0.001), interleukin-6 (IL-6) (R = -0.535, P < 0.001), interleukin-8 (IL-8) (R = -0.308, P < 0.001), interleukin-10 (IL-10) (R = -0.422, P < 0.001), tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) (R = -0.322, P < 0.001), C-reactive protein (CRP) (R = -0.604, P < 0.001), ferroprotein (R = -0.508, P < 0.001), procalcitonin (R = -0.650, P < 0.001), white cell counts (WBC) (R = -0.54, P < 0.001), lymphocyte counts (LC) (R = 0.56, P < 0.001), neutrophil count (NC) (R = -0.585, P < 0.001) and eosinophil counts (EC) (R = 0.299, P < 0.001). With IL2R > 793.5 U/mL or CRP > 30.7 ng/mL, the progress of COVID-19 to critical stage should be closely observed and possibly prevented.
Inflammation is closely related to severity of COVID-19, and IL-6 and TNFα might be promising therapeutic targets.
It has been reported that iron tailing powder (ITP) has the potential to partially replace cement to prepare ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC). However, the reactivity of ITP particles in ...concrete largely depends on the curing method. This study investigates the effects of curing conditions on the mechanical and microstructural properties of UHPC containing ITP. To achieve this objective, three research tasks are conducted, including (1) preparing seven concrete formulations by introducing ITP; (2) characterizing their mechanical performance under different curing regimes; and (3) analyzing their microstructure by XRD patterns, FTIR analysis, and SEM observation. The experimental results show that there is an optimum ITP dosage (15%) for their application. The concrete with 15% ITP under standard curing obtains 94.3 MPa at 7 days, their early-age strength could be even further increased by ~30% (warm-water curing) and ~35% (steamed curing). The steam curing regime stimulates the activity of ITP and refines the microstructure. This study demonstrates the potential of replacing Portland cement with ITP in UHPC production.
Objective
To determine whether a radiomics signature (rad-score) outperforms ADC in TSR estimation by developing a radiomics biomarker for preoperative TSR diagnosis in rectal cancer.
Methods
This ...study included 149 patients (119 and 30 in the training and validation cohorts, respectively). All patients underwent T2-weighted, diffusion-weighted, and contrast-enhanced T1-weighted imaging. A rad-score was generated using the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) algorithm and stepwise multivariate logistic regression. Meanwhile, the mean ADCs were calculated from ADC maps. For both the mean ADC and rad-score, binary logistic regression and Spearman correlation coefficients were used to determine associations with the TSR, and the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to assess the diagnostic performance. The reliability of the rad-score was quantified by comparing the imaging-estimated TSR with the actual TSR of each patient.
Results
Both the mean ADC and rad-score were positively correlated with the TSR in the training cohort (mean ADC:
p
< 0.001,
r
= 0.566; rad-score:
p
< 0.001,
r
= 0.559) and validation cohort (mean ADC:
p
< 0.001,
r
= 0.671; rad-score:
p
= 0.002,
r
= 0.536). The rad-score, with AUCs of 0.917 (95% CI 0.869–0.965) and 0.787 (95% CI 0.602–0.972) in the training and validation cohorts, respectively, outperformed the mean ADC (training cohort: AUC = 0.776, 95% CI 0.693–0.859; validation cohort: AUC = 0.764, 95% CI 0.592–0.936) in TSR estimation.
Conclusion
The ADC possesses potential diagnostic value for TSR estimation in rectal cancer, and the rad-score shows increased diagnostic value over the ADC and may be a promising supplemental tool for patient stratification and informing decision-making.
Key Points
• Tumor-stroma ratio has been verified as an independent prognostic factor for various solid tumors including rectal cancer.
• The ADC and multiparametric MRI-based radiomics features were significantly and positively correlated with the tumor-stroma ratio in rectal cancer.
• The radiomics signature outperformed the ADC in discriminating TSR in rectal cancer.
Objective
This study aims to develop a machine learning model for prediction of malignancy in T2 hyperintense mesenchymal uterine tumors based on T2-weighted image (T2WI) features and clinical ...information.
Methods
This retrospective study included 134 patients with T2 hyperintense uterine mesenchymal tumors (104 patients in training cohort and 30 in testing cohort). A total of 960 radiomics features were initially computed and extracted from each 3D segmented tumor depicting on T2WI. The support vector machine (SVM) classifier was applied to build computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) models by using selected clinical and radiomics features, respectively. Finally, an observer study was conducted by comparing with two radiologists to evaluate the diagnostic performance. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) was computed to assess the performance of each model.
Results
Comparing with the T2WI-based radiomics model (AUC: 0.76 ± 0.09) and the clinical model (AUC: 0.79 ± 0.09), the combined model significantly improved the AUC value to 0.91 ± 0.05 (
p
< 0.05). The clinical-radiomics combined model yielded equivalent or higher performance than two radiologists (AUC: 0.78 vs. 0.91,
p =
0.03; 0.90 vs.0.91,
p
= 0.13). There was a significant difference between the AUC values of two radiologists (
p
< 0.05).
Conclusions
It is feasible to predict malignancy risk of T2 hyperintense uterine mesenchymal tumors by combining clinical variables and T2WI-based radiomics features. Machine learning–based classification model may be useful to assist radiologists in decision-making.
Key Points
• Radiomics approach has the potential to distinguish between benign and malignant mesenchymal uterine tumors
.
• T2WI-based radiomics analysis combined with clinical variables performed well in predicting malignancy risk of T2 hyperintense uterine mesenchymal tumors
.
• Machine learning–based classification model may be useful to assist radiologists in characterization of a T2 hyperintense uterine mesenchymal tumor
.
We investigated the protective effects and possible mechanisms of Aplysin against alcohol‐induced liver injury. Rats were given daily either alcohol only (alcohol model group; 8 to 12 mL/kg body ...weight), one of three doses of Aplysin (50, 100, or 150 mg/kg Aplysin) plus alcohol, or volume‐matched saline. After 6 weeks, the effects of Aplysin were assessed in terms of changes in histology, biochemical indices, and DNA oxidative damage. Potential mechanisms were analyzed through measurements of lipid peroxidation, antioxidant defense systems, expression of cytochrome P450 2E1, and expression of apoptosis‐related genes. We found that Aplysin significantly protected the liver against alcohol‐induced oxidative injury, evidenced by improved hepatic histological structure, inhibited alcohol‐induced elevation of serum biochemical indices, attenuated extents of hepatocellular DNA damage. At a mechanistic level, Aplysin alleviated alcohol‐induced oxidative stress as illustrated by the revivification of erythrocyte membrane fluidity, the attenuation of glutathione depletion, the restoration of antioxidase activities, and reduced malondialdehyde overproduction. Furthermore, the mRNA levels of Bax, cytochrome c, and cytochrome P450 2E1 were significantly down‐regulated, whereas those of Bcl‐2 and caspase‐9 and caspase‐3 were markedly up‐regulated. These findings suggest that Aplysin provides significant protection against alcohol‐induced liver injury, possibly through alleviating oxidative damage and modulating endogenous apoptosis‐related genes expression.
Practical Application
Many natural components derived from alga have been used in the food, cosmetics, and biomedicine industries. Aplysin, a marine bromosesquiterpene, was extracted from the red alga Laurencia tristicha, which could effectively protect against alcohol‐induced liver injury, might be a potential natural sources for preventing alcoholic liver damage.
•A novel straight-through all-glass evacuated tube collector.•High-quality borosilicate glass tube with good mechanical stability.•Better heat transfer properties than a Dewar-tube type ETC.
A ...straight-through all-glass evacuated tube collector (ETC) made of high-quality borosilicate glass was developed for large-scale low and medium temperature solar hot water systems. It consists of an inner and outer tube without a free end and was shown to be mechanically stable with a thermal expansion coefficient of (3.3 ± 0.1) × 10−6 K−1. Due to turbulent conditions in the straight-through all-glass tube, a higher heat transfer rate could be achieved than in a Dewar-tube ETC, leading to increased heat extraction and decreased heat losses. The photo-thermal efficiency was improved, indicating that a straight-through tube could be more cost-effective. At the same time, active flow in the tube can result in a better water quality as the accumulation time in the tube was short.
Optimization of the transport behaviors of ions and electrons is the key for the property improvement of supercapacitor, which are essentially controlled by the design of hierarchical porous ...structure and electrical conductive backbone, from nanoscale to microscale, respectively. However, such design requirements are very difficult to be satisfied simultaneously, because the generation of porosity would result to the detrimental effects on the electrical conductivity of electrode. In this study, we propose to prepare a hierarchical porous supercapacitor electrode, with a novel 3-D highly porous (with pore size in the range of 50-100 nm) carbon nanotube sponges (CNTS) as a conductive substrate for the successively deposition of metal organic frameworks (MOF) and polyaniline. The porous structure of the sponge is beneficial for precursor penetration and uniform deposition of MOF and polyaniline (PANI) on to the nanotubes. The highly porous CNTS not only provides conductive highway for electrons, but also channels for ions quick diffusion. The coated MOF offers extra ion storage reservoir, while PANI further wire the insulating MOF together. In addition, the composite structure does not require any conductive additives or mechanical binders and delivers excellent capacitance coupled with flexible, compressive, and have relatively high specific capacitance.
RNA secondary structure is critical to RNA regulation and function. We report a new N
-kethoxal reagent that allows fast and reversible labeling of single-stranded guanine bases in live cells. This N
...-kethoxal-based chemistry allows efficient RNA labeling under mild conditions and transcriptome-wide RNA secondary structure mapping.
Abstract
Alternative splicing (AS) is a widespread process that increases structural transcript variation and proteome diversity. Aberrant splicing patterns are frequently observed in cancer ...initiation, progress, prognosis and therapy. Increasing evidence has demonstrated that AS events could undergo modulation by genetic variants. The identification of splicing quantitative trait loci (sQTLs), genetic variants that affect AS events, might represent an important step toward fully understanding the contribution of genetic variants in disease development. However, no database has yet been developed to systematically analyze sQTLs across multiple cancer types. Using genotype data from The Cancer Genome Atlas and corresponding AS values calculated by TCGASpliceSeq, we developed a computational pipeline to identify sQTLs from 9 026 tumor samples in 33 cancer types. We totally identified 4 599 598 sQTLs across all cancer types. We further performed survival analyses and identified 17 072 sQTLs associated with patient overall survival times. Furthermore, using genome-wide association study (GWAS) catalog data, we identified 1 180 132 sQTLs overlapping with known GWAS linkage disequilibrium regions. Finally, we constructed a user-friendly database, CancerSplicingQTL (http://www.cancersplicingqtl-hust.com/) for users to conveniently browse, search and download data of interest. This database provides an informative sQTL resource for further characterizing the potential functional roles of SNPs that control transcript isoforms in human cancer.
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