Cataracts are one of the most common eye diseases that can cause blindness. Discovering susceptibility factors in the proteome that contribute to cataract development would be helpful in gaining new ...insights in the molecular mechanisms of the cataract process. We used label-free nanoflow ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry to compare aqueous humor protein expressions in cataract patients with different cataract risk factors such as diabetes mellitus (DM) and smoking and in controls (with cataract) without risk exposure. Eight patients with diabetes and who smoked (with double risk factors), five patients with diabetes and five patients who smoked (both with a single risk factor), and nine aged-matched cataract controls patients (non-risk exposure) were enrolled. In total, 136 aqueous humor proteins were identified, of which only alpha-2-Heremans-Schmid (HS)-glycoprotein was considered to be significantly risk-associated because it was differentially expressed in these three groups and exhibited increased expression with increasing risk factors. Significant changes in the aqueous humor level of alpha-2-HS-glycoprotein between DM and control samples and between smoking and control samples were confirmed using ELISA. The alpha-2-HS-glycoprotein, called fetuin-a, could be a potential aqueous biomarker associated with DM and smoking, which were cataract risk factors.
Abstract
China's mariculture is an indispensable part of the world's aquaculture and helps address food security issues in China and around the globe. However, this industry is facing a grand ...challenge from global warming. Therefore, it is urgent to assess the sensitivity of the main mariculture species and production modes to the increasing temperature. Here, we first extracted the coastal temperature data from 1465 grid cells (0.25 × 0.25 arcdegree) in the mariculture regions, and then compiled an upper thermal limit as well as culturing modes dataset of forty-two commercially important mariculture species. With these two datasets, we calculated the thermal safety margin (TSM) for each species across its aquaculture regions. Our results showed that several species with low TSMs were particularly sensitive to the current conditions and future warming, and some culturing regions face catastrophic consequences caused by high temperature and potential heatwaves. It is also noted that several mariculture modes like pond farming and mudflat ranching were more vulnerable compared to other mariculture modes. In summary, China's mariculture industry is sensitive to global warming at present and in the future. Our present study also provided tools to assess the risks in mariculture production and suggested solutions for future mitigation and adaptations.
Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) had been applied in Internet of Things (IoT) and in Industry 4.0. Since a WSN system contains multiple wireless sensor nodes, it is necessary to develop a low-power ...and multiband wireless communication system that satisfies the specifications of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Certification European (CE). In a WSN system, many devices are of very small size and can be slipped into a Universal Serial Bus (USB), which is capable of connecting to wireless systems and networks, as well as transferring data. These devices are widely known as USB dongles. This paper develops a planar USB dongle antenna for three frequency bands, namely 2.30-2.69 GHz, 3.40-3.70 GHz, and 5.15-5.85 GHz. This study proposes a novel antenna design that uses four loops to develop the multiband USB dongle. The first and second loops construct the low and intermediate frequency ranges. The third loop resonates the high frequency property, while the fourth loop is used to enhance the bandwidth. The performance and power consumption of the proposed multiband planar USB dongle antenna were significantly improved compared to existing multiband designs.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Data on the effectiveness of one-off low-dose CT (LDCT) in reducing lung cancer mortality and all-cause mortality are needed to inform ...screening programmes in countries with limited medical resources. We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of one-off LDCT screening in the early detection of lung cancer in China.
A multicentre, population-based, prospective cohort study was done in 12 cities of eight provinces across China, recruiting individuals aged 40-74 years who were asymptomatic for lung cancer with no lung cancer history. Participants were classified as at high risk or low risk of lung cancer using a sex-specific risk score that incorporated cigarette smoking, level of physical activity, occupational exposures, history of chronic respiratory diseases, family history of lung cancer, diet, and passive smoking (women only). Participants at high risk were invited for a one-off LDCT scan and were classified into screened and non-screened groups on the basis of whether or not they had the scan. Lung cancer incidence density, lung cancer mortality, and all-cause mortality were calculated for the screened and non-screened groups. The effectiveness of a one-off LDCT scan was evaluated by a comparison of the screened and non-screened groups in terms of lung cancer mortality and all-cause mortality in the period from cohort entry until administrative censoring (June 20, 2020). Inverse probability weighting was adopted to account for potential imbalanced factors between the two groups and Cox proportional hazards model was used to estimate the weighted associations between mortality and one-off LDCT scans.
Between Feb 19, 2013, and Oct 31, 2018, 1 032 639 individuals were assessed for eligibility. 1 016 740 participants were enrolled in the study, of whom 3581 had a lung cancer diagnosis after a median follow-up of 3·6 years (IQR 2·8-5·1). Among the 223 302 participants at high risk, 79 581 (35·6%) had an LDCT scan (screened group) and 143 721 (64·4%) did not (non-screened group). After inverse probability weighting, lung cancer incidence density was 47·0% higher (hazard ratio 1·47 95% CI 1·27-1·70; p<0·0001), lung cancer mortality was 31·0% lower (0·69 95% CI 0·53-0·92; p=0·010) and all-cause mortality was 32·0% lower (0·68 0·57-0·82; p<0·0001) for participants in the screened group compared with those in the non-screened group.
One-off LDCT screening was associated with significantly lower lung cancer mortality and all-cause mortality in a large population in China. Our results point to the promise of one-off LDCT screening in countries with limited medical resources. Further studies are needed to explore interactions by subgroup-including sex, age, smoking status, and economic status-to develop population-specific screening strategies.
Ministry of Finance and National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China.
For the Chinese translation of the abstract see Supplementary Materials section.
The heterogeneous hydrolysis of dinitrogen pentoxide (N2O5) is an important pathway in nitrate formation; however, its formation rate and relative contribution to total particulate nitrate (pNO3‐ ...${{\text{pNO}}_{3}}^{\mbox{-}}$) are highly variable. Here we report that nocturnal pNO3‐ ${{\text{pNO}}_{3}}^{\mbox{-}}$ formation via N2O5 hydrolysis is dependent on the regime defined by the ratio of NO2 to O3. Nocturnal pNO3‐ ${{\text{pNO}}_{3}}^{\mbox{-}}$ formation via N2O5 hydrolysis is suppressed in an O3‐limited regime but enhanced in a NO2‐limited regime. The results have crucial implications for effective control of nitrate pollution in the future. An exclusive decrease in NO2 will decrease nocturnal pNO3‐ ${{\text{pNO}}_{3}}^{\mbox{-}}$ formation in a NO2‐limited regime but may be less effective or even increase nocturnal pNO3‐ ${{\text{pNO}}_{3}}^{\mbox{-}}$ formation in an O3‐limited regime.
Plain Language Summary
Our observations show that nocturnal pNO3‐ ${{\text{pNO}}_{3}}^{\mbox{-}}$ formation via dinitrogen pentoxide (N2O5) hydrolysis in the residual layer over megacity Beijing is more efficient than at ground level. Further investigations suggest nocturnal pNO3‐ ${{\text{pNO}}_{3}}^{\mbox{-}}$ formation via N2O5 hydrolysis is dependent on the regime defined by the ratio of NO2 to O3. Nocturnal pNO3‐ ${{\text{pNO}}_{3}}^{\mbox{-}}$ formation via N2O5 hydrolysis is suppressed in an O3‐limited regime but enhanced in a NO2‐limited regime. As a result, an exclusive decrease in NO2 will decrease nocturnal pNO3‐ ${{\text{pNO}}_{3}}^{\mbox{-}}$ formation in a NO2‐limited regime but may be less effective or even increase nocturnal pNO3‐ ${{\text{pNO}}_{3}}^{\mbox{-}}$ formation in an O3‐limited regime. The above result is also substantiated by observations during the COVID‐19.
Key Points
Nocturnal pNO3‐ ${{\text{pNO}}_{3}}^{\mbox{-}}$ formation via N2O5 hydrolysis is dependent on the regime defined by the ratio of NO2 to O3
Nocturnal pNO3‐ ${{\text{pNO}}_{3}}^{\mbox{-}}$ formation via N2O5 hydrolysis in the residual layer over megacity Beijing is more efficient than at ground level
Nocturnal pNO3‐ ${{\text{pNO}}_{3}}^{\mbox{-}}$ formation via N2O5 hydrolysis is suppressed in an O3‐limited regime but enhanced in a NO2‐limited regime
This study is the first to investigate the antimetastatic effect of fisetin in human lung adenocarcinoma A549 cells. Fisetin exhibited an inhibitory effect on the abilities of adhesion, migration, ...and invasion via inhibiting the phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1 and 2 (ERK1/2) and downregulating the expressions of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) and urokinase-type plasminogen activator (u-PA) at both the protein and mRNA levels in A549 cells. Next, fisetin significantly decreased the nuclear levels of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), c-Fos, and c-Jun. Also, treating A549 cells with fisetin also leads to a concentration-dependent inhibition on the binding abilities of NF-κB and activator protein-1 (AP-1). Furthermore, reduction of ERK1/2 phosphorylation by ERK small interfering RNA (ERK siRNA) potentiated the effect of fisetin, supporting the inhibition of ERK1/2 being beneficial to antimetastasis. Finally, the transient transfection of ERK siRNA significantly downregulated the expressions of MMP-2 and u-PA concomitantly with a marked inhibition of cell invasion and migration. Taken together, these results implied a critical role for ERK1/2 inhibition in fisetin-reduced invasion and migration of A549 cells.
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVEEpidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) are the first-line therapy for EGFR-mutant non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Early ...prediction of treatment failure in patients with brain metastases treated with EGFR-TKIs may help in making decisions for systemic drug therapy or local brain tumor control. This study examined the predictive power of the radiomics of both brain metastasis tumors and primary lung tumors. We propose a deep learning based CoxCC model based on quantitative brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a prognostic index and clinical data; the model can be used to predict progression-free survival (PFS) after EGFR-TKI therapy in advanced EGFR-mutant NSCLC.METHODSThis retrospective single-center study included 271 patients receiving first-line EGFR-TKI targeted therapy in 2018-2019. Among them, 72 patients who had brain metastases before receiving first-line EGFR-TKI treatment. Three radiomic features were extracted from pretreatment brain MRI images. A CoxCC model for the progression risk stratification of EGFR-TKI treatment was proposed on the basis of MRI radiomics, clinical features, and a prognostic index. We performed time-dependent PFS predictions to evaluate the performance of the CoxCC model.RESULTSThe CoxCC model based on a prognostic index, clinical features, and radiomic features of brain metastasis exhibited higher performance than clinical features combined with indexes previously proposed for determining the prognosis of brain metastasis, including recursive partitioning analysis, diagnostic-specific graded prognostic assessment, graded prognostic assessment for lung cancer using molecular markers (lung-molGPA), and modified lung-molGPA, with c-index values of 0.75, 0.67, 0.66, 0.65, and 0.65, respectively. The model achieved areas under the curve of 0.88, 0.73, 0.92, and 0.90 for predicting PFS at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months, respectively. PFS significantly differed between the high- and low-risk groups (p < 0.001).CONCLUSIONSFor patients with advanced-stage NSCLC with brain metastasis, MRI radiomics of brain metastases may predict PFS. The CoxCC model integrating brain metastasis radiomics, clinical features, and a prognostic index provided reliable multi-time-point PFS predictions for patients with advanced NSCLC and brain metastases receiving EGFR-TKI treatment.
Flexible integrated circuits with complex functionalities are the missing link for the active development of wearable electronic devices. Here, we report a scalable approach to fabricate self-aligned ...graphene microwave transistors for the implementation of flexible low-noise amplifiers and frequency mixers, two fundamental building blocks of a wireless communication receiver. A devised AlO x T-gate structure is used to achieve an appreciable increase of device transconductance and a commensurate reduction of the associated parasitic resistance, thus yielding a remarkable extrinsic cutoff frequency of 32 GHz and a maximum oscillation frequency of 20 GHz; in both cases the operation frequency is an order of magnitude higher than previously reported. The two frequencies work at 22 and 13 GHz even when subjected to a strain of 2.5%. The gigahertz microwave integrated circuits demonstrated here pave the way for applications which require high flexibility and radio frequency operations.
Existing surgical tissue adhesives on the market cannot meet the desired demand for clinical operations due to their limited adhesivity or undesired cytotoxicity. A new bioadhesive is derived from ...the skin secretion of Andrias davidianus (SSAD). This bioinspired SSAD has significantly stronger tissue adhesion than the fibrin glue and improved elasticity and biocompatibility when compared to the cyanoacrylate glue both ex vivo and in vivo. Additionally, the SSAD‐based adhesive decreases skin wound healing time and promotes wound regeneration and angiogenesis. The SSAD‐based adhesive is completely degradable, strongly adhesive, and easily produced from a renewable source. Based on these favorable properties, the SSAD‐based bioadhesive demonstrates potential as a surgical bioadhesive for a broad range of medical applications.
A new bioadhesive is derived from the skin secretion of the Chinese giant salamander. This bioinspired adhesive is completely degradable, strongly adhesive, and easily produced from a renewable source. Additionally, it is found to decrease skin wound healing time and promote wound regeneration and angiogenesis.
Limited studies have focused on the impact of the coexistence of small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The study was to examine the impact of COPD on ...mortality in SCLC patients.
We analyzed SCLC patients from the Taiwan Cancer Registry Database between January 1, 1997, and December 31, 2015. The COPD population was composed of patients with a COPD diagnosis before the diagnosis of SCLC. The control group was composed of randomly selected SCLC patients without COPD who were propensity score matched with those with concomitant COPD according to age, sex, index date, cancer staging and comorbidities at a 1:1 ratio.
Among 9425 SCLC patients in the database, eligible subjects were divided into the COPD group (n = 4235) and the non-COPD group (n = 2334). Compared to patients in the non-COPD group, the patients in the COPD group were older (71.4 versus 65.7 years, p<0.0001), had a lower percentage of stage IV disease (60.1% versus 68.3%, p<0.0001) and had more comorbidities. After matching, there were 1457 patients in each group. Older age, lower body mass index (BMI), and some comorbidities were associated with higher mortality, and comorbid COPD was associated with lower 1-year mortality in SCLC patients. Multivariate analysis identified older age, lower BMI, and concomitant congestive heart failure or diabetes as risk factors for OS.
A diagnosis of COPD was associated with reduced 1-year mortality in SCLC patients, but no significant difference after 1-year in this population.
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