Regulatory T cells (Tregs) characterized by the expression of the master transcription factor forkhead box protein p3 (Foxp3) suppress anticancer immunity, thereby hindering protective ...immunosurveillance of tumours and hampering effective antitumour immune responses in tumour-bearing hosts, constitute a current research hotspot in the field. However, Tregs are also essential for the maintenance of the immune tolerance of the body and share many molecular signalling pathways with conventional T cells, including cytotoxic T cells, the primary mediators of tumour immunity. Hence, the inability to specifically target and neutralize Tregs in the tumour microenvironment without globally compromising self-tolerance poses a significant challenge. Here, we review recent advances in characterizing tumour-infiltrating Tregs with a focus on the functional roles of costimulatory and inhibitory receptors in Tregs, evaluate their potential as clinical targets, and systematically summarize their roles in potential treatment strategies. Also, we propose modalities to integrate our increasing knowledge on Tregs phenotype and function for the rational design of checkpoint inhibitor-based combination therapies. Finally, we propose possible treatment strategies that can be used to develop Treg-targeted therapies.
General models of tourist decision making have been developed to theorize tourist decision processes. These models have been based on the premise that tourists are rational decision makers and ...utility maximizers. Further, these models have been operationalized through input–output models to measure preferences and behavioral intentions. The extent that they remain viable to explain and predict tourist behavior as tourism markets mature however is uncertain. This review article critiques these approaches and proposes a new general model based on dual system theory to account for different types of choice strategies, the constructive nature of preferences, and to recognize the individual and contextual factors that influence choice processes. The article argues that a general tourist choice model should integrate the psychological processes that determine choice strategies, or heuristics, and consider choice context. These include individual differences, task-related factors, and principles determining system engagement. Future research and practical implications are outlined.
As artificial intelligent technologies have been increasingly applied in tourism and hospitality industry, the service failure caused by artificial intelligence assistant and how to recover them are ...worth empirical studying. Laboratory experiments were employed to test the impact of cuteness in service failure, with effective manipulation of cute appearance, cute voice and cute language style of artificial intelligence assistant. By utilizing three studies with seven experiments, this research demonstrated the positive effect of cuteness design of artificial intelligence assistant on customer tolerance of service failure and further revealed the two mediating paths (tenderness and performance expectancy) as well as the boundary (failure severity and time pressure) of the cuteness effect. These findings contribute to the knowledge on artificial intelligent assistant service and provide insight for cute design using in tourism and hospitality industry.
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•Cuteness design of AI assistant influences customers' tolerance of service failure.•Seven experiments were used to examine the cuteness effect and the mechanism behind.•Cuteness can be designed through appearance, voice or language style.•Cuteness effect was mediated by tenderness and performance expectancy.•The moderating role of perceived severity and time pressure was found.
With advancements in additive manufacturing, now 3D-printed core plugs can be duplicated in order to replace natural rock samples. This can help us to control their parameters to be used in different ...types of experiments for model verifications. However, prior to such substitutions, we should ensure they can represent natural rock samples through characterizing their physical properties. In this paper, synthetic samples made up of gypsum powder are 3D-printed and then characterized for essential pores properties. The analysis included structures of the pores, quantitative porosity evaluation, pore size distribution, pore surface area, pore shape distribution, and corresponding anisotropy. Mercury injection porosimetry (MIP) and helium porosimetry (HP) combined with X-ray micro-computed tomography were performed to provide us with detailed information about the pores. Porosity was measured 32.66% from micro-CT based on watershed thresholding, which was found comparable with MIP and HP results, 27.90 and 28.86%, respectively. Most of the pores lay in the range from 4 to 10 μm in diameter with relative frequency of 92.04%. The pore shape distribution indicates that 3D-printed gypsum rocks host more spherical pores and fewer blade-shaped pores. In addition, pore anisotropy of the sample that was analyzed by collecting pore orientation in orthogonal axes represented the vertical transverse isotropy.
Cancer progression is closely related to the tumor microenvironment in which the tumor exists, including surrounding blood vessels, immune cells, fibroblasts, bone marrow‐derived inflammatory cells, ...signaling molecules and the extracellular matrix. Tumors can influence the microenvironment by releasing extracellular signals, promoting tumor angiogenesis and inducing peripheral immune tolerance, while the immune cells in the microenvironment can impact the growth and evolution of cancerous cells. One of major cell components in the tumor microenvironment is myeloid‐derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), which promote tumor growth and metastasis directly or indirectly by recognizing other immune cells, producing cytokines and exerting their immunosuppression functions. MDSCs have emerged as major regulators of immune responses in cancer and key targets for treating cancer. There are many limitations and side‐effect in approaches of conventional cancer therapy, including radiotherapy. It has grown up to be a burgeoning field that a combination of radiotherapy and immunotherapy applied to cancer therapy. Therefore, it is fundamental to explore the immune mechanism in the process of cancer treatment. Here, we reviewed the recent progress of MDSCs in roles of the tumor microenvironment and tumor radiotherapy.
Nucleic acid circuits have shown promising potential for amplified detection of biomarkers with interest in biologically important engineering applications. In this work, by properly integrating two ...signal amplification approaches, catalytic hairpin assembly (CHA) and hybridization chain reaction (HCR), a concatenated CHA-HCR system was established as an isothermal enzyme-free amplification strategy for highly sensitive and selective nucleic acid assay. The target catalyzes the self-assembly of CHA hairpin substrates into dsDNA products, where the split segments of HCR trigger are successively connected to drive the subsequent autonomous cross-opening of HCR hairpins, leading to the construction of HCR tandem copolymeric dsDNA nanowires. The resulting HCR copolymer brings a fluorophore donor/acceptor pair into close proximity that allows an efficient generation of FRET readout signal. Moreover, the optimized CHA-HCR circuit, upon the incorporation of an auxiliary sensing module, can be converted into a universal sensing platform for detecting cancerous biomarkers (
, a well-known oncogene miR-21) through a convenient easy-to-integrate procedure. The concatenated CHA-HCR amplifier enables accurate intracellular miRNA imaging in living cells, which is especially suitable for
amplified detection of lowly expressed endogenous analytes. The inherent synergistically accelerated recognition and hybridization features of CHA-HCR circuit contribute to the amplified detection of endogenous RNAs in living cells. The flexible and programmable nature of the homogeneous CHA-HCR system provides a versatile and robust toolbox for a wide range of research fields, such as
bioimaging, clinical diagnosis and environmental monitoring.
: As the situation of cognitive aging is getting worse, preventing or treating cognitive decline through effective strategies is highly important. This systematic review aims to investigate whether ...mind-body exercise is an effective approach for treating cognition decline.
: Searches for the potential studies were performed on the eight electronic databases (MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, SPORTDiscus, CINAHL, PsycArtilces, CNKI, and Wanfang). Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) examining the effect of mind-body exercise on cognitive performance in older adults were included. Data were extracted and effect sizes were pooled with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) using random-effects models. The Physiotherapy Evidence Database Scale was employed to examine the study quality.
: Nineteen RCTs including 2539 elders (67.3% female) with fair to good study quality were identified. Mind-body exercise, relative to control intervention, showed significant benefits on cognitive performance, global cognition (
= 0.23), executive functions (
= 0.25 to 0.65), learning and memory (
= 0.37 to 0.49), and language (
= 0.35). In addition, no significant adverse events were reported.
: Mind-body exercise may be a safe and effective intervention for enhancing cognitive function among people aged 60 years or older. Further research evidence is still needed to make a more conclusive statement.
This study focuses on tourist co-creation in the public service context, an area that has received limited attention in tourism studies. By utilizing a survey with a sample of 458 responses from ...on-site tourists in Hangzhou, China, this study explored how host-guest interactions at the destination motivate tourists' intention to participate in public service co-creation. The empirical analysis shows that different types of host-guest interaction in the public service context lead tourists to feel different dimensions of experiential value. Emotional and social experiential value play a full mediating role between host-guest interaction and co-creation intention.
Immunotherapy, frequently combined with conventional chemotherapy, is crucial for treating NSCLC. Kirsten rat sarcoma virus (KRAS) is a poor prognostic factor in patients with NSCLC, particularly ...lung adenocarcinoma, where binding of conventional inhibitors to mutated KRAS proteins is challenging. Field profiles, research hotspots, and prospects for immunotherapy for patients with NSCLC-carrying KRAS mutations were uncovered in this study.
Microsoft Excel 2019, Bibliometrix, VOSviewer software, and Citespace were utilized to conduct a comprehensive scientometric analysis and understand a specific research field's knowledge base and frontiers aided by bibliometrics.
Between 2014 and 2023, 398 eligible documents in the English language were acquired using the WoSCC database, of which 113 and 285 were reviews and articles, respectively. The growth rate per year was 34.25 %. The most cited articles were from the United States, and China published the highest number of articles. Cancers was the journal, with increased publications in recent years. The keywords with the strongest citation bursts were analyzed using Citespace. "Immune checkpoint inhibitors," "co-occurring genomic alterations," and "KRAS" are among the research hotspots in this field.
Using bibliometric and visual analyses, we examined immunotherapy for patients with KRAS-mutant NSCLC over the previous decade. The whole analysis showed a steady, quick increase in yearly publications in this area. Our findings will provide a roadmap for future research on the mechanisms of immunotherapy and immune checkpoint inhibitor action in treating KRAS-mutant NSCLC.
Cancer nanotheranostics, integrating both diagnostic and therapeutic functions into nanoscale agents, are advanced solutions for cancer management. Herein, a light‐responsive biodegradable ...nanorattle‐based perfluoropentane‐(PFP)‐filled mesoporous‐silica‐film‐coated gold nanorod (GNR@SiO2‐PFP) is strategically designed and prepared for enhanced ultrasound (US)/photoacoustic (PA) dual‐modality imaging guided photothermal therapy of melanoma. The as‐prepared nanorattles are composed of a thin mesoporous silica film as the shell, which endows the nanoplatform with flexible morphology and excellent biodegradability, as well as large cavity for PFP filling. Upon 808 nm laser irradiation, the loaded PFP will undergo a liquid–gas phase transition due to the heat generation from GNRs, thus generating nanobubbles followed by the coalescence into microbubbles. The conversion of nanobubbles to microbubbles can improve the intratumoral permeation and retention in nonmicrovascular tissue, as well as enhance the tumor‐targeted US imaging signals. This nanotheranostic platform exhibits excellent biocompatibility and biodegradability, distinct gas bubbling phenomenon, good US/PA imaging contrast, and remarkable photothermal efficiency. The results demonstrate that the GNR@SiO2‐PFP nanorattles hold great potential for cancer nanotheranostics.
A cancer‐theranostic nanorattle with excellent uniformity, biocompatibility, and biodegradability is prepared. Light‐responsive nanobubble generation allows ultrasound/photoacoustic dual‐modality imaging‐guided photothermal therapy of melanoma.
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