The research field of systems biology has greatly advanced and, as a result, the concept of network pharmacology has been developed. This advancement, in turn, has shifted the paradigm from a ..."one-target, one-drug" mode to a "network-target, multiple-component-therapeutics" mode. Network pharmacology is more effective for establishing a "compound-protein/gene-disease" network and revealing the regulation principles of small molecules in a high-throughput manner. This approach makes it very powerful for the analysis of drug combinations, especially Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) preparations. In this work, we first summarized the databases and tools currently used for TCM research. Second, we focused on several representative applications of network pharmacology for TCM research, including studies on TCM compatibility, TCM target prediction, and TCM network toxicology research. Third, we compared the general statistics of several current TCM databases and evaluated and compared the search results of these databases based on 10 famous herbs. In summary, network pharmacology is a rational approach for TCM studies, and with the development of TCM research, powerful and comprehensive TCM databases have emerged but need further improvements. Additionally, given that several diseases could be treated by TCMs, with the mediation of gut microbiota, future studies should focus on both the microbiome and TCMs to better understand and treat microbiome-related diseases.
This study aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of camrelizumab combined with chemotherapy during preoperative neoadjuvant therapy in patients with locally advanced resectable esophageal ...squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) of clinical Stages II and III. The patients received camrelizumab plus chemotherapy regimen on Day 1 for up to three to four cycles (3 weeks per cycle). The probabilities of overall survival (OS) were 55.6% at 12 months and 35.6% at 18 months (45 patients). The disease‐free survival (DFS) rates were 70.0% at 12 months and 63.3% at 18 months (30 patients). The median OS and DFS were not reached. The proportion of patients at postneoadjuvant pathological tumor stages ypT0, ypT2, and ypT3 were 10 (33.3%), 14 (46.7%), and 6 (20.0%), respectively, and those at stages ypN0 and ypN1 were 19 (63.3%) and 11 (36.7%), respectively. Additionally, the pathological complete response rate was 33.3% (95% confidence interval CI: 0.154–0.512), and the major pathologic response rate was 46.7% (95% CI: 0.277–0.656). Grade ≥3 adverse events (AEs) were reported in five patients (11.1%), with vomiting being the most common AE (three patients; 3.3%). Other common AEs of any grade included decreased lymphocyte count (48.9%), reactive capillary endothelial proliferation (46.7%), decreased white blood cell count (40.0%), anemia (31.1%), and vomiting (31.1%). The combination of camrelizumab and neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with locally advanced resectable ESCC demonstrated promising efficacy and acceptable safety.
BackgroundLiver hepatocellular carcinoma (LIHC) is a challenging and deadly cancer with poor prognosis and treatment options. Despite recent advances in genomics and immunotherapies, a deeper ...understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying LIHC survival is crucial to identify novel therapeutic targets. One promising area of research is the tumor microbiome, a complex community of microbes found in tumors and surrounding tissue. However, the intricate relationships between microbial profiles and host gene expressions that drive the development of LIHC and influence patient survival remain unclear.MethodsTo address this challenge, we developed ASD-LIHC (autoencoder-based subtypes detector for LIHC), a semi-supervised deep learning framework that extracts survival-related features from tumor microbiome and transcriptome data to differentiate LIHC patients into survival subtypes based on their overall survival time (IDDF2023-ABS-0080 Figure 1a). We tested our framework on a cohort of 360 LIHC patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database.ResultsUsing ASD-LIHC, we identified two statistically distinct survival subtypes in these LIHC patients. Our framework provided improved risk-stratification (log-rank test, P = 8.12E-6) compared to traditional PCA methods (log-rank test, P = 0.87), accurately predicted survival subtypes, and identified important biomarkers for classifying survival subtypes, which are likely not sensitive about clinical stages (IDDF2023-ABS-0080 Figure 1b). Furthermore, our analysis revealed that the high-risk group had more cancer-related pathways compared to the low-risk group, and we identified potential pathways of interaction between microbes and genes that may play a role in LIHC survival (IDDF2023-ABS-0080 Figure 1c,d). For instance, Arcobacter,Methylocella, and Isoptericola may regulate host survival through interactions with host genes enriched in critical signaling pathways in cancer, particularly the HIF-1 signaling pathway, indicating these species as potential therapy targets to improve LIHC patient prognosis.ConclusionsOverall, our study sheds light on the complex interplay between microbes and genes in LIHC survival and has important implications for its monitoring, management, prevention, and treatment. Our findings may guide the development of specific treatments and future drug design, ultimately improving outcomes for patients with this devastating disease.Abstract IDDF2023-ABS-0080 Figure 1
•Landscape evaluations serve as a contextual basis for integrating cultural ecosystem services into landscape management.•If objective results are expected in studies on landscape evaluation, ...experts’ view should not be the only source.•There is no consensus on the appropriate choice of landscape evaluation indicators or approaches.•Practical advice for appropriate selection and application of the approaches.
It is well established that landscape quality evaluations have the potential to serve as a contextual basis for the integration of cultural ecosystem services into landscape management and policies. Nonetheless, the methods for assessing the visual quality of landscapes are varied and there is no consensus on the appropriate choice of landscape evaluation indicators or approaches. In response, we conducted a comprehensive review of the literature on this topic to highlight the methods used and identify major methodological strategies. It examines the ways and technologies, particularly in which quantitative measures, or indicators, can be used and what contribution they might make to the management and planning of landscapes. In this paper, a comprehensive electronic literature was performed via two electronic databases (Web of Science, and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure). Our review indicated that if objective results are expected in studies on landscape quality evaluation, experts’ view should not be the only source and the view of users, the physical, biological, and social characteristics of the environment should also be considered together. In this context, continuously renewed and revised analysis studies provide a basis for the plan of shaping the visual configuration of the landscape. The contribution of this paper lies in presenting and reviewing the methodologies and techniques of landscape evaluation and providing practical advice for their appropriate selection and application, in addition to encouraging discourse of the professional community about this topic.
In 2011, the term “enterotype” first appeared to the general public in Nature, which refers to stratification of human gut microbiota. However, with more studies on enterotypes conducted nowadays, ...doubts about the existence and robustness of enterotypes have also emerged. Here we reviewed current opinions about enterotypes from both conceptual and analytical points of view. We firstly illustrated the definition of the enterotype and various factors influencing enterotypes, such as diet, administration of antibiotics, and age. Then we summarized lines of evidence that pose the concept against the enterotype, and described the current methods for enterotype analysis. Finally, we showed that the concept of enterotype has been extended to other ecological niches. Based on current studies on enterotypes, it has been clear that more studies with larger sample sizes are needed to characterize the enterotypes. Improved computational methods are also required to build sophisticated models, reflecting the dynamics and resilience of enterotypes.
The vision of reaching a carbon peak and achieving carbon neutrality is guiding the low-carbon transition of China’s socioeconomic system. Currently, a research gap remains in the existing literature ...in terms of studies that systematically identify opportunities to achieve carbon neutrality. To address this gap, this study comprehensively collates and investigates 1105 published research studies regarding carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. In doing so, the principles of development in this area are quantitively analyzed from a space–time perspective. At the same time, this study traces shifts and alterations in research hotspots. This systematic review summarizes the priorities and standpoints of key industries on carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. Furthermore, with an emphasis on five key management science topics, the scientific concerns and strategic demands for these two carbon emission-reduction goals are clarified. The paper ends with theoretical insights on and practical countermeasures for actions, priority tasks, and policy measures that will enable China to achieve a carbon-neutral future. This study provides a complete picture of the research status on carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, as well as the research directions worth investigating in this field, which are crucial to the formulation of carbon peak and carbon neutrality policies.
With the advancement of systems biology research, we have already seen great progress in pharmacology studies, especially in network pharmacology. Network pharmacology has been proven to be effective ...for establishing the "compounds-proteins/genes-diseases" network, and revealing the regulation principles of small molecules in a high-throughput manner, thus would be very effective for the analysis of drug combinations, especially for TCM preparations. In this work, we have proposed the TCM-Mesh system, which records TCM-related information collected from various resources and could serve for network pharmacology analysis for TCM preparations in a high-throughput manner (http://mesh.tcm.microbioinformatics.org/). Currently, the database contains 6,235 herbs, 383,840 compounds, 14,298 genes, 6,204 diseases, 144,723 gene-disease associations, 3,440,231 pairs of gene interactions, 163,221 side effect records and 71 toxic records, and web-based software construct a network between herbs and treated diseases, which will help to understand the underlying mechanisms for TCM preparations at molecular levels. We have used 1,293 FDA-approved drugs, as well as compounds from an herbal material Panax ginseng and a patented drug Liuwei Dihuang Wan (LDW) for evaluating our database. By comparison of different databases, as well as checking against literature, we have demonstrated the completeness, effectiveness, and accuracy of our database.
Despite considerable advances devoted to improving the operational stability of organic solar cells (OSCs), the metastable morphology degradation remains a challenging obstacle for their practical ...application. Herein, the stabilizing function of the alloy states in the photoactive layer from the perspective of controlling the aggregation characteristics of non‐fullerene acceptors (NFAs), is revealed. The alloy‐like model is adopted separately into host donor and acceptor materials of the state‐of‐the‐art binary PM6:BTP‐4Cl blend with the self‐stable polymer acceptor PDI‐2T and small molecule donor DRCN5T as the third components, delivering the simultaneously enhanced photovoltaic efficiency and storage stability. In such ternary systems, two separate arguments can rationalize their operating principles: (1) the acceptor alloys strengthen the conformational rigidity of BTP‐4Cl molecules to restrain the intramolecular vibrations for rapid relaxation of high‐energy excited states to stabilize BTP‐4Cl acceptor. (2) The donor alloys optimize the fibril network microstructure of PM6 polymer to restrict the kinetic diffusion and aggregation of BTP‐4Cl molecules. According to the superior morphological stability, non‐radiative defect trapping coefficients can be drastically reduced without forming the long‐lived, trapped charge species in ternary blends. The results highlight the novel protective mechanisms of engineering the alloy‐like composites for reinforcing the long‐term stability of NFA‐based ternary OSCs.
The stabilizing function of the alloy states is revealed based on simultaneous efficiency and storage stability boosting in PM6:BTP‐4Cl:PDI‐2T and PM6:DRCN5T:BTP‐4Cl ternary devices. The improved stability can be rationalized by two mechanisms: (1) the acceptor alloys enhance the conformational rigidity of BTP‐4Cl molecules. (2) The donor alloys optimize the fibril network of PM6 to restrict the aggregation of the BTP‐4Cl acceptor.
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