Graph pangenome reveals the regulation of malate content in blood-fleshed peach by NAC transcription factors.

Background: Fruit acidity and color are important quality attributes in peaches. Although there are some exceptions, blood-fleshed peaches typically have a sour taste. However, little is known about the genetic variations linking organic acid and color regulation in peaches.

SegRap2023: A benchmark of organs-at-risk and gross tumor volume Segmentation for Radiotherapy Planning of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma.

Radiation therapy is a primary and effective treatment strategy for NasoPharyngeal Carcinoma (NPC). The precise delineation of Gross Tumor Volumes (GTVs) and Organs-At-Risk (OARs) is crucial in radiation treatment, directly impacting patient prognosis. Despite that deep learning has achieved remarkable performance on various medical image segmentation tasks, its performance on OARs and GTVs of NPC is still limited, and high-quality benchmark datasets on this task are highly desirable for model development and evaluation.

microRNA-875-5p-conjugated gold nanoparticles suppress breast cancer progression through the MTDH/PTEN/AKT signaling pathway.

Objective: A lack of effective delivery methods has hampered the study of therapeutics targeting miR-875-5p for breast cancer (BC).

Methods: The miR-875-5p mimic was conjugated to AuNPs to produce AuNP-miR-875-5p. Then, the effect of AuNP-miR-875-5p on the proliferative, migratory, invasive activities, and apoptosis of BC cells was detected, as well as on tumor growth in animals.

Interaction effects on acoustic emissions of submicron ultrasound contrast agents at subharmonic resonances.

Submicron ultrasound contrast agents hold great potential to extend the bubble-mediated theranostics beyond the vasculature, but their acoustic response and the interaction effects between them remain poorly understood. This study set out to numerically examine the interaction effects on the subharmonic oscillations of nanobubbles and the resultant acoustic emissions under subharmonic resonance conditions. Results showed that a negative correlation between bubble size and subharmonic resonance frequency is readily obtained from the radius response curves.

Clinicopathological Features of Epstein-Barr Virus-Positive Neuroendocrine Carcinoma: Analysis of Twenty-Two Cases.

Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV)-positive neuroendocrine carcinoma (NEC) is a rare neoplasm with limited histopathological and therapeutic data. This report presents 22 cases of EBV-positive NEC, analyzing age distribution, morphology, and immunophenotype. The median patient age was 47 years (range: 27-67 years), with a male-to-female ratio of 17:5.

Multi-Center Fetal Brain Tissue Annotation (FeTA) Challenge 2022 Results.

Segmentation is a critical step in analyzing the developing human fetal brain. There have been vast improvements in automatic segmentation methods in the past several years, and the Fetal Brain Tissue Annotation (FeTA) Challenge 2021 helped to establish an excellent standard of fetal brain segmentation. However, FeTA 2021 was a single center study, limiting real-world clinical applicability and acceptance.

Functions and mechanisms of nonstarch polysaccharides in monogastric animal production.

As natural active ingredients, polysaccharides are a class of biological macromolecules that are ubiquitous in living organisms and have antibacterial, antioxidant, antitumor and intestinal flora-regulating functions. Nonstarch polysaccharides (NSPs) are an important class of polysaccharides that include both soluble and insoluble nonstarch polysaccharides. As green feed additives, NSPs play important roles in promoting immunity and disease resistance in the body, regulating the intestinal microbial balance and improving the quality of animal products.

Information-theoretic quantities as effective descriptors of electrophilicity and nucleophilicity in density functional theory.

Context: Electrophilicity and nucleophilicity are two vastly important chemical concepts gauging the capability of atoms in molecules to accept and donate the maximal number of electrons. In our earlier studies, we proposed to simultaneously quantify them using the Kullback-Leibler divergence from the information-theoretic approach in density functional theory. However, several issues with this scheme remain to be clarified such as its general validity, predictability, and relationship with other information-theoretic quantities.

Prognostic nomogram of overall survival for radiation therapy in hepatocellular carcinoma: a population study based on the SEER database and an external cohort.

Purpose: Radiotherapy (RT) plays an important role in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). To screen patients who benefit most from RT, a nomogram for survival prediction of RT based on a large sample of patients with HCC was created and validated.

Methods: A total of 2,252 cases collected from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database were separated into a training or an internal validation cohort in a 7:3 ratio ( = 1,565:650).

Intravenous patient-controlled analgesia with esketamine improves early depressive symptoms in patients with postherpetic neuralgia: a single-center retrospective cohort study.

Objective: Patients with Postherpetic Neuralgia (PHN) often exhibit depressive-like symptoms, significantly impacting their quality of life. Esketamine, known for its analgesic properties, has also been recognized for its rapid antidepressant effects. However, its efficacy in the treatment of PHN requires further exploration.

Primary intestinal T-cell and natural killer-cell lymphomas: Clinicopathologic and prognostic features of 79 cases in South China.

Objectives: Primary intestinal T-cell and natural killer-cell lymphomas (PITNKLs) are aggressive and make pathologic diagnoses in biopsy specimens challenging. We analyzed different subtypes' clinicopathologic features and treatment outcomes.

Methods: Seventy-nine PITNKL cases were characterized by clinical, morphologic, and immunohistochemical features.

Gastric cancer cell-derived exosomal miR-541-5p induces M2 macrophage polarization through DUSP3/JAK2/STAT3 pathway.

Purpose: Exosomal microRNAs have been identified as important mediators of communication between tumor cells and macrophages in the microenvironment. miR-541-5p was reported to be involved in hepatocellular carcinoma progression, but its role in gastric cancer (GC) and in GC cell-macrophage crosstalk is unknown.

Methods: Cell proliferation, migration and invasion were respectively assessed by CCK-8 assay, scratch and Transwell assays.

Advances in the Structures, Pharmacological Activities, and Biosynthesis of Plant Diterpenoids.

More and more diterpenoids have attracted extensive attention due to the diverse chemical structures and excellent biological activities, and have been developed into clinical drugs or consumer products. The vast majority of diterpenoids are derived from plants. With the long-term development of plant medicinal materials, the natural resources of many plant diterpenoids are decreasing, and the biosynthetic mechanism of key active components has increasingly become a research hotspot.

Evaluation of pathological response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in locally advanced cervical cancer.

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) is a viable therapeutic option for women diagnosed locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC). However, the factors influencing pathological response are still controversial. We collected pair specimens of 185 LACC patients before and after receiving NACT and conducted histological evaluation.

Association between Branched-Chain amino acids and Epilepsy: A Mendelian randomized study.

Background: Branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) have been affected epilepsy, yet conclusions remain inconclusive, lacking causal evidence regarding whether BCAAs affect epilepsy. Systematic exploration of the causal relationship between BCAAs and epilepsy could hand out new ideas for the treatment of epilepsy.

Methods: Utilizing bidirectional Mendelian randomization (MR) study, we investigated the causal relationship between BCAA levels and epilepsy.