Targeted deep sequencing helps distinguish independent primary tumors from intrapulmonary metastasis for lung cancer diagnosis.

Purpose: Multiple lung lesions found in a single patient at the time of diagnosis often pose a diagnostic dilemma: are these lesions independent primary tumors (IPT) or the result of intrapulmonary metastases (IPM)? While traditional pathological methods sometimes have difficulty distinguishing IPM from IPT, modern molecular profiling based on next-generation sequencing techniques may provide a new strategy.

Methods: Sixteen patients with multiple tumors were enrolled in this study. We performed targeted deep sequencing (~ 2000 × coverage) on a total of 40 tumors and matched blood samples.

A phase II trial of cytoreductive surgery combined with niraparib maintenance in platinum-sensitive, secondary recurrent ovarian cancer: SGOG SOC-3 study.

Background: In China, secondary cytoreductive surgery (SCR) has been widely used in ovarian cancer (OC) over the past two decades. Although Gynecologic Oncology Group-0213 trial did not show its overall survival benefit in first relapsed patients, the questions on patient selection and effect of subsequent targeting therapy are still open. The preliminary data from our pre-SOC1 phase II study showed that selected patients with second relapse who never received SCR at recurrence may still benefit from surgery.

Brucine: A Review of Phytochemistry, Pharmacology, and Toxicology.

Brucine, a weak alkaline indole alkaloid, is one of the main bioactive and toxic constituents of . Modern pharmacology studies and clinical practice demonstrate that brucine possesses wide pharmacological activities, such as anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and the effects on cardiovascular system and nervous system, etc. However, its central nervous system toxicity severely limits its clinical application.

Visualization of penicillin G acylase in bacteria and high-throughput screening of natural inhibitors using a ratiometric fluorescent probe.

A ratiometric fluorescent probe (PNA) was developed to sense and image endogenous bacterial penicillin G acylase (PGA). Oleanolic acid was discovered as a potential natural inhibitor of PGA using high-throughput screening techniques based on PNA.

ASIC1a inhibits cell pyroptosis induced by acid-induced activation of rat hepatic stellate cells.

The activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) is associated with liver fibrosis, the pathological feature of most forms of chronic hepatic damage, and is accompanied by abnormal deposition of the extracellular matrix (ECM). During the pathological process, acid-sensing ion channel 1a (ASIC1a), which is responsible for Ca transportation, is involved in the activation of HSCs. It has previously been identified that ASIC1a is related to pyroptosis in articular chondrocytes.

Thermal modeling of high-power Yb-doped fiber lasers with irradiated active fibers.

With both radiation effects and thermal effects taken into consideration, a multiphysics thermal model concerning high-power Yb-doped fiber lasers operated with post-irradiated active fibers is established. Radiation-related parameters, including propagation losses, refractive indexes and lifetime, are considered. And, with the temperature profile of the active fiber, temperature-dependent parameters, including absorption and emission cross-sections, refractive indexes and lifetime, are updated every loop to simulate the output parameters.

Evolution of CdTe Magic-Size Clusters with Single Absorption Doublet Assisted by Adding Small Molecules during Prenucleation.

An approach is reported for the exclusive production of CdTe magic-size clusters (MSCs) that exhibit an optical absorption doublet peaking at 385/427 nm, with an explanation of the synthesis procedure. The MSCs, defined as dMSC-427, were produced from the reaction of cadmium oleate (Cd(OA)) and tri--octylphosphine telluride in octadecene at 100 °C, with the addition of acetic acid (HOAc) or acetate (M(OAc)) during the prenucleation stage (40 °C). Without such an addition or when it was performed in the postnucleation stage (100 °C), quantum dots (QDs) developed.

Improved Performance for Thermally Evaporated Perovskite Light-Emitting Devices via Defect Passivation and Carrier Regulation.

Efficient inorganic perovskite light-emitting devices (PeLEDs) with a vacuum-deposited CsPbBr emission layer were realized by introducing an ultrathin 2-phenylethanamine bromide interlayer. The PEA cations not only passivated the nonradiative defects by terminating on the CsPbBr surface but also regulated the charge transport to balance the hole and electron transport. Consequently, the PeLEDs exhibit significantly promoted performance with a turn-on voltage of 3 V, a maximum current efficiency of 14.

Induction of Autophagy by Baicalin Through the AMPK-mTOR Pathway Protects Human Skin Fibroblasts from Ultraviolet B Radiation-Induced Apoptosis.

Background: Baicalin, a natural product isolated from Scutellaria radix, has been reported to exert anti-oxidant and anti-apoptotic effects on skin, but the underlying mechanism remains poorly understood. This study aimed to investigate the possible mechanism of anti-UVB effect of baicalin in human skin fibroblasts.

Methods: Cell proliferation was estimated by CCK-8 Kit.

Substitution of manure for chemical fertilizer affects soil microbial community diversity, structure and function in greenhouse vegetable production systems.

Soil microbial communities and enzyme activities together affect various ecosystem functions of soils. Fertilization, an important agricultural management practice, is known to modify soil microbial characteristics; however, inconsistent results have been reported. The aim of this research was to make a comparative study of the effects of different nitrogen (N) fertilizer rates and types (organic and inorganic) on soil physicochemical properties, enzyme activities and microbial attributes in a greenhouse vegetable production (GVP) system of Tianjin, China.

An eco-friendly fluorometric polymer nanoparticle for selectively monitoring sulfadiazine in tap water.

An eco-friendly fluorescence polymer nanoparticle based on carbon quantum dots and poly(methyl methacrylate) nanoparticles is successfully fabricated to detect sulfadiazine. By making use of the abundant functional group of carbon quantum dots and poly(methyl methacrylate) nanoparticles, without any extra modification, the synthetic process of the fluorescence nanoparticles is reduced and the unnecessary chemical molecules are avoided being brought into the reaction system. The investigation of the fluorescence property of carbon quantum dots shows that the prepared carbon quantum dots are the excitation independent.

Prediabetes is associated with poor functional outcome in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage.

Introduction: The association between prediabetes and functional outcome in cerebrovascular diseases is controversial. No study has explored the relationship between prediabetes and functional outcome in intracerebral hemorrhage patients. Our study aimed to explore the association between prediabetes and functional outcome in intracerebral hemorrhage patients 1 month poststroke.

Altered attention networks in patients with thyroid dysfunction: A neuropsychological study.

Patients with thyroid dysfunction (31 hypothyroid, 32 subclinical hypothyroidism, 34 hyperthyroid, and 30 subclinical hyperthyroidism) and 37 euthyroid control subjects were recruited and performed the attention network test (ANT), which can simultaneously examine the alertness, orientation and execution control of the participants. Patients with hypothyroidism had abnormalities in the alerting network, and those with hyperthyroidism had impairments of the alerting and executive control networks. No attention networks deficit existed in patients with subclinical hyperthyroidism and subclinical hypothyroidism.

Association between Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss and Preexisting Thyroid Diseases: A Nationwide Case-Control Study in Taiwan.

: Little evidence is available about the risk of sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) in patients with thyroid diseases. We assessed whether a diagnosis of thyroid disease, particularly hyperthyroidism or hypothyroidism, is associated with SSNHL risk in an Asian population. This case-control study was conducted with population-based data from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database from January 2000 to December 2013.

Synthesis of a GaOOH/ZnBiTaO heterojunction photocatalyst with enhanced photocatalytic performance toward enrofloxacin.

In this work, a GaOOH/ZnBiTaO heterojunction photocatalyst was synthesized innovatively and characterization techniques including XRD, SEM-EDS, XPS, FT-IR, PL and UV-Vis DRS were carried out to analyse the structural and morphological properties of the GaOOH/ZnBiTaO heterojunction photocatalyst. The GaOOH is dispersed on the surface of ZnBiTaO to form a heterojunction structure according to the SEM image. The band gaps of 10 wt%, 25 wt% and 50 wt% GaOOH/ZnBiTaO heterojunction photocatalysts were calculated to be 3.

Assessment of the potential ecological risk of residual endocrine-disrupting chemicals from wastewater treatment plants.

Residual chemicals discharged from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and subsequent ecological risk are important in production safety when reuse of the effluent water occurs. Thus, this work provides an investigation of the occurrence and removal of dissolved Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in 38 WWTPs in Guangdong Province, China. The results indicate that EDCs are widely distributed in the investigated WWTPs, while nonylphenols (NPs) are the predominant chemical among the target EDCs, accounting for >98% of the concentration in the influent and >97% of the concentration in the effluent.

Importance of human papillomavirus infection in squamous cell carcinomas of the tongue in Guangdong Province, China.

Objective: Tongue squamous cell carcinoma is one of the most common oral tumors. Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection has been proposed as a risk factor for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, particularly oropharyngeal squamous carcinoma.

Methods: In this study, we retrospectively analyzed HPV infection in 121 Chinese patients with tongue squamous cell carcinoma in Guangdong Province.

Recommendations for the use of Japanese encephalitis vaccines.

Japanese encephalitis (JE) is a mosquito-borne viral infection which is prevalent in Taiwan. The virus circulates in an enzootic cycle in pigs which serve as amplifying hosts. Outbreaks typically occur during summer.

A Novel Long Non-Coding RNA KMU15 Promotes Growth and Chemoresistance of Bladder Cancer.

Background: Chemotherapy constitutes one of the most important adjuvant treatments for bladder cancer. However, many patients usually develop chemoresistance during chemotherapy. At present, lncRNA has been confirmed not only to be involved in tumorigenesis and progression, but also in tumor chemoresistance.

Wireless, battery-free, fully implantable multimodal and multisite pacemakers for applications in small animal models.

Small animals support a wide range of pathological phenotypes and genotypes as versatile, affordable models for pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases and for exploration of strategies in electrotherapy, gene therapy, and optogenetics. Pacing tools in such contexts are currently limited to tethered embodiments that constrain animal behaviors and experimental designs. Here, we introduce a highly miniaturized wireless energy-harvesting and digital communication electronics for thin, miniaturized pacing platforms weighing 110 mg with capabilities for subdermal implantation and tolerance to over 200,000 multiaxial cycles of strain without degradation in electrical or optical performance.

Effects of extreme meteorological factors on daily mumps cases in Hefei, China, during 2011-2016.

Mumps remains one of the worldwide major health problems over the past decade. Seasonal variations of mumps indicate that meteorological factors play an important role in the development of mumps, but few studies have investigated the relationship between extreme meteorological factors and the incidence of mumps. Daily mumps cases and meteorological factors in Hefei, China, from 2011 to 2016 were obtained.

Scutellarin, a modulator of mTOR, attenuates hepatic insulin resistance by regulating hepatocyte lipid metabolism via SREBP-1c suppression.

High levels of consumption of saturated lipids have been largely associated with the increasing prevalence of metabolic diseases. In particular, saturated fatty acids such as palmitic acid (PA) have been implicated in the development of insulin resistance (IR). Scutellarin (Scu) is one of the effective traditional Chinese medicines considered beneficial for liver diseases and diabetes.