Development and Characterization of a Novel Rat Model for Emulating COPD-Associated Cor Pulmonale.

Cor pulmonale, a condition marked by right ventricular dysfunction, is frequently associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and significantly worsens COPD prognosis. Despite the clinical relevance of cor pulmonale, development of effective treatments is hindered by the lack of animal models that accurately replicate the complex interplay between cor pulmonale and COPD. This study introduces a novel rat model combining cigarette smoke exposure with left pulmonary artery ligation to better mimic the pathophysiological features of COPD-related cor pulmonale.

Association of diabetes mellitus with long-term prognosis after ablation therapy for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma: A single-center cohort study.

Background: This study investigated the clinical efficacy and prognostic factors of ablative treatment in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients with and without diabetes mellitus (DM).

Methods: Retrospective data were collected from HCC patients who underwent ablation between January 2016 and December 2019. The baseline clinicopathological characteristics and long-term outcomes, such as overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS), were compared between those with and without DM.

Machine Learning Based on Digital Mammography to Reduce the Need for Invasive Biopsies of Benign Calcifications Classified in BI-RADS Category 4.

This study aims to develop a machine learning model applied on digital mammograms to reduce unnecessary invasive biopsies for suspicious calcifications classified as BI-RADS category 4. This study retrospectively analyzed data from 372 female patients with pathologically confirmed BI-RADS category 4 mammographic calcifications. Patients from the First Affiliated Hospital of Bengbu Medical College (n = 275) were divided chronologically into a training and internal validation set.

Integrated analyses and a novel nomogram for the prediction of significant fibrosis in patients.

Introduction And Objectives: This study aimed to explore the key genes involved in the pathophysiological process of liver fibrosis and develop a novel predictive model for noninvasive assessment of significant liver fibrosis patients.

Patients And Methods: Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified using the Limma package. The hub genes were explored using the CytoHubba plugin app and validated in GEO datasets and cell models.

Higher-order exceptional points and enhanced polarization sensitivity in anisotropic photonic time-Floquet crystals.

We realized fourth-order exceptional points (EP-4s) in the quasienergy bands of anisotropic photonic time-Floquet crystals (APTCs), where the full in-plane permittivity tensors are periodically modulated in time. We developed the Floquet matrix method for APTCs, which provides a comprehensive study of the generation and characteristics of EP-4s. It is shown that an EP-4 is formed by the coalescence of three second-order exceptional points (EP-2s), which are classified into two types based on the band slopes near them.

TIPS: a novel pathway-guided joint model for transcriptome-wide association studies.

In the past two decades, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have pinpointed numerous SNPs linked to human diseases and traits, yet many of these SNPs are in non-coding regions and hard to interpret. Transcriptome-wide association studies (TWAS) integrate GWAS and expression reference panels to identify the associations at gene level with tissue specificity, potentially improving the interpretability. However, the list of individual genes identified from univariate TWAS contains little unifying biological theme, leaving the underlying mechanisms largely elusive.

Development and validation of a nomogram diagnostic model for coronary slow flow patients: A cross-sectional study.

In this study, risk factors for coronary slow flow (CSF) patients were examined, and a clinical prediction model was created. This study involved 573 patients who underwent coronary angiography at our hospital because of chest pain from January 2020 to April 2022. They were divided into CSF group (249 cases) and noncoronary slow flow (NCF) group (324 cases) according to the coronary blood flow results.

XIAOPI formula inhibits chemoresistance and metastasis of triple-negative breast cancer by suppressing extracellular vesicle/CXCL1-induced TAM/PD-L1 signaling.

Background: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is challenged by the low chemotherapy response and poor prognosis. Emerging evidence suggests that cytotoxic chemotherapy may lead to the pro-metastatic tumor microenvironment (TME) by eliciting pro-tumor extracellular vesicles (EVs) from cancer cells. However, the precise mechanisms and therapeutic approaches remain inadequately understood.

Low-Cycle Fatigue Properties of Bimetallic Steel Bar with Buckling: Energy-Based Numerical and Experimental Investigations.

A bimetallic steel bar (BSB) consisting of stainless-steel cladding and carbon steel substrate exhibits excellent corrosion resistance and good mechanical properties. The bimetallic structure of BSBs may affect their low-cycle fatigue performance, and current investigations on the above issue are limited. In this study, the low-cycle fatigue properties of bimetallic steel bars (BSBs) with inelastic buckling were investigated.

Morphology-independent general-purpose optical surface tractor beam.

Optical tractor beams capable of pulling particles backward have garnered significant and increasing interest. Traditional optical tractor beams are limited to free space beams with small forward wavevectors, enabling them to pull selected particles. Here, we present a comprehensive theory for the optical force exerted by a surface wave using analytical and numerical calculations, revealing the relationship between the canonical momentum and optical forces.

Baohuoside I chemosensitises breast cancer to paclitaxel by suppressing extracellular vesicle/CXCL1 signal released from apoptotic cells.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most aggressive breast cancer subtype and chemotherapy is the cornerstone treatment for TNBC. Regrettably, emerging findings suggest that chemotherapy facilitates pro-metastatic changes in the tumour microenvironment. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have been highly implicated in cancer drug resistance and metastasis.

Tanshinone I improves TNBC chemosensitivity by suppressing late-phase autophagy through AKT/p38 MAPK signaling pathway.

The inhibition of autophagy is a potential therapeutic strategy to improve the chemosensitivity of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). In this study, we demonstrated that a natural terpenoid tanshinone I (TAN) enhanced the effectiveness of paclitaxel (PTX), at least in part, through an autophagy-dependent mechanism against TNBC. In vitro validation demonstrated that the combined therapy resulted in a synergistic decrease in the growth of TNBC cells.

MiR-98-3p alleviates lipopolysaccharide-induced pulmonary microvascular endothelial barrier dysfunction by targeting DKK3 in sepsis-induced acute lung injury.

Background: Endothelial barrier dysfunction is critical for the pathogenesis of sepsis-induced acute lung injury (ALI). Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated human pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells (HPMECs) are widely used as the cell model of sepsis-associated ALI for exploration of endothelial barrier dysfunction. Dickkopf (DKK) family proteins were reported to mediate endothelial functions in various diseases.

Fu-Zheng-Yi-Liu Formula inhibits the stem cells and metastasis of prostate cancer via tumor-associated macrophages/C-C motif chemokine ligand 5 pathway in tumor microenvironment.

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second most common malignancy among men globally. The Fu-Zheng-Yi-Liu (FZYL) Formula has been widely utilized in the treatment of PCa. This study investigates whether the FZYL Formula can inhibit PCa by targeting the TAMs/CCL5 pathway.

Modulatory Effects of XIAOPI Formula on CXCL1 and Selected Outcomes in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial.

Background: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most aggressive malignancy. Psychological distress and elevated CXCL1 level have been reported to be closely associated with the poor prognosis and quality of life of patients with TNBC. In preclinical studies using xenograft mouse models, XIAOPI formula, a nationally approved drug prescribed to patients at high risk for breast cancer, inhibited CXCL1 expression and improved survival.

Rapid Access to Tigliane, Ingenane, and Rhamnofolane Diterpenes from a Lathyrane Precursor via Biomimetic Skeleton Transformation Strategy.

Bioinspired skeleton transformation of a tricyclic lathyrane-type diterpene was conducted to efficiently construct a tetracyclic tigliane diterpene on a gram scale via a key aldol condensation. The tigliane diterpene was then respectively converted into naturally rare ingenane and rhamnofolane diterpenes through a semipinacol rearrangement and a visible-light-promoted regioselective cyclopropane ring-opening reaction. This work provides a concise strategy for high-efficiency access to diverse polycyclic diterpene skeletons from abundant lathyrane-type natural products and paves the way for biological activity investigation of naturally rare molecules.

Achieving bi-anisotropic coupling through uniform temporal modulations without inversion symmetry disruption.

Temporal modulations provide a new approach for realizing metamaterials. In this study, through the imposition of uniform temporal modulations, we achieve two types of reciprocal bi-anisotropic metamaterials. Notably, these achievements do not rely on any spatial modulation, preserving inversion symmetry at any instantaneous time.

Chemotherapy-elicited extracellular vesicle CXCL1 from dying cells promotes triple-negative breast cancer metastasis by activating TAM/PD-L1 signaling.

Background: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most aggressive subtype of breast cancer, and chemotherapy still serves as the cornerstone treatment functioning by inducing cytotoxic cell death. Notably, emerging evidence suggests that dying cell-released signals may induce cancer progression and metastasis by modulating the surrounding microenvironment. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms and targeting strategies are yet to be explored.

Developing liver-targeted naringenin nanoparticles for breast cancer endocrine therapy by promoting estrogen metabolism.

Endocrine therapy is standard for hormone receptor-positive (HR) breast cancer treatment. However, current strategies targeting estrogen signaling pay little attention to estradiol metabolism in the liver and is usually challenged by treatment failure. In a previous study, we demonstrated that the natural compound naringenin (NAR) inhibited HR breast cancer growth by activating estrogen sulfotransferase (EST) expression in the liver.

Effectiveness of Butorphanol in alleviating intra- and post-operative visceral pain following microwave ablation for hepatic tumor: a dual-central, randomized, controlled trial.

Many patients who underwent hepatic percutaneous microwave ablation (MWA) reported experiencing pain during the procedure. This study utilized a well-designed multicentral, randomized, and placebo-controlled format to investigate the effects of Butorphanol. Patients who underwent MWA were randomly assigned to either Butorphanol or normal saline group.

Deep learning-based multi-parametric magnetic resonance imaging (mp-MRI) nomogram for predicting Ki-67 expression in rectal cancer.

Purpose: To explore the value of deep learning-based multi-parametric magnetic resonance imaging (mp-MRI) nomogram in predicting the Ki-67 expression in rectal cancer.

Methods: The data of 491 patients with rectal cancer from two centers were retrospectively analyzed and divided into training, internal validation, and external validation sets. They were categorized into high- and low-expression group based on postoperative pathological Ki-67 expression.