Analysis and validation of biomarkers and immune cell infiltration profiles in unstable coronary atherosclerotic plaques using bioinformatics and machine learning.

Introduction: Decreased stability of coronary atherosclerotic plaques correlates with a heightened risk of acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Thus, early diagnosis and treatment of unstable plaques are imperative in averting adverse cardiovascular events. This study aims to identify diagnostic biomarkers for unstable coronary atherosclerotic plaques and investigate the role of immune cell infiltration in their formation.

Pyrotinib-assisted whole brain radiotherapy alleviates HER2-positive advanced breast cancer and brain metastases: a prospective study in patients.

Purpose: The whole-brain radiotherapy (WRBT)-based therapeutic efficacy is often limited against human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2+)-positive advanced breast cancer (BC) and brain metastases (BM), requiring more effective treatment options. This prospective study evaluates the effectiveness and safety of combining WBRT with pyrotinib in patients with HER2+ advanced BC and BM.

Methods: The enrolled patients ( = 26, from April 2019 to March 2022) were divided into two treatment groups.

Role of Peripheral Blood Regulatory T Cells and IL-2 in the Collateral Circulation of Acute Ischemic Stroke.

Background: Inflammation is recognized as a pivotal factor in the pathophysiology of acute ischemic stroke (AIS) and has the potential to influence the collateral circulation of patients. The objective of this investigation was to explore the link between peripheral regulatory T cells (Tregs), interleukin-2 (IL-2), and the status of collateral circulation.

Methods: Between September 2023 and May 2024, the study incorporated 117 AIS patients from the neurology department, with 60 identified as having good collateral status (GCS) and 57 with poor collateral status (PCS).

An unfolded protein response (UPR)-signature regulated by the NFKB-miR-29b/c axis fosters tumor aggressiveness and poor survival in bladder cancer.

Background: Bladder cancer continues to pose a substantial global health challenge, marked by a high mortality rate despite advances in treatment options. Therefore, in-depth understanding of molecular mechanisms related to disease onset, progression, and patient survival is of utmost importance in bladder cancer research. Here, we aimed to investigate the underlying mechanisms using a stringent differential expression and survival analyses-based pipeline.

Cardiovascular Outcome of the SGLT2 Inhibitor in Acute Myocardial Infarction: A Meta-Analysis.

Background: Unexpected cardiovascular events are likely to occur within a short period following an acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitor (SGLT2-I) is a recently recommended drug for the treatment of AMI. However, its role in the risk of the outcomes following an AMI, including all-cause death and heart failure readmission, remains controversial.

A new species of the rib-degenerated loach, genus (Cypriniformes, Cobitidae), from Guangxi, China.

A new species of the genus is described based on morphological comparisons and molecular analyses from specimens of a subterranean tributary of the Hongshui River, Lingyun County, Baise City, and a cave in Jinya Township, Fengshan County, Hechi City, Guangxi, China. Both morphological and molecular data support the validity of The new species can be distinguished from congeners by the following combination of characteristics: whole body except for head and area between pectoral-fin and pelvic-fin origin sparsely covered with minute scales; barbels elongate; five or six branched pectoral-fin rays and four branched pelvic-fin rays; vertebrae 4+42. Maximum-likelihood and Bayesian-inference phylogenetic trees exhibited congruent topological structures, exhibiting high node support for the monophyly of (BPP = 1; BS = 100), which was clustered with the other congeners.

3D Integrated Physicochemical-Sensing Electronic Skin.

The integration of physical and chemical signal sensing is of great significance to bridge the gap between electronic skin (e-skin) and natural skin. However, the existing method of integrating physical and chemical signal sensing units in two dimensions is not conducive to the development of e-skin in multifunctionality and miniaturization. Herein, a new three-dimensional (3D) integrated physicochemical-sensing e-skin (TDPSES) is developed by integrating a piezoresistive sensing unit, a biochemical signal sensing electrode, and a microfluidic system in a 3D superposition mode.

Highly Bright Pure Room Temperature Phosphorescence for Circularly Polarized Organic Hyperafterglow.

Pure room-temperature phosphorescence (pRTP) promises great advantages in both exciton utilization and lifetime manipulation over existing organic luminophores for a variety of emerging applications, but the low brightness, low efficiency, and low color purity constrain the afterglow luminescence significantly. Here, a promising approach to design highly bright, efficient, and narrowband pRTP with long-lifetime for organic hyperafterglow is proposed by isolating a conjugated energy donor with circularly polarized (CP) luminescence and energy acceptor with multi-resonance effect into a rigid host. It is shown that the aggregation of chiral P-containing binaphthyl promotes the generation of CP-pRTP and afterglow with high brightness up to ≈50 cd m, while the simultaneous energy transfer and chirality transfer afford multi-color organic hyperafterglow with photoluminescence efficiency of ≈90%, full-width at half maxima of 31-39 nm, lifetime of 120-770 ms, and luminescent dissymmetry of ≈10.

Self-Oxygenating PROTAC Microneedle for Spatiotemporally-Confined Protein Degradation and Enhanced Glioblastoma Therapy.

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most aggressive subtype of primary brain tumors, which marginally respond to standard chemotherapy due to the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and the low tumor specificity of the therapeutics. Herein, a double-layered microneedle (MN) patch is rationally engineered by integrating acid and light dual-activatable PROteolysis TArgeting Chimera (PROTAC) nanoparticles and self-oxygenating BSA-MnO (BM) nanoparticles for GBM treatment. The MN is administrated at the tumor site to locally deliver the PROTAC prodrug and BM nanoparticles.

Diabetes Advances Cardiomyocyte Senescence Through Interfering Rnd3 Expression and Function.

Rnd3 is a small Rho-GTPase that has been implicated in various cardiovascular diseases. Yet, its role in diabetes-induced cardiomyocyte senescence remains unknown. Here we tested the role of Rnd3 in cardiomyocyte senescence and diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM).

Defect-Modulated MOF Nanochannels for the Quasi-Solid-State Electrolyte of a Dendrite-Free Lithium Metal Battery.

Efficient and selective Li transport within the nanochannel is essential for high-performance solid-state electrolytes (SSEs) in lithium metal batteries. Introducing Li hopping sites into SSEs shows great potential for promoting Li transport; however, it typically reduces the Li transport nanochannel size, consequently increasing the energy barrier for Li transport. Herein, we present a molecular defect strategy for MOFs to introduce Li hopping sites and increase the nanochannel size simultaneously as quasi-solid-state electrolytes (QSSEs).

EXPRESS: Peripheral ICOS+CD4 T cell frequency: an indicator for short-term progression in resectable advanced gastric cancer following platinum-based chemotherapy.

Background: Peripheral frequency of inducible T cell co-stimulator (ICOS)+CD4 T cells is associated with immunotherapy in gastric cancer (GC); however, limited studies have clarified its association with chemotherapy response.

Methods: This was a prospective, pilot study. A total of 120 participants with newly diagnosed GC and 50 advanced GC patients were recruited; and their prognosis and survival were assessed.

Identification of blood-derived exosomal tumor RNA signatures as noninvasive diagnostic biomarkers for multi-cancer: a multi-phase, multi-center study.

Background: Cancer remains a leading global cause of mortality, making early detection crucial for improving survival outcomes. The study aims to develop a machine learning-enabled blood-derived exosomal RNA profiling platform for multi-cancer detection and localization.

Methods: In this multi-phase, multi-center study, we analyzed RNA from exosomes derived from peripheral blood plasma in 818 participants across eight cancer types during the discovery phase.

Unraveling the role of neuregulin-mediated astrocytes-OPCs axis in the pathogenesis of age-related macular degeneration and Parkinson's disease.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and Parkinson's disease (PD) are prevalent and debilitating conditions that lead to irreversible blindness and dyskinesia, respectively. Emerging evidences imply that retinal abnormalities may serve as early indicators for monitoring PD. This study endeavors to explore the complex interactions and focus on their shared molecular and pathological mechanisms.

Real time task planning for order picking in intelligent logistics warehousing.

With the rapid growth of e-commerce and ongoing innovations in the logistics industry, intelligent unmanned logistics warehousing systems have emerged to significantly enhance operational efficiency and reduce costs. In these systems, the two critical stages of order assignment and path planning are interconnected through racks in the order picking process. However, prior research has largely overlooked their joint optimization.

Physiological roles of ghrelin in the regulation of gastrointestinal motility in vertebrates.

Ghrelin is known to be a multifunctional peptide hormone that stimulates not only growth hormone secretion and feeding but also gastrointestinal (GI) functions, including motility, secretion and mucosa proliferation. The aim of this review is to provide a comprehensive overview on the physiological roles of ghrelin in the regulation of GI motility from a comparative perspective. The effects of ghrelin on GI motility differ depending on the species, and ghrelin is a possible regulator of gastric migrating motor complexes (MMCs) in rodents, dogs and house musk shrew (suncus).

Knockout of cadmium sensitive gene 1 confers enhanced cadmium tolerance in rice (Oryza sativa L.) by regulating the subcellular distribution of cadmium.

Cadmium (Cd) is a heavy metal which is toxic to both plants and animal. The high content of Cd in the rice grain severely threatens human's health. Here, we identified a Cd sensitive gene, named Cadmium Sensitive Gene 1 (OsCSG1), playing an important role in improving Cd tolerance in rice at seedling stage.

Lithium attenuates ketamine-induced long-term neurotoxicity through DISC1-mediated GSK-3β/β-catenin and ERK/CREB pathways.

Ketamine, an antagonist of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor, is extensively employed in pediatric anesthesia. Multiple studies have shown that repeated ketamine exposure induces neuroapoptosis, synaptic changes and cognitive deficits during neurodevelopment. Therefore, it is essential to elucidate the mechanisms of ketamine-induced neurotoxicity and develop therapies to mitigate its harmful effects.

Surround modulation is predominantly orientation-unspecific in macaque V1.

Surround modulation is a fundamental property of V1 neurons, playing critical roles in stimulus integration and segregation. It is believed to be orientation-specific, as neurons' responses at preferred orientations are suppressed more by iso-oriented surrounds than by cross-oriented surrounds. Here, we investigated an alternative hypothesis that surround modulation is primarily orientation-unspecific, in that the observed "orientation-specific" surround effects actually reflect overall gain changes that affect neurons tuned to all orientations.

A nomogram for predicting the risk of liver metastasis in non-functional neuroendocrine neoplasms: A population-based study.

Background: Non-functional gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms (GEP-NENs) are rare tumors, and liver metastasis is the leading cause of death in patients with GEP-NENs. Due to the difficulty in conducting large cohort studies, no reliable tool currently exists to predict the risk of liver metastasis in these patients. This study aimed to develop and validate a nomogram model based on large cohort clinical data to accurately predict the risk of liver metastasis in patients with non-functional GEP-NENs.

Decreased stability of soil dissolved organic matter under disturbance of periodic flooding and drying in reservoir drawdown area.

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) constitutes the largest active carbon pool on earth, playing a crucial role in numerous biogeochemical processes. Understanding the molecular characteristics and chemical properties of DOM is essential for comprehending the global carbon cycle. However, there is a lack of systematic understanding regarding the influence of periodic flooding and drying, caused by reservoir operations, on the sources, characteristics and stability of soil DOM in the drawdown area, as well as the biotic and abiotic processes regulating DOM changes.

Temporal dynamics of immune cell transcriptomics in brain metastasis progression influenced by gut microbiome dysbiosis.

Interactions between metastatic cancer cells and the brain microenvironment regulate brain metastasis (BrMet) progression. Central nervous system (CNS)-native and peripheral immune cells influence the BrMet immune landscape, but the dynamics and factors modulating this microenvironment remain unclear. As the gut microbiome impacts CNS and peripheral immune activity, we investigated its role in regulating immune response dynamics throughout BrMet stages.

AMPK Signaling Pathway Regulates Tendon Regeneration via Fatty Acid Metabolism.

Tendon and ligament injuries are the most common musculoskeletal injuries, and their regeneration is a complex process due to the poor natural healing ability of these tissues. The current therapies for tendon repair are limited in efficacy and their cellular and molecular mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, we identified AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) as a markedly upregulated factor in newborn tendons with high regenerative capacity.

Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Model to Simulate Contrast-enhanced spinal MRI of Spinal Tumors: A Multi-Center Study.

Rationale And Objectives: To generate virtual T1 contrast-enhanced (T1CE) sequences from plain spinal MRI sequences using the denoising diffusion probabilistic model (DDPM) and to compare its performance against one baseline model pix2pix and three advanced models.

Methods: A total of 1195 consecutive spinal tumor patients who underwent contrast-enhanced MRI at two hospitals were divided into a training set (n = 809, 49 ± 17 years, 437 men), an internal test set (n = 203, 50 ± 16 years, 105 men), and an external test set (n = 183, 52 ± 16 years, 94 men). Input sequences were T1- and T2-weighted images, and T2 fat-saturation images.