Assessment of Noise and Heavy Metals (Cr, Cu, Cd, Pb) in the Ambience of the Production Line for Recycling Waste Printed Circuit Boards

The crush - pneumatic separation - corona electrostatic separation production line provides a feasible method for industrialization of waste printed circuit boards (PCBs) recycling. To determine the potential environmental contamination in the automatic line workshop, noise and heavy metals (Cr, Cu, Cd, Pb) in the ambience of the production line have been evaluated in this paper. The mean noise level in the workshop has been reduced from 96.4 to 79.3 dB since the engineering noise control measures were employed. Noise whose frequency ranged from 500 to 1000 Hz is controlled effectively. The mass concentrations of TSP and PM₁₀ in the workshop are 282.6 and 202.0 μg/m³, respectively. Pb (1.40 μg/m³) and Cu (1.22 μg/m³) are the most enriched metals in TSP samples followed by Cr (0.17 μg/m³) and Cd (0.028 μg/m³). The concentrations of Cu, Pb, Cr, and Cd in PM₁₀ are 0.88, 0.56, 0.12, and 0.88 μg/m³, respectively. Among the four metals, Cr and Pb are released into the ambience of the automatic line more easily in the crush and separation process. Health risk assessment shows that noncancerous effects might be possible for Pb (HI = 1.45), and noncancerous effects are unlikely for Cr, Cu, and Cd. The carcinogenic risks for Cr and Cd are 3.29 × 10^–8 and 1.61 × 10^–9, respectively. It indicates that carcinogenic risks on workers are relatively light in the workshop. These findings suggest that this technology is advanced from the perspective of environmental protection in the waste PCBs recycling industry

Analyzing the pathways enriched in genes associated with nicotine dependence in the context of human protein–protein interaction network

<p>Nicotine dependence is the primary addictive stage of cigarette smoking. Although a lot of studies have been performed to explore the molecular mechanism underlying nicotine dependence, our understanding on this disorder is still far from complete. Over the past decades, an increasing number of candidate genes involved in nicotine dependence have been identified by different technical approaches, including the genetic association analysis. In this study, we performed a comprehensive collection of candidate genes reported to be genetically associated with nicotine dependence. Then, the biochemical pathways enriched in these genes were identified by considering the gene’s propensity to be related to nicotine dependence. One of the most widely used pathway enrichment analysis approach, over-representation analysis, ignores the function non-equivalence of genes in candidate gene set and may have low discriminative power in identifying some dysfunctional pathways. To overcome such drawbacks, we constructed a comprehensive human protein–protein interaction network, and then assigned a function weighting score to each candidate gene based on their network topological features. Evaluation indicated the function weighting score scheme was consistent with available evidence. Finally, the function weighting scores of the candidate genes were incorporated into pathway analysis to identify the dysfunctional pathways involved in nicotine dependence, and the interactions between pathways was detected by pathway crosstalk analysis. Compared to conventional over-representation-based pathway analysis tool, the modified method exhibited improved discriminative power and detected some novel pathways potentially underlying nicotine dependence. In summary, we conducted a comprehensive collection of genes associated with nicotine dependence and then detected the biochemical pathways enriched in these genes using a modified pathway enrichment analysis approach with function weighting score of candidate genes integrated. Our results may provide insight into the molecular mechanism underlying nicotine dependence.</p

DataSheet2_Development and validation of an interpretable radiomic signature for preoperative estimation of tumor mutational burden in lung adenocarcinoma.PDF

Background:Tumor mutational burden (TMB) is a promising biomarker for immunotherapy. The challenge of spatial and temporal heterogeneity and high costs weaken its power in clinical routine. The aim of this study is to estimate TMB preoperatively using a volumetric CT–based radiomic signature (rMB).Methods:Seventy-one patients with resectable lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) who underwent whole-exome sequencing (WXS) from 2011 to 2014 were enrolled from the institutional biobank of Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital (TMUCIH). Forty-nine LUAD patients with WXS from the Cancer Genome Atlas Program (TCGA) served as the external validation cohort. Computed tomography (CT) volumes were resampled to 1-mm isotropic, semi-automatically segmented, and manually adjusted by two radiologists. A total of 3,108 radiomic features were extracted via PyRadiomics and then harmonized across cohorts by ComBat. Features with inter-segmentation intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) > 0.8, low collinearity, and significant univariate power were passed to the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO)–logistic classifier to discriminate TMB-high/TMB-low at a threshold of 10 mut/Mb. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis and calibration curve were used to determine its efficiency. Shapley values (SHAP) attributed individual predictions to feature contributions. Clinical variables and circulating biomarkers were collected to find potential associations with TMB and rMB.Results:The top frequently mutated genes significantly differed between the Chinese and TCGA cohorts, with a median TMB of 2.20 and 3.46 mut/Mb and 15 (21.12%) and 9 (18.37%) cases of TMB-high, respectively. After dimensionality reduction, rMB comprised 21 features, which reached an AUC of 0.895 (sensitivity = 0.867, specificity = 0.875, and accuracy = 0.873) in the discovery cohort and 0.878 (sensitivity = 1.0, specificity = 0.825, and accuracy = 0.857 in a consist cutoff) in the validation cohort. rMB of TMB-high patients was significantly higher than rMB of TMB-low patients in both cohorts (p Conclusion:rMB, an intra-tumor radiomic signature, could predict lung adenocarcinoma patients with higher TMB. Insights from the Shapley values may enhance persuasiveness of the purposed signature for further clinical application. rMB could become a promising tool to triage patients who might benefit from a next-generation sequencing test.</p

DataSheet1_Development and validation of an interpretable radiomic signature for preoperative estimation of tumor mutational burden in lung adenocarcinoma.XLSX

Background:Tumor mutational burden (TMB) is a promising biomarker for immunotherapy. The challenge of spatial and temporal heterogeneity and high costs weaken its power in clinical routine. The aim of this study is to estimate TMB preoperatively using a volumetric CT–based radiomic signature (rMB).Methods:Seventy-one patients with resectable lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) who underwent whole-exome sequencing (WXS) from 2011 to 2014 were enrolled from the institutional biobank of Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital (TMUCIH). Forty-nine LUAD patients with WXS from the Cancer Genome Atlas Program (TCGA) served as the external validation cohort. Computed tomography (CT) volumes were resampled to 1-mm isotropic, semi-automatically segmented, and manually adjusted by two radiologists. A total of 3,108 radiomic features were extracted via PyRadiomics and then harmonized across cohorts by ComBat. Features with inter-segmentation intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) > 0.8, low collinearity, and significant univariate power were passed to the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO)–logistic classifier to discriminate TMB-high/TMB-low at a threshold of 10 mut/Mb. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis and calibration curve were used to determine its efficiency. Shapley values (SHAP) attributed individual predictions to feature contributions. Clinical variables and circulating biomarkers were collected to find potential associations with TMB and rMB.Results:The top frequently mutated genes significantly differed between the Chinese and TCGA cohorts, with a median TMB of 2.20 and 3.46 mut/Mb and 15 (21.12%) and 9 (18.37%) cases of TMB-high, respectively. After dimensionality reduction, rMB comprised 21 features, which reached an AUC of 0.895 (sensitivity = 0.867, specificity = 0.875, and accuracy = 0.873) in the discovery cohort and 0.878 (sensitivity = 1.0, specificity = 0.825, and accuracy = 0.857 in a consist cutoff) in the validation cohort. rMB of TMB-high patients was significantly higher than rMB of TMB-low patients in both cohorts (p Conclusion:rMB, an intra-tumor radiomic signature, could predict lung adenocarcinoma patients with higher TMB. Insights from the Shapley values may enhance persuasiveness of the purposed signature for further clinical application. rMB could become a promising tool to triage patients who might benefit from a next-generation sequencing test.</p

Image2_Integrated single-cell and bulk RNA sequencing analyses reveal a prognostic signature of cancer-associated fibroblasts in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.TIFF

Objectives: To identify a prognosis-related subtype of cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and comprehend its contributions to molecular characteristics, immune characteristics, and their potential benefits in immunotherapy and chemotherapy for HNSCC.Materials and Methods: We performed single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) analysis of CAFs from the samples of HNSCC patients derived from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), to identify the prognosis-related subtype of CAFs. CAFs were clustered into five subtypes, and a prognosis-related subtype was identified. Univariate and multivariate cox regression analyses were performed on the cohort selected from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) to determine signature construction, which was validated in GSE65858 and GSE42743. A prognostic signature based on 4 genes was constructed, which were derived from prognosis-related CAFs. The molecular characteristics, immune characteristics as well as the predicted chemosensitivity and immunotherapeutic response in the signature-defined subgroups were analyzed subsequently.Results: The patients with higher CAF scores correlated with poor survival outcomes. Additionally, a high CAF score correlated with lower infiltration levels of many immune cells including M1 macrophages, CD8+ T cells, follicular T helper cells, monocytes, and naïve B cells. High CAF score also demonstrated different enrichment pathways, mutation genes and copy number variated genes. Furthermore, patients with high CAF scores showed lower sensitivity for chemotherapy and immunotherapy than those with low CAF scores.Conclusion: The results of our study indicate the potential of the CAF signature as a biomarker for the prognosis of HNSCC patients. Furthermore, the signature could be a prospective therapeutic target in HNSCC.</p

Table1_Integrated single-cell and bulk RNA sequencing analyses reveal a prognostic signature of cancer-associated fibroblasts in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.XLSX

Objectives: To identify a prognosis-related subtype of cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and comprehend its contributions to molecular characteristics, immune characteristics, and their potential benefits in immunotherapy and chemotherapy for HNSCC.Materials and Methods: We performed single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) analysis of CAFs from the samples of HNSCC patients derived from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), to identify the prognosis-related subtype of CAFs. CAFs were clustered into five subtypes, and a prognosis-related subtype was identified. Univariate and multivariate cox regression analyses were performed on the cohort selected from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) to determine signature construction, which was validated in GSE65858 and GSE42743. A prognostic signature based on 4 genes was constructed, which were derived from prognosis-related CAFs. The molecular characteristics, immune characteristics as well as the predicted chemosensitivity and immunotherapeutic response in the signature-defined subgroups were analyzed subsequently.Results: The patients with higher CAF scores correlated with poor survival outcomes. Additionally, a high CAF score correlated with lower infiltration levels of many immune cells including M1 macrophages, CD8+ T cells, follicular T helper cells, monocytes, and naïve B cells. High CAF score also demonstrated different enrichment pathways, mutation genes and copy number variated genes. Furthermore, patients with high CAF scores showed lower sensitivity for chemotherapy and immunotherapy than those with low CAF scores.Conclusion: The results of our study indicate the potential of the CAF signature as a biomarker for the prognosis of HNSCC patients. Furthermore, the signature could be a prospective therapeutic target in HNSCC.</p

Image1_Integrated single-cell and bulk RNA sequencing analyses reveal a prognostic signature of cancer-associated fibroblasts in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.TIF

Objectives: To identify a prognosis-related subtype of cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and comprehend its contributions to molecular characteristics, immune characteristics, and their potential benefits in immunotherapy and chemotherapy for HNSCC.Materials and Methods: We performed single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) analysis of CAFs from the samples of HNSCC patients derived from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), to identify the prognosis-related subtype of CAFs. CAFs were clustered into five subtypes, and a prognosis-related subtype was identified. Univariate and multivariate cox regression analyses were performed on the cohort selected from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) to determine signature construction, which was validated in GSE65858 and GSE42743. A prognostic signature based on 4 genes was constructed, which were derived from prognosis-related CAFs. The molecular characteristics, immune characteristics as well as the predicted chemosensitivity and immunotherapeutic response in the signature-defined subgroups were analyzed subsequently.Results: The patients with higher CAF scores correlated with poor survival outcomes. Additionally, a high CAF score correlated with lower infiltration levels of many immune cells including M1 macrophages, CD8+ T cells, follicular T helper cells, monocytes, and naïve B cells. High CAF score also demonstrated different enrichment pathways, mutation genes and copy number variated genes. Furthermore, patients with high CAF scores showed lower sensitivity for chemotherapy and immunotherapy than those with low CAF scores.Conclusion: The results of our study indicate the potential of the CAF signature as a biomarker for the prognosis of HNSCC patients. Furthermore, the signature could be a prospective therapeutic target in HNSCC.</p

Table2_Integrated single-cell and bulk RNA sequencing analyses reveal a prognostic signature of cancer-associated fibroblasts in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.XLSX

Objectives: To identify a prognosis-related subtype of cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and comprehend its contributions to molecular characteristics, immune characteristics, and their potential benefits in immunotherapy and chemotherapy for HNSCC.Materials and Methods: We performed single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) analysis of CAFs from the samples of HNSCC patients derived from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), to identify the prognosis-related subtype of CAFs. CAFs were clustered into five subtypes, and a prognosis-related subtype was identified. Univariate and multivariate cox regression analyses were performed on the cohort selected from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) to determine signature construction, which was validated in GSE65858 and GSE42743. A prognostic signature based on 4 genes was constructed, which were derived from prognosis-related CAFs. The molecular characteristics, immune characteristics as well as the predicted chemosensitivity and immunotherapeutic response in the signature-defined subgroups were analyzed subsequently.Results: The patients with higher CAF scores correlated with poor survival outcomes. Additionally, a high CAF score correlated with lower infiltration levels of many immune cells including M1 macrophages, CD8+ T cells, follicular T helper cells, monocytes, and naïve B cells. High CAF score also demonstrated different enrichment pathways, mutation genes and copy number variated genes. Furthermore, patients with high CAF scores showed lower sensitivity for chemotherapy and immunotherapy than those with low CAF scores.Conclusion: The results of our study indicate the potential of the CAF signature as a biomarker for the prognosis of HNSCC patients. Furthermore, the signature could be a prospective therapeutic target in HNSCC.</p

Observation of Electronic Nematicity Driven by the Three-Dimensional Charge Density Wave in Kagome Lattice KV₃Sb₅

Kagome superconductors AV3Sb5 (A = K, Rb, Cs) provide a fertile playground for studying intriguing phenomena, including nontrivial band topology, superconductivity, giant anomalous Hall effect, and charge density wave (CDW). Recently, a C2 symmetric nematic phase prior to the superconducting state in AV3Sb5 drew enormous attention due to its potential inheritance of the symmetry of the unusual superconductivity. However, direct evidence of the rotation symmetry breaking of the electronic structure in the CDW state from the reciprocal space is still rare, and the underlying mechanism remains ambiguous. The observation shows unconventional unidirectionality, indicative of rotation symmetry breaking from six-fold to two-fold. The interlayer coupling between adjacent planes with π-phase offset in the 2 × 2 × 2 CDW phase leads to the preferred two-fold symmetric electronic structure. These rarely observed unidirectional back-folded bands in KV3Sb5 may provide important insights into its peculiar charge order and superconductivity