Research progress in ureteral wall thickness in diagnosis and treatment of ureteral calculi under NCCT

Recently，the incidence of ureteral calculi has been increased，and the treatment methods have been constantly updated. Nowadays，minimally invasive treatment has become a trend，mainly including extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy（ESWL），ureteroscopic lithotripsy（URL），percutaneous nephrolithotripsis（PCNL）and laparoscopic lithotripsis. Noncontrast computed tomography（NCCT），as a common noninvasive diagnostic technique for clinical surgical diseases，has high specificity and sensitivity for the identification of ureteral calculi. In addition to definite diagnosis，the use of ureteral wall thickness（UWT）measurement to predict the matching degree of ureteral calculi treatment and prognosis has received widespread attention. Existing literature has suggested that UWT can predict the efficacy of ureteral stone incarceration and treatment plan. However，most studies are limited to the prediction of single treatment mode by UWT. In this article，literature review related to UWT was performed，aiming to provide reference for the prediction of ureteral stone incarceration and the selection of clinical treatment regimen

Effects of Freezing Methods on Lipid Oxidation and Microstructure of Muscle Fibers in Acipenser sinensis

This study was executed in order to investigate quality deterioration caused by lipid oxidation during the frozen storage of Acipenser sinensis. Fish pieces were stored at −18 ℃ for 24 weeks after being frozen using a freezer (−20 or −50 ℃) or liquid nitrogen (−80 or −110 ℃). The central temperature, fat and free fatty acid (FFA) contents, fatty acid composition, peroxide value (POV), thiobarbituric reactive substance (TBARS) value, and fluorescent compound content were measured and the microstructure of muscle fibers was also observed during the storage period for the purpose of evaluating the influence of freezing methods on lipid oxidation and muscle microstructure in Acipenser sinensis during frozen storage. The results showed that with increasing storage time, the fat and polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) contents of the four fish samples decreased, while POV, TBARS value, and the contents of FFAs, saturated fatty acids (SFAs), monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) and fluorescent compounds increased. The gap between muscle fibers increased, which was accompanied by breaking of myofibrils. In addition, the contents of fat and PUFAs in liquid nitrogen frozen samples were significantly higher than those in freezer frozen ones (at the end of storage, the freezer frozen sample frozen at −20 ℃ contained 7.89% of fat compared to 9.13% for the liquid nitrogen frozen one at −80 ℃), while POV, TBARS value, and the contents of FFAs, SFAs, MUFAs and fluorescent compounds were significantly lower than those in freezer frozen samples (P < 0.05), and the muscle fiber structure was more complete. The above results indicated that liquid nitrogen frozen alleviated the degree of myofibrillar damage and lipid hydrolysis in Acipenser sinensis during frozen storage, thereby reducing the speed of lipid oxidation

Small RNA zippers lock miRNA molecules and block miRNA function in mammalian cells.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) loss-of-function phenotypes are mainly induced by chemically modified antisense oligonucleotides. Here we develop an alternative inhibitor for miRNAs, termed \u27small RNA zipper\u27. It is designed to connect miRNA molecules end to end, forming a DNA-RNA duplex through a complementary interaction with high affinity, high specificity and high stability. Two miRNAs, miR-221 and miR-17, are tested in human breast cancer cell lines, demonstrating the 70∼90% knockdown of miRNA levels by 30-50 nM small RNA zippers. The miR-221 zipper shows capability in rescuing the expression of target genes of miR-221 and reversing the oncogenic function of miR-221 in breast cancer cells. In addition, we demonstrate that the miR-221 zipper attenuates doxorubicin resistance with higher efficiency than anti-miR-221 in human breast cancer cells. Taken together, small RNA zippers are a miRNA inhibitor, which can be used to induce miRNA loss-of-function phenotypes and validate miRNA target genes

Application and research progress of antibody drug conjugates in HER2 positive advanced gastric cancer

Gastric cancer is a malignant tumor with high heterogeneity and invasiveness. Its incidence rate ranks fifth in the world, and its mortality ranks third in the world. Most patients are in a state that cancer cannot be removed by surgery when symptoms appear. At present, systemic treatment is the main treatment for advanced gastric cancer, and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) is one of the important treatment targets for HER2 positive gastric cancer patients. With the continuous optimization of chemotherapy regimen and targeted drugs, the prognosis of some HER2 positive gastric cancer patients has improved significantly. However, the high incidence of drug resistance and high toxicity and side effects are still the bottlenecks limiting the application of HER2 targeted drugs. Therefore, the development of new anti-tumor drugs is of great significance to improve the long-term survival of HER2 positive gastric cancer patients. Antibody drug conjugate (ADC) is a new and efficient anti-tumor drug, which is composed of specific targeted monoclonal antibody, chemical connector and small molecular cytotoxic payload. Its main advantages are strong therapeutic effect and moderate tissue toxicity. In recent years, ADC has set off a huge upsurge in the targeted treatment of HER2 positive advanced gastric cancer. First, after years of development, a variety of ADC including DS-8201 and RC48 have been used in the second- and second-line treatment of gastric cancer. Secondly, with the progress of ADC bioengineering technology, including high proportion of drug antibodies, cleavable linkers, toxic loads that can trigger bystander effect, the new type of ADC can play a more significant therapeutic role in the treatment of specific target tumors, and some of them also have multiple targets and can have anti-tumor effect on multiple specific targets. At the same time, the research and development process of ADC has reached the third stage. The new generation of ADC, through site-specific coupling technology, has higher homogeneity and uniformity, more effective cytotoxic molecules, higher accuracy and lower non-targeted toxicity. In addition, the "targeted immunotherapy" composed of ADC and immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) may be a promising treatment strategy for advanced gastric cancer. This article briefly reviewed the application and the latest research progress of ADC in HER2 positive advanced gastric cancer patients in the era of targeted therapy, and discussed the treatment prospects and challenges of ADC combined with ICI in HER2 positive advanced gastric cancer

Isolation of exosomes from whole blood by integrating acoustics and microfluidics

Exosomes are nanoscale extracellular vesicles that play an important role in many biological processes, including intercellular communications, antigen presentation, and the transport of proteins, RNA, and other molecules. Recently there has been significant interest in exosome-related fundamental research, seeking new exosome-based biomarkers for health monitoring and disease diagnoses. Here, we report a separation method based on acoustofluidics (i.e., the integration of acoustics and microfluidics) to isolate exosomes directly from whole blood in a label-free and contact-free manner. This acoustofluidic platform consists of two modules: a microscale cell-removal module that first removes larger blood components, followed by extracellular vesicle subgroup separation in the exosome-isolation module. In the cell-removal module, we demonstrate the isolation of 110-nm particles from a mixture of micro- and nanosized particles with a yield greater than 99%. In the exosome-isolation module, we isolate exosomes from an extracellular vesicle mixture with a purity of 98.4%. Integrating the two acoustofluidic modules onto a single chip, we isolated exosomes from whole blood with a blood cell removal rate of over 99.999%. With its ability to perform rapid, biocompatible, label-free, contact-free, and continuous-flow exosome isolation, the integrated acoustofluidic device offers a unique approach to investigate the role of exosomes in the onset and progression of human diseases with potential applications in health monitoring, medical diagnosis, targeted drug delivery, and personalized medicine. Keywords: extracellular vesicles; exosomes; blood-borne vesicles; surface acoustic waves; acoustic tweezersNational Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant R01 HD086325)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant IIP-1534645

Molecular Engineered Hole-Extraction Materials to Enable Dopant-Free, Efficient p-i-n Perovskite Solar Cells

Two hole-extraction materials (HEMs), TPP-OMeTAD and TPP-SMeTAD, have been developed to facilitate the fabrication of efficient p-i-n perovskite solar cells (PVSCs). By replacing the oxygen atom on HEM with sulfur (from TPP-OMeTAD to TPP-SMeTAD), it effectively lowers the highest occupied molecular orbital of the molecule and provides stronger Pb-S interaction with perovskites, leading to efficient charge extraction and surface traps passivation. The TPP-SMeTAD-based PVSCs exhibit both improved photovoltaic performance and reduced hysteresis in p-i-n PVSCs over those based on TPP-OMeTAD. This work not only provides new insights on creating perovskite-HEM heterojunction but also helps in designing new HEM to enable efficient organic–inorganic hybrid PVSCs

Inflammatory factors and risk of meningiomas: a bidirectional mendelian-randomization study

BackgroundMeningiomas are one of the most common intracranial tumors, and the current understanding of meningioma pathology is still incomplete. Inflammatory factors play an important role in the pathophysiology of meningioma, but the causal relationship between inflammatory factors and meningioma is still unclear.MethodMendelian randomization (MR) is an effective statistical method for reducing bias based on whole genome sequencing data. It’s a simple but powerful framework, that uses genetics to study aspects of human biology. Modern methods of MR make the process more robust by exploiting the many genetic variants that may exist for a given hypothesis. In this paper, MR is applied to understand the causal relationship between exposure and disease outcome.ResultsThis research presents a comprehensive MR study to study the association of genetic inflammatory cytokines with meningioma. Based on the results of our MR analysis, which examines 41 cytokines in the largest GWAS datasets available, we were able to draw the relatively more reliable conclusion that elevated levels of circulating TNF-β, CXCL1, and lower levels of IL-9 were suggestive associated with a higher risk of meningioma. Moreover, Meningiomas could cause lower levels of interleukin-16 and higher levels of CXCL10 in the blood.ConclusionThese findings suggest that TNF-β, CXCL1, and IL-9 play an important role in the development of meningiomas. Meningiomas also affect the expression of cytokines such as IL-16 and CXCL10. Further studies are needed to determine whether these biomarkers can be used to prevent or treat meningiomas

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals &lt;1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data