Adjuvant Chemotherapy Versus Adjuvant Concurrent Chemoradiotherapy After Radical Surgery for Early-Stage Cervical Cancer: A Randomized, Non-Inferiority, Multicenter Trial

We conducted a prospective study to assess the non-inferiority of adjuvant chemotherapy alone versus adjuvant concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) as an alternative strategy for patients with early-stage (FIGO 2009 stage IB-IIA) cervical cancer having risk factors after surgery. The condition was assessed in terms of prognosis, adverse effects, and quality of life. This randomized trial involved nine centers across China. Eligible patients were randomized to receive adjuvant chemotherapy or CCRT after surgery. The primary end-point was progression-free survival (PFS). From December 2012 to December 2014, 337 patients were subjected to randomization. Final analysis included 329 patients, including 165 in the adjuvant chemotherapy group and 164 in the adjuvant CCRT group. The median follow-up was 72.1 months. The three-year PFS rates were both 91.9%, and the five-year OS was 90.6% versus 90.0% in adjuvant chemotherapy and CCRT groups, respectively. No significant differences were observed in the PFS or OS between groups. The adjusted HR for PFS was 0.854 (95% confidence interval 0.415-1.757; P = 0.667) favoring adjuvant chemotherapy, excluding the predefined non-inferiority boundary of 1.9. The chemotherapy group showed a tendency toward good quality of life. In comparison with post-operative adjuvant CCRT, adjuvant chemotherapy treatment showed non-inferior efficacy in patients with early-stage cervical cancer having pathological risk factors. Adjuvant chemotherapy alone is a favorable alternative post-operative treatment

The water lily genome and the early evolution of flowering plants

Water lilies belong to the angiosperm order Nymphaeales. Amborellales, Nymphaeales and Austrobaileyales together form the so-called ANA-grade of angiosperms, which are extant representatives of lineages that diverged the earliest from the lineage leading to the extant mesangiosperms1–3. Here we report the 409-megabase genome sequence of the blue-petal water lily (Nymphaea colorata). Our phylogenomic analyses support Amborellales and Nymphaeales as successive sister lineages to all other extant angiosperms. The N. colorata genome and 19 other water lily transcriptomes reveal a Nymphaealean whole-genome duplication event, which is shared by Nymphaeaceae and possibly Cabombaceae. Among the genes retained from this whole-genome duplication are homologues of genes that regulate flowering transition and flower development. The broad expression of homologues of floral ABCE genes in N. colorata might support a similarly broadly active ancestral ABCE model of floral organ determination in early angiosperms. Water lilies have evolved attractive floral scents and colours, which are features shared with mesangiosperms, and we identified their putative biosynthetic genes in N. colorata. The chemical compounds and biosynthetic genes behind floral scents suggest that they have evolved in parallel to those in mesangiosperms. Because of its unique phylogenetic position, the N. colorata genome sheds light on the early evolution of angiosperms.Supplementary Tables: This file contains Supplementary Tables 1-21.National Natural Science Foundation of China, the open funds of the State Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Germplasm Enhancement (ZW201909) and State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding, the Fujian provincial government in China, the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under European Research Council Advanced Grant Agreement and the Special Research Fund of Ghent University.http://www.nature.com/naturecommunicationsam2021BiochemistryGeneticsMicrobiology and Plant Patholog

Screening for Virulence-Related Genes via a Transposon Mutant Library of Streptococcus suis Serotype 2 Using a Galleria mellonella Larvae Infection Model

Streptococcus suis (S. suis) is a zoonotic bacterial pathogen causing lethal infections in pigs and humans. Identification of virulence-related genes (VRGs) is of great importance in understanding the pathobiology of a bacterial pathogen. To identify novel VRGs, a transposon (Tn) mutant library of S. suis strain SC19 was constructed in this study. The insertion sites of approximately 1700 mutants were identified by Tn-seq, which involved 417 different genes. A total of 32 attenuated strains were identified from the library by using a Galleria mellonella larvae infection model, and 30 novel VRGs were discovered, including transcription regulators, transporters, hypothetical proteins, etc. An isogenic deletion mutant of hxtR gene (ΔhxtR) and its complementary strain (CΔhxtR) were constructed, and their virulence was compared with the wild-type strain in G. mellonella larvae and mice, which showed that disruption of hxtR significantly attenuated the virulence. Moreover, the ΔhxtR strain displayed a reduced survival ability in whole blood, increased sensitivity to phagocytosis, increased chain length, and growth defect. Taken together, this study performed a high throughput screening for VRGs of S. suis using a G. mellonella larvae model and further characterized a novel critical virulence factor

Cooperative Crystallization of Chiral Heterometallic Indium(III)–Potassium(I) Metal–Organic Frameworks as Photosensitizers in Luminescence Sensors and Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

In this work, the coexistence of In­(III) and K­(I) induces a rapid crystal growth of single crystals of heterometallic metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), [In_0.5K­(3-qlc)­Cl_1.5(H₂O)_0.5]_2<i>n</i> (<b>1</b>) and [InK­(ox)₂­(H₂O)₄]_<i>n</i> (<b>2</b>) (3-Hqlc = quinoline-3-carboxylic acid; H₂ox = oxalic acid). Remarkably, with the help of achiral 3-Hqlc, compound <b>1</b> represents the chiral interpenetrating p-block heterometallic MOFs with helical chain along the 4₃ screw axis, while compound <b>2</b> possesses a highly symmetric (4,4,4)-connected topology network with a Schläfli symbol of (4²·8³·10)­(4²·8⁴). Consideration of two different organic ligands viz. 3-Hqlc and H₂ox constructed heterometallic MOFs with different geometrical dimensions of unit cells, their influences on luminescence and photovoltaic properties are studied. Compounds <b>1</b> and <b>2</b> show tunable luminescence from blue to yellow and white by varying the temperature in the solid state. Encouraged by the UV–visible absorption and HOMO–LUMO energy states matched for sensitizing TiO₂, the two compounds are employed in combination with N719 in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) to compensate for absorption in the region of ultraviolet and blue-violet. Under optimized conditions, the DSSCs devices using cosensitizers of <b>1</b>/N719 and <b>2</b>/N719 display an overall conversion efficiency of 8.07% and 7.42%, which is 22.09% and 12.25% higher than that of a device solely sensitized by N719 (6.61%). Consequently, both of the two compounds could serve as excellent photosensitizers and application in luminescence sensors and DSSCs

Cooperative Crystallization of Chiral Heterometallic Indium(III)–Potassium(I) Metal–Organic Frameworks as Photosensitizers in Luminescence Sensors and Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

In this work, the coexistence of In­(III) and K­(I) induces a rapid crystal growth of single crystals of heterometallic metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), [In_0.5K­(3-qlc)­Cl_1.5(H₂O)_0.5]_2<i>n</i> (<b>1</b>) and [InK­(ox)₂­(H₂O)₄]_<i>n</i> (<b>2</b>) (3-Hqlc = quinoline-3-carboxylic acid; H₂ox = oxalic acid). Remarkably, with the help of achiral 3-Hqlc, compound <b>1</b> represents the chiral interpenetrating p-block heterometallic MOFs with helical chain along the 4₃ screw axis, while compound <b>2</b> possesses a highly symmetric (4,4,4)-connected topology network with a Schläfli symbol of (4²·8³·10)­(4²·8⁴). Consideration of two different organic ligands viz. 3-Hqlc and H₂ox constructed heterometallic MOFs with different geometrical dimensions of unit cells, their influences on luminescence and photovoltaic properties are studied. Compounds <b>1</b> and <b>2</b> show tunable luminescence from blue to yellow and white by varying the temperature in the solid state. Encouraged by the UV–visible absorption and HOMO–LUMO energy states matched for sensitizing TiO₂, the two compounds are employed in combination with N719 in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) to compensate for absorption in the region of ultraviolet and blue-violet. Under optimized conditions, the DSSCs devices using cosensitizers of <b>1</b>/N719 and <b>2</b>/N719 display an overall conversion efficiency of 8.07% and 7.42%, which is 22.09% and 12.25% higher than that of a device solely sensitized by N719 (6.61%). Consequently, both of the two compounds could serve as excellent photosensitizers and application in luminescence sensors and DSSCs

Akt Mediates Metastasis-Associated Gene 1 (MTA1) Regulating the Expression of E-cadherin and Promoting the Invasiveness of Prostate Cancer Cells

<div><p>Human metastasis-associated gene 1 (MTA1) is highly associated with the metastasis of prostate cancer; however, the molecular functions of MTA1 that facilitate metastasis remain unclear. In this study, we demonstrate that the silencing of MTA1 by siRNA treatment results in the upregulation of E-cadherin expression by the phosphorylation of AKT (p-AKT) and decreases the invasiveness of prostate cancer cells. We show that MTA1 is expressed in over 90% of prostate cancer tissues, especially metastatic prostate cancer tissue, comparing to non-expression in normal prostate tissue. RT-PCR analysis and Western blot assay showed that MTA1 expression is significantly higher in highly metastatic prostate cancer PC-3M-1E8 cells (1E8) than in poorly metastatic prostate cancer PC-3M-2B4 cells (2B4). Silencing MTA1 expression by siRNA treatment in 1E8 cells increased the cellular malignant characters, including the cellular adhesive ability, decreased the cellular invasive ability and changed the polarity of cellular cytoskeleton. 1E8 cells over-expressing MTA1 had a reduced expression of E-cadherin, while 1E8 cells treated with MTA1 siRNA had a higher expression of E-cadherin. The expression of phosphorylated AKT (p-AKT) or the inhibition of p-AKT by wortmannin treatment (100 nM) significantly altered the function of MTA1 in the regulation of E-cadherin expression. Alterations in E-cadherin expression changed the role of p-AKT in cellular malignant characters. All of these results demonstrate that MTA1 plays an important role in controlling the malignant transformation of prostate cancer cells through the p-AKT/E-cadherin pathway. This study also provides a new mechanistic role for MTA1 in the regulation of prostate cancer metastasis.</p> </div

Unusually Flexible Indium(III) Metal–Organic Polyhedra Materials for Detecting Trace Amounts of Water in Organic Solvents and High Proton Conductivity

Humidity-induced single-crystal transformation was observed in the indium metal–organic polyhedra [In₂(TCPB)₂]·2H₂O (<b>In1</b>), where H₃TCPB is 1,3,5-tri­(4-carboxyphenoxy)­benzene. When the humidity is above 58% relative humidity (RH) at room temperature, the neutral compound <b>In1</b> could be successfully converted into the positively charged compound <b>In1</b>-<b>H</b> along with the color change from yellow to deep red, which also undergoes a reversible transformation into <b>In1</b> driven by thermal dehydration. Notably, the color of <b>In1</b> takes only 5 min to change under 58% RH at room temperature, which is much quicker than common desiccant bluestone. As the water content is increased from 0.0% to 0.2% in acetonitrile solvent, compound <b>In1</b> exhibits rapid detection of trace amounts of water through turn-off luminescence sensing mechanism with a low detection limit of 2.95 × 10^–4%. Because of the formation of extensive hydrogen-bonding network between the metal–organic polyhedra (MOPs) and surrounding guest OH^– ions, compound <b>In1</b>-<b>H</b>, along with isostructural <b>Ga1</b>-<b>H</b>, displays excellent proton conductivity up to 2.84 × 10^–4 and 2.26 × 10^–4 S cm^–1 at 298 K and 98% RH, respectively. Furthermore, the activation energies are found to be 0.28 eV for <b>In1</b>-<b>H</b> and 0.34 eV for <b>Ga1</b>-<b>H</b>. This method of incorporation of OH^– ions to obtain high proton conductivity MOPs with low activation energy demonstrates the advantage of OH^– ion conduction in the solid-state materials

Unusually Flexible Indium(III) Metal–Organic Polyhedra Materials for Detecting Trace Amounts of Water in Organic Solvents and High Proton Conductivity

Humidity-induced single-crystal transformation was observed in the indium metal–organic polyhedra [In₂(TCPB)₂]·2H₂O (<b>In1</b>), where H₃TCPB is 1,3,5-tri­(4-carboxyphenoxy)­benzene. When the humidity is above 58% relative humidity (RH) at room temperature, the neutral compound <b>In1</b> could be successfully converted into the positively charged compound <b>In1</b>-<b>H</b> along with the color change from yellow to deep red, which also undergoes a reversible transformation into <b>In1</b> driven by thermal dehydration. Notably, the color of <b>In1</b> takes only 5 min to change under 58% RH at room temperature, which is much quicker than common desiccant bluestone. As the water content is increased from 0.0% to 0.2% in acetonitrile solvent, compound <b>In1</b> exhibits rapid detection of trace amounts of water through turn-off luminescence sensing mechanism with a low detection limit of 2.95 × 10^–4%. Because of the formation of extensive hydrogen-bonding network between the metal–organic polyhedra (MOPs) and surrounding guest OH^– ions, compound <b>In1</b>-<b>H</b>, along with isostructural <b>Ga1</b>-<b>H</b>, displays excellent proton conductivity up to 2.84 × 10^–4 and 2.26 × 10^–4 S cm^–1 at 298 K and 98% RH, respectively. Furthermore, the activation energies are found to be 0.28 eV for <b>In1</b>-<b>H</b> and 0.34 eV for <b>Ga1</b>-<b>H</b>. This method of incorporation of OH^– ions to obtain high proton conductivity MOPs with low activation energy demonstrates the advantage of OH^– ion conduction in the solid-state materials