Iohexol Degradation by Biogenic Palladium Nanoparticles Hosted in Anaerobic Granular Sludge

To improve the degradation ability of anaerobic granular sludge (AGS) toward the iodinated contrast media (ICM) iohexol, biogenic nanoscale palladium (Pd) was formed in AGS via microbial reduction. The Pd hosted in AGS (Pd-AGS) was used for iohexol degradation. The effects of the electron donor, reaction medium, iodide ion fouling, and polymer embedding of the Pd-AGS on the reactivity were investigated. Our results showed the Pd-AGS increased the degradation rate of iohexol, with a conversion rate constant increased by 86.3-fold compared to the AGS control. Various organic compounds were investigated as electron donors to initiate the catalytic activity of Pd-AGS and the promotion achieved with the tested electron donors was in the following order: formate > lactate > ethanol > glucose > acetate. The Pd-AGS had high reactivity in deionized water at mild pH, and almost no reactivity under acidic (pH = 1.2) and alkaline (pH > 11) conditions. The presence of iodide ions in the medium inhibited the catalytic activity of Pd-AGS toward iohexol because of catalyst fouling. Embedding the Pd-AGS in alginate, chitosan, or polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) could prevent Pd loss but it also retarded the iohexol degradation rate. The Pd-AGS, as a combination of Pd catalyst and AGS, provides a novel strategy for iohexol degradation in polluted water and wastewater

Blockchain-assisted Twin Migration for Vehicular Metaverses: A Game Theory Approach

As the fusion of automotive industry and metaverse, vehicular metaverses establish a bridge between the physical space and virtual space, providing intelligent transportation services through the integration of various technologies, such as extended reality and real-time rendering technologies, to offer immersive metaverse services for Vehicular Metaverse Users (VMUs). In vehicular metaverses, VMUs update vehicle twins (VTs) deployed in RoadSide Units (RSUs) to obtain metaverse services. However, due to the mobility of vehicles and the limited service coverage of RSUs, VT migration is necessary to ensure continuous immersive experiences for VMUs. This process requires RSUs to contribute resources for enabling efficient migration, which leads to a resource trading problem between RSUs and VMUs. Moreover, a single RSU cannot support large-scale VT migration. To this end, we propose a blockchain-assisted game approach framework for reliable VT migration in vehicular metaverses. Based on the subject logic model, we first calculate the reputation values of RSUs considering the freshness of interaction between RSUs and VMUs. Then, a coalition game based on the reputation values of RSUs is formulated, and RSU coalitions are formed to jointly provide bandwidth resources for reliable and large-scale VT migration. Subsequently, the RSU coalition with the highest utility is selected. Finally, to incentivize VMUs to participate in VT migration, we propose a Stackelberg model between the selected coalition and VMUs. Numerical results demonstrate the reliability and effectiveness of the proposed schemes.Comment: Transactions on Emerging Telecommunications Technologies (ISSN: 2161-3915

Local nearly non-strained perovskite lattice approaching a broad environmental stability window of efficient solar cells

Twist and fracture of surface lattice tend to occur under harsh condition due to the soft lattice natures of hybrid perovskite materials. Accordingly, surface defects and lattice distortion are produced, which allow the performance loss and notorious degradation in perovskite solar cells (PSCs). In our work, judiciously selected conjugated ligand was employed as the film intermediary, from which rigid and delocalization 4-phenylpyridine (4-pPy) exhibited the most significant improvement on both optoelectrical performance and stability of PSCs. By regulating the film crystallization kinetics, high-quality perovskite films can be obtained with preferable crystal orientation. Moreover, benefiting from the defects passivation and unidirectional bonding effect, coordinated 4-pPy “scaffold” on the lattice surface could mitigate vacancy formation and lattice twist/fracture under severe conditions. The resulted p-i-n planar device shows a considerable PCE of 21.12% (certified 20.2%) with negligible hysteresis, as well as an excellent storage (90% of original PCE after 1000 h at 60% RH), operating (90% of original PCE after 600 h at maximum power point) and thermal stress (89% of original PCE after 500 h at 85 °C) stability. It is hoped that our findings could open a new way to accelerate continued progress on PSCs regimes for efficieny maximization and stability prolongation

Previous Radiotherapy Increases the Efficacy of IL-2 in Malignant Pleural Effusion: Potential Evidence of a Radio-Memory Effect?

Preclinical and clinical studies have shown that prior receipt of radiotherapy enhances antitumor immune responses, a phenomenon we call the “radio-memory effect.” However, all of the evidence regarding this effect to date comes from work with PD1/PDL1 inhibitors. Here we explored whether this effect also occurs with other forms of immune therapy, specifically interleukin-2 (IL-2). We retrospectively assessed outcomes in patients with malignant pleural effusion (MPE) who had previously received radiotherapy for non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) within 18 months before the intrapleural infusion of IL-2 or cisplatin. Radiotherapy sites included lungs, thoracic lymph nodes, and intracranial. All patients received intrapleural infusion of IL-2 or cisplatin, and most had had several cycles of standard chemotherapy for NSCLC. We identified 3,747 patients with MPE (median age 64 years [range 29–88)) treated at one of several institutions from August 2009 through February 2015; 642 patients had been treated with IL-2 and 1102 with cisplatin and had survived for at least 6 months afterward. Among those who received IL-2, 288 had no radiotherapy, 324 had extracranial (i.e., thoracic) radiotherapy, and 36 had intracranial radiotherapy. The median follow-up time for surviving patients was 38 months. Patients who had received extracranial radiotherapy followed by IL-2 had significantly longer PFS than patients who had not received extracranial radiotherapy (i.e., either no radiotherapy or intracranial radiotherapy). Patients who had received intracranial or extracranial radiotherapy followed by IL-2 had significantly longer OS than did other patients. No survival advantage was noted for prior radiotherapy among patients who received intrapleural cisplatin. We speculate that previous radiotherapy could enhance the efficacy of subsequent intrapleural infusion of IL-2, a “radio-memory” effect that could be beneficial in future studies

Human adenovirus type 7 subunit vaccine induces dendritic cell maturation through the TLR4/NF-κB pathway is highly immunogenic

IntroductionHuman adenovirus type 7 (HAdv-7) infection is the main cause of upper respiratory tract infection, bronchitis and pneumonia in children. At present, there are no anti- adenovirus drugs or preventive vaccines in the market. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a safe and effective anti-adenovirus type 7 vaccine.MethodsIn this study, In this study, we used the baculovirus-insect cell expression system to design a recombinant subunit vaccine expressing adenovirus type 7 hexon protein (rBV-hexon) to induce high-level humoral and cellular immune responses. To evaluate the effectiveness of the vaccine, we first detected the expression of molecular markers on the surface of antigen presenting cells and the secretion of proinflammatory cytokines in vitro. We then measured the levels of neutralizing antibodies and T cell activation in vivo.ResultsThe results showed that the rBV-hexon recombinant subunit vaccine could promote DC maturation and improve its antigen uptake capability, including the TLR4/NF-κB pathway which upregulated the expression of MHCI, CD80, CD86 and cytokines. The vaccine also triggered a strong neutralizing antibody and cellular immune response, and activated T lymphocytes.DiscussionTherefore, the recombinant subunit vaccine rBV-hexon promoted promotes humoral and cellular immune responses, thereby has the potential to become a vaccine against HAdv-7

MR-LINAC-Guided Adaptive Radiotherapy for Gastric MALT: Two Case Reports and a Literature Review

It is still very challenging to use conventional radiation therapy techniques to treat stomach tumors, although image-guided radiotherapy, mainly by kV X-ray imaging techniques, has become routine in the clinic. This is because the stomach is one of the most deformable organs, and thus it is vulnerable to respiratory motions, daily diet, and body position changes. In addition, X-ray radiographs and CT volumetric images have low contrast in soft tissues. In contrast, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques provide good contrast in images of soft tissues. The emerging MR-guided radiotherapy, based on the MR-LINAC system, may have the potential to solve the above difficulties due to its unique advantages. The real-time imaging feature and the high-contrast of soft tissues MR images provided by the MR-LINAC system have facilitated the therapeutic adaptive planning. Online learning capabilities could be used to optimize the automatic delineation of the target organ or tissue prior to each radiotherapy session. This could greatly improve the accuracy and efficiency of the target delineation in adaptive planning. In this clinical case report, we elaborated a workflow for the diagnosis and treatment of two patients with gastric mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma. One patient underwent MR-guided daily adaptive radiotherapy based on daily automated segmentation using the novel artificial intelligence (AI) technique for gastric delineation

The Effects of Auditory Numerosity and Magnitude on Visual Numerosity Representation: An ERP Study

Numerical representation is not restricted to sensory modalities. It remains unclear how numerosity processing in different modalities interacts within the brain. Moreover, the effect of continuous magnitudes presented in one modality on the representation of numerosity in another modality has not been well studied. By using event-related potential (ERP) and source localization analyses, the present study examined whether there was an interaction between auditory numerosity and continuous magnitude on visual numerosity representation. A visual dot array (visual standard stimulus) was preceded by sound in which numerosity (Multiple-tone vs. One-tone conditions) and magnitude (Loud-tone vs. Soft-tone conditions) information were manipulated. Then, another visual dot array (visual comparison stimulus) was presented, and participants were required to compare the numerosities of the visual dots. Behavioural results revealed that participants showed smaller just-noticeable differences (JNDs) when visual stimuli were preceded by multiple tones than those when visual stimuli were preceded by one tone. The subsequent ERP analysis of visual standard stimuli revealed that the peak amplitude of N1 was more negative under the Loud-tone condition than that under the Soft-tone condition, which could be related to better preparatory attention. Moreover, a significant interaction between auditory numerosity and magnitude was found within the P2p time window for the standard stimuli. Further source localization analysis identified the effect of N1 and P2p to be in the right middle frontal gyrus (MFG) and left inferior parietal lobule (IPL). The present study suggests that numerosity information presented in one sensory modality could spontaneously affect the numerical representation in another modality

MR-LINAC-Guided Adaptive Radiotherapy for Gastric MALT: Two Case Reports and a Literature Review

It is still very challenging to use conventional radiation therapy techniques to treat stomach tumors, although image-guided radiotherapy, mainly by kV X-ray imaging techniques, has become routine in the clinic. This is because the stomach is one of the most deformable organs, and thus it is vulnerable to respiratory motions, daily diet, and body position changes. In addition, X-ray radiographs and CT volumetric images have low contrast in soft tissues. In contrast, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques provide good contrast in images of soft tissues. The emerging MR-guided radiotherapy, based on the MR-LINAC system, may have the potential to solve the above difficulties due to its unique advantages. The real-time imaging feature and the high-contrast of soft tissues MR images provided by the MR-LINAC system have facilitated the therapeutic adaptive planning. Online learning capabilities could be used to optimize the automatic delineation of the target organ or tissue prior to each radiotherapy session. This could greatly improve the accuracy and efficiency of the target delineation in adaptive planning. In this clinical case report, we elaborated a workflow for the diagnosis and treatment of two patients with gastric mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma. One patient underwent MR-guided daily adaptive radiotherapy based on daily automated segmentation using the novel artificial intelligence (AI) technique for gastric delineation