NANO-FE AND MWCNTS BASED NON-ENZYMATIC SENSOR FOR DETERMINATION OF GLUCOSE IN SERUUM

The enzyme sensors based on glucose oxidase have been widely used for the detection of blood glucose. However, the activity of enzyme can be easily affected by temperature, pH, humidity and toxic chemical. Nanostructured metal-oxides have been extensively explored to develop nonenzymatic glucose sensors. An amperometric electrode based on multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and Fe nanoparticles has been successfully fabricated. The electrode exhibits the linear regression equation is: I = -0.1985 + 1.7499 CG (correlation coefficient is 0.9994). Linear response range: 0.2-20.0 mM, sensitivity: 1.75 a/am, the LOD was evaluated to be 0.03 mM according to IUPAC regulations (S/N = 3). Interference tests illustrated that 0.2 me of ascorbic acid and uric acid didn't have effect on the determination of glucose. In the presence of 0.02 M chloride ion, the current signal of 0.2 mM glucose almost keeps unchanged at the sensor, revealing that this new sensor has high tolerance level to chloride ion. The sensor has been successfully applied to determine glucose in the serum samples and obtained consist results with conventional spectrometry

Unconditionally Secure Quantum Bit Commitment and Quantum Oblivious Transfer

Recently, a novel secure quantum bit commitment (QBC) protocol has been proposed [29]. However, the protocol requires Alice and Bob to share Bell states in advance, making the protocol lacking in practicality. In this paper, we propose two new unconditionally secure quantum bit commitment protocols that do not require pre-shared Bell states based on entangled and non-entangled states, respectively. Their security stems from quantum mechanical properties such as quantum superposition, quantum entanglement, no-cloning theorem, and no-communication theorem. Furthermore, by combining the proposed QBC with Yao\u27s quantum oblivious transfer (QOT) model, we can obtain an unconditionally secure QOT protocol

propnet: Propagating 2D Annotation to 3D Segmentation for Gastric Tumors on CT Scans

**Background:** Accurate 3D CT scan segmentation of gastric tumors is pivotal for diagnosis and treatment. The challenges lie in the irregular shapes, blurred boundaries of tumors, and the inefficiency of existing methods. **Purpose:** We conducted a study to introduce a model, utilizing human-guided knowledge and unique modules, to address the challenges of 3D tumor segmentation. **Methods:** We developed the PropNet framework, propagating radiologists' knowledge from 2D annotations to the entire 3D space. This model consists of a proposing stage for coarse segmentation and a refining stage for improved segmentation, using two-way branches for enhanced performance and an up-down strategy for efficiency. **Results:** With 98 patient scans for training and 30 for validation, our method achieves a significant agreement with manual annotation (Dice of 0.803) and improves efficiency. The performance is comparable in different scenarios and with various radiologists' annotations (Dice between 0.785 and 0.803). Moreover, the model shows improved prognostic prediction performance (C-index of 0.620 vs. 0.576) on an independent validation set of 42 patients with advanced gastric cancer. **Conclusions:** Our model generates accurate tumor segmentation efficiently and stably, improving prognostic performance and reducing high-throughput image reading workload. This model can accelerate the quantitative analysis of gastric tumors and enhance downstream task performance

3-O-Caffeoylquinic acid in Periploca forrestii Schltr extract ameliorates collagen-induced arthritis by inducing IL17/IL23 cells in rats

Purpose: To study the therapeutic effect of 3-O-caffeoylquinic acid (3-O-CQA) from Periploca forrestii extract (PFE) on collagen-mediated arthritis (CIA) in rats, as well as the potential underlying mechanism of action. Methods: PFE and 3-O-CQA were successively and intragastrically administered to CIA rats. Paw swelling, arthritic scores and H & E staining were used to evaluate the therapeutic effect of 3-O-CQA. Moreover, to determine the effects of PFE and 3-O-CQA on fibroblast-resembling synoviocytes obtained from arthritic subjects (RAFLS), the viability of RAFLS cultured in vitro was measured with MMT, while apoptotic lesions were analyzed by flow cytometry. The levels of IL-6 in CIA and RAFLS were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), while quantitative reverse transcriptionpolymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and immunoblotting were used to assess their mRNA and polypeptide levels, respectively. Results: PFE in 3-O-CQA ameliorated swelling and reduced arthritic scores in CIA rat model, and also decreased cytokine levels (p < 0.05). By decreasing mRNA and protein expressions, 3-O-CQA repressed the phosphorylation of STAT3 and JAK2 as well as the protein levels of IL-23 and RORγt (p < 0.05). Conclusion: The results of this study show that CIA and RAFLS are ameliorated in rats by 3-O-CQA in PFE through regulation of IL17/ IL23 and Th17 cells. Thus, 3-O-CQA affords a therapeutic strategy for the management of collagen-induced arthritis. Keywords: Arthriti; Periploca forrestii Schltr extract; 3-O-Caffeoylquinic acid; Interleukin (IL)-17; IL-23; Th17 cell

Cellular crosstalk of macrophages and therapeutic implications in non-small cell lung cancer revealed by integrative inference of single-cell transcriptomics

Introduction: Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) exhibits heterogeneity with diverse immune cell infiltration patterns that can influence tumor cell behavior and immunotherapy. A comprehensive characterization of the tumor microenvironment can guide precision medicine.Methods: Here, we generated a single-cell atlas of 398170 cells from 52 NSCLC patients, and investigated the imprinted genes and cellular crosstalk for macrophages. Subsequently, we evaluated the effect of tumor cells on macrophages and verified the expression of marker genes using co-culture experiments, flow cytometry and RT-qPCR assays.Results: Remarkable macrophage adaptability to NSCLC environment was observed, which contributed to generating tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs). We identified 5 distinct functional TAM subtypes, of which the majority were SELENOP-positive macrophages, with high levels of SLC40A1 and CCL13. The TAMs were also involved in mediating CD8+ T cell activity and form intercellular interaction with cancer cells, as indicated by receptor-ligand binding. Indirect coculture of tumor cells SPC-A1 and THP-1 monocytes, produced M2-like TAMs that highly expressed several markers of SELENOP-positive macrophages. The abundance of this type TAMs seemed to be associated with poorer overall survival rates [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.34, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.98-1.83, p = 0.068] based on deconvolution of TCGA-LUAD dataset.Discussion: In summary, we provided a high-resolution molecular resource of TAMs, and displayed the acquired properties in the tumor microenvironment. Dynamic crosstalk between TAMs and tumor cells via multiple ligand-receptor pairs were revealed, emphasizing its role in sustaining the pro-tumoral microenvironment and its implications for cancer therapy

Wip1-dependent modulation of macrophage migration and phagocytosis

Macrophage accumulation within the vascular wall is a hallmark of atherosclerosis. Controlling macrophage conversion into foam cells remains a major challenge for treatment of atherosclerotic diseases. Here, we show that Wip1, a member of the PP2C family of Ser/Thr protein phosphatases, modulates macrophage migration and phagocytosis associated with atherosclerotic plaque formation. Wip1 deficiency increases migratory and phagocytic activities of the macrophage under stress conditions. Enhanced migration of Wip1-/- macrophages is mediated by Rac1-GTPase and PI3K/AKT signalling pathways. Elevated phagocytic ability of Wip1-/- macrophages is linked to CD36 plasma membrane recruitment that is regulated by AMPK activity. Our study identifies Wip1 as an intrinsic negative regulator of macrophage chemotaxis. We propose that Wip1-dependent control of macrophage function may provide avenues for preventing or eliminating plaque formation in atherosclerosis

A Novel Escherichia coli O157:H7 Clone Causing a Major Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome Outbreak in China

An Escherichia coli O157:H7 outbreak in China in 1999 caused 177 deaths due to hemolytic uremic syndrome. Sixteen outbreak associated isolates were found to belong to a new clone, sequence type 96 (ST96), based on multilocus sequence typing of 15 housekeeping genes. Whole genome sequencing of an outbreak isolate, Xuzhou21, showed that the isolate is phylogenetically closely related to the Japan 1996 outbreak isolate Sakai, both of which share the most recent common ancestor with the US outbreak isolate EDL933. The levels of IL-6 and IL-8 of peripheral blood mononuclear cells induced by Xuzhou21 and Sakai were significantly higher than that induced by EDL933. Xuzhou21 also induced a significantly higher level of IL-8 than Sakai while both induced similar levels of IL-6. The expression level of Shiga toxin 2 in Xuzhou21 induced by mitomycin C was 68.6 times of that under non-inducing conditions, twice of that induced in Sakai (32.7 times) and 15 times higher than that induced in EDL933 (4.5 times). Our study shows that ST96 is a novel clone and provided significant new insights into the evolution of virulence of E. coli O157:H7

Isolation and Characterization of Cytotoxic, Aggregative Citrobacter freundii

Citrobacter freundii is an infrequent but established cause of diarrhea in humans. However, little is known of its genetic diversity and potential for virulence. We analyzed 26 isolates, including 12 from human diarrheal patients, 2 from human fecal samples of unknown diarrheal status, and 12 from animals, insects, and other sources. Pulsed field gel electrophoresis using XbaI allowed us to divide the 26 isolates into 20 pulse types, while multi-locus sequence typing using 7 housekeeping genes allowed us to divide the 26 isolates into 6 sequence types (STs) with the majority belonging to 4 STs. We analyzed adhesion and cytotoxicity to HEp-2 cells in these 26 strains. All were found to adhere to HEp-2 cells. One strain, CF74, which had been isolated from a goat, showed the strongest aggregative adhesion pattern. Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) released from HEp-2 cells was evaluated as a measure of cytotoxicity, averaging 7.46%. Strain CF74 induced the highest level of LDH, 24.3%, and caused >50% cell rounding, detachment, and death. We named strain CF74 “cytotoxic and aggregative C. freundii.” Genome sequencing of CF74 revealed that it had acquired 7 genomic islands, including 2 fimbriae islands and a type VI secretion system island, all of which are potential virulence factors. Our results show that aggregative adherence and cytotoxicity play an important role in the pathogenesis of C. freundii