Data and Knowledge Co-driving for Cancer Subtype Classification on Multi-Scale Histopathological Slides

Artificial intelligence-enabled histopathological data analysis has become a valuable assistant to the pathologist. However, existing models lack representation and inference abilities compared with those of pathologists, especially in cancer subtype diagnosis, which is unconvincing in clinical practice. For instance, pathologists typically observe the lesions of a slide from global to local, and then can give a diagnosis based on their knowledge and experience. In this paper, we propose a Data and Knowledge Co-driving (D&K) model to replicate the process of cancer subtype classification on a histopathological slide like a pathologist. Specifically, in the data-driven module, the bagging mechanism in ensemble learning is leveraged to integrate the histological features from various bags extracted by the embedding representation unit. Furthermore, a knowledge-driven module is established based on the Gestalt principle in psychology to build the three-dimensional (3D) expert knowledge space and map histological features into this space for metric. Then, the diagnosis can be made according to the Euclidean distance between them. Extensive experimental results on both public and in-house datasets demonstrate that the D&K model has a high performance and credible results compared with the state-of-the-art methods for diagnosing histopathological subtypes. Code: https://github.com/Dennis-YB/Data-and-Knowledge-Co-driving-for-Cancer-Subtypes-Classificatio

Soil Enzyme Activity and Microbial Metabolic Function Diversity in Soda Saline–Alkali Rice Paddy Fields of Northeast China

Western Jilin province has the most serious area of soda salinization in Northeast China, which affects and restricts the sustainable development of agriculture. The effects of physico-chemical properties of rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere soil on soil microbial diversity and enzyme activities (polyphenol oxidase, catalase, invertase, amylase) were evaluated in typical soda saline-alkali paddy field. Community-level physiological profile (CLPP) based on Biolog-ECO plates was used to assess the functional diversity of soil microorganisms. Exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) and pH were negative correlated with the microbial activity (AWCD), soil enzyme activities (amylase, sucrose, and catalase, except for polyphenol oxidase) in rice rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere soil (P < 0.05). The indexes of microbial diversity in rice rhizosphere soil were significantly higher than that of non-rhizosphere soil. The utilization of amino acids by rice rhizosphere microorganisms was relatively high, while non-rhizosphere soil had relatively high utilization of carboxylic acid, phenolic acid, and amine. Among the selected physico-chemical properties, soil organic carbon (SOC) and soil water content (SWC) had the greatest influence on the variation of microbial diversity indexes and enzyme activities in rhizosphere soil. ESP and pH showed a significant positive correlation with carbon source utilization, especially for amine (AM) and phenolic acid (PA) carbon source utilization (P < 0.05) by means of RDA, and the utilization rate of AM and PA carbon sources by rice rhizosphere and non-root soil microorganisms was P1 < P2 < P3

Using expert knowledge to identify key threats and conservation strategies for wildlife: A case study with bats in China

Global biodiversity is in rapid decline, yet the key threats to wildlife in many regions remain uncertain. Bats are one of the most diverse mammalian groups, playing vital roles in the ecosystems. There are at least 140 bat species in China, with 30 % of being regionally threatened or data deficient. Here, we used expert elicitation to assess the key threats and conservation strategies of bats in China. We designed an online questionnaire concerning the conservation of Chinese bats, and then distributed the questionnaire to bat experts worldwide via email. All participants were asked to rank each threat and conservation strategy according to the urgency and significance. After excluding participants without some knowledge of Chinese bats and conservation biology, we gathered the opinions of 119 bat experts from China and abroad. The results showed that the scores of different threats and conservation strategies were predicted by their categories. Loss of habitat, killing and hunting, and roost disturbance were regarded as the three top threats faced by Chinese bats. Most experts recognized that banning hunting and improving the legislation were two priority strategies for bat conservation, although monitoring of bat diversity, scientific publicity, and education were also important. Nearly 98 % of the experts supported the suggestion that threatened bats should be under special state protection because of their ecological services, economic value, population decline, scientific value, and other features. These results provide valuable implications for guiding the protection and management of bats in China

The Development and Utilization of Saline–Alkali Land in Western Jilin Province Promoted the Sequestration of Organic Carbon Fractions in Soil Aggregates

Soil samples from T (0~20 cm) and S (20~40 cm) layers of four saline–alkali rice fields (R5, R15, R20, and R35) with different reclamation years were selected to study the distribution of soil aggregates and the contents of readily oxidizable organic carbon (ROC), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), microbial biomass carbon (MBC), potentially mineralizable carbon (PMC), and soil organic carbon (SOC). The effects of large macroaggregate (>2 mm, LMA), small macroaggregate (0.25 to 2 mm, SMA), and microaggregate (<0.25 mm, MA) particle size, soil layer, and soil physicochemical properties on SOC fractions were also analyzed. The results showed that the LMA size in saline–alkali paddy fields were easily decomposed and was unstable due to the influence of the external environment. With the increase in reclamation years, the proportion of LMA in the S layer decreased gradually. The ROC, DOC, MBC and TOC contents of aggregates in the T and S layers gradually increased with the increase in reclamation years, and SOC fractions contents of aggregates in different grain sizes were SMA > LMA > MA. An effective way to increase carbon sink and improve the ecological environment in western Jilin Province is to change the soil environment by planting rice in saline–alkali land

Biomimetic Human Serum Albumin Nanoparticle for Efficiently Targeting Therapy to Metastatic Breast Cancers

Triple-negative breast cancers (TNBCs), devoid of hormone receptors and human epidermal growth-factor receptor-2/Neu expression, bring about poor prognosis and induce a high rate of systematic metastases. The ineffectiveness of current therapies on TNBCs could be attributed to the lack of efficient targeted therapy. Paclitaxel (PTX) is considered one of first-line chemotherapeutics for TNBC treatment but, due to its low aqueous solubility and nonspecific accumulation, results in poor antitumor efficacy. The present study is aimed at enhancing the chemotherapeutic potency of PTX by improving the stability and targeting efficiency of PTX-loaded nanoparticulate drug carriers. Here, PTX was incorporated in nontoxic and endogenous material, human serum albumin (HSA), via an innovative disulfide reduction method to construct HSA-based PTX nanoparticle (HSA-PTX NP) to not only realize redox-responsive drug release but also improve in vivo stability. Besides, W peptide was selected as a target ligand to be conjugated with HSA-PTX NP for endowing active targeting ability. The resulting Wpep-HSA-PTX NP possessed a spherical structure (118 nm), 9.87% drug-loading content, and 86.3% entrapment efficiency. An in vitro drug release test showed that PTX release from Wpep-HSA-PTX NP was of a redox-responsive manner. Furthermore, cellular uptake of Wpep-HSA-PTX NP was significantly enhanced, exhibiting the improved antiproliferation and antitube formation effects of PTX in vitro. In comparison with those commercial formulations and conventional HSA NP, Wpep-HSA-PTX NP exhibited better pharmacokinetic behaviors and tumor homing characteristics. The antitumor efficacy of Wpep-HSA-PTX NP was further confirmed by the strong pro-apoptotic effect and reduced tumor burden. In a word, this evidence highlighted the proof of concept for Wpep-HSA NP as a promising conqueror to the ineffectiveness of TNBC therapy

The second randomized controlled ENhanced Control of Hypertension ANd Thrombectomy strokE stuDy (ENCHANTED2): Protocol and progress

Background: Uncertainty exists over the optimal level of blood pressure (BP) after mechanical thrombectomy (MT) for acute ischemic stroke (AIS). Objectives: We aim to determine the effectiveness and safety of intensive BP-lowering following MT reperfusion of large-vessel occlusion (LVO)-related AIS. Design: The second ENhanced Control of Hypertension ANd Thrombolysis strokE stuDy (ENCHANTED2) is an investigator-initiated, multicenter, prospective, randomized, open, blinded-endpoint (PROBE) trial of intensive systolic BP (SBP) control in reperfused (extended treatment in cerebral infarction (eTICI) classification 2b/2c/3) LVO-AIS patients with persistent hypertension (SBP > 140 mmHg) at 60+ sites in China, and Australia and the United Kingdom. Eligible patients are centrally randomly allocated to more- (target SB