CHROMATIN ORGANIZATION IN THE SMALLEST FREE-LIVING EUKARYOTE OSTREOCOCCUS TAURI

Master'sMASTER OF SCIENC

Aeromonas veronii, Associated with Skin Ulcerative Syndrome, Isolated from the Goldfish (Carassius auratus) in China

Aeromonas infections are the most common bacterial disease in cultured fish. In April 2013, an epizootic ulcerative syndrome occurred on a goldfish farm in Xuzhou, central China. A gram-negative bacterium was isolated from the ulcerative lesions and internal organs of infected dragon-eye goldfish (Carassius auratus), tentatively named strain CAV-134. The results showed that the isolate was identified as Aeromonas veronii by physiological and biochemical characteristics, furthermore it was confirmed by 16S rRNA, gyrB, mu, asl and aha1 genes sequencing analysis. The pathogenicity of the isolate was confirmed in crucian carp and produced an LD50 of 1.99×106 CFU/ml. Antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of strain CAV-134 showed it was susceptible to most antimicrobial agents tested but resistant to ampicillin, amoxicillin, carbenicillin, vancomycin, teicoplanin, lincomycin and clindamycin. This is the report on the pathogenic A. veronii isolated from the skin ulcerative syndrome of dragon-eye goldfish

A Multifeatures Spatial-Temporal-Based Neural Network Model for Truck Flow Prediction

The majority of studies on road traffic flow prediction have focused on the flow of passenger cars or the flow of traffic as a whole, which ignore the significant impact of trucks with different sizes and operational characteristics on traffic flow efficiency. Therefore, in this paper, we focus on truck traffic flow and propose a Multifeatures Spatial-Temporal-Based Neural Network model (M-BiCNNGRU) to improve its prediction. The proposed model not only comprises conventional temporal characteristics and spatial relationships but also includes a range of multifeatures. These multifeatures include policy limit, optimal time delay, road resistance, and traffic congestion state. The impacts of upstream and downstream road sections are considered on the spatial relationship by using a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN). A Bidirectional Gated Recurrent Unit (Bi-GRU) is employed to account for the temporal characteristics. To evaluate the proposed model, traffic flow data were collected from a major expressway in Beijing and the results were compared with those derived from existing models. The results show that the prediction accuracy of the BiCNNGRU model, with spatial-temporal characteristics, and the M-BiGRU model, with multifeatures and temporal, is, respectively, 4.13% and 2.15% greater than that of the Bi-GRU model, with temporal characteristics. The prediction accuracy of the proposed M-BiCNNGRU model is 92.86%, which is 7.12% greater than that of the Bi-GRU model and 13.83% greater than that of the Support Vector Regression (SVR) model. In general, therefore, the proposed M-BiCNNGRU model, which combines multifeatures, temporal characteristics, and spatial relationships, can significantly improve accuracy in predicting truck traffic flow

A Facile Fabrication of CdSe/ZnS QDs—Block Copolymer Brushes-Modified Graphene Oxide Nanohybrid with Temperature-Responsive Behavior

In this paper, we described a straightforward one-step chemical method for the synthesis of semiconductor quantum dots(QDs)—block copolymer brushes functionalized graphene oxide(GO) fluorescence nanohybrids. The azobenzene-terminated block copolymer poly(N-isopropylacrylamid)-b-poly(styrene-co-5-(2-methacryoylethyloxymethyl)-8-quinolinol)(PNIPAM-b-P(St-co-MQ)) was modified on the surface of GO sheets via host–guest interactions between β-cyclodextrin-modified GO and azobenzene moieties, and simultaneously CdSe/ZnS QDs were integrated on the block copolymer brushes through the coordination between 8-hydroxyquinoline units in the polymer brushes and CdSe/ZnS QDs. The resulting fluorescence nanohybrid exhibited dual photoluminescence at 620 nm and 526 nm, respectively, upon excitation at 380 nm and LCST-type thermo-responsive behavior which originated from the change in the PNIPAM conformation in the block copolymer brushes of GO sheets

Efficacy and safety of transurethral resection of bladder tumour combined with chemotherapy and immunotherapy in bladder-sparing therapy in patients with T1 high-grade or T2 bladder cancer: a protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Abstract Background Bladder cancer is the tenth most common cancer worldwide. For patients with T1 high-grade or T2 bladder cancer, radical cystectomy is recommended. However, radical cystectomy is associated with various complications and has a detrimental impact on the quality of life. Bladder-sparing therapy has been widely explored in patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer, and whether a combination of transurethral resection of bladder tumour (TURBT) with chemotherapy and immunotherapy shows definite superiority over TURBT plus chemotherapy is still a matter of debate. The aim of this study is to investigate the efficacy and safety of TURBT combined with chemotherapy and immunotherapy in bladder-sparing therapy in patients with T1 high-grade or T2 bladder cancer who are unwilling or unsuitable to undergo radical cystectomy. Methods An open-label, multi-institutional, two-armed randomized controlled study will be performed with 86 patients with T1 high-grade or T2 bladder cancer meeting the eligibility criteria. Participants in the experimental group (n = 43) will receive TURBT combined with chemotherapy (GC: gemcitabine 1000 mg/m2 on the 1st day and the 8th day, cisplatin 70 mg/m2 on the 2nd day, repeated every 21 days) and immunotherapy (toripalimab 240 mg on the 5th day, repeated every 21 days), and those in the control group (n = 43) will receive TURBT plus chemotherapy (GC). The primary outcome is pathological response, and the secondary outcomes include progression-free survival, overall survival, toxicities, and quality of life. Discussion To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of TURBT combined with GC regimen and toripalimab in bladder-sparing therapy in patients with T1 high-grade or T2 bladder cancer. The expected benefit is that the combination of TURBT with chemotherapy and immunotherapy would be more effective than TURBT plus chemotherapy without compromising the quality of life and increasing the toxicity. Trial registration ChiCTR2200060546, chictr.org.cn, registered on June 14, 2022

Blood urea nitrogen to creatinine ratio and long-term survival in patients with chronic heart failure

Abstract Objectives To explore the correlation between Blood urea nitrogen to creatinine ratio (BUN/Scr ratio) and prognosis of patients with chronic heart failure complicated with renal injury. Methods A retrospective analysis of 504 patients hospitalized in Guang 'anmen Hospital, Chinese Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine from March 2006 to June 2014 was conducted. The baseline data were analyzed, and the cutoff value was obtained by receiver operator characteristic curve (ROC) analysis, according to the cutoff value, all the participants were divided into two groups, BUN/Scr < 19.37 group (280 cases) and BUN/Scr ≥ 19.37 group (224 cases). The main end point was defined as all-cause death. The long-term mortality of the two groups was evaluated, and Kaplan–Meier survival curve was drawn. Univariate analysis was performed on all the variables affecting the patient's prognosis, and the variables with P < 0.05 were put into Cox regression model, and subgroup analysis was performed on the variables that might affect the patient’s prognosis. Results The baseline data of 504 patients were analyzed and found that the median follow up was 683. Through ROC analysis of 504 subjects, the cutoff value of BUN/Scr was 19.37. The results of Kaplan–Meier survival curve showed that the mortality rate of patients with ratio ≥ 19.37 was higher than that of patients with ratio < 19.37. After multivariate analysis, COX regression model showed that the mortality of patients with BUN/Scr ≥ 19.37 was 1.885 times that of patients with BUN/Scr < 19.37 [HR = 1.885 (1.298–2.737), P = 0.001]. Subgroup analysis showed that the relationship between BUN/Scr and the prognosis of CHF was influenced by NYHA and eGRF (P < 0.05). Conclusions BUN/Scr ratio is related to the poor prognosis of patients with CHF, and is an independent predictor of all-cause death

Architecture and Performance of Raspberry-like Colloidal Particle Clusters via Self-Assembly of in Situ Generated Janus Particles

Uniform raspberry-like poly­(vinylidene fluoride)/polystyrene (PVDF/PS) complex colloidal particle clusters (CCPCs) with PVDF seed particles protruding outward are fabricated by a novel and one-step approach: soap-free seeded emulsion polymerization following single-electron transfer radical polymerization (SET-RP) mechanism. The driving force from different hydrophobicity values between PVDF and PS induces the self-assembly of the first formed Janus particles, which can be caught because of the relatively low rate of SET-RP, and then Pickering emulsion polymerization performs continuously because of the presence of the unreacted St monomers to form the CCPCs. In contrast, the raspberry-like CCPCs cannot be achieved via a relatively high rate of conventional radical polymerization. In addition, the static water contact angle of the latex nanocoating prepared with the obtained raspberry-like CCPCs is 169.6° and remains at 155° after ultraviolet (UV) irradiation for 6 h. Therefore, it is expected to lead to superhydrophobic and anti-UV functional coatings