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Metallic alloys are routinely subjected to nonequilibrium processes during manufacturing, such as rapid solidification and thermomechanical processing. It has been suggested in the high-entropy alloy literature that chemical short-range order (SRO) could offer a new knob to tailor materials properties. While evidence of the effect of SRO on materials properties accumulates, the state of SRO evolution during alloy manufacturing remains obscure. Here, we employ high-fidelity atomistic simulations to track SRO evolution during the solidification and thermomechanical processing of alloys. Our investigation reveals that alloy processing can lead to nonequilibrium steady-states of SRO that are different from any equilibrium state. The mechanism behind nonequilibrium SRO formation is shown to be an inherent ordering bias present in nonequilibrium events. These results demonstrate that conventional manufacturing processes provide pathways for tuning SRO that lead to a broad nonequilibrium spectrum of SRO states beyond the equilibrium design space of alloys. This study reveals that traditional manufacturing can create nonequilibrium short-range order in metallic alloys, offering an additional dimension for tailoring alloy properties beyond composition and microstructure.

Studies that examined an association between CD8 + T and prognosis in gastric cancer are inconsistent, and a distinct population of CXCR5 + CD8 + T associated with better overall survival has been reported among various malignancies. Here, we show that the abundance of intratumoral CXCR5 + CD8 + T cells is associated with better overall survival in patients with gastric cancer. Patients with TNM II + III gastric cancer with higher intratumoral CXCR5 + CD8 + T cell infiltration are more likely to benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy. Microsatellite-unstable and Epstein–Barr virus positive tumors are enriched with CXCR5 + CD8 + T cells. Gastric cancer infiltrating CXCR5 + CD8 + T cells represent a specific subtype of stem-like CD8 + T with effector memory feature. Identification of the clinical significance and phenotype of gastric cancer infiltrating CXCR5 + CD8 + T provides a roadmap for patient stratification and trials of targeted therapies. The prognostic value of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes in gastric cancer remains controversial. Here the authors show a consistent association between higher density of intratumoral CXCR5+CD8+ T cells and longer overall survival in four different cohorts of patients with gastric cancer.

Cancer, as one of the leading causes of death worldwide, has challenged current chemotherapy drugs. Considering that treatments are expensive, alongside the resistance of tumor cells to anticancer drugs, the development of alternative medicines is necessary. Anemarrhena asphodeloides Bunge, a recognized and well-known medicinal plant for more than two thousand years, has demonstrated its effectiveness against cancer. Timosaponin-AIII (TSAIII), as a bioactive steroid saponin isolated from A. asphodeloides, has shown multiple pharmacological activities and has been developed as an anticancer agent. However, the molecular mechanisms of TSAIII in protecting against cancer development are still unclear. In this review article, we provide a comprehensive discussion on the anticancer effects of TSAIII, including proliferation inhibition, cell cycle arrest, apoptosis induction, autophagy mediation, migration and invasion suppression, anti-angiogenesis, anti-inflammation, and antioxidant effects. The pharmacokinetic profiles of TSAII are also discussed. TSAIII exhibits efficacy against cancer development. However, hydrophobicity and low bioavailability may limit the application of TSAIII. Effective delivery systems, particularly those with tissue/cell-targeted properties, can also significantly improve the anticancer effects of TSAIII.

Background In the elderly population with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the prevalence of multimorbidity and functional disability is notable, yet the link between these conditions remains somewhat elusive. This investigation seeks to delineate the patterns of multimorbidity and assess their association with functional disability among older COPD sufferers. Methods Utilizing data from the 2023 Unified Needs Assessment Form for Older Adults Care Questionnaire, this research incorporated a latent class analysis (LCA) to categorize multimorbidity patterns in elderly patients afflicted with COPD. These individuals also undertook assessments for activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL). Logistic regression analyses were employed to evaluate how the counts and types of multimorbidity associated with functional disabilities. Results Among 7676 identified COPD patients (mean age: 81.67 ± 8.10 years; 64.75% male), 7074 (92.16%) exhibited multimorbidity. ADL disabilities were found in 70.19% of the cases, whereas IADL disabilities were present in 94.80%. The analysis identified four distinct multimorbidity patterns: metabolic/cardiovascular (63.30%), cardiorespiratory (10.84%), osteoarticular (20.13%), and multisystem involvement (5.73%). All these patterns were significantly linked to increased odds of ADL and IADL disabilities (odds ratio [OR] 1.55, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.29–1.86; OR 2.03, 95%CI = 1.76–2.35; OR 1.35, 95%CI = 1.25–1.45 ; OR 1.81, 95%CI = 1.62–2.02) and IADL disability (OR 1.89, 95%CI = 1.38–2.58; OR 2.43, 95%CI = 1.74–3.38; OR 1.25, 95%CI = 1.11–1.42; OR1.35, 95%CI = 1.13–1.61). Conclusions The findings highlight a high incidence of multimorbidity and functional disabilities among elderly COPD patients in Shanghai, underscoring a significant association between multimorbidity in COPD and increased disability levels. The adoption of patient-centered approaches over traditional disease-centered models in clinical and health management practices may mitigate the impacts of multimorbidity and decrease the risk associated with ADL and IADL disabilities.

The rhizosheath, or the layer of soil closely adhering to roots, can help plants to tolerate drought under moderate soil drying conditions. Rhizosheath formation is the result of poorly understood interactions between root exudates, microbes, and soil conditions. Here, we study the roles played by the soil microbiota in rhizosheath formation in barley (a dry crop). We show that barley rhizosheath formation is greater in acid soil than in alkaline soil, and inoculation with microbiota from acid soil enhances rhizosheath formation in alkaline soil. The rhizosheath-promoting activity is associated with the presence of Flavobacteriaceae and Paenibacillaceae bacteria that express genes for biosynthesis of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA, a common auxin), as determined by metagenomics and metatranscriptomics. Two bacterial strains isolated from rhizosheath ( Chryseobacterium culicis and Paenibacillus polymyxa ) produce IAA and enhance barley rhizosheath formation, while their IAA-defective mutants are unable to promote rhizosheath formation. Co-inoculation with the IAA-producing strains enhances barley grain yield in field experiments through an increase in spike number. Our findings contribute to our understanding of barley rhizosheath formation, and suggest potential strategies for crop improvement. The rhizosheath, or the soil layer closely attached to roots, can help plants tolerate drought. Here, the authors show that rhizosheath formation in barley is promoted by soil bacteria that produce indole-3-acetic acid, a common auxin.

Flash floods are one of the most frequent natural disasters in Fujian Province, China, and they seriously threaten the safety of infrastructure, natural ecosystems, and human life. Thus, recognition of possible flash flood locations and exploitation of more precise flash flood susceptibility maps are crucial to appropriate flash flood management in Fujian. Based on this objective, in this study, we developed a new method of flash flood susceptibility assessment. First, we utilized double standards, including the Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC) and Geodetector to screen the assessment indicator. Second, in order to consider the weight of each classification of indicator and the weights of the indicators simultaneously, we used the ensemble model of the certainty factor (CF) and logistic regression (LR) to establish a frame for the flash flood susceptibility assessment. Ultimately, we used this ensemble model (CF-LR), the standalone CF model, and the standalone LR model to prepare flash flood susceptibility maps for Fujian Province and compared their prediction performance. The results revealed the following. (1) Land use, topographic relief, and 24 h precipitation (H24_100) within a 100-year return period were the three main factors causing flash floods in Fujian Province. (2) The area under the curve (AUC) results showed that the CF-LR model had the best precision in terms of both the success rate (0.860) and the prediction rate (0.882). (3) The assessment results of all three models showed that between 22.27% and 29.35% of the study area have high and very high susceptibility levels, and these areas are mainly located in the east, south, and southeast coastal areas, and the north and west low mountain areas. The results of this study provide a scientific basis and support for flash flood prevention in Fujian Province. The proposed susceptibility assessment framework may also be helpful for other natural disaster susceptibility analyses.

BackgroundAccumulation of basophils has been reported in several malignancies. In gastric cancer, the relation between tumor-infiltrating basophils and patient overall survival and chemotherapeutic responsiveness still remains obscure.ObjectiveWe aimed to investigate the postoperative prognostic and predictive significance of basophils to survival outcomes and chemotherapeutic responsiveness in resectable gastric cancer.MethodsThe study enrolled two independent patient data sets with 448 gastric cancer patients overall. Basophils were evaluated with the use of immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining, and the correlation with clinicopathological characteristics, survival outcomes, and responsiveness to fluorouracil-based adjuvant chemotherapy (ACT) were investigated. Additionally, IHC was applied to characterize immune contexture in gastric cancer.ResultsIn either the discovery or validation data sets, accumulated basophils indicated poorer prognosis, and tumor-infiltrating basophils were identified as an independent adverse prognostic factor by multivariate analysis. Furthermore, tumor-infiltrating basophils determined significantly inferior therapeutic responsiveness to fluorouracil-based ACT in patients with stage III tumors. In addition, the abundance of basophils was correlated with an immunoevasive contexture characterized by M2-polarized macrophage infiltration. Moreover, our findings indicated elevated interleukin-4 expression but decreased interferon-γ expression in the high-basophils subgroup.ConclusionsTumor-infiltrating basophils in gastric cancer were identified as an independent adverse prognosticator, and also predicted inferior chemotherapeutic responsiveness, which identified those patients in need of much more individualized postoperative adjuvant therapy and more stringent follow-up. Furthermore, the infiltration of basophils was associated with immunoevasive tumor microenvironment, which might be a potential immunotherapeutic target for gastric cancer.

Crystalline materials have atomic-scale fluctuations in their chemical composition that modulate various mesoscale properties. Establishing chemistry–microstructure relationships in such materials requires proper characterization of these chemical fluctuations. Yet, current characterization approaches (e.g., Warren–Cowley parameters) make only partial use of the complete chemical and structural information contained in local chemical motifs. Here we introduce a framework based on E(3)-equivariant graph neural networks that is capable of completely identifying chemical motifs in arbitrary crystalline structures with any number of chemical elements. This approach naturally leads to a proper information-theoretic measure for quantifying chemical short-range order (SRO) in chemically complex materials and a reduced representation of the chemical motif space. Our framework enables the correlation of any per-atom property with their corresponding local chemical motif, thereby enabling the exploration of structure–property relationships in chemically complex materials. Using the MoTaNbTi high-entropy alloy as a test system, we demonstrate the versatility of this approach by evaluating the lattice strain associated with each chemical motif, and computing the temperature dependence of chemical-fluctuations length scale.

Background Intratumoural CD103 + CD8 + T cells have been linked to prolonged survival in several malignancies. However, the clinical significance of CD103 + CD8 + T cells in gastric cancer remains unexplored. Methods Gastric cancer tissues from Zhongshan Hospital and data from Gene Expression Omnibus were obtained and analysed. Immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry were performed to detect the number and phenotypical characteristics of CD103 + CD8 + T cells. The effect of programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) blockade on CD103 + CD8 + T cells was evaluated with the use of an in vitro study based on fresh tumour tissues. Results CD103 + CD8 + T cells predicted superior overall survival and provided better prognostic power than total CD8 + T cells in gastric cancer. Patients with high CD103 + CD8 + T cell infiltration also gained more benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy. Flow cytometry analysis showed that CD103 + CD8 + T cells exerted superior anti-tumour effects with stronger retention capacity and cytotoxicity. Moreover, an in vitro study showed that CD103 + CD8 + T cells were more functionally restored after PD-1 blockade than CD103 - CD8 + T cells. Conclusions CD103 + CD8 + T cells might be a useful marker to predict prognosis and therapeutic efficacy for gastric cancer patients. Efforts to increase intratumoural CD103 + CD8 + T cell frequency might be a novel therapeutic strategy in gastric cancer.

Due to a heavy reliance on groundwater, Bangladesh is experiencing a severe decline in groundwater storage, with some areas even facing land subsidence. This study aims to investigate the relationship between groundwater storage changes and land subsidence in Bangladesh, utilizing a combination of GRACE and InSAR technologies. To clarify this relationship from a macro perspective, the study employs GRACE data merged with GLDAS to analyze changes in groundwater storage and SBAS-InSAR technology to assess land subsidence. The Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) method calculates the similarity between groundwater storage and land subsidence time series, incorporating precipitation and land cover types into the data analysis. The findings reveal the following: (1) Groundwater storage in Bangladesh is declining at an average rate of −5.55 mm/year, with the most significant declines occurring in Rangpur, Mymensingh, and Rajshahi. Notably, subsidence areas closely match regions with deeper groundwater levels; (2) The similarity coefficient between the time series of groundwater storage and land subsidence changes exceeds 0.85. Additionally, land subsidence in different regions shows an average lagged response of 2 to 6 months to changes in groundwater storage. This study confirms a connection between groundwater dynamics and land subsidence in Bangladesh, providing essential knowledge and theoretical support for further research.