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Robotic surgery (RS) has been increasingly used for the resection of rectal cancer, and its advantages over laparoscopic surgery (LS) have been demonstrated. However, few studies focused on the severity of postoperative complications. This study aimed to compared the postoperative complications within 30 days after RS over LS according to the Clavien-Dindo (C-D) classification. A literature research of PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library and Web of Science were systematically performed. The studies comparing the complications of RS and LS for rectal cancer based on the C-D classification were enrolled. Primary outcomes were C-D grade III, IV, V, III-V (severe complications). Seventeen studies (3193 patients) were included in the final analysis: 1554 underwent RS and 1639 underwent LS. The RS group was associated with significantly lower rates of severe complications (OR = 0.69, 95% CI 0.53-0.90, P = 0.005), C-D grade IV (OR = 0.69, 95% CI 0.53-0.90, P = 0.005), and anastomotic leak (OR = 0.66, 95% CI 0.48-0.91, P = 0.01). There was no significant difference in C-D grade III, C-D grade I, II, I-II (minor complications), overall complications, bleeding, wound complications, postoperative ileus, urinary retention, readmission, reoperation between two groups. Robotic surgery is safe for rectal cancer and may be an effective alternative to laparoscopic surgery, with lower rates of severe complications, C-D grade IV, and anastomotic leak. Further large randomized controlled trials are necessary to confirm this conclusion.

Cyclic heat treatment is an effective approach for enhancing the mechanical properties of 18Ni(C250) maraging steel, and the selection of cyclic heat treatment temperature is a key factor. In this study, a cyclic heat treatment process with a two-step solution treatment is employed to investigate the influence of cyclic heat treatment temperature, specifically the first solution treatment temperature (920 °C, 950 °C, and 980 °C), on the microstructure and mechanical properties of 18Ni(C250) maraging steel. The results indicate that with an increase in the cyclic heat treatment temperature, the average grain size of the 18Ni(C250) maraging steel decreases initially and then increases. When the cyclic heat treatment temperature reaches 950 °C, the grain size is at its minimum, exhibiting optimal grain uniformity. Additionally, the increase in cyclic heat treatment temperature results in a reduction in the size of martensitic lath with the same orientation inside the grains, along with an increase in the relative quantity of low-angle grain boundaries. Furthermore, the volume fraction and size of retained austenite show a monotonous increase with the rise in the temperature of the cyclic heat treatment, and the rate of increase becomes notably larger when the temperature is raised from 950 °C to 980 °C. Based on the observed microstructural changes, the variation in the mechanical properties of the 18Ni(C250) maraging steel was analyzed. Specifically, as the cyclic heat treatment temperature increases, the tensile strength of the 18Ni(C250) maraging steel initially increases and then stabilizes, while the elongation and fracture toughness exhibit a monotonic increase.

Background Cancer cells exhibit an altered metabolism, which is characterized by a preference for aerobic glycolysis more than mitochondrial oxidation of pyruvate. Mitochondrial pyruvate carrier 1 (MPC1) and mitochondrial pyruvate carrier 2 (MPC2) play a bottleneck role by transporting pyruvate into mitochondrial through the mitochondrial inner membrane. Therefore, their protein expression in cancers may be of clinical consequences. There are studies showing low levels of MPC1 expression in colon, kidney and lung cancers, and the expression of MPC1 correlates with poor prognosis. However, the expression status of MPC1 and MPC2 in prostate cancer (PCA) is unclear. Methods In this study, expression of MPC1 and MPC2 in LNCaP and DU145 prostate cancer cell lines was examined by immunocytochemistry (ICC) and Western blotting. Compared to the LNCaP cells, lower levels of MPC1 and MPC2 expression in the DU145 cell line was identified. We then extended our study to 88 patients with prostate cancer who underwent transurethral electro-vaporization of prostate or radical prostatectomy at the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Henan, China. Patient-derived paraffin embedded PCA specimens were collected for immunohistochemistry (IHC). Correlations with clinicopathologic factors were evaluated by Chi-square or Fisher´s exact probability tests. Overall survival (OS) rates were determined using the Kaplan-Meier estimator. The Cox proportional hazard regression model was used in univariate analysis and multivariate analysis to identify factors significantly correlated with prognosis. Results Linear regression analysis revealed that MPC1 expression level was positively correlated with MPC2 expression ( r  = 0.375, P  = 0.006) in the prostate cancers. MPC1 expression was negatively associated with UICC stage ( P  = 0.031). While UICC stage ( P  < 0.001) and lymph node metastasis ( P  = 0.002) were negatively associated with MPC2 expression. Positive MPC1 or MPC2 expression in cancer tissues was significantly associated with higher OS ( P  < 0.05). The multivariate analysis showed that both MPC1 and MPC2 expressions in PCA were independent prognostic factors for higher OS (For MPC1: RR = 0.654, 95% CI: 0.621-0690, P  < 0.001; For MPC2: RR = 0.696, 95% CI: 0.660-0.734, P  < 0.001). Conclusions Our study indicates that MPC1 and MPC2 expressions are of prognostic values in PCAs and that positive expression of MPC1 or MPC2 is a predictor of favorable outcome.

Objective Robotic surgery (RS) has been increasingly used for the resection of rectal cancer, and its advantages over laparoscopic surgery (LS) have been demonstrated. However, few studies focused on the severity of postoperative complications. This study aimed to compared the postoperative complications within 30 days after RS over LS according to the Clavien-Dindo (C-D) classification. Methods A literature research of PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library and Web of Science were systematically performed. The studies comparing the complications of RS and LS for rectal cancer based on the C-D classification were enrolled. Primary outcomes were C-D grade III, IV, V, III-V (severe complications). Results Seventeen studies (3193 patients) were included in the final analysis: 1554 underwent RS and 1639 underwent LS. The RS group was associated with significantly lower rates of severe complications (OR = 0.69, 95% CI 0.53–0.90, P = 0.005), C-D grade IV (OR = 0.69, 95% CI 0.53–0.90, P = 0.005), and anastomotic leak (OR = 0.66, 95% CI 0.48–0.91, P = 0.01). There was no significant difference in C-D grade III, C-D grade I, II, I-II (minor complications), overall complications, bleeding, wound complications, postoperative ileus, urinary retention, readmission, reoperation between two groups. Conclusions Robotic surgery is safe for rectal cancer and may be an effective alternative to laparoscopic surgery, with lower rates of severe complications, C-D grade IV, and anastomotic leak. Further large randomized controlled trials are necessary to confirm this conclusion.

Animal behavior usually has a hierarchical structure and dynamics. Therefore, to understand how the neural system coordinates with behaviors, neuroscientists need a quantitative description of the hierarchical dynamics of different behaviors. However, the recent end-to-end machine-learning-based methods for behavior analysis mostly focus on recognizing behavioral identities on a static timescale or based on limited observations. These approaches usually lose rich dynamic information on cross-scale behaviors. Here, inspired by the natural structure of animal behaviors, we address this challenge by proposing a parallel and multi-layered framework to learn the hierarchical dynamics and generate an objective metric to map the behavior into the feature space. In addition, we characterize the animal 3D kinematics with our low-cost and efficient multi-view 3D animal motion-capture system. Finally, we demonstrate that this framework can monitor spontaneous behavior and automatically identify the behavioral phenotypes of the transgenic animal disease model. The extensive experiment results suggest that our framework has a wide range of applications, including animal disease model phenotyping and the relationships modeling between the neural circuits and behavior. Animal behavior usually has a hierarchical structure and dynamics. Here, the authors propose a parallel and multi-layered framework to learn the hierarchical dynamics and generate an objective metric to map the behaviour into the feature space.

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) play important roles in the regulation of cancer. However, the clinical implications and regulatory networks of circRNAs in cancer patients receiving immune checkpoint blockades (ICB) have not been fully elucidated. Here, we characterize circRNA expression profiles in two independent cohorts of 157 ICB-treated advanced melanoma patients and reveal overall overexpression of circRNAs in ICB non-responders in both pre-treatment and early during therapy. Then, we construct circRNA-miRNA-mRNA regulatory networks to reveal circRNA-related signaling pathways in the context of ICB treatment. Further, we construct an ICB-related circRNA signature (ICBcircSig) score model based on progression-free survival-related circRNAs to predict immunotherapy efficacy. Mechanistically, the overexpression of ICBcircSig circTMTC3 and circFAM117B could increase PD-L1 expression via the miR-142-5p/PD-L1 axis, thus reducing T cell activity and leading to immune escape. Overall, our study characterizes circRNA profiles and regulatory networks in ICB-treated patients, and highlights the clinical utility of circRNAs as predictive biomarkers of immunotherapy. Circular RNAs are known to be linked to cancer regulation. Here, the authors identify a circular RNA signature associated with immune checkpoint response in melanoma.

This study focuses on the upper section of the Zhujiang Formation in the Enping Sag of the Zhujiangkou Basin in the South China Sea, investigating the mechanisms by which astronomical orbital cycles drive paleoclimate, sea-level fluctuations, and sedimentary development. In this study, a cyclic stratigraphic analysis was performed using natural gamma-ray logging data and geochemical proxies (Chemical Index of Alteration (CIA); Al2O3 content) in combination with depositional noise modeling (DYNOT Dynamic Orbital Tuning Model and ρ1 noise factor). High-resolution time series analysis revealed three key findings: (1) a 15.98–19.09 Ma astronomical timescale was established through the identification of Milankovitch cycles including 405 kyr eccentricity, 100 kyr eccentricity, 40 kyr obliquity, and 20 kyr precession; (2) sea-level changes exhibited 405 kyr eccentricity-driven cyclicity, with high-eccentricity phases corresponding to warm-humid climates and transgressive mudstone deposition, and low-eccentricity phases reflecting arid conditions and regressive sandstone development; and (3) orbital-scale precession modulation regulated sediment source-to-sink processes through climate–sea level coupling. This work provides a quantitative framework for predicting astronomical cycle-controlled reservoirs, offering critical insights for deepwater hydrocarbon exploration in the Zhujiangkou Basin.

Background High temperature induces early bolting in lettuce ( Lactuca sativa L.), which affects both quality and production. However, the molecular mechanism underlying high temperature-induced bolting is still limited. Results We performed systematical analysis of morphology, transcriptome, miRNAs and methylome in lettuce under high temperature treatment. Through a comparison of RNA-Seq data between the control and the high temperature treated lettuces at different time points totally identified 2944 up-regulated genes and 2203 down-regulated genes, which cover three floral pathways including photoperiod, age and gibberellin (GA) pathways. Genome wide analysis of miRNAs and methylome during high temperature treatment indicated miRNAs and DNA methylation might play a role controlling gene expression during high temperature-induced bolting. miRNA targets included some protein kinase family proteins, which potentially play crucial roles in this process. Conclusions Together, our results propose a possible regulation network involved in high temperature-induced bolting.

Coarse-grained clastic systems in rift basins are often considered unfavorable for preserving continuous astronomical records. This study investigates the thick conglomeratic succession in the upper Member 4 (43.90–44.73 Ma) of the Wenchang Formation in the Enping 21 sub-sag, Yangjiang East Sag, Zhu III Depression, Pearl River Mouth Basin. Integrating cyclostratigraphy, petrography, and seismic-logging analyses, we established a high-resolution astronomical timescale (43.90–44.73 Ma) covering approximately 828 kyr. Cyclostratigraphic results indicate a highly continuous depositional record with an optimal sedimentation rate of 19.55 cm/kyr. Petrographic and geochemical evidence—including low structural maturity, dominant igneous lithic fragments, and high detrital zircon Th/U ratios—reveals a proximal volcaniclastic source, characterizing the studied interval as tephroid successions. Anomalously high GR responses and chaotic seismic facies further distinguish this succession from conventional terrigenous deposits, linked to a nearby identified magmatic body. Our results suggest that rapid accumulation of volcaniclastic flows and ash fallout, driven by proximal magmatic activity, reduced hydrodynamic reworking and facilitated the preservation of astronomical signals. This study highlights that in active lacustrine rift basins, magmatic activity significantly dictates sedimentary infill patterns by providing rapid volcaniclastic input, thereby enabling the establishment of precise chronostratigraphic frameworks even within complex, coarse-grained depositional systems.

The formation and spatial distribution of sedimentary systems in rift-lake basins are jointly controlled by multiple factors, including sediment supply rates from source areas, clastic sediment transport pathways, and basin geometry and intrabasinal structural configuration (e.g., accommodation zones and faults), which strongly influence the architecture of depositional systems and basin filling processes. The Wenliu Formation (Wenliu Member, Late Paleogene) of the Wenchang Group in the Enping 20/21 Depression of the Yangjiang East Sag, Pearl River Mouth Basin, developed a multi-source and multi-channel sand-transport system; however, the matching relationships and coupling mechanisms among different source areas, transport pathways, and depositional systems remain poorly understood. Based on three-dimensional seismic data, drilling, and well-log information, combined with heavy mineral assemblages and detrital zircon U–Pb age spectra, this study comprehensively investigates the source areas, paleochannel clastic sediment transport pathways, and depositional systems of the Wenliu Member, systematically establishing the source-to-sink (S2S) framework. The results indicate that sediments of the Wenliu Member were supplied from four main source areas, including the northwestern Yangchun Uplift, northeastern Enyang low uplift, and southwestern Yangjiang low uplift, with nine major paleochannel clastic sediment transport pathways identified. The different source zones show distinct variations in area, slope characteristics, and sediment supply modes, corresponding to differentiated paleochannel types and paleodrainage configurations. The study area overall exhibits a typical multi-channel convergence depositional pattern, dominated by braid-delta and fan-delta systems. The Enyang low-slope source zone generated the largest braid-delta deposits, whereas fault-transformed source zones produced fan-delta deposits adjacent to active faults and along basin-margin fault systems. Quantitative analysis further indicates that depositional-system scale is significantly correlated with source-area size, paleodrainage development, and paleochannel geometric parameters. Large depositional bodies are more likely to form when the source area exceeds ~60 km2, the paleochannel width exceeds ~1.4 km, and the cross-sectional area exceeds ~10 km2. Integrating the spatial relationships among source areas, transport pathways, and depositional systems, four source-to-sink subsystems are identified, which can be further classified into two typical depositional patterns: a long-source gentle-slope braid-delta pattern and a proximal-source rapid-accumulation fan-delta pattern. This study elucidates the coupling relationships among source areas, clastic sediment transport pathways, and depositional sinks in a multi-source rift-lake basin, providing a geological basis for predicting sedimentary systems and guiding hydrocarbon exploration in the study area.