Abstract:The 2022 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Swedish biologist Svante P??bo for his decisive contribution to paleoanthropogenomics and human origins. There are various theories about the origin of human beings, and the current mainstream view is: out of the African doctrine. In other words, ancient humans had about three times of migrations. The first time was Homo erectus, the second was Neanderthals and Denisovans, and the third was the ancestors of modern humans. All migrated from Africa to Eurasia. While pioneering a new discipline, paleoanthropogenomics, Svante P??bo has been refining the “Out of Africa Theory”. With the help of various biological techniques, he delved into the origin of human beings from the perspective of genomics and found that some genetic imprints from ancient humans were retained in our bodies. For example, the STAT2 gene and TLR gene associated with immunity, the EPAS1 gene that contributes to hypoxic respiration and the six genes of chromosome 3 are highly positively correlated with the incidence of COVID-19. This research means that we can go back to the root of certain diseases, rather than limiting our eyes to the genes themselves, and exploring where a gene comes from will be a new way of studying diseases. We summarized his innovations in related biotechnology in the process of research, his exploration of ancient humans based on mitochondrial and nuclear genes and related results, and introduced some genes derived from ancient humans and their related information.

Abstract:Magnetic nanomaterials exhibit multiple magnetic-responsive behaviors under different external magnetic fields to produce various physicochemical effects (e.g., force and heat), which possess a broad range of applications in cancer therapy. To realize the precise delivery in vivo, magnetic nanomaterials induced magnetic actuation under static magnetic field has been the focus of biomedicine research. For instance, magnetic drug delivery systems such as nano-trajectory, nano-drugs have shown promise in efficient intratumoral accumulation of drugs. Inspired by a natural physiologic phenomenon in the tumor microenvironment and multiple physicochemical effects by external stimulation, a variety of endogenous-responsive and magnetic field-stimulated drug delivery systems were constructed. Magnetic nanomaterials loaded with drugs can actively penetrate into tumors under low-frequency alternating magnetic fields, resulting in their uniform distribution through the entire tumor tissue. Under a medium-frequency alternating magnetic field, magnetic nanomaterials produce heat and reactive oxygen species, which can facilitate the active drug release on-demand for cancer treatment. All those effects depend on size, composition, morphology, surface functionalization of magnetic nanomaterials. Owing to their easy surface functionalization, it presents an exciting opportunity in the modularized design and operation of an all-in-one system (imaging, targeted drug delivery, magnetothermal effect, nano-enzyme catalysis, etc.), which can achieve image-guided precise cancer theranostics. In this review, we focused on how to improve the magnetic nano-targeted drug delivery efficiency for tumor treatment, including the potential applications of magnetic targeted drug therapy, passive targeted magnetic hyperthermia and active targeted magnetic hyperthermia in enhancing the efficacy of cancer therapy. We highlighted the mechanisms underlying magnetically-actuated delivery and controlled release of drug. We also considered perspectives and challenges in tumor targeted therapy based on magnetic nanomaterials. Although the biomedical research based on magnetic nanomaterials has made great progress, most of the research is still in the stage of animal testing, and there is a long way to go to realize its clinical application in diagnosis and treatment. There is a series of challenges need to be overcome. (1) Designing safer and more efficient magnetic nanomaterials is needed. For example, improving magnetic properties of magnetic nanomaterials to achieve efficient magnetic targeted drug delivery; optimizing magnetic nanomaterials to avoid its penetration into the normal tissue. (2) Clarifying the regulation mechanism of magnetic nanomaterial-mediated effects on cell fate and disease treatment. (3) Understanding the interaction between magnetic field and living body, such as the effect of magnetic field on living body metabolism and clearance. (4) Developing safe and controllable magnetic field-generating equipment, control system and analysis software, etc. With the in-depth understanding of the biological effects of magnetic nanomaterials, a new discipline “magnetobiology” will be established soon.

Abstract:With the continuous development of nanotechnology, nanoformulations show unique advantages in improving drug delivery and bioavailability. However, most nanocarriers have low drug delivery efficiency, poor therapeutic effect, potential systemic toxicity and metabolic instability. In recent years, self-assembled carrier-free nanodrugs have attracted tremendous attentions in the field of biomedicine due to their unique properties such as high drug loading capacity, low toxicity, and facile synthesis. Therefore, the self-assembled carrier-free nanodrugs exhibit broad application prospects and development potential in biomedical fields, especially in anticancer and antibacterial applications. In this review, we firstly give a brief introduction to the various intermolecular interactions of self-assembly carrier-free nanodrugs, including the hydrogen bonding, π-π stacking, hydrophobic interaction and other non-covalent forces as exemplified by electrostatic interaction and Van der Waals forces. The chemical structures of drug molecules determine the strength of non-covalent interactions. Secondly, we provide an overview of the typical methods used for self-assembly of carrier-free nanodrugs including in vitro self-assembly strategy (e.g., top-down, anti-solvent precipitation, template-assisted precipitation) and in vivo self-assembly strategy. Especially, nanodrugs prepared by in vivo self-assembly method can be targeted and self-assembled at the target location, reducing adverse reactions and achieving higher efficacy. Besides, the application of carrier-free nanodrugs in biomedical fields including anticancer, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory as well as antioxidant are comprehensively reviewed. Finally, the future challenges and development trends of carrier-free nanodrugs are also prospected, which may provide a theoretical basis for the rational design of more effective self-assembly vector free nano drugs and the feasibility of clinical application.

Abstract:Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most frequent genitourinary cancer in men globally. The primary clinical treatment options for PCa are surgery, endocrine therapy, radiation, and chemotherapy. The nano-drug delivery device provides improved tumor targeting and controlled release features. The capacity to passively target tumors via greater permeability and retention (EPR) and increased active targeting by modification of antibodies, peptides, aptamers, or small molecules to identify particular organ or cell receptors can give further advanced benefits. The design, assembly, and surface modification of nano-drug delivery devices confer different therapeutic effects in malignancies. Organic such as micelles, nanogels and dendrimers and inorganic such as carbon nanotubes, gold nanoparticles, magnetic nanoparticles, mesoporous dioxide silicon nanoparticles, and quantum dots nanocarriers are the most common forms of nanocarriers. Traditional prostate cancer therapies include drawbacks such as adverse effects, minimal effectiveness, and inadequate absorption. Chemotherapy can result in the development of drug resistance in prostate cancer, hence the development of new, effective, customized therapies is essential. Because of their intrinsic nanoscale features, nano-drug delivery systems, such as nano-delivery systems paired with chemotherapy, radiation, photodynamic treatment, and hyperthermia, can increase the therapeutic benefits of conventional therapeutic agents. Such therapies have the potential to significantly increase the survival rate of prostate cancer patients. This article discusses sophisticated nano-drug delivery technologies for PCa treatment, as well as its future potential.

Abstract:Bacterial secretion systems are sophisticated nanomachines that are used by bacteria for selective transport of macromolecules across membrane. These membrane protein complexes play critical roles in bacterial pathogenicity, antibiotic resistance and ecological adaptation. Hitherto, a total of nine secretion systems have been identified and named as type I to type IX secretion systems (T1SS-T9SS) according to the chronological order of discovery. Recent advances in X-ray crystallography, nuclear magnetic resonance and cryo-electron microscopy increased the understanding of the architecture and structure of these macromolecular machineries. That provided unprecedented views to explain the mechanisms of how secretion systems release the effectors to the extracellular environment or host cells. Herein, this review summarizes the best knowledge of the progress of bacterial secretion systems (T1SS-T9SS), with a focus on their structure and function. We also highlight major advances in novel antimicrobials targeting these large protein machineries. Finally, we provide new perspectives for the future studies about structure identification and drug screening of secretion systems.

Abstract:Exosomes are a class of small vesicles composed of bioactive bilayer lipids, which can carry different types of information substances and bind to recipient cells. Through information transmission and substance exchange, exosomes can induce changes in the phenotype of recipient cells. This article summarized the various mechanisms of exosomes in maintaining testicular microenvironment homeostasis, such as promoting cell proliferation in the testicular microenvironment by regulating cytokines, regulating cellular immunity to maintain the testis immune environment, regulating oxidative stress to repair the recipient cell function, regulating autophagy to improve spermatogenesis, regulating cell apoptosis to improve spermatogenesis, and regulating cytokines to influence testosterone secretion. Then, the preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic effects of exosomes in andrology diseases were highlighted. Exosomes have obvious advantages in the diagnosis and treatment of infertility, erectile dysfunction, varicocele, hypogonadism, prostate cancer and other diseases. With the continuous advance in exosome engineering, exosome extraction, as well as research on the related mechanisms, the clinical application of exosomes, as an emerging applied substance, is expected to become a new treatment approach for andrological diseases.

Abstract:Exosomes are membranous vesicles containing complex RNA and proteins, which are mainly derived from polyvesicles formed by intracellular lysosomal microparticles invagination, and released into the extracellular matrix after fusion of polyvesicles extracorporeal membrane and cell membrane. Exosomes mediate cell-to-cell communication in the tumor microenvironment and their function depends on the cell type of origin. CircRNAs are a class of non-coding RNAs generated by reverse splicing of pre-mRNA, which are enriched and expressed stably in exosomes. Exosomal circRNAs play an important role in regulation in urinary system tumors, and have biological functions such as affecting the proliferation, metastasis and apoptosis of urinary system tumor cells and regulating chemotherapy resistance, which are mainly realized through competing endogenous RNAs network mechanism and protein binding mechanism. Compared with the biological functions and mechanisms of circRNAs, there are still fewer relevant studies on exosomal circRNAs. For example, the function of regulating tumor angiogenesis and the mechanism of m6A modification affecting tumor progression have not been reported. In terms of gene regulation, circRNAs have more regulation on genes in the nucleus, while exosomal circRNAs have more regulation on target genes outside the nucleus. Because exosomes are widely found in various body fluids, such as urine, and the expression of circRNAs is abundant in exosomes, exosomal circRNAs can be used as biomarkers for urinary system tumors. In addition, exosomes themselves have the advantages of nanoscale size, long life span and strong carrying capacity, while circRNAs have the characteristics of good stability. Therefore, exosomal circRNAs can be used as targets for anti-urinary tumor therapy. Exosomal circRNAs are also associated with TNM stages of urinary tumors and can be used to monitor tumor progression and patients’ prognosis. Compared with exosomes from other body fluids, urinary exosomes have more sensitivity and specificity in the diagnosis and prognosis of urinary tumors, which is a new research focus in the field at present. However, exosomes extraction and purification technologies are limited, and exosomes of specific donor cells cannot be mass-produced for targeting drug carriers. Therefore, the clinical application prospects of exosomes and exosomal circRNAs in urinary system tumors are still worth studying.

Abstract:Vascular calcification is a cell-mediated active biological process, similar to bone remodeling, and plays an important role in the occurrence and evolution of acute and chronic cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events. In recent years, the research on the mechanism and prevention of vascular calcification has gradually attracted the attention of scholars, but unfortunately, precise molecular and cellular targeted therapy for clinical application is rare. Previous studies have shown the presence of the osteoblast phenotype and dysfunctional osteoclasts in atherosclerotic plaques of diabetes. The imbalance of osteoblasts and osteoclasts may be the key step in calcification development in atherosclerotic plaques. It is known that macrophage-derived osteoclasts are the only cells with bone resorption activity and have the potential to reverse calcification. Therefore, exploring the bone resorption activity of macrophage-derived osteoclasts in the plaque is a promising direction to bring new breakthroughs in the prevention and treatment of calcification. However, the role and related regulatory mechanism of osteoclasts in vascular calcification may still be controversial nowadays. Based on the research progress that has been made in this field and the experimental results of our research group, this article puts forward the hypothesis that Nε-carboxymethyl-lysine (CML) mediates NFATc1-GNPTAB through STAT3 to regulate the osteoclastic absorption barrier of macrophages in plaques and provides a brief review of the following 4 aspects: concept and mechanism of vascular calcification, relationship between osteoclasts and vascular calcification, mechanism of osteoclasts in vascular calcification, and osteoclasts as a therapeutic target for vascular calcification. It is hoped that this paper will offer a new entry point for the precise prevention and treatment of vascular calcification.

Abstract:Data independent acquisition (DIA) is a rapidly developing proteomics technique in recent years, which can theoretically achieve deep coverage of protein samples by collecting tandem mass spectra through unbiased co-fragmentation of all precursors in the isolation window. It has the advantages of high throughput, high reproducibility and high sensitivity. Current DIA data acquisition methods mainly include full-window fragmentation method, isolation window sequential fragmentation method and four-dimensional DIA data acquisition method (4D-DIA). The most commonly used data acquisition methods are SWATH or variable window SWATH and DIA-PASEF methods. The tandem mass spectra collected by the full-window fragmentation method contains precursor ions in the full m/z range, and the spectra analysis is complex. The isolation window sequential fragmentation method reduces the number of precursor ions in tandem mass spectra and the size of the isolation window through a variety of acquisition strategies, effectively reducing the complexity of spectra interpretation. With the development of mass spectrometry instruments, the size of isolation window of the tandem mass spectra acquired by DIA may be close to the size of DDA, enabling the integration of DIA and DDA processes. The 4D-DIA method obtains the corresponding relationship between precursor and fragment ions through additional data dimensions, which improve the selectivity of precursor and greatly reduce the complexity of spectral analysis. The 4D-DIA method is also an important advance for future DIA data collection. According to the characteristics of DIA data, relevant data analysis methods were designed, which mainly included spectral library search method, protein database direct search method, pseudo-MS/MS spectra identification method and de novo sequencing method, as showed in the figure above. The spectral library search method uses the spectral library information for data extraction, which has high peptide identification sensitivity, but have certain requirements on the quality and number of spectral libraries; the protein database direct search method does not require preprocessing of tandem mass spectra and construction of spectral libraries, and directly matches the theoretical tandem mass spectrum of peptide with experimental tandem mass spectrum, but the time complexity is high; pseudo-MS/MS spectra identification method uses the spectra splitting algorithm to split the tandem mass spectrum to obtain multiple pseudo-MS/MS spectra containing single peptide fragment ions, then combined with traditional DDA software to search pseudo-MS/MS spectra; de novo sequencing method directly models the pseudo-MS/MS spectrum through deep learning to predict peptides, has the advantage of identifying sequences of new species, but it is difficult to guarantee the number and reliability of the identification results. The reliability evaluation of the peptide-spectrum matches mainly includes re-ranking by machine learning and false discovery rate estimation of the reported results. Although the DIA method has achieved rapid development in recent years, and has better performance than DDA in terms of depth coverage, there are still shortcomings and improvement in 3 aspects: in-depth analysis, accurate identification and accurate quantification. With the optimization of mass spectrometry acquisition and the development of data analysis, DIA acquisition technology can provide further support for high throughput, full-coverage analysis of proteomics, especially in large cohort data analysis, after further solving the above-mentioned shortcomings. All of them can obtain complete protein maps and explain their underlying life laws, promoting the development of the field of proteomics. In this paper, the DIA data collection method, data analysis method, software and identification result reliability assessment method are sorted and reviewed, and the future development direction is prospected.

Abstract:Objective To rescue a novel recombinant oncolytic influenza virus carrying OX40 ligand and evaluate its oncolytic efficacy in hepatocellular carcinoma.Methods The gene of encoding OX40L was optimized and inserted into the NS fragment of influenza virus A/PuertoRico/8/34 (PR8). Then, the recombinant plasmid along with the remaining 7 plasmids pHW191-PB2, pHW192-PB1, pHW193-PA, pHW194-HA, pHW195-NP, pHW196-NA and pHW197-M of influenza virus PR8, were co-transfected into COSⅠ/ MDCK cells. A recombinant oncolytic influenza virus, named rFlu-OX40L, was successfully generated using reverse genetics (RG). The titers of rFlu-OX40L were determined with hemagglutination and TCID₅₀ methods. We observed the morphology and size distribution of rFlu-OX40L under electron microscopy. The growth curve of rFlu-OX40L was detected on MDCK cells. Cell viability of rFlu-OX40L was examined on various hepatoma cells with MTS assay. Cell death patterns induced by the rFlu-OX40L virus was analyzed with flow cytometry. The antitumor effect of rFlu-OX40L was evaluated based on the hepatocellular carcinoma tumor-bearing mice model.Results The oncolytic influenza virus rFlu-OX40L could be stably at the HA titer of 2^7－8 after passage in chicken embryos. The viral titers were 7-8 LgTCID₅₀ /ml. The growth curve of rFlu-OX40L was consistent with that of wild-type PR8 virus and reached the peak values at 72 h. MTS assays revealed that rFlu-OX40L at dose of 3 MOI could significantly reduce the cell viability on HCC cells, without destroying normal cells in a time and dose-dependent manner. Flow cytometry results displayed rFlu-OX40L at dose of 3 MOI could induce cell apoptosis on HCC cells in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Compared with PR8 and PBS group, the CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, CD45+, CD69+ T cell numbers in spleen cells of mice inoculated with rFlu-OX40L increased significantly.Conclusion The recombinant oncolytic influenza virus rFlu-OX40L carrying OX40L could selectively destroy hepatocellular carcinoma cells in vivo and in vitro, which will provide a novel immunotherapy strategy for clinical management of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Abstract:Objective Hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) are the main producers of fibrotic extracellular matrix (ECM) and play a critical role in the initiation, progression, and regression of hepatic fibrosis (HF). Dihydromyricetin (DMY) has hepatoprotective properties, but the mechanism of this protection is unclear. Our study examined the effects of DMY on the activation of HSCs triggered by ferric ammonium citrate (FAC) in HSC-T6 cells and explored the possible mechanisms of the hepatoprotective properties of DMY.Methods Cell viability was evaluated using MTT assay. The levels of ECM in the culture supernatant were examined usingenzyme linked immunosorbent assay. The iron deposition levels in HSC-T6 cells were assessed using Prussian Blue staining. The total iron and free iron levels in HSC-T6 cells were measured using colorimetric assay and calcein-AM assay, respectively. The ultrastructure of HSC-T6 cells was observed using transmission electron microscopy. The expression levels of ferritin heavy chain 1 (FTH1), α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), nuclear receptor coactivator 4 (NCOA4), microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3(LC3), and p62/SQSTM1 were measured using Western blotting.Results Compared with the FAC group, the DMY+FAC group had a significant reduction in the main components of ECM, total iron and free ironlevels, expression levels of α-SMA, NCOA4, and LC3-Ⅱ proteins, and the ratio of LC3-Ⅱ/LC3-Ⅰ; there was also a significant upregulation of the protein expression levels of FTH1 and p62. Furthermore, rapamycin partially blocked the effects of DMY, which inhibited the activation of HSCs induced by FAC.Conclusion DMY inhibits the activation of HSCs induced by iron overload, and the underlying mechanism may be involved in the inhibition of ferritinophagy.

Abstract:Objective The stable isotopic composition of human tissue is related to the individual’s diet, environment and metabolic status. Once grown, human hair is no longer exchanged with the body and is chemically stable and easy to collect, making it a good subject for studying the stable isotope composition of human tissue. The oxygen and hydrogen elements that make up the human body are mainly derived from the water and food, of which the oxygen and hydrogen stable isotope composition is recorded in hair keratin. Differences in the stable isotope composition of oxygen and hydrogen in the human hair of different regions can be used to infer information about people’s diets, living areas and activity trajectories, which is of great importance in forensic science and other research fields.Methods In this study, oxygen and hydrogen stable isotope ratios of hair samples from permanent residents in different regions of China were detected and analyzed using an elemental analyzer-isotope ratio mass spectrometer (EA-IRMS).Results The results showed that there were significant differences in δ¹⁸O and δ²H between some cities, and a significant positive correlation between overall δ¹⁸O and δ²H. The overall discrimination accuracy of the stable isotope data was 63.9% for the cross-validation, and increased significantly when combined with the carbon and nitrogen stable isotope data, reaching an overall discrimination accuracy of 76.0% for the cross-validation. As the type of stable isotopes used in the discriminant analysis increased, the model’s discriminant ability was significantly enhanced.Conclusion The overall discriminative accuracy of the multi-layer perceptron neural network model built by using the stable isotope data of the 4 elements was 82.8%, and the overall discriminative accuracy of the radial basis function neural network model was 78.8%. The multilayer perceptron neural network model had the highest discriminative accuracy among the three traceability mathematical models.

Abstract:Objective In recent years, neuromodulation techniques for brain function regulation have developed vigorously, and many methods have been popularized and applied in clinical practice, mainly including electrode deep brain stimulation, transcranial magnetic stimulation, photogenetic technology, ultrasonic deep brain stimulation, etc. However, these regulatory techniques have some problems, such as poor flexibility of stimulating target change, insufficient spatial resolution, and need to inject virus transfection. Compared with these techniques, terahertz (THz) wave regulation can intervene neural activity with higher spatial and temporal resolution without introducing foreign genes. Laser nerve stimulation is a specifically targeted stimulation method, which can control the excitation or inhibition of nerve by adjusting different laser parameters (laser wavelength, pulse energy, etc.). However, due to the lack of experimental means and platforms in this research direction, few relevant studies have been carried out.Methods To sum up, this paper sets up different testing platforms for related researches at molecular, cellular and somatic levels, starting from auditory nerve.Results The experimental results show that these systems have good coupling and targeting properties in time and space, and the measured signals are less disturbed by noise.Conclusion These systems can effectively test the response to terahertz stimulation and precisely control the timing and location of the stimulus.

Abstract:Objective The present study attempted to design novel miRNA expression cassettes (MEC) targeting specific consensus sequences of hTERT and hTR, which remedied the degradability and cytotoxicity and provided a convenient method for miRNA synthesis.Methods The MECs specific to hTERT and hTR were constructed by overlap polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Telomeric repeat amplification protocol (TRAP)-silver staining and TRAP real-time PCR analysis were used to determine the telomerase activity. The telomere length was determined by real-time PCR, whereas cell viability was determined using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. The cell apoptosis rate and cell cycle were assessed using the annexin V/propidium iodide (PI) double staining and PI single staining assays, respectively, coupled with flow cytometry.Results The telomerase-specific MECs were successfully constructed. Each MEC inhibited the telomerase activity differently. Telomerase silencing could induce immediate growth arrest in the G0/G1 phase and led to retinoblastoma (RB) cell apoptosis.Conclusion miRNA-mediated telomerase silencing is an efficient strategy to impair RB cell growth. A robust system must be developed to fully explore the efficacy of miRNAs. The constructed MECs exhibited a strong RNAi effect and thus may be utilized to effectively screen RNAi-targeted sequences for RB gene therapy.

Abstract:Objective Diffuse optical tomography (DOT) has low signal-to-noise ratio in the detection of big breasts in women, resulting in low imaging resolution. This paper proposed a way to improve the resolution of diffuse optical tomography, based on the computed tomography laser mammography (CTLM).Methods All experiments in this paper were phantom experiments. Firstly, this paper explored the effects of phantom diameter and target depth on the resolution of DOT. Secondly, this paper proposed to use the flexible photosensitive resin to make the outer covering part through 3D print, then use the outer covering part to constrain the measured object to reduce the diameter of the measured object to optimize the resolution of DOT, after verifying that the outer covering part had no significant effect on the resolution of DOT.Results In this paper, it was verified by phantom experiments that the changes of the phantom diameter and the target depth would affect the imaging resolution. With the increase of the phantom diameter, the wide-axis FWHM and the long-axis FWHM of the ROIs (region of interests) basically showed an upward trend. With the increase of the target depth, it was also affect the wide-axis full width at half maximum (FWHM) and the long-axis FWHM of the ROIs. The experimental results aslo found that the diameter of the phantom had a significant effect on the long-axis FWHM of the ROIs, and the target depth has a significant effect on the wide-axis FWHM of the ROIs. In addition, the results of the phantom experiment verified that the outer covering part had no significant effect on the resolution of DOT. Simultaneously, after compressing the measured object with the outer covering part, the long-axis FWHM of the ROIs decreased significantly, and the reduction reached more than 30%, which was much larger than the wide-axis FWHM of the ROIs. It was confirmed that it could achieve the effect of improving the imaging resolution by using the outer covering part to constrain the measured object.Conclusion The way proposed in this paper can achieve the effect of improving the resolution of breast diffuse optical tomography, and the materials and methods used were simple and had strong practicability, which provided a new idea for improving the resolution of breast diffuse optical tomography.

Abstract:Objective Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a serious complication of diabetes that may cause vision loss or even blindness in patients. Early examination of the choroid plays an essential role in the diagnosis of DR. However, owing to the fuzzy choroid-sclera interface (CSI) and shadow of retinopathy in the optical coherence tomography (OCT) images of DR, most existing algorithms cannot segment the choroid layer precisely.Methods In this paper, we propose an optimized squeeze-excitation-connection (SEC) module integrated with the UNet, called the SEC-UNet, which not only focuses on the target but also jumps out of the local optimum to enhance the overall expressive ability. The present paper aims to improve the accuracy of choroid segmentation in DR OCT images.Results The experimental results show that the area under the ROC curve (AUC) of the SEC-UNet reaches up to 0.993 0, which outperforms that obtained for conventional UNet and SE-UNet models. It indicates that the SEC-UNet can obtain accurate and complete segmentation results of the choroid layer. Statistical analysis of choroid parameter changes indicated that compared with normal eyes, the 1 mm adjacent area of choroid fovea increased in 87.1% of DR patients. It proved that DR is likely to cause choroid layer thickening.Conclusion Our method may become a useful diagnostic tool for doctors to explore the function of the choroid in the prevention, pathogenesis, and prognosis of diabetic eye disease.

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Abstract:As research in various fields of biology has reached new heights in recent years, glycans have gradually attracted the attention of scientists. Many studies have shown that glycans have multiple activities, which has caused more and more relevant researchers to pay attention to the role of sugar in life and how sugar works. Glycobiology has become a hot research area in biology. It is very important to have a good tool for newcomers to glycobiology research or just entering the field. GlyCosmos, as a comprehensive and unified open portal for glycoscience, whose data is freely available to the public, provides access to glycan-related data, including the following: (1) repository; (2) various databases related to glycogen, glyco proteins, cell pathways and diseases and various visualization databases of Glycome; (3) the most advanced and unified multiple standardized polysaccharide representation methods and other functions. Although the website has only been completed in the past two years, due to the convenience, uniformity and standardized model provided by the website, it has provided a standardized database and representation method for many international glycan studies, so the website has been widely used at present. The use is also well known by glycobiologists, so this website is very helpful for newcomers to glycobiology research. This article summarizes the functions in the GlyCosmos portal, hoping to help those who intend to engage in glycobiology to better understand and use the website, which will be helpful and provide reference value for subsequent research.