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Background: Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor (IMT) is a rare central nervous system (CNS) tumor. We first report a rare case of IMT in the lateral ventricle and describe the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings of the tumor with an emphasis on the advanced MRI features.Case Presentation: A 49-year-old female patient with headaches and blurred vision for 2 months. Brain MRI revealed a well-circumscribed, lobulated mass occupying the left lateral ventricle trigone, with marked perilesional brain edema. The tumor showed heterogeneous significant hyperintensity on T2-weighted imaging (T2WI) and hypointensity on T1-weighted imaging (T1WI). After the administration of gadolinium, the mass exhibited marked contrast enhancement and the halo sign was observed. On advanced MRI, the lesion showed decreased perfusion on perfusion MRI and reduced diffusion on diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI). On susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI), there was a punctate low signal intensity in the tumor. The patient underwent surgical resection of the mass and a pathological examination confirmed the lesion to be an inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor with negative expression of anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK). This patient had remained healthy without evidence of recurrence during a 20-month follow-up.Conclusions: On MRI, marked perilesional brain edema, significant hyperintensity on T2WI, hypoperfusion on perfusion MRI but with an obvious enhancement, no diffusion restriction on DWI, and halo sign may be the characteristic findings of intraventricular IMT. The advanced MRI characteristics could provide abundant information to reflect the histological features and physiological metabolic characteristics of the tumor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A facile method for the synthesis of pyrrolo[2,3‐j]phenanthridines from indoleanilines and aldehydes in the presence of Brønsted acid catalyst and benzoquinone oxidant has been established. This approach features excellent yields, high efficiency and a wide range of substrate scope. Mechanism studies exhibited that this reaction was a cascade process including acid‐catalyzed condensation of indoleanilines with aldehydes, cyclization and oxidative aromatization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. To evaluate the correlation between sleep quality and everyday cognitive function in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women. Methods. Two hundred and eighty one women who visited the menopause clinic of Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital for the first time were included in the study. Socialdemographic characteristics of the patients were obtained by using the general information questionnaire. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) was used toassess sleep quality and its seven dimensions (sleep latency, sleep duration, sleep efficiency, sleep disturbance, subjective sleep quality, sleep medicationand daytime dysfunction).Everyday cognitive function was assessed by using the short version of Everyday Cognition (Ecog-12). Mann-Whitney U (two independent samples) or Kruskal-Wallis H (multiple indepentdent samples) test was used for univariate analysis of patents' everyday cogitive function. Spearman rank correlation was used to analyze the relationship of sleep quality and its seven dimensions with everyday cognitive function.Multiple linear stepwise regressionwas used to analyze the influencing factors of everyday cognitive function. Results. The Ecog-12 score of 281 women was 1.42 (1.17,1.67). The score of PSQI was 6.0 (3.0, 10.0). 40.9% of perimenopausal and postmenopausal women had poor sleep quality (PSQI≥8). There was no statisticaldifference in patients' everyday cognitive function among all social demographic characteristic variables (age, body mass index, monthly income, occupationstatus, educational level, menopausal status, parity, regular exercise and history of chronic diseases). Compared to women with good sleep quality,women with poor quality scored higher in Ecog-12 (P=0.000). Spearman correlation analysis showed that the scores of 7 dimensions of PSQI and totalscore of PSQI were positively correlated with Ecog-12 score (P=0.000). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that the explanation rate of sleep medication and daytime dysfunction on everyday cognitive function deline was 12.6%. Conclusion. Sleep medication and daytime dysfunction are the independent influencing factors of everyday cognitive function decline in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women. Perimenopausal and postmenopausal women with sleep disturbance should take sleep medication considerately, actively improve sleep quality, maintain good daytime function, andavoid or reduce cognitive impairment caused by sleep problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aphapolin A, a nemoralisin-type diterpenoid possessing a unique 4/5-fused-ring system that is unprecedented in previously reported nemoralisin diterpenoid, and aphapolin B, a novel nemoralisin-type diterpenoid derivative containing a benzofuran moiety, along with a new natural product were isolated from Aphanamixis polystachya (Wall.) R. Parker. Their structures and absolute configurations were elucidated by spectroscopy data, X-ray crystallography diffraction analysis, and electronic circular dichroism calculations. Plausible biosynthetic pathways of aphapolins A and B were also delineated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pyropheophorbide- α methyl ester ( MPPa) was a promising photosensitizer with stable chemical structure, strong absorption, higher tissue selectivity and longer activation wavelengths. The present study investigated the effect of MPPa-mediated photodynamic treatment on lung cancer A549 cells as well as the underlying mechanisms. Cell Counting Kit-8 was employed for cell viability assessment. Reactive oxygen species levels were determined by fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry. Cell morphology was evaluated by Hoechst staining and transmission electron microscopy. Mitochondrial membrane potential, cellular apoptosis and cell cycle distribution were evaluated flow-cytometrically. The protein levels of apoptotic effectors were examined by Western blot. We found that the photocytotoxicity of MPPa showed both drug- and light- dose dependent characteristics in A549 cells. Additionally, MPPa- PDT caused cell apoptosis by reducing mitochondrial membrane potential, increasing reactive oxygen species ( ROS) production, inducing caspase-9/caspase-3 signaling activation as well as cell cycle arrest at G0/G1 phase. These results suggested that MPPa- PDT mainly kills cells by apoptotic mechanisms, with overt curative effects, indicating that MPPa should be considered a potent photosensitizer for lung carcinoma treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: For decades, video game‐related behaviors have been investigated in different psychologic research, much of whose attention has been paid to video game addiction (VGA), while the differences between VGA and social media addiction (SMA) should have deserved more attention. In addition to detecting common risk factors of VGA, one core question is whether social inclination (individualism or collectivism) matters. Object: The objectives of this study were to clarify the prevalence of VGA and SMA,, identify the influencing factors of VGA, and clarify the relationships between VGA and adolescents' individualism–collectivism inclination. Method: The survey was conducted among 110 adolescent psychiatric patients. For each interviewee, psychological scales were filled face to face. Path analysis was used to examine the causation structure of the childhood trauma‐related symptoms. Result: The prevalence of VGA was 40.9% (45 out of 110), and it was 41.8% for SMA (46 out of 110); childhood trauma, social media addiction, the individualistic inclination, and the rate of homosexuality were observed to be independent indicators for video game addiction (r2 = 0.46). Conclusion: Psychological counseling on patients' internet‐related behaviors may focus on the individualistic personality and possible childhood trauma, which are two important risk factors of video game addiction. It is recommended to distinguish between video game addiction and social addiction in clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A rare case of atlantoaxial lateral mass joint interlocking secondary to traumatic posterolateral C1,2 complete dislocation associated with type II odontoid fracture is herein reported and the impact of atlantoaxial joint interlocking on fracture reduction discussed. A 72-year-old man presented with traumatic atlantoaxial lateral mass joint interlocking without spinal cord signal change, the diagnosis being confirmed by radiography and 3-D reconstruction digital anatomy. Posterior internal fixation was performed after failure to achieve closed reduction by skull traction. After many surgical attempts at setting had failed because of interlocking of the lateral mass joints, reduction was achieved by compressing the posterior parts of the atlantal and axial screws. Odontoid bone union and C1,2 posterior bone graft fusion were eventually obtained by the 12-month follow-up. The patient had a complete neurological recovery with no residual neck pain or radiculopathy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve the ability of commercial selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalyst to catalyze the oxidation of gaseous elemental mercury, Fe 2 O 3 was introduced. Modifying with Fe 2 O 3 can significantly enhance the elemental mercury oxidation ability of SCR catalyst. Fe 2 O 3 /SCR prepared by an impregnation method was employed as mercury oxidation catalysts in the simulated flue gas, and the role of Fe 2 O 3 was investigated. The temperature window was from 150 to 450 °C. In this study, Fe 2 O 3 /SCR (1% Fe, wt.) was found to be an optimal catalyst with a mercury oxidation efficiency of higher than 90% at 350 °C using a simulated flue gas. The catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Brunauer Emmet Teller (BET) measurements, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The results indicated that the Fe 2 O 3 was well-dispersed on the surface of SCR. The surface areas and catalytic oxidation activity were not consistent patterns, and the diameter of the mercury atom was much smaller than the pore diameter of the Fe 2 O 3 /SCR catalysts. Loading content of Fe 2 O 3 was a very important factor for the removal of mercury. HCl was the most effective flue gas component responsible for the Hg 0 oxidation. However, SO 2 had a slight inhibition effect on Hg 0 oxidation. Furthermore, change experiment of a mercury valence state was performed. And the mechanism of Hg 0 oxidation was also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hydrogenation of nitrobenzene was investigated over magnetically recoverable Pt deposited on multiwalled carbon nanotubes. Under optimal reaction conditions (333 K, 4 MPa), high yield of aniline (>99%) was observed in solvent-free conditions. The Pt/MWCNTs catalyst cannot be reused while the Pt/MWCNTs-Fe3O4can be recycled four times without any loss of activity. The results of characterization showed the existence of interaction between MWCNTs and Fe3O4, which can effectively stabilize the Pt nanoparticles. Moreover, the magnetic nanocomposites can be readily isolated from the reaction system by a magnet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Formononetin, an isoflavone, can inhibit the proliferation of cancer cells, including those of the prostate. However, its antitumor mechanism remains unclear. Aim: To investigate whether the insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1)/insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-1 R) signaling pathway mediates the formononetin antitumor effect on prostate cancer cells. Materials and methods: The viability of PC-3 cells was measured by MTT assay 48 h after formononetin treatment (25, 50 and 100 μM). Formononetin-induced cell apoptosis was measured by Hoechst 33258 staining and flow cytometry. Expression of Bax mRNA was detected by real-time PCR, and the expression levels of Bax and IGF-1 R proteins were detected by western blots. Results: At concentrations >12.5 μM, formononetin significantly inhibited the proliferation of human prostate cancer cells. Formononetin increased Bax mRNA and protein expression levels and decreased the expression levels of pIGF-1 R protein in a dose-dependent manner. Conclusion: High concentrations of formononetin-induced apoptosis in androgen-independent prostate cancer cells through inhibition of the IGF-1/IGF-1 R pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, algorithms for finding common solutions of strong vector equilibrium and fixed point problems of multivalued mappings are considered. First, a Minty vector equilibrium problem is introduced and the relationship between the Minty vector equilibrium problem and the strong equilibrium problem is discussed. Then, by applying the Minty vector equilibrium problem, projection iterative methods are proposed and some convergence results are established in Hilbert spaces. The main results obtained in this paper develop and improve some recent works in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The inclined plates and novel structures with particle flow channels are respectively installed in free-falling particle receivers for curtain and particle interchange. • Curtain interchange, obtained by inclined plates, is beneficial to improve receiver efficiency of free-falling particle receivers. • Particle interchange, obtained by novel structures with particle flow channels, plays a hugely active role on the decrease of temperature difference of free-falling particle receivers. Shunt-wound and series-wound free-falling particle receivers (FFPRs) are developed for receiving incident energy with two opposite directions. In order to increase receiver efficiency and decrease temperature difference between the highest and lowest temperature particles at the outlet of receiver, inclined plates and novel structures with particle flow channels are respectively installed in series-wound FFPRs for curtain and particle interchange. The effect of the incident energy ratio between two opposite directions on the performance of shunt-wound FFPRs, series-wound FFPRs with curtain interchange and series-wound FFPRs with particle interchange has been numerically investigated. The receiver efficiency, temperature difference and temperature distribution have been calculated and analyzed at different incident energy ratios. The results indicate curtain interchange is more beneficial to improve receiver efficiency, and particle interchange contributes more on the decrease of temperature difference. The highest receiver efficiency of 84.3 % and the lowest temperature difference of 109.5 °C are both found in series-wound FFPRs with particle interchange. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some drugs exert curative effects intracellularly, but their hydrophilic property prohibits the membrane-penetrating process and thus limits the curative efficacies, although this property guarantee their solubility in aqueous phase. An example is sodium tanshinone II-A sulfonate (DS-201), a derivative of Chinese medical herb Danshen ( Salvia miltiorrhiza) which is a BK channel opener and a vasodilator. This study established and optimized a liposome delivery system which could pack and deliver DS-201 into HEK293 cells transfected with BK channels, and DS-201 given this way significantly increased the open probability of BK channel from baseline 0.013 ± 0.004 to 0.036 ± 0.011 at +40 mV membrane potential ( P < 0.05) in single-channel attached study, and also increased the current density from baseline 23.2 ± 4.4 to 66.0 ± 15.2 pA/pF at +40 mV membrane potential ( P < 0.05), compared with the direct extracellular administration of this drug. Moreover, showing a ~60 % inhibition of the PE or PGF2a induced vascular constriction, the DS-201 liposomes did posses significantly enhanced vasorelaxant effect on rat mesenteric artery, compared with ~20 % inhibition of the directly administration of this drug ( P < 0.05), suggesting that DS-201 delivered by liposomes significantly improved the drug's vasorelaxing effect. Taken together, the optimized DS-201 liposomes in our study successfully delivered DS-201 into cells and thus significantly activated BK channels to reverse the contraction induced by PE and PGF2α, attesting the enhanced bioavailability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to investigate the association between waist circumference and the development of hypertension based on a nationwide cohort Chinese population. A total of 5330 individuals free of hypertension at baseline were collected from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. The association between waist circumference and the development of hypertension was analyzed by an adjusted cox regression model and visualized by restricted cubic splines. Further, we applied the supervised machine learning methods to evaluate the importance of multiple variates for new‐onset hypertension. Additionally, the robustness of the association was assessed by a subgroup analysis. A total of 1490 individuals (28.0%) developed hypertension during a mean follow‐up of 3.32 years. The new‐onset hypertension was more observed in those with increased waist circumference (P for trend <.001). In the fully adjusted Cox regression, each 10 cm increase of waist circumference would result in an 18% elevated risk of hypertension. The random forest method and the Extreme Gradient Boosting method revealed waist circumference as an important feature to predict the development of hypertension. The sensitivity analysis indicated a consistent trend between waist circumference and new‐onset hypertension in all BMI categories. This study suggested high waist circumference as an independent risk factor for new‐onset hypertension based on a nationwide cohort of Chinese adults aged ≥45 years old. Our results supported that waist circumference should be routinely measured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For decades, the slide drilling system (SDS) has played a critical role in the area of directional drilling. Drilling in the sliding mode is much more time-consuming than drilling in the rotating mode for a SDS. Therefore, it generally takes more time to drill a curved wellbore segment than a straight segment of the same length. Based on this fact, a novel wellbore trajectory design for SDSs is proposed in this paper to reduce the total drilling time and improve economy. The basic idea of our strategy is to replace a long curved wellbore section, e.g., the build-up and drop-off sections, with a series of short circular-arc and straight-line segments in the design stage. Assuming that rotating and sliding modes are only used for straight-line and circular-arc segments, respectively, the total drilling time is reduced by increasing the average rate of penetration. Therefore, the problem lies in how to replace a long circular arc with multiple short circular arcs and straight lines to minimize the total drilling time, which is the aim of this research. In this paper, a piecewise trial strategy is proposed, where the optimized wellbore trajectory is generated by adding circular-arc and straight-line segments with equal length one by one according to the "line first" principle. This strategy converts the original optimization problem, which involves both combinatorial and parameter optimization of unknown dimension, to a much easier one, where there are only three design variables and one set of constraint equations. Due to the multimodal characteristics of the objective function, genetic algorithm (GA) is adopted to obtain the optimal solution. A great reduction of the drilling time is obtained by applying our method to two typical cases, which shows a clear potential for future field applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two novel heptanornemoralisin-type diterpenoids nornemoralisins A (1) and B (2), together with two known compounds nemoralisin (3) and nemoralisin A (4), were isolated from the stem bark and leaves of Aphanamixis polystachya (Wall.) R. Parker. Their structures were established through comprehensive analyses of NMR spectroscopic data and high resolution mass spectrometric (HR-ESI-MS) data. The absolute configurations of carbon stereocenters were elucidated by circular dichroism (CD) analyses. The four compounds were tested for their potential cytotoxic effects against ACHN, HeLa, SMMC-7721, and MCF-7 cell lines. Nornemoralisins A (1) and B (2) exhibited significant cytotoxicity on ACHN with an IC 50 value of 13.9 ± 0.8 and 10.3 ± 0.4 μ M, respectively, and other compounds failed to reveal obvious cytotoxicity on the tested cell lines, compared to positive control vinblastine (IC 50 , 28.0 ± 0.9 μ M). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Clonal integration played different roles during submergence and de-submergence. • Clonal integration brought benefits to apical ramets upon submergence. • Quick photoassimilation recovery resulted in weak clonal integration after de-submergence. Abstract Responses to both submergence and de-submergence are important for evaluating flood tolerance of plants. Clonal integration (resource translocation between connected ramets within clones) has been shown to increase flood tolerance of amphibious clonal plants. However, no study has truly separated the effects of clonal integration during de-submergence from those during submergence. We grew 40 clonal fragments of the amphibious plant species Alternanthera philoxeroides , each consisting of two ramet systems, under half-submerged conditions (one ramet system submerged and the other un-submerged) for 30 d and then de-submerged for 20 d. To evaluate the effects of clonal integration during submergence, stolon connection between the two ramet systems was either severed or not on day 1, and 10 replicates of the fragments of each treatment were harvested on day 30. To evaluate the effects of clonal integration after de-submergence, the remaining 20 clonal fragments with connected stolons during submergence were de-submerged; half of them were subjected to stolon severing on day 31 and the remaining 10 fragments were not. All the 20 fragments for de-submergence were harvested on day 50. After 30 d of submergence, stolon connection between the submerged and the un-submerged ramets significantly increased growth, biomass allocation to roots and photosynthetic capacities of the submerged ramets, and also increased growth and photosynthetic capacities of the un-submerged ramets. Consequently, clonal integration significantly increased growth of the apical ramets, the basal ramets and the whole fragments. However, after 20 d of de-submergence, stolon connection did not significantly affect growth or photosynthetic capacities of either de-submerged or un-submerged ramets. The results suggest that clonal integration plays different roles during submergence and de-submergence. It increases performance of submerged ramets during submergence by translocation of photosynthates from un-submerged ramets, but plays little roles during de-submergence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Genistein inhibits the proliferation and induces apoptosis of colorectal cancer cells; however, the underling molecular mechanisms remain to be determined. Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate whether genistein reduces cell viability by suppressing the phosphorylation of AKT and activating the mitochondrial apoptosis pathway in colorectal cancer cells. Materials and methods: The anti-proliferative effects of genistein (0, 25, 50, and 100 μM) on HCT-116 and LoVo cells were assessed using MTT assay. Genistein-induced apoptosis was measured by Hoechst 33258 staining and flow cytometry. The mRNA level ofBaxwas detected by real-time PCR. The protein levels of Bax, total Akt, and phosphorylated Akt were assessed by western blot. Results: The IC50values of genistein were 690, 135, and 61 μM in HCT-116 cells and 204, 135, and 93 μM in LoVo cells after treatment for 24, 48, and 72 h, respectively. After treatment with different concentrations of genistein (0, 25, 50, and 100 μM) for 48 h, the early apoptotic cells in HCT-116 increased from 1.99% ± 0.55% to 6.78% ± 2.12%, 23.16% ± 3.87%, and 36.99% ± 3.76%, respectively. The same concentrations of genistein increased the early apoptotic cells in LoVo from 2.56% ± 1.42% to 3.21% ± 1.52%, 18.22% ± 3.56%, and 23.56% ± 3.02%, respectively. Moreover, genistein increased the mRNA and protein levels of Bax, while it inhibited the phosphorylation of Akt in HCT-116 cells. Conclusion: Genistein inhibited cell proliferation and induced apoptosis of colorectal cancer cells. Genistein induced the mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis in HCT-116 cells by inhibiting phosphorylation of Akt. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Euphorpekone A (1) and euphorpekone B (2), two new diterpenoids, 3β-hydroxy-25-methyloxylanosta-8,23-diene, a new triterpenoid (3), together with a known triterpenoid, 3β,25-dihydroxylanosta-8,23-diene (4), were isolated fromEuphorbia pekinensisRupr. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of UV, IR, 1D (1H,13C, NOE) and 2D (1H–1H COSY, HSQC, HMBC) NMR, HR-ESI-MS, X-ray diffraction analysis, and CD method. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]