Search

Early rehabilitation is crucial in reducing stroke-related disability, but the optimal training model remains unclear. We conducted a trial comparing different initiation timings and intensities of mobilization strategies after stroke. Results showed that early intensive mobilization had favorable outcomes at 3 months post-stroke, while very early intensive mobilization had poorer chances of favorable outcomes. Our investigation into brain injury mechanisms induced by very early exercise within 24 hours of stroke onset aligned with guidelines advising against high-dose very early mobilization. Additionally, we are studying the effects of various exercise intensities and frequencies on early stroke rehabilitation. Integrated rehabilitation models, such as combining remote ischemic conditioning (RIC) with exercise (RICE), hold promise. Our study found RICE to be safe and feasible for early rehabilitation of acute ischemic stroke patients, and further research is underway to determine its efficacy in a larger sample size. Despite extensive research, identifying the most effective early recovery strategies remains a complex challenge, necessitating ongoing work in the field of early rehabilitation after stroke. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, five PAHs (benzo [b] fluoranthene (BbF), phenanthrene (Phe), fluoranthene (Flu), fluorene (Fl), benzo [A] pyrene (Bap)), and five FQs (ofloxacin (OFL), enrofloxacin (ENR), ciprofloxacin (CIP), norfloxacin (NOR), lomefloxacin (LOM)) were selected as ligands; peroxidase (1NML) was selected as receptor degrading protein. In the plant-microbial degradation, the factors with significant inhibitory effects are NOR, Bap, CIP, ENR, OFL, Flu, LOM, Phe, Fl, and BbF by the fractional factorial design experiment and molecular docking-assisted molecular dynamics methods. Using Taguchi experiment and molecular dynamics simulation methods, the main external field measures were designed and screened to effectively promote the degradation of PAHs-FQs under the combined pollution scenarios of Bap-CIP and BbF-NOR, respectively. The peroxidase mutation design plans with enhanced substrate affinity were then designed and screened using the DS software by predicting the virtual key amino acid of peroxidase. The novel biodegradable enzymes 2YCD-1, 2YCD-4, 2YCD-5, 2YCD-7, and 2YCD-9 had better structures and showed excellent degradability for PAHs and FQs. This study explored the degradation rules of the composite pollutants in the coexistence systems of multiple PAHs and FQs, providing the best external field measures for the control and treatment of the combined pollution effects of different PAHs and FQs. Overall, the current study has important practical significance for promoting the plant-microbial joint remediation of PAHs-FQs pollution and for reducing the combined pollution of PAHs and FQs in farmland systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates relationships between serum bilirubin, stroke severity, and prognosis of patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) to elucidate the roles of the liver in AIS. This retrospective study collected data from 527 patients diagnosed with AIS within 24 hours after their symptom onset. Stroke severity was assessed using the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS). Mild stroke was defined as NIHSS≤5. Prognosis was assessed with modified Rankin Scale (mRS) on 90 days after AIS and good prognosis was defined as mRS≤2. The patients were divided based on their total bilirubin (Tbil) and direct bilirubin (Dbil) levels to study these serum markers' association with the severity of stroke. Tbil levels were measured and compared with mRS on 90 days to analyze prognosis of mild stroke patients. Both Tbil abnormal (NIHSS = 6.8 ± 5.3) and Dbil abnormal groups (NIHSS = 7.3 ± 5.7) had higher NIHSS scores on admission than the normal groups (p< 0.05 or p< 0.01, respectively). Severity of stroke at discharge was similar between these groups (p = 0.025 and 0.019, respectively). Serum bilirubin levels were independently associated with stroke severity on admission and discharge after risk factors were adjusted (p< 0.001 and p< 0.05, respectively; β (95%CI) were 0.116 (0.064–0.167) and 0.058 (0.012–0.103), respectively). The average Tbil levels of mild stroke with good prognosis was 15.1 ± 6.4umol/l versus 11.8 ± 3.1umol/l with poor prognosis; this difference was statistically significant (p = 0.003). The same difference was observed with Dtil levels but it did not reach a significant level. High Tbil and Dbil level within 48 hours of symptom onset could be an independent marker of severity of stroke on admission and discharge for all AIS patients. For patient with mild stroke, elevation of bilirubin after AIS suggests a good prognosis. These findings imply that the liver play the key roles in the mechanism of AIS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: MYB transcription factor (TF) is one of the largest families of TFs in plants and play essential roles in plant growth and development, and is involved in responses to biological and abiotic stress. However, there are few reports on GsMYB7 gene in soybean under aluminum acid stress, and its regulatory mechanism remains unclear. Results: The GsMYB7 protein is localized in the nucleus and has transcriptional activation ability. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) results showed that GsMYB7 held a constitutive expression pattern rich in roots. When AlCl3 concentration was 25 µM, the total root surface area (SA) of GsMYB7 transgenic lines were 34.97% higher than that of wild-type Huachun 6 (HC6). While the accumulation of Al3+ in root tip of transgenic plants after aluminum treatment was 17.39% lower than that of wild-type. RNA-sequencing analysis indicated that over 1181 genes were regulated by GsMYB7 and aluminum stress. Among all the regulated genes, the expression levels of glutathione peroxidase, protein kinase, cytochrome and other genes in the transgenic lines were significantly higher than those in wild type by acidic aluminum stress. The bioinformatics and qRT-PCR results showed that 9 candidate genes were induced under the treatments of acidic aluminum stress which were indirectly and/or directly regulated by GsMYB7. After AlCl3 treatments, the transcripts of these genes in GsMYB7 transgenic seedlings were significantly higher than those of wide-type HC6. Conclusions: The results suggested that GsMYB7 may enhance soybean tolerance to acidic aluminum stress by regulating the downstream genes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the effect of conventional drugs combined with acupuncture therapy on the conversion of sinus rhythm in patients with atrial fibrillation. Methods: We searched databases, such as PubMed, Embase, WOS, Cochrane, CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure), Wan fang Data, VIP, and CBM to collect data in randomized controlled trials of acupuncture included patients with atrial fibrillation. Publication time was limited from the beginning to May 15, 2021. The primary outcome is the number of participants who converted successfully. Results: A total of 11 papers were included in this study. The combined effect indicated that acupuncture significantly effectively benefitted the patients with atrial fibrillation (RR = 1.208, 95% CI 1.123, 1.298, P < 0.001). Further subgroup analysis of persistent and paroxysmal atrial fibrillation and the timing of acupuncture suggested that the addition of acupuncture was not statistically significant in the treatment of persistent AF compared to the control group (RR = 1.147, 95% CI 0.811, 1.623 P = 0.147). The combination of acupuncture was more effective in paroxysmal AF RR = 1.148 (95% CI 1.064, 1.239) P < 0.001. In addition, when the acupuncture time was limited to 20 min, it had the best treatment effect (RR = 1.510, 95% CI 1.25, 1.82). Conclusions: The combination of pharmacological resuscitation with acupuncture significantly improved the conversion of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation compared to pharmacological resuscitation only. The most significant benefit was achieved with an acupuncture duration of < 20 min. Thus, the combination of acupuncture could be considered in clinical practice for the resuscitation of patients with atrial fibrillation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four common phthalic acid esters (PAEs), namely, butylbenzyl phthalate (BBzP), dibutyl phthalate (DBP), di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), and di-n-octyl phthalate (DNOP) that are known to affect children upon exposure, were selected, and the hormone effects were explored during different supplementary food intakes by using methods such as factorial design experiment, molecular docking, and dynamics simulation techniques. A supplementary diet regulation scheme to prevent health risks of PAEs was constructed to avoid or mitigate the hormonal effects in children exposed to PAEs. Firstly, the MM/PBSA binding energy of PAEs with single hormone receptors and multiple hormone receptor complexes was calculated. In addition, 10 foods were selected as external interference conditions to carry out dynamic simulation, which showed that kiwi fruit and broccoli can effectively alleviate the PAEs' hormone effects. Furthermore, inference of the metabolic process of DEHP found that the supplementary diets could effectively promote the metabolism of PAEs. Finally, based on the mechanism analysis, it was confirmed that the selected supplementary diets could inhibit the binding process. This study aims to explore the role of supplementary diets in regulating various PAEs' hormone effects and thereby provide theoretical support for slowing down hormonal effects in children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enhancers are important cis‐acting elements that can regulate gene transcription and cell fate alongside promoters. In fact, many human cancers and diseases are associated with the malfunction of enhancers. Recent studies have shown that enhancers can produce enhancer RNAs (eRNAs) by RNA polymerase II. In this review, we discuss eRNA production, characteristics, functions and mechanics. eRNAs can determine chromatin accessibility, histone modification and gene expression by constructing a 'chromatin loop', thereby bringing enhancers to their target gene. eRNA can also be involved in the phase separation with enhancers and other proteins. eRNAs are abundant, and importantly, tissue‐specific in tumours, various diseases and stem cells; thus, eRNAs can be a potential target for disease diagnosis and treatment. As eRNA is produced from the active transcription of enhancers and is involved in the regulation of cell fate, its manipulation will influence cell function, and therefore, it can be a new target for biological therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Osteosarcoma is the most frequent primary bone cancer, particularly among children and adolescents. The early diagnosis of osteosarcoma is significant for timely clinical treatment to reduce the mortality of patients. Exosomes play a significant role in intercellular communication and serve as promising biomarkers in liquid biopsy for the diagnosis and monitoring of tumors. Herein, we report the utility of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) for rapid identification of osteosarcoma. We firstly profiled the intrinsic SERS signals and MALDI-TOF mass fingerprints of different subgroups of extracellular vesicles (EVs) and the corresponding cells, demonstrating that the SERS signals and MALDI-TOF mass spectra of exosomes from different types of cells were more discriminative compared to those of large and medium EVs and the cells themselves. Then, we characterized plasma-derived exosomes of 15 osteosarcoma patients and 15 healthy volunteers using SERS and MALDI-TOF MS, revealing distinctive biochemical differences in the spectra. We further utilized a data fusion approach to combine the two types of spectroscopic techniques, differentiating osteosarcoma patients from healthy controls with higher precision than either technique. The results reveal that the non-invasive liquid biopsy method using SERS and MALDI-TOF MS fingerprinting of exosomes has great potential for rapid diagnosis of osteosarcoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acupuncture is an important part of Chinese medicine that has been widely used in the treatment of inflammatory diseases. During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic, acupuncture has been used as a complementary treatment for COVID-19 in China. However, the underlying mechanism of acupuncture treatment of COVID-19 remains unclear. Based on bioinformatics/topology, this paper systematically revealed the multi-target mechanisms of acupuncture therapy for COVID-19 through text mining, bioinformatics, network topology, etc. Two active compounds produced after acupuncture and 180 protein targets were identified. A total of 522 Gene Ontology terms related to acupuncture for COVID-19 were identified, and 61 pathways were screened based on the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes. Our findings suggested that acupuncture treatment of COVID-19 was associated with suppression of inflammatory stress, improving immunity and regulating nervous system function, including activation of neuroactive ligand–receptor interaction, calcium signaling pathway, cancer pathway, viral carcinogenesis, Staphylococcus aureus infection, etc. The study also found that acupuncture may have additional benefits for COVID-19 patients with cancer, cardiovascular disease and obesity. Our study revealed for the first time the multiple synergistic mechanisms of acupuncture on COVID-19. Acupuncture may play an active role in the treatment of COVID-19 and deserves further promotion and application. These results may help to solve this pressing problem currently facing the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the proposed model, the estrogen activity values and thyroid hormone activity values of PAEs molecules were normalized using the TOPSIS method by eliminating the dimension coefficients, and the comprehensive activity values of estrogen and thyroid hormone were obtained by analyzing the activity of each hormone and assigning the corresponding weight. The five pharmacophore models of hormone combined activity were constructed using the comprehensive activity values. Hypol 1 was the optimal pharmacophore model, showing good predictive power and significance. Then, the DBP, DNOP, and DMP molecules in environmental priority control pollutants were selected as the target molecules to perform common substitution reactions of hydrogen bond donor. Eleven PAEs derivative molecules with significantly reduced combined activity and single activity were screened. In analysis of the differences before and after modification of the docking parameters and amino acid residues before and after modification of PAEs and their derivatives, the reduced closeness between ligand and receptor leads to the decrease of thyroid hormones and estrogen activities. Moreover, the establishment of the models, not only shows that the PAEs hormone activity has certain linear relationships with the physical parameters of molecules but also shows that thyroid hormone activity and estrogen activity of PAEs is consistent with the hormone combined activity. The results confirmed the feasibility of the modified PAEs modification scheme with reduced combined activities of hormones, providing an important theoretical method for the construction of the pharmacophore model of combined activities of hormones and the study of PAEs derivative molecules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stem cell research has focused on genomic studies. However, recent evidence has indicated the involvement of epigenetic regulation in determining the fate of stem cells. Ribosomes play a crucial role in epigenetic regulation, and thus, we focused on the role of ribosomes in stem cells. Majority of living organisms possess ribosomes that are involved in the translation of mRNA into proteins and promote cellular proliferation and differentiation. Ribosomes are stable molecular machines that play a role with changes in the levels of RNA during translation. Recent research suggests that specific ribosomes actively regulate gene expression in multiple cell types, such as stem cells. Stem cells have the potential for self-renewal and differentiation into multiple lineages and, thus, require high efficiency of translation. Ribosomes induce cellular transdifferentiation and reprogramming, and disrupted ribosome synthesis affects translation efficiency, thereby hindering stem cell function leading to cell death and differentiation. Stem cell function is regulated by ribosome-mediated control of stem cell-specific gene expression. In this review, we have presented a detailed discourse on the characteristics of ribosomes in stem cells. Understanding ribosome biology in stem cells will provide insights into the regulation of stem cell function and cellular reprogramming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Microbiology is the property of Canadian Science Publishing and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

To achieve mobile phone with ultra‐narrow border, different design methods are proposed. By decreasing fanout line width and place clock signal lines under frit, an ultra‐narrow border full screen is obtained. Additionally, we verified that the line width of fanout with 2um has the feasibility of mass production and the luminance uniformity can be improved by 5%. What's more, the proportion of bright spots caused by anode residue is reduced to 0. At last, the best matching conditions are obtained to achieve ultra‐narrow border full screen mobile phone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The IR‐drop in the full AMOLED display panel caused by the pixel current is simulated within the mainstream SPICE toolkit to evaluate the display uniformity. Each electrical part of the display panel is simplified and equalized to allow the SPICE doing the very large scale calculation. The implementation of the full panel simulation and the results give better understanding of AMOLED panel design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A SeO ethanol solution as the facile precursor has been used for the preparation of quaternary CuZnSnSe (CZTSe) nanoplates. Monodispersed single-phase CZTSe nanoplates have been prepared successfully by a facile one-pot thermal chemical method. The as-prepared CZTSe nanoplates show uniform morphology with a bandgap of ~ 1.4 eV. As a proof of concept, the CZTSe nanoplates have been used as a visible-light-driven photocatalyst for Rhodamine B dye degradation and show high photocatalytic activity and stability. The excellent dye removal is mainly ascribed to the efficient light utilization of CZTSe nanoplates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, an online identification method is proposed for nonlinear system identification based on extreme learning machine (ELM)-Hammerstein model. The ELM-Hammerstein model comprises an ELM neural network followed by a linear dynamic subsystem. This model is linear in parameters and nonlinear in the input. To speed up the convergence and meanwhile improve identification accuracy, a changing forgetting factor recursive least squares (CFF-RLS) method is proposed as online learning algorithm. The algorithm can identify the parameters of linear dynamic subsystem and the weights of ELM neural network simultaneously. Simulation results verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this letter, we propose an access point (AP) sleeping and user offloading optimization scheme to improve energy efficiency in densely deployed WLANs. Through real trace analysis, we investigate AP energy efficiency to obtain the sleep-awake threshold, which is used to select sleep or awake APs according to real-time status information monitored on controller. Moreover, we formulate the user offloading problem as a reverse auction process to optimize energy efficiency of APs involved in offloading. Simulation results demonstrate that, comparing to traditional methods, our scheme can achieve up to 20% energy saving while maintaining effective system coverage and throughput. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Automatic voltage regulator (AVR) is an equipment maintaining the terminal voltage of generators to a specific level all the time and under any load conditions. Many controllers for AVR system are designed based on a linearized normal model of AVR system and they are not robust enough against uncertainties such as parameter variation and load change in the system. In this paper, a gray PID (GPID) controller is designed for AVR system. The GPID controller consists of two parts, i.e. a conventional PID controller together with a gray compensation controller. In GPID controller, gray GM (0, N) model is used to estimate the uncertainties online, and a gray compensation controller is constructed according the estimation results to eliminate the effect of uncertainties. To further improve its performance, the GPID controller's parameters are optimized through a new evolutionary algorithm, i.e., imperialist competitive algorithm (ICA). The proposed GPID controller can effectively deal with the uncertainties in AVR system. Simulation results illustrate its effectiveness of the proposed control scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present a method for nonlinear system identification. The proposed method adopts least squares support vector machine (LSSVM) to approximate a nonlinear autoregressive model with eXogeneous (NARX). First, the orders of NARX model are determined from input-output data via Lipschitz quotient criterion. Then, an LSSVM model is used to approximate the NARX model. To obtain an efficient LSSVM model, a novel particle swarm optimization with adaptive inertia weight is proposed to tune the hyper-parameters of LSSVM. Two experimental results are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a novel approach is proposed for identifying Wiener model, in which the linear dynamic subsystem is represented by autoregressive exogenous model and the nonlinear static function by least squares support vector machine (LSSVM). The identifications of Wiener model are accomplished in a two-step procedure, in which the linear part is identified separating from that of nonlinear part via a small input signal. To obtain better approximation of static nonlinear function, a new adaptive particle swarm optimization is proposed to select the optimal hyper-parameters of LSSVM. Simulation results show that the proposed method is effective for identifying Wiener model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study reported the significantly improved Raman enhancement ability of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) by decorating them on single NaYF4:Yb,Er@SiO2 core–shell particles (UC@SiO2@Ag) under a 785 nm excitation. The optimal thickness of the silica shell can be easily obtained by adjusting the amounts of TEOS, which is the crucial element to balance the upconversion and the formation of a hot spot by Ag NP aggregation. This substrate revealed highly reproducible properties, which is crucial to the practical application of SERS technology. This substrate exhibited an excellent sensitivity for methylamphetamine detection under near-infrared excitation. The advantages of NIR excitation in our SERS sensing open up a new application field of UC-noble metal composites, and also promise a new research direction for the synthesis and applications of SERS-active nanostructures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An effective near-infrared (NIR) active photocatalyst, NaYF4:Yb,Tm@TiO2/Ag (UC@TiO2/Ag) core@comby shell composite, was synthesized by a simple three-step hydrothermal process. Under the full-spectrum light of a Xe lamp in UV-Vis absorbance experiments, about 96% of R6G dyes in solution were degraded by UC@TiO2/Ag in 120 minutes, while only about 64% of the dyes were degraded by pure TiO2 under the same conditions. Under a UV-filtered Xe lamp, about 35% of the dyes were degraded by UC@TiO2/Ag in 120 minutes; interestingly, only about 8% of the dyes were degraded by pure TiO2. Under irradiation by a 785 nm laser in surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) experiments, the photodegradation rate constants were 0.02612 s−1 for UC@TiO2/Ag and 0.00046 s−1 for TiO2/Ag, indicating a nearly 58 fold improvement. After deducting the photobleaching effect, the photodegradation rate constants for UC@TiO2/Ag under 633 and 532 nm lasers were 0.00715 s−1 and 0.00565 s−1, respectively, revealing a sharp decrease under irradiation at shorter wavelengths. Electron spin resonance (ESR) analysis revealed that the presence of UC in this photocatalytic system certainly induced the increase of ṖOH free radicals with NIR irradiation, i.e. the UC core converts NIR light into ultraviolet (UV) light and initiates excellent photocatalytic activity of the TiO2/Ag comby shell. Furthermore, the decorating of Ag nanoparticles not only enhances the photocatalytic ability, but also provides a structural basis for monitoring the photocatalytic kinetics by the SERS technique. By virtue of monochrome laser lines, SERS analysis provides direct evidence to prove the capability of UC-initiated non-UV photocatalysis and the improvement of the utilization of non-UV lights on TiO2. The results revealed that this new photocatalytic platform can efficiently utilize different bands of the solar spectrum and also find new applications in SERS fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A porous Pb foam was fabricated electrochemically at a copper substrate and then used as the cathode for the electroreduction of CO. The surface morphology and composition of the porous Pb electrode was characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and selected area electron diffraction. The honeycomb-like porous structure was composed of needle-like Pb deposits. Cyclic voltammetry studies demonstrated that the porous Pb electrode had better electrocatalytic performance for the formation of formic acid from CO compared with a Pb plate electrode. The increase in current density was due to the large surface area of the porous Pb electrode, which provides more active sites on the electrode surface. The improved formic acid selectivity was due to the morphology of the roughened surface, which contains significantly more low-coordination sites which are more active for CO reduction. The highest current efficiency for formic acid was 96.8% at −1.7 V versus saturated calomel electrode at 5 °C. This porous Pb electrode with good catalytic abilities represents a new 3D porous material with applications for the electroreduction of CO. [Figure not available: see fulltext.] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ordered luminescent ultrathin films (UTFs) have been fabricated by means of layer-by-layer assembling of Na9[EuW10O36] ·32H2O (abbreviated as EuW10), the photoactive organic molecule of bis( N-methylacridinium) nitrate (denoted BNMA), and exfoliated Mg2Al-LDH (layered double hydroxide). The assembly process has been monitored by UV/Vis absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy to obtain a stepwise and regular growth of the UTFs upon increasing the deposited cycles. The alternative intercalation of EuW10 and BNMA into LDHs results in the formation of well-ordered UTFs with tunable color. Each LDH monolayer with rigid structure provides a confined and protective microenvironment for BNMA and EuW10, and the guest molecules exhibit orientation effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The penetration of light in biological tissues can be enhanced by using optical-clearing techniques. However, researches on the mechanism are limited to in vitro experiments. In this study, rat dorsal skin was used to discuss the mechanism for in vivo optical clearing. Glycerol solutions with different concentrations were applied by dermal injection; then the skin reflectance spectrum, SHG imaging and microstructural changes were monitored. The results showed that with the skin becoming transparent, the corresponding reflectance decreased, and the thickness of dermis and diameter of collagen fibril decreased, but no collagen fiber was dissolved or fractured. Hence, it can be concluded that the thickness decrease of dermis and corresponding more regular packing of tissue fibers plays an important role in the mechanism for glycerol-induced optical clearing of skin in vivo. (© 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) have been found to play a decisive role in cancer recurrence, metastasis, and chemo-, radio- and immuno-resistance. Understanding the mechanism of CSC self-renewal and proliferation may help overcome the limitations of clinical treatment. The microenvironment of tumor growth consists of a lack of oxygen, and hypoxia has been confirmed to induce cancer cell invasion, metastasis and epithelial-mesenchymal transition, and is usually associated with poor prognosis and low survival rates. Hypoxia inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) can be stably expressed under hypoxia and act as an important molecule to regulate the development of CSCs, but the specific mechanism remains unclear. The present review attempted to explain the role of HIF-1 in the generation and maintenance of CSCs from the perspective of epigenetics, metabolic reprogramming, tumor immunity, CSC markers, non-coding RNA and signaling pathways associated with HIF-1, in order to provide novel targets with HIF-1 as the core for clinical treatment, and extend the life of patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neonicotinoid insecticides (neonics) were the most rapidly growing class of insecticides over the past few decades, and are used mainly for vegetables, fruits, and grains. Although neonics exhibit lower toxicity in mammals and humans compared to traditional insecticides, increasing numbers of studies are demonstrating that neonics may accumulate in the food chain and environmental media. Long-term exposure to neonics may raise potential risks to animals and even to humans. The present report reviews the development, application, and prohibition of neonics in the farmland ecosystem, and summarizes the exposure level and harmful effects of these insecticides in the food chain. In addition, the present review analyzes and summarizes the evaluation of the human health impact and environmental risk of the neonics, and overviews the unresolved problems and future research directions in this field. The aim of the present report was to review the exposure level, potential toxicity, human health impact, and environmental risk assessment of neonics in various media in order to provide reliable technical support for strengthening the environmental and food safety supervision and green pesticide designing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The MADS-box transcription factors (TFs) are essential in regulating plant growth and development, and conferring abiotic and metal stress resistance. This study aims to investigate GsMAS1 function in conferring tolerance to aluminum stress in Arabidopsis. The GsMAS1 from the wild soybean BW69 line encodes a MADS-box transcription factor in Glycine soja by bioinformatics analysis. The putative GsMAS1 protein was localized in the nucleus. The GsMAS1 gene was rich in soybean roots presenting a constitutive expression pattern and induced by aluminum stress with a concentration-time specific pattern. The analysis of phenotypic observation demonstrated that overexpression of GsMAS1 enhanced the tolerance of Arabidopsis plants to aluminum (Al) stress with larger values of relative root length and higher proline accumulation compared to those of wild type at the AlCl3 treatments. The genes and/or pathways regulated by GsMAS1 were further investigated under Al stress by qRT-PCR. The results indicated that six genes resistant to Al stress were upregulated, whereas AtALMT1 and STOP2 were significantly activated by Al stress and GsMAS1 overexpression. After treatment of 50 μM AlCl3, the RNA abundance of AtALMT1 and STOP2 went up to 17-fold and 37-fold than those in wild type, respectively. Whereas the RNA transcripts of AtALMT1 and STOP2 were much higher than those in wild type with over 82% and 67% of relative expression in GsMAS1 transgenic plants, respectively. In short, the results suggest that GsMAS1 may increase resistance to Al toxicity through certain pathways related to Al stress in Arabidopsis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The high‐bandwidth demands from variety of applications drive a dense wireless local access network (WLAN), which results in a complicated wireless network scene with serious co‐channel interference and energy waste. In this paper, to reveal the interactions between interference and energy efficiency, we propose an interference‐energy efficiency (IFEE) model to quantify the interference impact on the energy efficiency of 802.11 access point (AP) devices. Firstly, we introduce the channel separation and the difference of received signal strength indication (D‐RSSI) as two indicators to extend the classical signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) notion and rate adaptive mechanism. Then, these two parameters are integrated into the energy consumption model to establish the IFEE model. Lastly, we conduct extensive measurements with five typical WiFi interference scene in real network to validate the effectiveness of our model. The comparisons between simulation results and real data demonstrate that the proposed IFEE model can quantify the interference and energy efficiency with high accuracy, which can be used for wireless network optimization and protocol design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this research contribution, the primary objective was to enhance the crystallization behavior of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET). To accomplish this tack, three kinds of new nucleating agents SiO2-diethylene glycol-LMPET (PET-3), SiO2-triethylene glycol–LMPET(PET-4) and SiO2-tetraethylene glycol-LMPET (PET-5) nucleating agents were prepared via grafting different oligomers (diethylene glycol; triethylene glycol and tetraethylene glycol) to the surface of nano-SiO2 and then linking to the low molecular weight poly(ethylene terephthalate) (LMPET). These nano-particle nucleating agents facilitated the crystallization of PET. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) studies of the composites that pure PET blended with PET-3, PET-4 and PET-5 indicated that the longer ethoxy segment in the nucleating agents exhibited (i) higher degrees of crystallinity; (ii) faster rates of crystallization; and (iii) higher crystallization temperatures. The Jeziorny method was employed to analyze the non-isothermal crystallization kinetics of the composites. These works demonstrated that the PET-3, PET-4 and PET-5 were attractive nucleating agents for poly(ethylene terephthalate), and the longer the chain length of the ethoxy segment in the nucleating agents, the more efficient the nucleation effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]