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Abstract Sparganii Rhizoma-Curcumae Rhizoma (SR-CR) is a classic drug pair for the treatment of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), but its mechanism has not been clarified. The study aims to elucidate the potential mechanism of SR-CR in the management of CRPC. The present study employed the TCMSP as well as the SwissTargetPrediction platform to retrieve the chemical composition and targets of SR-CR. The therapeutic targets of CRPC were identified through screening the GeneCards, Disgenet, and OMIM databases. Subsequently, the Venny online platform was utilized to identify the shared targets between the SR-CR and CRPC. The shared targets were enrichment analysis using the Bioconductor and Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) databases. The active ingredients and core targets were verified through molecular docking and were validated using PC3 cells in the experimental validation phase. A total of 7 active ingredients and 1126 disease targets were screened from SR-CR, leading to a total of 59 shared targets. Gene Ontology (GO) analysis resulted in 1309 GO entries. KEGG pathways analysis yielded 121 pathways, primarily involving cancer-related signaling pathways. The results from molecular docking revealed stable binding interactions between the core ingredients and the core targets. In vitro cellular assays further demonstrated that SR-CR effectively suppressed the activation of the Prostate cancer signaling pathway in PC3 cells, leading to the inhibition of cell proliferation and promotion of apoptosis. The SR-CR exert therapeutic effects on CRPC by inhibiting cell proliferation and promoting apoptosis through the Prostate cancer signaling pathway.

The capacity for winter wheat to produce sufficient yield may be influenced by soil tillage practices and soil quality. However, determining how to quantify the impact of long-term tillage on soil quality is crucial. Here, we address this issue by comparing soil properties and wheat yield under four tillage systems during summer fallow in the Loess Plateau. Twenty-two soil properties were explored to estimate soil quality. Results showed that a rotational tillage (PT/ST) during summer fallow decreased soil bulk density (ρb) and improved soil gravimetric water content (θg), soil organic carbon (SOC), soil capillary porosity (Pc), and total porosity (Pt) in 0–50 cm soil layers. A minimum dataset (MDS) of thirteen indicators was selected to calculate soil quality index (SQI). Treatment of PT/ST had higher SQI value in soil layers of 0–10 cm and 20–50 cm, and PT/ST showed a significant increase in yield since the third year. No tillage (NT) during summer fallow decreased soil physical and chemical indicators, thus decreasing soil quality. These findings suggest that a rotation tillage of PT/ST during summer fallow could enhance soil chemical and biological properties concurrently, and PT/ST may provide a promising management strategy to sustain soil quality and grain yield for dryland winter wheat in the Loess Plateau.

Background: Drug resistance is the major cause of increasing mortality in prostate cancer (PCa). Therefore, it an urgent to develop more effective therapeutic agents for PCa treatment. Xihuang pills (XHP) have been recorded as the efficient anti-tumor formula in ancient Chinese medical literature, which has been utilized in several types of cancers nowadays. However, the effect protective role of XHP on the PCa and its underlying mechanisms are still unclear.Methods: The active ingredients of XHP were obtained from the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform (TCMSP) and BATMAN-TCM. The potential targets of PCa were acquired from the Gene Cards and OMIM databases. R language and Perl language program were utilized to clarify the interaction between the PCa-related targets and the potential targets of XHP. The potential targets of XHP for prostate cancer were gathered from the Gene ontology and KEGG pathway. Furthermore, cell proliferation assays were verified by PC3 and LNCaP cells. The efficacy and potential mechanism tests were confirmed by the PCa PC3 cells and mice subcutaneous transplantation. The effects of PI3K/Akt/mTOR-related proteins on proliferation, apoptosis, and cell cycle of PCa cells were measured by the Cell Counting Kit-8(CCK8), TUNEL assay, real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR (QRT-PCR), and Western Blotting, respectively.Results: The active components of four traditional Chinese medicines in XHP were searched on the TCMSP and Batman TCM database. The biological active components of XHP were obtained as OB ≥30% and DL ≥0.18. The analysis of gene ontology and KEGG pathway identified the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway as the XHP-associated pathway. Collectively, the results of in vitro and in vivo experiments showed that XHP had the effect of inhibiting on the proliferation of PC3 and LNCaP cells. XHP promoted the apoptosis and restrained the cell cycle and invasion of the PC3 cells and subcutaneous transplantation. Meanwhile, the suppression of XHP on the level of expression of PI3K, Akt, and mTOR-pathway-related pathway proteins has been identified in a dose-dependent manner.Conclusion: PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway-related pathway proteins were confirmed as the potential XHP-associated targets for PCa. XHP can suppress the proliferation of prostate cancer via inhibitions of the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway.

In recent years, in order to improve the quality of living, China has carried out a series of urban renewal projects, such as adding elevators to old communities. Taking Hangzhou as an example, this paper studies the decision to install elevators in old residential buildings. This study used cold spots and hot spots, local autocorrelation and fishnetting analysis to show the spatial and temporal patterns of lift retrofitting in old communities. Finally, the spatial lag model is used to test whether there is a spatial spillover effect in the behavior of residents installing elevators. The research shows that: (1) Hot spots areas for retrofitting lifts are clustered in the central urban areas of Hangzhou, such as the intersection of Shangcheng District, Xiacheng District, Jianggan District, Gongshu District and Xihu District (scenic area); (2) The trend of retrofitting areas spreading from the center to the periphery; (3) In different communities, the number of elevators added in neighboring communities has a positive effect on the decision of adding elevators in other local communities. Therefore, the neighborhood effect cannot be ignored in the topic of community renovation, in which residents spontaneously participate.

The Single-frequency Single-epoch double-differenced baseline resolution technique of Global Positioning System (GPS) provides a good opportunity for monitoring the displacement or deflection behavior of bridges under different loading conditions in real-time. However, for single GPS, a high success rate baseline solution is difficult to achieve due to the lack of sufficient visible satellites and the low accuracy of float solutions. Galileo Satellite Navigation System (Galileo) has 14 medium earth orbit satellites (as of May 2018) that can be used to supplement GPS. The frequency bands of Galileo overlap with that of GPS on E1/L1 and E5a/L5, which is conducive to the combination of observations in integration positioning. Accordingly, Galileo augmenting GPS is an effective and necessary approach to improve the positioning availability and reliability. Moreover, using the baseline length constraint can improve the accuracy of float solutions, narrow the search space, and finally increase the success rate of ambiguity resolution and positioning. The single-frequency single-epoch double-differenced GPS/Galileo mathematical model with baseline length constraint is deduced in this paper. Two sets of GNSS real bridge data were used for further analysis on the improvement of GPS/Galileo with baseline length constraint when compared to single GPS. Finally, a Fast Fourier Transformation (FFT) algorithm was adopted for precisely detecting the local dominant frequencies of XB, YB, and ZB direction of the two stations.