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PDF file - 44K, S1. The predicted truncated merlin protein was not detected in Ben-Men-1 cells. S2. IC50 determination of AR-42 in normal meningeal cells. S3. AR-42 treatment increased protein acetylation and decreased p-AKT. S4. Normal meningeal cells proliferate with a doubling time of about three days. S5. Ben-Men-1-LucB and parental Ben-Men-1 cells exhibit similar sensitivities to AR-42. S6. Intracranial NF2-deficient KT21-MG1 xenograft tumors demonstrated features of malignant meningiomas. S7. Ben-Men-1-LucB xenografts strongly expressed vimentin, amesenchymal marker for meningiomas. S8. AR-42 treatment caused tumor regression, whereas AR-12 treatment slowed tumor growth over time. S9. MRI detected a small tumor in a Ben-Men-1-LucB tumorbearing mouse treated with AR-42 for three months. S10. MRI did not detect the residual tumor in an AR-42-treated mouse after removal from AR-42 diet for six months.

Text detection in complex scene images is a challenging task for intelligent transportation. Recently, anchor mechanisms are widely utilized in scene text detection tasks. However, in existing methods, anchors are generally predefined empirically, degrading robustness to complex scenarios with various sizes and orientation variations. In this paper, we propose a novel Attention Anchor Mechanism (AAM), especially targeting at predicting appropriate anchors for each pixel. To be concrete, we regard a series of predefined anchors as basic anchors and utilize an attention model to predict weights corresponding to basic anchors. Consequently, the weighted sum of basic anchors in each pixel can obtain a predicted anchor. In this way, the gap between the predicted anchors and the corresponding ground truth boxes could be narrowed, making the network easier to regress. For facilitating the design of basic anchors, we adopt a dimension-decomposition mechanism to predict width, height, and angle of anchors, respectively. Extensive experiments on several public datasets demonstrate that our method achieves state-of-the-art performance.

Existing multi-orientation scene text detection methods generally contain two crucial components: regression prediction for text bounding boxes and classification prediction for text/non-text. However, these methods always regard classification prediction and regression prediction as two independent procedures, neglecting fully exploring their mutual relations. Based on this key observation, we propose an innovative Scale-Guided Regression Module (SRM), specially for multi-orientation scene text detection. Equipped with width-guided kernels and height-guided kernels of different sizes, our SRM can generate a series of scale feature maps of candidate texts by capturing their shape information in classification prediction. The scale feature maps are used to predict the width and height of candidate texts, which can serve as guides for regressing bounding boxes. In this way, the procedures of classification and regression can be coherently integrated. In addition, we adopt IoU loss to train our network and then integrate IoU loss and l 1 -smooth loss for fine-tuning. Extensive experiments on publicly available datasets demonstrate the state-of-the-art performance of our method. Notably, our method achieves significant improvement of performance on long texts, e.g., on MSRA-TD500, our method outperforms Basemodel with a great margin (4.86 % in terms of Recall).

Anchor mechanism is widely applied in scene text detection methods and demonstrates promising performance. However, existing anchor mechanisms have two major limitations, namely handcrafted anchor design and hard-wired anchor assignment. We propose a novel Grouped Channels Composition(GCC) block to achieve the data-driven anchor design and adaptive anchor assignment. To be more specific, our GCC block uses optimizable anchor functions rather than handcrafted ones to achieve data-drive anchor design. In our GCC block, an adaptive anchor assignment is achieved with the attention mechanism instead of empirically assigning anchor according to the Intersection Over Union (IoU) between ground truth and targets. We then build a corresponding network named GCCNet with our GCC blocks. We also propose a Unified Loss Weighting module to alleviate the inconsistency between classification score and localization accuracy. Experiments conducted on publicly available datasets demonstrate the state-of-the-art performance of our methods.

Background Emergent endotracheal intubation (ETI) is a serious complication after Oesophagectomy. It is still unclear that perioperative risk factors and prognosis of these patients with ETI. Methods Between January 2015 and December 2018, 21 patients who received ETI after esophagectomy were enrolled (ETI group) at the department of thoracic surgery, Fujian Union hospital, China. Each study subject matched one patient who underwent the same surgery in the current era were included (control group). Patient characteristics and perioperative factors were collected. Results Patients with ETI were older than those without ETI (p = 0.022). The patients with history of smoking in ETI group were significantly more than those in control group (p = 0.013). The stay-time of postanesthesia care unit (PACU) in ETI group was significantly longer than that in control group (p = 0.001). The incidence of anastomotic leak or electrolyte disorder in ETI group was also higher than that in control group (p = 0.014; p = 0.002). Logistic regression analysis indicated history of smoke (HR 6.43, 95%CI 1.39–29.76, p = 0.017) and longer stay time of PACU (HR 1.04, 95%CI 1.01–1.83, p = 0.020) both were independently associated with higher risks of ETI. The 3-year overall survival (OS) rates were 47.6% in patients with ETI and 85.7% in patients without ETI (HR 4.72, 95%CI 1.31-17.00, p = 0.018). COX regression analysis indicated ETI was an independent risk factor affecting the OS. Conclusion The study indicated that history of smoking and longer stay-time in PACU both were independently associated with higher risks of ETI; and ETI was an independent risk factor affecting the OS of patients after esophagectomy. Trial registration This trial was retrospectively registered with the registration number of ChiCTR2000038549.

Arbitrary shape text detection is a challenging task due to the significantly varied sizes and aspect ratios, arbitrary orientations or shapes, inaccurate annotations, etc. Due to the scalability of pixel-level prediction, segmentation-based methods can adapt to various shape texts and hence attracted considerable attention recently. However, accurate pixel-level annotations of texts are formidable, and the existing datasets for scene text detection only provide coarse-grained boundary annotations. Consequently, numerous misclassified text pixels or background pixels inside annotations always exist, degrading the performance of segmentation-based text detection methods. Generally speaking, whether a pixel belongs to text or not is highly related to the distance with the adjacent annotation boundary. With this observation, in this paper, we propose an innovative and robust segmentation-based detection method via probability maps for accurately detecting text instances. To be concrete, we adopt a Sigmoid Alpha Function (SAF) to transfer the distances between boundaries and their inside pixels to a probability map. However, one probability map can not cover complex probability distributions well because of the uncertainty of coarse-grained text boundary annotations. Therefore, we adopt a group of probability maps computed by a series of Sigmoid Alpha Functions to describe the possible probability distributions. In addition, we propose an iterative model to learn to predict and assimilate probability maps for providing enough information to reconstruct text instances. Finally, simple region growth algorithms are adopted to aggregate probability maps to complete text instances. Experimental results demonstrate that our method achieves state-of-the-art performance in terms of detection accuracy on several benchmarks., Comment: Accepted by TPAMI 2022. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1812.01393 by other authors

Segmentation-based methods have achieved great success for arbitrary shape text detection. However, separating neighboring text instances is still one of the most challenging problems due to the complexity of texts in scene images. In this paper, we propose an innovative Kernel Proposal Network (dubbed KPN) for arbitrary shape text detection. The proposed KPN can separate neighboring text instances by classifying different texts into instance-independent feature maps, meanwhile avoiding the complex aggregation process existing in segmentation-based arbitrary shape text detection methods. To be concrete, our KPN will predict a Gaussian center map for each text image, which will be used to extract a series of candidate kernel proposals (i.e., dynamic convolution kernel) from the embedding feature maps according to their corresponding keypoint positions. To enforce the independence between kernel proposals, we propose a novel orthogonal learning loss (OLL) via orthogonal constraints. Specifically, our kernel proposals contain important self-information learned by network and location information by position embedding. Finally, kernel proposals will individually convolve all embedding feature maps for generating individual embedded maps of text instances. In this way, our KPN can effectively separate neighboring text instances and improve the robustness against unclear boundaries. To our knowledge, our work is the first to introduce the dynamic convolution kernel strategy to efficiently and effectively tackle the adhesion problem of neighboring text instances in text detection. Experimental results on challenging datasets verify the impressive performance and efficiency of our method. The code and model are available at https://github.com/GXYM/KPN., Comment: This paper was completed in 2020-11.It was first submitted to CVPR 2021 and then ICCV 2021. Finally, it has been accepted by TNNLS in 2022-02 after major revision. Here, I thank Dr.Hou for his important contributions

Gefitinib has been widely applied for the treatment of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). However, the long-term application of gefitinib usually leads to acquired drug resistance in tumour patients, resulting in clinical treatment failure. Small nucleolar host gene 17 (SNHG17) has been shown to play a regulatory role in LUAD progression. Nevertheless, the role of SNHG17 in LUAD gefitinib resistance remains elusive. The expression pattern of SNHG17 was examined in tissues and cell lines of gefitinib-sensitive and gefitinib-resistant LUAD, respectively. Gain- and loss-of-function experiments were employed to assess the biological functions of SNHG17 in cell proliferation and apoptosis, as well as aggressive phenotypes of LUAD cells. MeRIP-qPCR and colorimetric quantificational analysis were performed to detect m6A modifications and contents. Fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) and subcellular fractionation analysis were used to reveal the distribution of SNHG17. RIP and ChIP assays were performed to further validate the SNHG17/EZH2/LATS2 regulatory axis. A xenograft tumour growth assay was conducted to evaluate the role of SNHG17 in LUAD gefitinib resistance in vivo. SNHG17 was upregulated in gefitinib-resistant LUAD tissues and cell lines. Functional assays showed that SNHG17 aggravated the malignant phenotypes of gefitinib-resistant LUAD cells. In addition, METTL3-mediated N6-methyladenosine modification could induce the upregulation of SNHG17by stabilising its RNA transcript. Mechanistically, SNHG17 epigenetically repressed the expression of LATS2 by recruiting EZH2 to the promoter region of LATS2. The regulatory role of the SNHG17/EZH2/LATS2 axis in LUAD gefitinib resistance was further supported in vivo. Collectively, our findings suggested that SNHG17 induced by METTL3 could promote LUAD gefitinib resistance by epigenetically repressing LATS2 expression.

OBJECTIVE: To study the safety and efficacy of dexmedetomidine hydrochloride combined with midazolam in fiberoptic bronchoscopy in children. METHODS: A total of 118 children who planned to undergo fiberoptic bronchoscopy from September 2018 to February 2021 were enrolled. They were divided into a control group (n=60) and an observation group (n=58) using a random number table. The observation group received intravenous pumping of dexmedetomidine hydrochloride (2 μg/mL) at 1 μg/kg and then intravenous injection of midazolam at 0.05 mg/kg, followed by dexmedetomidine hydrochloride pumped intravenously at 0.5-0.7 μg/(kg·h) 10 minutes later to maintain anesthesia. The control group was given intravenous pumping of propofol at 2 mg/kg and then intravenous injection of midazolam at 0.05 mg/kg, followed by propofol pumped intravenously at 4-6 mg/(kg·h) 10 minutes later to maintain anesthesia. Fiberoptic bronchoscopy was performed after the children were unconscious. Heart rate (HR), respiratory rate, blood oxygen saturation, and mean arterial pressure (MAP) were recorded before inserting the bronchoscope (T(0)), at the time of inserting the bronchoscope (T(1)), when the bronchoscope reached the glottis (T(2)), when the bronchoscope reached the carina (T(3)), and when the bronchoscope entered the bronchus (T(4)). The intraoperative peak airway pressure (Ppeak), examination time, degree of sedation, extent of amnesia, incidence of adverse reactions, postoperative awakening time, and postoperative agitation score were also recorded. RESULTS: Compared with the control group, the observation group had significantly decreased MAP at T(1) to T(4) and HR at T(1) to T(3) (P0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Dexmedetomidine hydrochloride combined with midazolam is a safe and effective way to administer general anesthesia for fiberoptic bronchoscopy in children, which can ensure stable vital signs during examination, reduce intraoperative adverse reactions and postoperative agitation, shorten examination time, and increase amnesic effect.

Direct regression and anchor are the two mainly effective and prevailing mechanisms in the paradigm of scene text detection. However, the use of direct regression-based methods may be challenging during optimization without the help of anchors as references. Unfortunately, the anchor-based methods always suffer from the careful design of the anchors, degrading the robustness to complex scenes. To address the above-mentioned problems, we propose a novel hidden anchor mechanism (HAM) especially for scene text detection. The predictions of anchors are innovatively regarded as hidden layers, and the weighted sum of the predictions is integrated into a direct regression-based network. Hence, the architecture of our HAM still has the characteristic of simplicity as with direct regression-based methods. Moreover, it is easier to optimize anchors as references with this type of method than with direct regression-based methods. In this way, our network can take advantage of both direct regression and anchor mechanisms. In addition, we decouple three kinds of one-dimensional anchors from three-dimensional anchors, greatly reducing the number of anchors in text bounding box matching without performance degradation. We also propose a post-processing technique for long text detection, named iterative regression box (IRB), which takes a few additional computational costs and can be easily generalized to other methods. Experiments on several public datasets demonstrate that the proposed method achieves state-of-the-art performance. Code is available at https://github.com/hjbplayer/HAM .

Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate the cerebral outcomes of patients underwent novel triple‐branched stent graft implantation combined with the intraoperative monitoring of regional cerebral oxygen saturation. Methods One hundred thirty‐seven consecutive patients who underwent the surgery of triple‐branched stent graft implantation in our department were enrolled in this retrospective case‐control study. The patients in group A received brain protection based on the intraoperative monitoring of regional cerebral oxygen saturation and the patients in group B received conventional brain protection. The general clinical data, the types of corrective surgeries, the intraoperative situations, the postoperative complications, and the midterm outcomes of the patients were analyzed. Results The incidence of postoperative cerebral dysfunction in the patients of group A was significantly lower than that in the patients in group B (3.2% vs 14.9%, P = .020). We found significant differences in the incubation times (30.3 ± 22.1 vs 42.3 ± 27.9 hours, P = .014), the lengths of intensive care unit stay (58.0 ± 54.3 vs 79.7 ± 55.5 hours, P = .004), and the hospital stays (19.3 ± 6.7 vs 24.9 ± 17.3 days, P = .045). A descending trend in the mortality rates was observed between the patients in the two groups based on the 20 months of observation; however, this trend was not statistically significant (1.6% vs 6.8%, P = .218). Conclusions The novel triple‐branched stent graft implantation procedure combined with intraoperative monitoring of the regional cerebral oxygen saturation was an effective treatment for Stanford type A aortic dissection, with a relatively low incidence of postoperative cerebral dysfunction.

Landscape pattern evolution leads to changes of landscape spatial structure, which are intuitively reflected in the changes of ecosystem structure and composition and finally affect ecological security. In this paper, we assessed the spatiotemporal variation of the ecological security and landscape pattern of the middle and lower reaches of Shule River Basin in 1987–2015. Further, we analyzed the correlation between the ecological security and landscape pattern of the study region and correlation coefficients were calculated. On this basis, the key landscape pattern indices influencing the ecological security of the study region were identified. This may provide useful information for ecological regulation and design. The results show that: (1) From 1987 to 2015, the ecological security in the middle and lower reaches of the Shule River Basin was of medium or low level, showing periodic “U” shaped fluctuations, and the fluctuation period was gradually shortened. In addition, there was an overall spatial pattern of “high ecological security in the west, middle and south and low ecological security in the east”. (2) The landscape pattern showed clear stage characteristics. The complexity of landscape pattern increased from 1987 to 1996 and decreased after 1996. (3) Landscape size, shape, quantity, type and spatial configuration had important impacts on ecological security and showed significant temporal variation. In a period when the influence of human activities was weak, ecological security was mainly related to landscape area indices. With increase in human activities, landscape shape, fragmentation and connectivity changed greatly, which led to changes in the structure and composition of ecosystem, thus finally affecting ecological security.

Arbitrary shape text detection is a challenging task due to the high variety and complexity of scenes texts. In this paper, we propose a novel unified relational reasoning graph network for arbitrary shape text detection. In our method, an innovative local graph bridges a text proposal model via Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and a deep relational reasoning network via Graph Convolutional Network (GCN), making our network end-to-end trainable. To be concrete, every text instance will be divided into a series of small rectangular components, and the geometry attributes (e.g., height, width, and orientation) of the small components will be estimated by our text proposal model. Given the geometry attributes, the local graph construction model can roughly establish linkages between different text components. For further reasoning and deducing the likelihood of linkages between the component and its neighbors, we adopt a graph-based network to perform deep relational reasoning on local graphs. Experiments on public available datasets demonstrate the state-of-the-art performance of our method., Comment: 10 pages, Accepted by CVPR2020 Oral

Video has become one of the dominant data resources with the development of the Internet. As a result, the structured sorting of videos, which can be used for storage and extraction, represents a growing concern in the community. In particular, the text within videos can carry rich semantic information, leading to many novel studies wherein text tracking and recognition are performed. One essential step in text tracking involves template matching. In general, the adjacent matrices are modeled to represent the extracted tracking object features. Then, often, the Hungarian algorithm is applied to find the correspondence pairs between consecutive frames. In many works, text features are extracted based on morphological features such as color histograms and aspect ratios. However, under those features, similar text objects are not sufficiently distinguishable to make a distinction between them. To address this issue, we regard the template matching task as a graph matching problem. The main novelty involves a graph matching approach that utilizes the relationship between two trajectories or two objects, whereby a graph matching solver can be readily used in our tracking system. By utilizing the content information, the mismatch between the same object among different frames is effectively reduced. The experimental results demonstrate that the tracker with the graph matching method tends to increase the valid correspondence of trajectories and candidate objects.

Text extraction plays an important role in news images analysis tasks. Howerver, the conglutination of subtitles and station logos makes text detection challenging. In this paper, we develop an effective news text detection framework by introducing a novel similarity embedded proposal mechanism. The main idea is to predict similarity for each fine-scale coarse proposal to help construct text bounding boxes. Specifically, a CNN and bi-directional LSTM based network is used to produce vectors embedded in coarse proposals provided by Connectionist Text Proposal Network (CTPN). Notablely, similarity embedded proposal mechanism can be generalized to other sub-text level text detection models. Comparing to the state-of-the-art method (CTPN), our framework improves F-measure by 25.2% on our Private News Dataset and 8.9% on ICDAR 2013 benchmarks, respectively.

Objective Neutrophil infiltration in patients with sinonasal inverted papilloma (SNIP) is significantly high. Whether IL-17, which is a potent factor mediating neutrophilic inflammation, is involved in the neutrophilic phenotype of SNIP is investigated in the current study. Study design Laboratorial study. Participants Nasal papilloma and inferior turbinate were collected from patients with SNIP (n = 50) and control subjects with septal deviation (n = 15). Methods IL-17 + cells were evaluated in tissues obtained from patients with SNIP and control subjects with septal deviation, by immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry. Main outcome measures The IL-17 + cells were mainly localised in mononuclear cells and neutrophils, and were up-regulated in the SNIP samples compared with those in the controls. The IL-17 + T-cell subsets mainly included CD4+ (Th17, 60.0%) and CD8+ (Tc17, 30.0%), and both subsets were enhanced in the SNIP samples than controls. The total level of IL-17 + cells was significantly correlated with neutrophil infiltration in the SNIP tissues. Furthermore, the SNIP homogenates could significantly promote IL-17 production in peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Conclusions An increase in IL-17 + cells is evident in SNIP and may be involved in neutrophil infiltration in local tissues. IL-17 could be a potential therapeutic target to relieve the neutrophilic pathological change in SNIP.

Based on the brief introduction of the variable frequency control technology, this paper elaborates the design and implementation of the variable frequency control strategy in the transmission line of the cementation facility, and describes the salient features of the control strategy. A frequency converter switches the control of two motors. And the reactor is used to achieve long-distance transmission of the frequency signal. In this project, the frequency regulation mainly affects the operation speed of the roller, and the shift of the roller speed is to take into account both the efficiency of waste treatment and the positioning accuracy of metal drum. The successful implementation of the project provides a good theoretical basis and example for the massive, standardized application of variable frequency control technology in the nuclear power plant.

Deubiquitinating protease USP7 is a promising therapeutic target for cancer treatment, and interest in developing USP7 inhibitors has greatly increased. In the present study, we reported a series of natural pentacyclic triterpenes with USP7 inhibitory activity in vitro. Among them, both the ursane triterpenes and oleanane triterpenes were more active than the lupine triterpenes, whereas ursolic acid was the most potent with IC(50) of 7.0±1.5 μmol/L. Molecular docking studies showed that ursolic acid might occupy the ubiquitin binding pocket of USP7, with the 17-carboxyl group and 3-hydroxyl group playing a vital role in the USP7-ursolic acid interaction. Using the cellular thermal shift assay, we demonstrated that ursolic acid interacted with USP7 in RPMI8226 human myeloma cells. Ursolic acid dose-dependently inhibited the proliferation of the myeloma cells with IC(50) of 6.56 μmol/L, accompanied by reductions in USP7 substrates such as MDM2, UHRF1 and DNMT1. Overexpression of USP7 partially, but significantly attenuated ursolic acid-induced cell death as well as downregulation of MDM2, UHRF1 and DNMT1. In conclusion, we demonstrate for the first time that pentacyclic triterpenes represent a novel scaffold for developing USP7 inhibitors and that USP7 inhibition contributes to the anti-cancer effect of ursolic acid.

Spatial relationship is the basic perspective of understanding regions. Tourism spatial structure is the spatial projection of tourism activities, reflecting the spatial attributes and interrelationships of tourism activities. In this paper, taking Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture as an example, we identified the objective and subjective tourism spatial structure of Gannan Prefecture based on the GIS spatial analysis function and using objective and subjective tourist attractions as the spatial object element. Then, the tourism spatial network was reconstructed. Results are as follows. (1) Both objective and subjective tourist attractions in Gannan Prefecture exhibit aggregated distribution. Among them, the spatial distribution of objective tourist attractions has a significant trend of contiguous aggregation, showing a relatively higher density in the northeastern and southeastern regions, and a lower density in the central and southwestern regions. This is opposite to that of the subjective tourist attractions. (2) The connectivity and accessibility between objective and subjective tourist attractions in Gannan Prefecture are poor, and only a few tourist attractions form a traffic connection with neighboring ones. (3) The objective tourism spatial network of Gannan Prefecture is layered with aggregation, and presents a significant cohesive development trend. This is opposite to the subjective one. (4) Based on the identification results of objective and subjective tourism spatial structures, the objective and subjective core tourism resources as well as tourist attractions should be integrated, and the road transportation system should be constructed and improved. Then, a high-quality tourism spatial network with ‘three poles, three axes and four groups’ was constructed. This study provides a scientific basis for the tourism spatial development, tourist route organization, the layout of tourism service facilities and product, and tourism spatial optimization in specific regions.

Aggregated or solid state red fluorescent materials with efficient light emission are rare but have wide applications in optoelectronic and biological fields. Herein, two pyran derivatives, EtAmPy and EtOxPy with different charge transfers (CT), were designed as initiators and introduced to polystyrene chains via atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). The emission of EtAmPy was quenched both in highly polar solvents and in an aggregated state because of its strong CT and intermolecular interactions, respectively. After EtAmPy was introduced to normal polystyrene chains, the obtained functional PS emitted strong red light with a quantum yield of 37% in an aggregated state. Differently from EtAmPy, EtOxPy, possessing a weak CT and not being sensitive to the change of microenvironment, was AIE-active and displayed a large red shift in emission spectra in an aggregated state. Meanwhile, the functional PS initiated by EtOxPy showed obviously blue-shifted emission, compared to its initiator, in an aggregated state by reducing their intermolecular interactions. EtAmPy-functionalized polystyrene showed a successful application in cell imaging. Therefore, using the CT effect in molecular design and polymerization is beneficial to obtaining new red emission probes.

A kind of theoretical analysis method in wall climbing robot design is presented in this paper. Using this method, a flexible wall climbing robot is developed that can be well adopted in small irregular places. Firstly, an optimization mechanism is given based on the effective utilization of aerodynamic attraction produced by a centrifugal blower. Kinematics model of the robot is represented, then linear velocity function and angular velocity function of the robot are deduced. Dynamic model based on Lagrange equation is established, which can be a theoretical foundation for control system design. Finally, simulation results show that the dynamic model and the method are reliable since the curves of driving torque match the change of negative pressure.

To investigate the anti-hepatoma mechanism of α-pinene, HepG2 cell was treated with α-pinene and the change of cell cycle was examined by flow cytometry. The expression of miR-221, which was related the regulation of G₂/M phase, was detected by quantitative Real-time PCR. Meanwhile, TargetScan and other online bioinformatics methods were used to analyze and predict the target genes of miR-221, then the expression level of related target genes were detected by quantitative Real-time PCR. The results showed that α-pinene inhibited the proliferation of HepG2 cells in dose-dependent manner. It was also proved that HepG2 cells were arrested at G₂/M phase by α-pinene (P

The anaerobic fermentation characteristics of green and dried corn straw pretreated by steam explosion method were investigated. The steam pressure and retention time were 1.0Mpa and 90s, TS of fermentation liquid were 2% and 4%. It was shown that the fermentation cycle of green straw is shorter than that of the dried one by 4-7 days, the gas productivity of green straw is 220 mL/gVS, which is higher than that of dried one (153 mL/gVS) while TS is 2%, but there is no significant difference between the green and dried corn straw while TS is 4%, the average methane content in biogas produced from green straw is slightly less than that of the dried one.

Perovskite KTa0.65Nb0.35O3 (KTN) thin films were grown by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) on single crystal SrTiO3 (100) substrates. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses illustrate epitaxially grown of KTN thin films along the (100) orientation. The surface morphology of films observed by atomic force microscope (AFM) showed that, the surface of films was smooth and uniform built from regular, ordered and dense grains with the root mean square (RMS) roughness of 5.602 nm. Linear and third-order nonlinear optical properties of the films were investigated by using transmission spectra as well as the Z-scan technique with femtosecond laser pulses, respectively. The open-aperture and closed-aperture Z-scan curves of KTN thin films were obtained in the first measurement. The calculated nonlinear refractive index was , the nonlinear absorption coefficient is = , and the real part and imaginary part of the third order nonlinear susceptibility are and respectively.

Six new compounds, pruniflorones M-R (1-6), together with 19 known compounds (7-25) were isolated from the stems of Cratoxylum formosum ssp. pruniflorum. The structures of the new compounds were established on the basis of extensive spectroscopic data interpretation. In addition, their RXRalpha transcriptional activities were evaluated using an in vitro assay.

Polyaniline (PANI) nanostructures were synthesized in lamellar liquid crystal (LLC) formed by different surfactants. It was found that PANI presented lamellar nanostructures by using the template of LLC formed by ionic surfactant of sodium dodecyl sulfonate (SDS) or hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), whereas PANI spheric nanostructures were obtained within the LLC template formed by the nonionic surfactant of Triton X-100. The formation mechanisms of PANI nanostructures were discussed. Besides, the lubricating effect of PANI in LLC template was also investigated, and the results showed that spheric PANI had better lubricative performance than lamellar PANI.

The composite material of polyaniline/NiO/sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate (SDBS) is synthesized in SDBS micelles. The composite material has satisfactory conductivity and thermostability, and the particle length, width, and thickness are about 200–500 μm, 3–5 μm, and 40–96 nm, respectively.

α-Fe2O3/polystyrene composite nanoparticles were synthesized in an oil/water microemulsion. Their structure was characterized by transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform-infrared spectrometry. An Ubbelonde viscometer, a Gouy balance and a model 283 potentiostat/galvanostat measured the molecular weight of the composite nanoparticles and their magnetic and electrical characteristics respectively.

A new 3-D supramolecular Cu(I) complex, [Cu(biq)CI] (biq = 2,2′-biquinoline), (1), has been synthesised and characterised. Single-crystal analysis shows that 1 contains 2-D layers linked by C–H…Cl interactions and the copper centres adopts a distorted trigonal planar geometry. Moreover there are π–π interactions between aromatic rings of the ligands, which connect the layers to form a 3-D supramolecular network.

Objective To establish a three–dimensional model of the temporal bone using CT scan images for study of temporal bone structures and simulation of mastoidectomy procedures. Methods CT scan images from 6 individuals (12 temporal bones) were used to reconstruct the Fallopian canal, internal auditory canal, cochlea, semicircular canals, sigmoid sinus, posterior fossa floor and jugular bulb on a computer platform. Their anatomical relations within the temporal bone were restored in the computed model. The same model was used to simulate mastoidectomy procedures. Results The reconstructed computer model provided accurate and clear three–dimensional images of temporal bone structures. Simulation of mastoidectomy using these images provided procedural experiences closely mimicking the real surgical procedure. Conclusion Computer–aided three dimensional reconstruction of temporal bone structures using CT scan images is a useful tool in surgical simulation and can aid surgical procedure planning. Key words three–dimension reconstruction, CT scan, surgery simulation

To investigate the effect and safety of the implantation of a new type of testicular prosthesis in the treatment of testis loss.We recruited for this study 18 patients with testis loss treated by testicular prosthesis implantation, including 10 cases of prostate cancer, 3 cases of anorchia, 2 case of orchiatrophy, 2 cases of hermaphroditism and 1 case of cryptorchidism. The prosthesis was a hollow silicone elastomer YH-G1 made in China, selected according to the volume of the scrotum and the size of the contralateral testis.Thirteen of the patients received testicular prosthesis implantation with orchiectomy, and the other 5 underwent the procedure 6 months later. The operation time of testicular prosthesis implantation was (22.6 +/- 4.6) min, ranging from 15 to 30 minutes. All the patients were discharged after 12 hours of postoperative observation, with a mean hospital stay of (1.3 +/- 0.4) days. A follow-up after 6 months revealed no complications in 17 cases. Rejection occurred in 1 case at 3 months after the implantation, ending in the removal of the prosthesis. Of the 17 successful cases, 15 were very satisfied with the size of the prosthesis, 14 with its weight, 12 with its comfortableness, and all with the appearance of the scrotum and the position of the prosthesis, while 5 found the implant too rigid.The implantation of the new home-made silicone elastomer testicular prosthesis YH-G1 was safe and effective for the treatment of testis loss, and could meet the esthetic and psychological requirements of the patient. But further observation is needed for its long-term complications and influence on the patient's quality of life.

isolation, structure determination and retinoid X receptor transcriptional activities of two new xanthone glycosides, pruniflorosides A and B (I), a new benzophenone glycoside, prunifloroside C (II) and a new xanthone, pruniflorone S (III)

The testicular development and spermatogenesis of mammalians involve complex processes of cell migration, proliferation and differentiation and cell-cell interaction. In spite of extensive researches, many relevant aspects remain unclear. One of the impediments in the studies of testicular development and spermatogenesis of mammalians is the lack of a suitable model. In the last few years, two valuable models were developed for the study of mammalian spermatogenesis: testis tissue from immature animals transplanted ectopically into immunodeficient mice that could survive and produce functional spermatids, and isolated testis cells able to organize and rearrange into seminiferous cords that subsequently undergo complete spermatogenesis. This article presents an update and the applications and prospects of these two methods.

The effect of long-term daily injection of 1,25 (OH)2 vitamin D3 on blood pressure and contractile force generation by subsequently isolated mesenteric resistance arteries was examined using the spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) model of genetic hypertension. Beginning at 6 weeks of age, male SHR were given daily intraperitoneal injections of vehicle, or 1,25 (OH)2 vitamin D3 at 20, 30, or 40 ng/100 g body weight. Body weight and systolic blood pressure were determined weekly. After 9 weeks, serum was prepared for electrolyte analysis and mesenteric resistance arteries were isolated for assessment of contractile function using a wire myograph. Blood pressure became elevated in the rats receiving 20 and 40 ng 1,25 (OH)2 vitamin D3 after 5 weeks and remained elevated in the 40 ng group during the sixth week. Between weeks six to nine, blood pressure continued to rise but was not different among the groups. In addition, during the period between 6 and 9 weeks, there was a decline in the rate of weight gain in rats receiving 30 and 40 ng 1,25 (OH)2 vitamin D3. Serum ionized Ca2+ was significantly elevated in the three groups treated with 1,25 (OH)2 vitamin D3 compared with control. The active stress response of resistance arteries to norepinephrine and arginine vasopressin was significantly elevated in rats that received 30 and 40 ng 1,25 (OH)2 vitamin D3, but no differences in apparent sensitivity to these agonists were detected.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

To evaluate and compare the clinical efficacy and safety of the highly selective alpha receptor antagonist tamsulosin and its combination with the M receptor antagonist tolterodine in the treatment of refractory lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).We included in this study 184 BPH patients with refractory LUTS with the disease course of 4 weeks to 2 years, whose LUTS were not alleviated after a week's treatment with tamsulosin. The patients were randomly divided into Groups A and B, the former (n=89) treated with tamsulosin at 0.2 mg qd and the latter (n=95) given tolterodine at 2 mg bid in addition to tamsulosin medication, both for 4 weeks. Scores on IPSS, QOL and Qmax were obtained before and after the treatment, and the improvement of LUTS evaluated after the medication.The tamsulosin group showed no significant differences before and after the treatment in the scores on IPSS (13.23 +/- 4.39 vs. 12.21 +/- 4.07), QOL (4.23 +/- 1.27 vs 3.53 +/- 0.95) and Qmax ([12.3 +/- 8.39] ml/s vs. [14.1 +/- 8.62] mls) (P0.05), while the combination group exhibited significantly higher scores on IPSS and QOL and lower score on Qmax after the medication than before it (IPSS: 14.45 +/- 5.31 vs. 6.56 +/- 2.03, P0.05; QOL: 4.45 +/- 0.79 vs. 2.34 +/- 0.73, P0.05; Qmax: [11.4 +/- 9.21] ml/s vs. [15.5 +/- 8.35] ml/s, P0.01). No severe complications were found in any of the cases.Combination of tamsulosin and tolterodine can significantly alleviate refractory LUTS and improve QOL without causing serious adverse events in BPH patients.

To evaluate the safety and efficacy of suture techniques for midline abdominal incisions with systematic review and meta-analysis.The articles about suture techniques for midline abdominal incisions published from year of 1981 to 2009 in MedLine and Embase databases were retrieved. All the trials with a minimal follow-up of one year that randomized patients for midline laparotomy with different suture techniques and/or suture materials were subjected to meta-analysis. The outcomes included incisional hernia, wound dehiscence, wound infection and suture sinus formation.Total of 13 articles were collected in this analysis. Compared with continuous sutures, interrupted sutures had significantly more incisional hernias (OR = 0.80, 95%CI: 0.66 - 1.00;P = 0.05). Continuous rapidly absorbable suture was associated with significantly more incisional hernias than continuous slowly absorbable suture or continuous non-absorbable suture (15.8%, 10.0% and 8.3%, respectively; P0.05). More suture sinuses occurred in patients with continuous non-absorbable suture than in those with continuous rapidly absorbable suture (5.6% vs. 1.0%, P0.05); And more suture sinuses occurred in patients with interrupted non-absorbable suture than in those with interrupted rapidly absorbable suture (8.8% vs. 0, P0.05). Compared with continuous slowly absorbable suture, more suture sinuses occurred in patients with continuous non-absorbable suture (OR = 0.47, 95%CI: 0.24 - 0.92; P0.05). Less incisional hernias occurred in patients with a suture length/wound length ratio (SL/WL) of ≥ 4:1 than those with the ratio less than 4:1 (P0.05).To reduce the incidence of incisional hernia without increasing wound infection frequency, the ideal suture technique is mass closure using a continuous suture, with an adequate suture length/wound length ratio no less than 4:1, the suture materials should be slowly absorbable.

Background. To evaluate the effectiveness of contrast-enhanced sonographic micro flow imaging (MFI) in the diagnosis of prostate cancer. Methods. A total of 74 patients referred for prostate biopsy were prospectively evaluated with MFI. The abnormalities were categorized into four patterns: pattern 1: indistinct separation between the inner and outer gland; pattern 2: asymmetrical or focally increased enhancement in the outer gland; pattern 3: enhancement with focal defect; pattern 4: enhancement in the outer gland equal to that of the inner gland. The findings were correlated with Gleason scores. Results. Prostate cancer was detected in 264 sites in 41 patients. The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and positive and negative predictive values for MFI were 81.1%, 84.3%, 83.3%, 68.6%, and 91.3%, respectively. Positive predictive values for the four patterns were 46.0 (pattern 1), 53.6 (pattern 2), 94.3 (pattern 3), and 95.4 (pattern 4). Gleason scores of cancers with patterns 3 (7.09) or 4 (7.51) were significantly higher than those with patterns 1 (6.17) or 2 (6.59) (p = 0.001, p = 0.005, p < 0.001, p < 0.001). Conclusions. Some MFI patterns had high positive predictive values and were associated with more aggressive cancers. This could be used to reduce the number of biopsy sites and detect clinically significant cancers. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Ultrasound, 2011

Chemokines, a family of small cytokines, were initially characterized as proinflammatory chemoattractant cytokines that regulated cell trafficking and adhesion. Today, attention focuses on chemokines because evidence shows that they play a critical role in tumor initiation, promotion, and progression. CXCR7, a seven-transmembrane G-protein-coupled CXC chemokine receptor, has recently been identified as binding with high affinity to chemokines CXCL11 (I-TAC) and CXCL12 (SDF-1). In this review, we highlight the current knowledge about the role of CXCR7 in the biologic processes of cancer, including cancer growth, survival, adhesion, invasion, metastasis, angiogenesis, and progression. The use of peptides, small molecules, antibodies, or small interfering RNA to target CXCR7 shows promise as new potential avenues for the treatment of cancer.

To explore the surgical approaches, methods and techniques of repair of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) rhinorrhea via frontal sinus under transnasal endoscopy.Cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea, located at the posterior wall of the frontal sinus (n = 9) and posterior lateral wall of the frontal recess (n = 4) had been repaired surgically. A transnasal endoscopic approach was chosen in 12 patients and combined approach was used in 1 patient during the first procedure. Three patients needed the second surgery. Among them, one patient needed to repair CSF rhinorrhea, 1 patient needed to treat intracranial abscess of frontal lobe via combined approach and another one was treated because of the complication of frontal cyst.Twelve patients were successfully repaired in the first surgery. Only 1 patient needed second surgery. Two patients occurred complications. One was intracranial infection after surgery, external drainage and packing in the frontal sinus was used. Another was obstructive cyst in frontal sinus, transnasal endoscopic frontal sinusotomy was performed.CSF rhinorrhea which located at the posterior wall of the frontal sinus can be successfully repaired via transnasal endoscopic approach if the leak was visible under endoscopy. The size of the frontal ostium and leak vantage should be considered to prevent the drainage of the frontal sinus which would result in obstructive cyst in frontal sinus, frontal sinusitis and intracranial infection. Combined approach was suggested to the patients that leakage could not be seen in frontal sinus or frontal ostium was difficult to enlarge.

The purpose of this article is to establish an endoscopic score system for quantitative evaluation of the inflammation of mucous membrane in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) , and to investigate the correlation of this system with a variety of clinical factors.A set of score system was constructed based on anatomic configuration, status of mucous membrane and nasal secretion to evaluate quantificationally the severity of inflammation of CRS. The clinical correlation of this system was studied prospectively in 60 CRS patients, with a variety of clinical factors which included age, duration of disease, previous recurrence and the years from recent recurrence, atopy, serum total immunoglobulin E (TIgE), serum eosinophil cationic protein (ECP), the count of blood eosinophil, the count of tissue inflammatory cell, the extension of CRS indicated by CT, smoking, concomitant chronic inflammation in lower respiratory tract. All above factors were analyzed statistically with the endoscopic score by Pearson correlation and multi-factor linear regression analysis.In pearson analysis, the correlative factors with the evaluated score included age (x1, r = - 0.310, P = 0.016), the extension of disease (x2, r = 0. 810, P0.0005), recurrence (x3, r = 0.408, P = 0.001), eosinophil of nasal tissue (x4, r = 0.279, P = 0. 031), duration of disease (x5, r = 0.536, P0.0005), concurrent nasal polyps (r = 0.549, P0.0005), plasm cell (r = 0. 317, P = 0.014) and years from the recent recurrence (r = 0.385, P = 0.002). In multi-factor linear regression, the five independent predictive factors were recurrence, age, extension of disease, tissue eosinophils, years of disease. The regressive equation is y = 10.148 - 0.152 (x1) + 2.250 (x2) + 3.348 (x3) + 1.233 (x4) + 0.270 (x5).Appropriate score system by nasal endoscopy is feasible to evaluate quantificationally the degree of inflammation of CRS; being appropriately modified, it is even able to reveal the underlying histological behavior finely.

To investigate the role of cerebral computed tomography (CT) in the evaluation of the severity of brain injury following hypoxia in neonates.A total of 114 full-term newborns who had perinatal hypoxia, including 25 cases of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), 36 cases of neonatal asphyxia and 53 cases of simple intrauterine fetal distress, were enrolled in this study. Twenty normal newborns served as the Control group. All had cerebral CT scan at 2-7 days of age. Neonatal behavior neurological assessment (NBNA) was performed at 5 days of age.The average NBNA scores were significantly lower and the abnormality rate of NBNA was significantly higher in the HIE group than in the other three groups (P0.05). The Asphyxia and the Distress groups had also lower NBNA scores and higher abnormality rate of NBNA than the Control group (P0.05). Twenty-two patients were found to have cerebral CT abnormality in the HIE group, but there was only 1 case in the Control group (P0.01). The abnormality rate of cerebral CT in the Asphyxia and the Distress groups was not statistically different from that of the Control group. Twenty-five cases of HIE were divided into mild (n=15), medium (n=6) and severe (n=4) by clinical grading but were divided into normal (n=3), mild (n=10), medium (n=7) and severe (n=5) by CT grading. CT and clinical grading on HIE was not consistent. The sensitivity of CT in the diagnosis of mild, moderate and severe HIE was 47%, 33% and 50% respectively, the specificity was 70%, 74% and 86% respectively and the accuracy was 48%, 64% and 80% respectively.CT evaluation on mild brain injury induced by asphyxia or intrauterine fetal distress is not of any value and the role of CT evaluation on the HIE grade is uncertain and doubtful.

Objective: Ho:YAG laser had been used to treat the common diseases of urinary system such as bladder cancer and benign prostatic hyperplasia in our hospital. This study is to assess the efficacy and safety of transurethral Ho:YAG-laser resection to treat the urethral stricture and bladder neck contracture. Methods: From May 1997 to August 2004, 26 cases of urethral stricture and 33 cases of bladder neck contracture were treated by transurethral Ho:YAG-laser resection. These patients were followed up at regular intervals after operation. The uroflow rate of these patients was detected before and one-month after operation. The blood loss and the energy consumption of holmium-laser during the operation as well as the complications and curative effect after operation were observed. Results: The therapeutic effects were considered successful, with less bleeding and no severe complications. The Qmax of one month postoperation increased obviously than that of preoperation. Of the 59 cases, restenosis appeared in 11 cases (19%) with the symptoms of dysuria and weak urinary stream in 3-24 months respectively. Conclusions: The Ho:YAG-laser demonstrated good effect to treat the obstructive diseases of lower urinary tract such as urethral stricture and bladder neck contracture. It was safe, minimal invasive and easy to operate.