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Lung cancer is the main cause of cancer incidence and mortality around the world. Prucalopride is an agonist for the 5-hydroxytryptamine 4 receptor, but it was unknown whether prucalopride could be used to treat lung cancer. To investigate the biological effects of prucalopride on proliferation, apoptosis, invasion, and migration of lung cancer cells, and its underlying molecular mechanism in the progression of lung cancer, we performed this study. The Cell Counting Kit 8 assay was used to measure the proliferation of A549/A427 lung cancer cells treated with prucalopride. Transwell assay was applied to evaluate cell invasion and migration. Cell apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry and Western blot analyses. The expression levels of related proteins in the PI3K/AKT/mTor signaling pathway were analyzed by Western blotting. Prucalopride inhibited the proliferation, invasion, and migration of A549/A427 human lung cancer cells. It also induced autophagy and apoptosis and decreased the expression of the phosphorylated protein kinase B (AKT) and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTor) in these cells. This study implied an inhibitory role for prucalopride in the progression of human lung cancer.

Diabetic neuropathy (DN) is defined as the presence of symptoms and/or signs of peripheral nerve dysfunction in people with diabetes. The aim of this study is to screen differentially expressed genes in peripheral ganglia in early stage type Ⅱ experimental diabetic rats. We compared gene expression profiles of peripheral ganglia in type Ⅱ diabetic and nondiabetic rats based on Illumina® Sentrix® BeadChip arrays. The results showed that 158 out of a total of 12 604 known genes were significantly differentially expressed, including 87 up-regulated and 71 down-regulated genes, in diabetic rats compared with those in the nondiabetic rats. It is noted that some up-regulated genes are involved in the biological processes of neuronal cytoskeleton and motor proteins. In contrast, the down-regulated genes are associated with the response to virus\biotic stimulus\ other organism in diabetic rats. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis revealed that the most significant pathway enriched in the changed gene set is metabolism (P < 0.001). These results indicated that metabolic changes in peripheral ganglia of diabetic rats could be induced by hyperglycemia. Hyperglycemia could change the expression of genes involved in neuronal cytoskeleton and motor proteins through immune inflammatory response, and then impair the structure and function of the peripheral ganglia.

UNLABELLED Chronic alcohol drinking is astrong risk factor for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). In this study, the correlation between the HO-1 gene promoter polymorphism and alcohol, along with the risk of ESCC on Chinese males, was analyzed.The case-control study was performed in 143 ESCC patients and 264 cancer-free controls. All subjects were males. Allelotypic frequencies of (GT)n repeat were examed by PCR-based genotyping and DNA sequencing. The frequencies of L-allele and L-allele carriers (S/L and L/L genotypes) was significantly higher in ESCC patients than in controls (p =0.001 and 0.004), The adjusted ORs for ESCC with S/L and L/L genotypes vs S/S genotype was 2.212 (95% CI 1.297-3.775, p= 0.004). The adjusted ORs for light, moderate and heavy drinking was 1.467, 5.215 and 9.525 respectively among L-allele carriers (S/L and L/L genotypes )and 1.389, 2.096 and 3.039 respectively for the S/S genotype. Length of a(GT)n repeat in the HO-1 gene promoter may be associated with the development of ESCC in Chinese male drinkers. Reducing alcohol intake might be most protective among L-allele carriers of this polymorphism. KEYWORDS esophageal squamous cell carcinoma; heme oxygenase-1 promoter polymorphism; alcohol drinking.

A design methodology employed for a practical preliminary-level integration of next generation hypersonic airplanes is presented in this paper. The key feature of this type of configurations is that the forebody of the vehicle is designed by rotating and assembling two waverider-based-surfaces, which are defined by linear edges. The propulsion system assumes two scramjets with cylindrical combustion chambers. The layout of the configuration presents a Blend-Wing-Body aircraft in order to integrate the airframe and the propulsion units as well as to improve the aerodynamic performance. A 7.2 m long, Mach 6 vehicle is presented, and multi-point aerodynamic performance predictions are carried out by using computational fluid dynamics with a fully turbulent model at the flight Mach numbers range from 4 to 7, the flight angles of attack range from 0 to 8 degree, and the flight altitudes range from 20 km to 29 km. Numerical results demonstrates that such a design of the forebody could produce a good quality flowfield for the scramjets. Moreover, a relatively high lift-to-drag ratio can be obtained. The maximal values vary from 3.75 to 3.31 when the flight Mach number/altitude vary from 4/20 km to 7/29 km. © 2015, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. All rights reserved.

Purpose: To isolate and purify sesquiterpene lactones from Ixeris sonchifolia (Bunge) Hance by highspeed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC).Methods: I. sonchifolia was extracted with water and then loaded on a glass column (10 ~ 1500 cm containing 3000g D101 macroporous resin) where various concentrations of aqueous ethanol (0, 10, 30, 50, and 95 %) were used to elute the column successively. The 50 % ethanol fraction was purified by HSCCC using a solvent system comprised of ethyl acetate: n-butanol: methanol: water (4: 6: 1: 20, v/v), and semi-preparative high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The chemical structures of thecomponents obtained were further confirmed by high-resolution mass spectroscopy (MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR).Results: Three compounds, including ixerin Z1 (0.7 mg), ixerin Z (11.4 mg), and 11, 13α-dihydroixerin Z (8.2 mg), with purity of 96.2, 98.2, and 98.4 %, respectively, were obtained from 200 mg each of the 50 % ethanol fraction.Conclusion: HSCCC is a rapid and effective method for isolating and purifying sesquiterpene lactones from I. sonchifolia.Keywords: Sesquiterpene lactones, High-speed counter-current chromatography, Ixeris sonchifolia, Ixerin, 13α-Dihydroixerin