Search

Currently, fossil fuels such as oil, coal, and natural gas are the world's primary energy sources. However, it is anticipated that these energy sources will be depleted in less than 100 years. As such, the development of new energy technologies is urgently needed. Biomass is one of the earliest sources of energy, and is used especially in rural areas where it is often the only one that is accessible and affordable. With the depletion of fossil fuels and increasing environmental degradation, biomass energy is attracting increasing attention around the world. Compared with fossil fuel, biomass is carbon neutral and sustainable, and has a smaller greenhouse gas footprint and lower SO2 emission levels. In addition, biomass energy remains the only renewable green energy that can be stored and transported. A number of countries have developed mature and proven combustion technologies, but these technologies are mainly based on wood biomass fuels. Unlike these developed countries, China is a large agricultural country with a limited amount of available firewood. As such, foreign experience cannot be fully applied in China. Although biomass fuels typically have relatively low fuel-N contents, this fuel-N between 70%-100% mass fraction is converted to NOx during combustion. In addition, the combustion of straw and other biomass fuels emits more NOx than wood fuels. In recent years, the air quality in China has become a serious public health concern, and NOx is a widespread atmospheric pollutant with significant impacts on human health and the economy. In this paper, an overview of biomass combustion technologies and NOx control systems in China and around the world was presented, and their advantages and disadvantages were summarized. The main bottleneck was identified in NOx control technologies with respect to biomass boilers in China and the development of new technologies in this field was predicted.

Abstract Background Association testing is a powerful tool for identifying disease susceptibility genes underlying complex diseases. Technological advances have yielded a dramatic increase in the density of available genetic markers, necessitating an increase in the number of association tests required for the analysis of disease susceptibility genes. As such, multiple-tests corrections have become a critical issue. However the conventional statistical corrections on locus-specific multiple tests usually result in lower power as the number of markers increases. Alternatively, we propose here the application of the longest significant run (LSR) method to estimate a region-specific p-value to provide an index for the most likely candidate region. Results An advantage of the LSR method relative to procedures based on genotypic data is that only p-value data are needed and hence can be applied extensively to different study designs. In this study the proposed LSR method was compared with commonly used methods such as Bonferroni's method and FDR controlling method. We found that while all methods provide good control over false positive rate, LSR has much better power and false discovery rate. In the authentic analysis on psoriasis and asthma disease data, the LSR method successfully identified important candidate regions and replicated the results of previous association studies. Conclusion The proposed LSR method provides an efficient exploratory tool for the analysis of sequences of dense genetic markers. Our results show that the LSR method has better power and lower false discovery rate comparing with the locus-specific multiple tests.

The estimated prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in the US is 1.8 %. Data are limited on the clinical profile of the disease at first presentation and dynamic follow-up of ALT level, especially in publicly-funded patients. This information is critical for optimal management of these patients. The present study is aimed to assess the clinical profiles of chronic hepatitis C (CHC) at first presentation and clinical implication of dynamic follow-up of ALT level in a county medical center setting. A total of 294 patients were selected from the population consecutively evaluated in the Hepatitis Clinic at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center between Jan. 1990 and Dec. 1998. Ethnicity of the patients was Hispanics-49.0%, Caucasian-28.6%, African American-13.6%, and Asian-8.8%. Risk factors were identifiable in 84.0% of patients, and injection drug use (IDU) represented the leading risk factor for HCV acquisition (47.4%). History of alcoholism was present in 39.1%. The initial clinical diagnoses were chronic hepatitis 76.9%; compensated cirrhosis 20.4%; and decompensated cirrhosis 2.7%. Elevation of ALT, alpha fetoprotein (AFP), ferritin, and anti-nuclear antibody (ANA) titer were seen in 219/294 (74.5%), 60/194 (30.9%), 20/83 (24.1%), and 35/97 (36.1%) patients, respectively. Anti-HBc (total) test was positive in 65/129 (50.5%) patients. The presence of cirrhosis was significantly associated with age greater than 55 years at entry, female gender, non-African American ethnicity, history of transfusion, lower level of albumin and elevated level of AFP. Longitudinal observation of ALT changes in 178 patients who had neither evidence of cirrhosis at entry nor received interferon treatment showed persistently normal, intermittently or persistently elevated ALT level in 15.2%, 38.3%, and 46.6% patients, respectively. The frequency of developing clinical evidence of cirrhosis during follow-up was significantly higher in patients with persistently (16.0%) or intermittently (7.0%) elevated ALT than that in patients with persistently normal ALT (4.0%). In conclusion, the present study analyzed the clinical profiles of CHC, assessed risk factors for developing cirrhosis, and demonstrated the clinical value of dynamic follow-up of ALT level in a cohort of publicly-funded patients. These data have major implications in designing optimal strategies for disease management, antiviral therapy, and screening for hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with CHC.

Fusing object detection techniques and stochastic variational inference, we proposed a new scheme for lightweight neural network models, which could simultaneously reduce model sizes and raise the inference speed. This technique was then applied in fast human posture identification. The integer-arithmetic-only algorithm and the feature pyramid network were adopted to reduce the computational complexity in training and to capture features of small objects, respectively. Features of sequential human motion frames (i.e., the centroid coordinates of bounding boxes) were extracted by the self-attention mechanism. With the techniques of Bayesian neural network and stochastic variational inference, human postures could be promptly classified by fast resolving of the Gaussian mixture model for human posture classification. The model took instant centroid features as inputs and indicated possible human postures in the probabilistic maps. Our model had better overall performance than the baseline model ResNet in mean average precision (32.5 vs. 34.6), inference speed (27 vs. 48 milliseconds), and model size (46.2 vs. 227.8 MB). The model could also alert a suspected human falling event about 0.66 s in advance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tumor necrosis factor‐related apoptosis‐induced ligand (TRAIL) shows little or no toxicity in most normal cells and preferentially induces apoptosis in a variety of malignant cells. However, patients develop resistance to TRAIL, therefore, sensitizing agents that can sensitize the tumor cells to TRAIL‐mediated apoptosis are necessary. In this study, we investigated the effect of 2‐(3‐hydroxyphenyl)‐5‐methylnaphthyridin‐4‐one (CSC‐3436), an useful flavonoid, to overcome the TRAIL‐resistant triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) cells. We found that CSC‐3436 potentiated TRAIL‐induced apoptosis in TRAIL‐resistant TNBC cells and this correlated with the upregulation of death receptors (DR)‐5 and down‐regulation of decreased decoy receptor (DcR)‐1 expression. When examined for its mechanism, we found that the decreased expression of anti‐apoptotic proteins c‐FLIPS/L, Bcl‐Xl, Bcl‐2, Survivin, and XIAP. CSC‐3436 would increase the expression of Bax and promoted the cleavage of bid. In addition, the induction of DR5 by CSC‐3436 was found to be dependent on the modulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS)/p38/C/EBP‐homologous protein (CHOP) signaling pathways. Overall, our results indicated that CSC‐3436 could potentiate the apoptotic effects of TRAIL through down‐regulation of cell survival proteins and upregulation of DR5 via the ROS‐mediated upregulation of CHOP protein. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bladder cancer is the most common malignancy of the urinary tract and arising from the epithelial lining of the urinary bladder. Resistance to cytotoxic therapies is associated with overexpression of oncogenic proteins; including HER2, and Akt in chemotherapy resistance of bladder cancer. Various studies demonstrated that curcuminoids, the most important active phenolic compounds of turmeric (Curcuma longa), have anti‐tumor activities in a wide range of human malignant cell lines. The aim of this study is to evaluate whether curcuminoids (curcumin, demethoxycurcumin (DMC), and bisdemethoxycurcumin) could repress the expression of HER2 in HER2‐overexpressing bladder cancer cells. Among the test compounds, DMC significantly suppressed the expression of HER2, and preferentially inhibited cell proliferation and induced apoptosis in HER2‐overexpressing bladder cancer cells. DMC decreases HER2 level through inhibiting the interaction of HER2 and Hsp90. Our study also indicated that DMC showed additive activity in combination with chemotherapeutic agents, including paclitaxel and cisplatin. These findings show that DMC should be developed further as a new antitumor drug candidate for treatment of HER2‐overexpressing bladder cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organic acids secreted from the roots of plants play important roles in nutrient acquisition and metal detoxification; however, the precise underlying mechanisms of these processes remain poorly understood. In the present study we examined the content of organic acids exuded from roots and the effects of these organic acids on the activation of slowly available potassium (K) at different K levels, including normal K supply and K-deficient conditions. In addition, the study system also comprised a high-K tobacco variety (ND202) and two common ones (K326 and NC89). Our results showed that high-K varieties exhibited significantly higher contents of organic acids in its root exudates and available K in both rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere soils than the other varieties. This research also suggested that a cyclic process in which soil was acidified after being complexed by organic acids was involved in the release of slowly available K, and that this process primarily depended on the soil pH at high organic acids concentrations, but the complexation of organic ligands became dominant at low concentrations. In conclusion, tobacco roots secrete organic acids to increase available K content and improve the utilisation rate of soil K. High-K varieties probably enhance slowly available K activation by secreting relatively high amounts of organic acids, thus leading to more available K in soil for absorption by plants. In this study we examined tobacco varieties for ability to induce activation of slowly available potassium. High levels of organic acids exudates resulted in higher levels of available potassium. These findings suggest that some tobacco varieties may be useful for improving nutrient conditions in agricultural soils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The medicinal plant, Catharanthus roseus (C. roseus), accumulates a wide range of terpenoid indole alkaloids (TIAs). Ethylene (ET) and methyl-jasmonate (MeJA) were previously reported as effective elicitors for the production of various valuable secondary metabolites of C. roseus, while a few ET or MeJA induced transcriptomic research is yet reported on this species. In this study, the de-novo transcriptome assembly of C. roseus is performed by using the next-generation sequencing technology. Results: The result shows that phenolic biosynthesis genes respond specifically to ET in leaves, monoterpenoid biosynthesis genes respond specifically to MeJA in roots. By screening the database, 23 ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter partial sequences are identified in C. roseus. On this basis, more than 80 key genes that encode key enzymes (namely TIA pathway, transcriptional factor (TF) and candidate ABC transporter) of alkaloid synthesis in TIA biosynthetic pathways are chosen to explore the integrative responses to ET and MeJA at the transcriptional level. Our data indicated that TIA accumulation is strictly regulated by the TF ethylene responsive factor (ERF) and bHLH iridoid synthesis 1 (BIS1). The heatmap, combined with principal component analysis (PCA) of C. roseus, shows that ERF co-expression with ABC2 and ABC8 specific expression in roots affect the root-specific accumulation of vinblastine in C. roseus. On the contrast, BIS1 activities follow a similar pattern of ABC3 and CrTPT2 specific expression in leaves, which affects the leaf-specific accumulation of vindoline in C. roseus. Conclusions: Results presented above illustrate that ethylene has a stronger effect than MeJA on TIA induction at both transcriptional and metabolite level. Furthermore, meta-analysis reveals that ERF and BIS1 form a positive feedback loop connecting two ABC transporters respectively and are actively involved in TIAs responding to ET and MeJA in C. roseus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

“Triple negative breast cancer” (TNBC) is associated with a higher rate and earlier time of recurrence and worse prognosis after recurrence. In this study, we aimed to examine the crosstalk between fibroblasts and TNBC cells. The fibroblasts were isolated from TNBC patients’ tissue in tumor burden zones, distal normal zones and interface zones. The fibroblasts were indicated as cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), normal zone fibroblasts (NFs) and interface zone fibroblasts (INFs). Our study found that INFs grew significantly faster than NFs and CAFs in vitro. The epithelial BT20 cells cultured with the conditioned medium of INFs (INFs-CM) and CAFs (CAFs-CM) showed more spindle-like shape and cell scattering than cultured with the conditioned medium of NFs (NFs-CM). These results indicated that factors secreted by INFs-CM or CAFs-CM could induce the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) phenotype in BT20 cells. Using an in vitro co-culture model, INFs or CAFs induced EMT and promoted cancer cell migration in BT20 cells. Interestingly, we found that emodin inhibited INFs-CM or CAFs-CM-induced EMT programming and phenotype in BT20 cells. Previous studies reported that CAFs and INFs-secreted TGF-β promoted human breast cancer cell proliferation, here; our results indicated that TGF-β initiated EMT in BT20 cells. Pretreatment with emodin significantly suppressed the TGF-β-induced EMT and cell migration in BT20 cells. These results suggest that emodin may be used as a novel agent for the treatment of TNBC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CWF-145, a synthetic 2-phenyl-4-quinolone derivative exerted potent cytotoxicity against prostate cancer. CWF-145 inhibited prostate cancer cell lines PC-3, DU-145 and LNCap. It had a very low IC 50 about 200 nM against castrate-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) PC-3. We found that CWF-145 had a similar effect to clinical trial antimitotic agents in cancer cells and normal cells. CWF-145 arrested cell cycle at G2/M phase by binding to the β-tubulin at the colchicine-binding site then disrupted microtubule polymerization. Furthermore, the damaged microtubule affected the Akt/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway. Our data showed that CWF-145 activated Akt and mTOR expression to increase emi1 accumulation and inhibit APC. The increased cyclin B1 and securin arrested cell cycle at G2/M phase. Moreover, we showed that Akt activation markedly increased resistance to microtubule-directed agents, including CWF-145, colchicine, and paclitaxel. Interestingly, rapamycin inhibited Akt-mediated therapeutic resistance, indicating that these effects were dependent on mTOR. Taken together, these observations suggest that activation of the Akt/mTOR signaling pathway can promote resistance to chemotherapeutic agents that do not directly target metabolic regulation. These data may provide insight into potentially synergistic combinations of anticancer therapies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor (IGF-1R) plays a pivotal role in transformation, growth, and survival of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) cells, and has emerged as a general and promising target for cancer treatment. In this study, we examined the anti-tumor effects of CHM-1, a synthetic 6,7-methylenedioxy substituted 2-phenyl-4-quinolone derivative, on GBM cells in vitro and in vivo . CHM-1 selectively blocked IGF-1R auto-phosphorylation, with an ability to distinguish between IGF-1R and related tyrosine kinase receptors, such as insulin receptor (IR), epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), platelet-derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR), and fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR). Further investigation revealed that, the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 as well as Akt was inhibited in CHM-1 treated GBM8401 cells possibly through the selective blockage of IGF-1R auto-phosphorylation. Our study also showed that p.o. treatment with the hydrophilic dihydrogen phosphate CHM-1P reduced the tumor volumes of the GBM8401 derived tumors in mouse brain and also prolonged the survival rate. The results provided potential opportunities for effective chemotherapy for GBM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advances in biotechnology have resulted in large-scale studies of DNA methylation. A differentially methylated region (DMR) is a genomic region with multiple adjacent CpG sites that exhibit different methylation statuses among multiple samples. Many so-called “supervised” methods have been established to identify DMRs between two or more comparison groups. Methods for the identification of DMRs without reference to phenotypic information are, however, less well studied. An alternative “unsupervised” approach was proposed, in which DMRs in studied samples were identified with consideration of nature dependence structure of methylation measurements between neighboring probes from tiling arrays. Through simulation study, we investigated effects of dependencies between neighboring probes on determining DMRs where a lot of spurious signals would be produced if the methylation data were analyzed independently of the probe. In contrast, our newly proposed method could successfully correct for this effect with a well-controlled false positive rate and a comparable sensitivity. By applying to two real datasets, we demonstrated that our method could provide a global picture of methylation variation in studied samples. R source codes to implement the proposed method were freely available at http://www.csjfann.ibms.sinica.edu.tw/eag/programlist/ICDMR/ICDMR.html. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Copy number variation (CNV) is a form of DNA sequence variation in the human genome. CNVs can affect expression of nearby and distant genes, and some of them might cause certain phenotypic differences. CNVs vary slightly in location and frequency among different populations. Because currently-available CNV information from Asian population was limited to fewer small-scale studies with only dozens of subjects, a high-resolution CNV survey was conducted using a large number of Han Chinese in this study. The Illumina HumanMap550K single-nucleotide polymorphism array was used to identify CNVs from 813 unrelated Han Chinese residing in Taiwan. A total of 365 CNV regions were identified in this population, and the average size of the CNV regions was 235 kb (covering a total of 2.86% of the human genome), and 67 (18.4%) were newly-discovered CNV regions. Two hundred and seventy-nine CNV regions (76%) were verified from 304 randomly-selected samples by Affymetrix 500K GeneChip and qPCR experiments. These regions contain 1029 genes, some of which are associated with diseases. Consistent with previous studies, most CNVs were rare structural variations in the human genome, and only 64 regions (17.5%) had a CNV allele frequency greater than 1%. Our discovery of 67 new CNV regions indicates that previous CNV coverage of the human genome is incomplete and there is diversity among different ethnic populations. The comprehensive knowledge of CNVs in the human genome is very important and useful in further genetic studies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Thirty-three patients (24 males and nine females) with brain abscesses resulting from infection by aerobic Gram-negative bacilli were identified at Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital over a period of 14 years. Of these, 23 cases developed spontaneously, with the remaining ten postneurosurgery. The organisms most frequently involved were Klebsiella (K.) pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli and Proteus species and included some rare pathogens, such as Salmonella and Enterobacter species, K. oxytoca, Vibrio and Morganella morganii. Apart from one exception, the locations of the abscess were supratentorial. Twenty-four patients presented with a single abscess, while nine revealed multiple abscesses, with 26 treated surgically and seven with antibiotics exclusively. In total, seven patients died, representing an overall mortality rate of 21%. This study demonstrates that brain abscesses associated with neurosurgical procedures are not rare, accounting for 30% of cases in this study, with K. pneumoniae, Proteus and Enterobacter species the most prevalent of the revealed pathogens. Further, Proteus species were the most prevalent pathogens demonstrated for cases of both otogenic and polymicrobial infections. If brain abscesses are diagnosed for diabetic patients or have a gas-forming appearance, a diagnosis of K. pneumoniae infection should be considered, with particular attention paid to detection of other metastatic septic abscesses. In light of the high mortality rate, early treatment is essential to maximize the chances of survival. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background Susceptibility genes for migraine, despite it being a highly prevalent and disabling neurological disorder, have not been analyzed in Asians by genome-wide association study (GWAS). Methods We conducted a two-stage case-control GWAS to identify susceptibility genes for migraine without aura in Han Chinese residing in Taiwan. In the discovery stage, we genotyped 1005 clinic-based Taiwanese migraine patients and 1053 population-based sex-matched controls using Axiom Genome-Wide CHB Array. In the replication stage, we genotyped 27 single-nucleotide polymorphisms with p < 10-4 in 1120 clinic-based migraine patients and 604 sex-matched normal controls by using Sequenom. Variants at LRP1, TRPM8, and PRDM, which have been replicated in Caucasians, were also genotyped. Results We identified a novel susceptibility locus (rs655484 in DLG2) that reached GWAS significance level for migraine risk in Han Chinese ( p = 1.45 × 10-12, odds ratio [OR] = 2.42), and also another locus (rs3781545in GFRA1) with suggestive significance ( p = 1.27 × 10-7, OR = 1.38). In addition, we observed positive association signals with a similar trend to the associations identified in Caucasian GWASs for rs10166942 in TRPM8 (OR = 1.33, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.14-1.54, Ppermutation = 9.99 × 10-5; risk allele: T) and rs1172113 in LRP1 (OR = 1.23, 95% CI = 1.04-1.45, Ppermutation = 2.9 × 10-2; risk allele: T). Conclusion The present study is the first migraine GWAS conducted in Han-Chinese and Asians. The newly identified susceptibility genes have potential implications in migraine pathogenesis. DLG2 is involved in glutamatergic neurotransmission, and GFRA1 encodes GDNF receptors that are abundant in CGRP-containing trigeminal neurons. Furthermore, positive association signals for TRPM8 and LRP1 suggest the possibility for common genetic contributions across ethnicities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: To reduce mortality, the Taiwan government has vigorously promoted free cancer screening and preventive health screening services. Cancers are usually advanced by the time they are discovered in the emergency department. Through this study, we aimed to understand the characteristics of cancer patients diagnosed through the emergency department and thus identify high-risk populations by comparing cancer staging and survival rates in patients diagnosed in the emergency department and those diagnosed in the non-emergency department., Methods: The retrospective study enrolled a total of 389,043 patients over the age of 20 who were newly diagnosed with one of the five major cancers (including lung cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, and oral cancer) between 2008 and 2017 and analyzed their diagnostic pathway, cancer stage at diagnosis, and survival time., Results: Of the study participants, 59,423 patients (about 15.3%) were diagnosed with cancer through the emergency department. We found that a sizable proportion of older people and patients with low education and low incomes were diagnosed through emergency department visits, and those with a health condition comorbidity severity of 3 had the highest proportion diagnosed by the emergency department, advanced stages at diagnosis, and risk of death. These can be classified as high-risk groups. In addition, 76.4% of patients diagnosed in the emergency department had advanced cancer, and the risk of death was 1.46 times higher than that of patients diagnosed in the non-emergency department. Although cancer screening is available, it does not reduce the proportion of patients with advanced cancer who are diagnosed through or at the time of diagnosis in the emergency department., Conclusions: The present study found that the government's cancer screening did not affect the proportion or number of cancers diagnosed through emergency department visits. Therefore, the government should focus on more cancer screening, health education in high-risk groups, and strengthening the link between emergency and oncology departments to reduce the risk of death for patients diagnosed through emergency department visits., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Lin, Kuo, Kung and Tsai.)

Chlorophyll a fluorescence, a sensitive and cost-effective probe, is widely used in photosynthetic research. Its rapid phase, occurring within 1 second under intense illumination, displays complex O-J-I-P transients, providing valuable insights into various aspects of photosynthesis. In addition to employing experimental approaches to measure the rapid Fluorescence Induction (FI) kinetics, mathematical modeling serves as a crucial tool for understanding the underlying mechanisms that drive FI dynamics. However, the significant uncertainty and arbitrary nature of selecting model parameters amplify concerns about the effectiveness of modeling tools in aiding photosynthesis research. Therefore, there is a need to gain a deeper understanding of how these models operate and how arbitrary parameter choices may influence their outcomes. In this study, we employed the Morris method, a global Sensitivity Analysis (SA) tool, to assess the significance of rate constants employed in an existing fluorescence model, particularly those linked to the entire electron transport chain, in shaping the rapid FI dynamics. In summary, utilizing the insights gained from the Morris SA allows for targeted refinement of the photosynthesis model, thereby improving our understanding of the complex processes inherent in photosynthetic systems., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Lyu, Lin and Liakopoulos.)

We investigated potassium (K) accumulation characteristics and expression of K metabolism related genes in one high-K variety (ND202) and a common variety (NC89) of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.). Results showed that K accumulation and leaf K content in ND202 were higher than those in NC89. The distribution rate and K accumulation in the leaves of ND202 increased significantly, while the distribution rate in the roots and stems had lower values. In addition, the maximum K accumulation rate and high-speed K accumulation duration in ND202 were found to be better than those in NC89. The expression of NKT1 in the upper and middle leaves of ND202 had an advantage, and the relative expression of NtKC1 and NtTPK1 in both the upper and middle leaves, as well as the roots, was also significantly upregulated. Conversely, the expression of NTRK1 in the lower leaves and roots of ND202 was weaker. ND202 had significantly greater expression levels of NtHAK1 than NC89 in the upper and middle leaves and roots; moreover, the expression of NtKT12 in the upper leaves and roots of ND202 was also higher. In comparison with common varieties, high-K varieties had a stronger ability to absorb and accumulate K. They also possessed higher expression of K+ channel- and transporter-related genes and showed a superior K accumulation rate and longer duration of high-speed K accumulation. Furthermore, K accumulation rate at 40-60days can be suggested as an important reference for the selection of high-K tobacco varieties.

Vehicle emissions have become a major source of air pollution in urban cities. The vehicle emission inventory of the Liaoning province from 2000 to 2030 was established based on the COPERT model and ArcGIS, and the temporal and spatial distribution characteristics of six pollutants (CO, NMVOC, NO x , PM 10 , SO 2 , and CO 2 ) were analyzed. Taking 2016 as the base year, eight scenarios of control measures were designed based on scenario analysis, and the effects of different scenarios on emission reduction were assessed. Results showed that during 2000-2016, CO, NMVOC, NO x , and PM 10 emissions at first exhibited increasing trends, after which they decreased. Emissions of SO 2 exhibited fluctuating trends, while the emissions of CO 2 showed a continuous increase. Passenger cars and motorcycles were the main contributors of CO and NMVOC emissions. Heavy-duty trucks and buses were the main sources of NO x and PM 10 emissions. Passenger cars were the major contributors to SO 2 and CO 2 emissions. Vehicle emissions were significantly higher in the central and southern in Liaoning Province. At the city level, vehicle emissions were mainly concentrated in Shenyang and Dalian. The scenario analysis showed that the implementation of stricter vehicle emission standards can enhance the emission reduction effect. Moreover, accelerating the implementation of new emission standards was beneficial to reduce emissions. The integrated scenario would achieve the maximum emission reduction, with reduction rates of CO, NMVOC, NO x , PM 10 , CO 2 , and SO 2 at 30.7%, 14.3%, 81.7%, 29.4%, 12.3%, and 12.1%, respectively.

The pollution characteristics and emission factors (EFs) of the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) of vehicles were investigated using the tunnel test method on weekdays and weekends in the Wujinglu Tunnel in Tianjin, China. Gas samples in the tunnel were collected with 3.2 L stainless steel canisters and 99 VOCs species were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The concentration levels, variation characteristics, and EFs of the VOCs were analyzed. The ozone formation potentials (OFPs) and secondary organic aerosol formation potentials (SOAFPs) of the VOCs in the tunnel were calculated. Moreover, a comparison of the study results with current literature was conducted. The total concentrations of VOCs at the inlet and midpoint are (190.85±51.15) μg·m -3 and (257.44±62.02) μg·m -3 , respectively. The total EFs are (45.12±10.97) mg·(km·veh) -1 and the EFs for alkanes, alkenes, alkynes, aromatics, halocarbons, and oxygenated volatile organic compounds (OVOCs) are (22.79±7.15), (5.04±1.20), (0.78±0.34), (9.86±2.81), (0.26±0.17), and (6.25±2.27) mg·(km·veh) -1 , respectively. They are notably smaller than the values obtained in a previous test in 2009. Isopentane, toluene, ethylene, methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), and ethane were the top five species among the VOC EFs. The ratios of methyl tert-butyl ether/benzene (MTBE/B) and methyl tert-butyl ether/toluene (MTBE/T) are 1.07 and 0.77, respectively. This implies that the contribution of evaporative emissions from vehicles to VOCs emissions cannot be ignored. The OFPs and SOAFPs in the tunnel are (145.50±37.85) and (43.87±12.75) mg·(km·veh) -1 , respectively. Compared with the test in 2009, the OFPs and SOAFPs are 94.23% and 90.88% smaller, respectively. The sharp decrease of the OFPs and SOAFPs is closely related to stricter emission standards and the upgrade of oil products.

Background/aim: The banana flower is used for ameliorating urinary disturbance. However, there is limited evidence to support the efficacy or mechanism of action of banana flower against benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). In the present study, the anti-BPH activity and mechanisms of banana flower extracts were investigated in vitro and in vivo., Materials and Methods: The banana flower extract is a water-soluble extract obtained by sonication. MTT assay was used to examine whether banana flower extract exhibited cytotoxic effects on BPH-1 cells. The effect of banana flower extract on cell-cycle distribution was examined by flow cytometry. The expression of cell-cycle-regulatory molecules was determined by western blot analysis. Testosterone propionate (TP)-induced rat model of BPH was used to evaluate the anti-BPH activity of banana flower extract in vivo., Results: Banana flower extract reduced epithelial cell line BPH-1 cell viability through cell-cycle arrest at G 1 phase. Moreover, banana flower extract reduced the expression of cyclin D1 and cyclin-dependent kinase 6, while it increased the expression of p53 and p27. Interestingly, banana flower extract suppressed BPH-related inflammatory responses through suppressing cyclo-oxygenase-2 expression and prostaglandin E2 production. Finally, banana flower extract administered orally to male rats reduced prostatic weight and serum dihydrotestosterone level, and improved prostate gland morphology. High-performance liquid chromatography revealed that banana flower extract contains citric acid, taurine, pantothenic acid and nicotinic acid components. In summary, banana flower extract may be used as a therapeutic agent for BPH via anti-proliferative and anti-inflammatory activities., (Copyright© 2018, International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. George J. Delinasios), All rights reserved.)

Breast cancer is a major public health problem throughout the world. In this report, we investigated whether CHM-1, a novel synthetic antimitotic agent could be developed into a potent antitumor agent for treating human breast cancer. CHM-1 induced growth inhibition in MDA-MB-231, MDA-MB-453 and MCF-7 cells in a concentration-dependent manner. Importantly, CHM-1 is less toxic to normal breast (HBL-100) cells. CHM-1 interacted with tubulin, markedly inhibited tubulin polymerization, and disrupted microtubule organization. Proteins from control and CHM-1-treated animal tumor specimens were analyzed by two-dimensional electrophoresis and MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. Our results indicated that CHM-1 increased the expression of SIRT2 protein, an NAD-dependent tubulin deacetylase. A prodrug strategy was also investigated to address the problem of low aqueous solubility and low bioavailability of the antitumor agent CHM-1. The water-soluble prodrug of CHM-1 (CHM-1-P) was synthesized. After oral and intravenous administration, CHM-1-P induced a dose-dependent inhibition of tumor growth. The aforementioned excellent anti-tumor activity profiles of CHM-1 and its prodrug CHM-1-P, suggests that CHM-1-P deserves to further develop as a clinical trial candidate for treating human breast carcinoma., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-induced ligand (TRAIL) is nontoxic to normal cells and preferentially cytotoxic to cancer cells. Recent data suggest that malignant breast cancer cells often become resistant to TRAIL. Pterostilbene (PTER), a naturally occurring analogue of resveratrol found in blueberries, is known to induce cancer cells to undergo apoptosis. In the present study, we examined whether PTER affects TRAIL-induced apoptosis and its mechanism in TRAIL-resistant triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) cells. Our data indicated that PTER induced apoptosis (14.68 ± 3.78% for 40 μM PTER vs 1.98 ± 0.25% for control, p < 0.01) in TNBC cells and enhanced TRAIL-induced apoptosis in TRAIL-resistant TNBC cells (18.45 ± 4.65% for 40 μM PTER vs 29.38 ± 6.35% for combination of 40 μM PTER and 100 ng/mL TRAIL, p < 0.01). We demonstrated that PTER induced death receptors DR5 and DR4 as well as decreased decoy receptor DcR-1 and DcR-2 expression. PTER also decreased the antiapoptotic proteins c-FLIPS/L, Bcl-Xl, Bcl-2, survivin, and XIAP. PTER induced the cleavage of bid protein and caused proapoptotic Bax accumulation. Moreover, we found that PTER induced the expression of DR4 and DR5 through the reactive oxygen species (ROS)/ endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress/ERK 1/2 and p38/C/EBP-homologous protein (CHOP) signaling pathways. Overall, our results showed that PTER potentiated TRAIL-induced apoptosis via ROS-mediated CHOP activation leading to the expression of DR4 and DR5.

DNA methylation is one of the most important epigenetic mechanisms, and participates in the pathogenic processes of many diseases. Differentially methylated regions (DMRs) in the genome have been reported and implicated in a number of different diseases, tissues and cell types, and are associated with gene expression levels. Therefore, identification of DMRs is one of the most critical and fundamental issues in dissecting the disease etiologies. Based on bisulfite conversion, advances in sequence- and array-based technologies have helped investigators study genome-wide DNA methylation. Many methods have been developed to detect DMRs, and they have revolutionized our understanding of DNA methylation and provided new insights into its role in diverse biological functions. According to data and region types, we discuss various methods in detecting DMRs, their utility and limitations comprehensively. We recommend using a few of the methods in the same data and region type to detect DMRs because they could be complementary to one another., (© The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER-2)-positive breast cancer tends to be aggressive, highly metastatic, and drug resistant and spreads rapidly. Studies have indicated that emodin inhibits HER-2 expression. This study compared the HER-2-inhibitory effects of two compounds extracted from rhubarb roots: aloe-emodin (AE) and rhein. Our results indicated that AE exerted the most potent inhibitory effect on HER-2 expression. Treatment of HER-2-overexpressing breast cancer cells with AE reduced tumor initiation, cell migration, and cell invasion. AE was able to suppress YB-1 expression, further suppressing downstream HER-2 expression. AE suppressed YB-1 expression through the inhibition of Twist in HER-2-overexpressing breast cancer cells. Our data also found that AE inhibited cancer metastasis and cancer stem cells through the inhibition of EMT. Interestingly, AE suppressed YB-1 expression through the downregulation of the intracellular integrin-linked kinase (ILK)/protein kinase B (Akt)/mTOR signaling pathway in HER-2-overexpressing breast cancer cells. In vivo study showed the positive result of antitumor activity of AE in nude mice injected with human HER-2-overexpressing breast cancer cells. These findings suggest the possible application of AE in the treatment of HER-2-positive breast cancer.

The existing question whether ethylene is involved in the modulation of salt-induced cell death to mediate plant salt tolerance is important for understanding the salt tolerance mechanisms. Here, we employed Arabidopsis plants to study the possible role of ethylene in salt-induced growth inhibition and programmed cell death (PCD) profiles. The root length, DNA ladder and cell death indicated by Evan's blue detection were measured by compared to the control or salt-stressed seedlings. Secondly, the protoplasts isolated from plant leaves and dyed with Annexin V-FITC were subjected to flow cytometric (FCM) assay. Our results showed that ethylene works effectively in seedling protoplasts, antagonizing salt-included root retardation and restraining cell death both in seedlings or protoplasts. Due to salinity, the entire or partial insensitivity of ethylene signaling resulted in an elevated levels of cell death in ein2-5 and ein3-1 plants and the event were amended in ctr1-1 plants after salt treatment. The subsequent experiment with exogenous ACC further corroborated that ethylene could modulate salt-induced PCD process actively. Plant Bcl-2-associated athanogene (BAG) family genes are recently identified to play an extensive role in plant PCD processes ranging from growth, development to stress responses and even cell death. Our result showed that salinity alone significantly suppressed the transcripts of BAG6, BAG7 and addition of ACC in the saline solution could obviously re-activate BAG6 and BAG7 expressions, which might play a key role to inhibit the salt-induced cell death. In summary, our research implies that ethylene and salinity antagonistically control BAG family-, ethylene-, and senescence-related genes to alleviate the salt-induced cell death.

Approximately 70% of prostate cancer patients will develop bone metastasis in axial and other regions of the skeleton. Epidermal growth factor (EGF) generated from bone tissue contributes to prostate cancer metastasis. In a previous study, penta-O-galloyl-β-D-glucose (PGG) suppressed androgen-independent prostate cancer bone metastasis by transcriptionally repressing EGF-induced MMP-9 expression. This study utilized proteomics to analyze the effects of PGG in EGF-induced prostate cancer bone metastasis. This study showed that PGG suppressed EGF-induced eIF3i expression in PC-3 cells. By transfection of eIF3i shRNA, it was observed that reduced eIF3i expression suppressed the invasion of PC-3 cells in vitro. PGG reduced EGF-induced eIF3i expression through inhibition of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway. Therefore, PGG may be able to be used as a potential new therapeutic drug for prostate cancer bone metastasis.