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This study aims to develop and validate nomogram models utilizing clinical and thoracic aorta imaging factors to assess the risk of hypertension for lung cancer screening cohorts. We included 804 patients and collected baseline clinical data, biochemical indicators, coexisting conditions, and thoracic aorta factors. Patients were randomly divided into a training set (70%) and a validation set (30%). In the training set, variance, t-test/Mann–Whitney U-test and standard least absolute shrinkage and selection operator were used to select thoracic aorta imaging features for constructing the AIScore. Multivariate logistic backward stepwise regression was utilized to analyze the influencing factors of hypertension. Five prediction models (named AIMeasure model, BasicClinical model, TotalClinical model, AIBasicClinical model, AITotalClinical model) were constructed for practical clinical use, tailored to different data scenarios. Additionally, the performance of the models was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, calibration curves and decision curve analyses (DCA). The areas under the ROC curve for the five models were 0.73, 0.77, 0.83, 0.78, 0.84 in the training set, and 0.77, 0.78, 0.81, 0.78, 0.82 in the validation set, respectively. Furthermore, the calibration curves and DCAs of both sets performed well on accuracy and clinical practicality. The nomogram models for hypertension risk prediction demonstrate good predictive capability and clinical utility. These models can serve as effective tools for assessing hypertension risk, enabling timely non-pharmacological interventions to preempt or delay the future onset of hypertension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Current therapies for autoimmune rheumatic diseases (ARDs) have limited efficacy in certain patients, highlighting the need for the development of novel treatment approaches. This meta-analysis aims to assess the efficacy and safety of low-dose interleukin-2 (LD-IL-2) and evaluate the alterations in lymphocyte subsets in various rheumatic diseases following administration of different dosages of LD-IL-2. Methods: A comprehensive search was conducted in PubMed, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, Embase databases and CNKI to identify relevant studies. A total of 31 trials were included in this meta-analysis. The review protocols were registered on PROSPERO (CRD42022318916), and the study followed the PRISMA guidelines. Results: Following LD-IL-2 treatment, patients with ARDs exhibited a significant increase in the number of Th17 cells and Tregs compared to their pre-treatment levels [standardized mean difference (SMD) = 0.50, 95% confidence interval (CI) (0.33, 0.67), P < 0.001; SMD = 1.13, 95% CI (0.97, 1.29), P < 0.001]. Moreover, the Th17/Tregs ratio showed a significant decrease [SMD = − 0.54, 95% CI (− 0.64, − 0.45), P < 0.001]. In patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), LD-IL-2 injection led to a significant increase in Treg numbers, and the Th17/Tregs ratio and disease activity scores, including Disease Activity Score-28 joints (DAS28), Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index (SELENA-SLEDAI) and Cutaneous Dermatomyositis Disease Area and Severity Index (CDASI), were all significantly reduced. No serious adverse events were reported in any of the included studies. Additionally, 54.8% of patients with lupus nephritis achieved distinct clinical remission following LD-IL-2 treatment. Injection site reactions and fever were the most common side effects of LD-IL-2, occurring in 33.1% and 14.4% of patients, respectively. Conclusion: LD-IL-2 treatment showed promise and was well tolerated in the management of ARDs, as it effectively promoted the proliferation and functional recovery of Tregs. Trial Registration: Retrospectively registered (CRD42022318916, 21/04/2022). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Occlusion modeling is critical for light field depth estimation, since occlusion destroys the photo-consistency assumption, which most depth estimation methods hold. Previous works always detect the occlusion points on the basis of Canny detector, which can leave some occlusion points out. Occlusion handling, especially for multi-occluder occlusion, is still challenging. In this paper, we propose a novel occlusion-aware depth estimation method, which can better solve the occlusion problem. We design two novel consistency costs based on the photo-consistency for depth estimation. According to the consistency costs, we analyze the influence of the occlusion and propose an occlusion detection technique based on depth consistency, which can detect the occlusion points more accurately. For the occlusion point, we adopt a new data cost to select the un-occluded views, which are used to determine the depth. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method is superior to the other compared algorithms, especially in multi-occluder occlusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clinical information about a variety of disorders is available through blood cell counting, which is usually done by manual methods. However, manual methods are complex, time-consuming and susceptible to the subjective experience of inspectors. Although many efforts have been made to develop automated blood cell counting algorithms, the complexity of blood cell distribution and the highly overlapping nature of some red blood cells (RBCs) remain significant challenges that limit the improvement of analytical accuracy. Here, we proposed an end-to-end method for blood cell counting based on deep learning. Firstly, U-Net++ was used to segment the whole blood cell image into several regions of interest (ROI), and each ROI contains only one single cell or multiple overlapping cells. Subsequently, YOLOv5 was used to detect blood cells in each ROI. Specifically, we proposed several strategies, including fine classification of RBCs, adaptive adjustment for non-maximal suppression (NMS) threshold and blood cell morphology constraints to improve the accuracy of detection. Finally, the detection outcomes for each ROI were combined and superimposed. The results show that our method can effectively address the issue of high overlap and precisely segment and detect blood cells, with a 98.18% accuracy rate for blood cell counting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three-dimensional hydrogel-based organ-like cultures can be applied to study development, regeneration, and disease in vitro. However, the control of engineered hydrogel composition, mechanical properties and geometrical constraints tends to be restricted to the initial time of fabrication. Modulation of hydrogel characteristics over time and according to culture evolution is often not possible. Here, we overcome these limitations by developing a hydrogel-in-hydrogel live bioprinting approach that enables the dynamic fabrication of instructive hydrogel elements within pre-existing hydrogel-based organ-like cultures. This can be achieved by crosslinking photosensitive hydrogels via two-photon absorption at any time during culture. We show that instructive hydrogels guide neural axon directionality in growing organotypic spinal cords, and that hydrogel geometry and mechanical properties control differential cell migration in developing cancer organoids. Finally, we show that hydrogel constraints promote cell polarity in liver organoids, guide small intestinal organoid morphogenesis and control lung tip bifurcation according to the hydrogel composition and shape. Organ-like 3D cultures are advanced model system for biology and medicine limited by their uncontrolled cell self-assembly. Here, the authors develop a hydrogel-in-hydrogel bioprinting approach to dynamically control the growth landscape of a broad range of living 3D cell cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key message: The fusion gene 4CL-CCR promotes lignification and activates lignin-related MYB expression in tobacco but inhibits auxin-related gene expression and hinders the auxin absorption of cells. Given the importance of lignin polymers in plant growth and their industrial value, it is necessary to investigate how plants synthesize monolignols and regulate the level of lignin in cell walls. In our previous study, expression of the Populus tomentosa fusion gene 4CL-CCR significantly promoted the production of 4-hydroxycinnamyl alcohols. However, the function of 4CL-CCR in organisms remains poorly understood. In this study, the fusion gene 4CL-CCR was heterologously expressed in tobacco suspension cells. We found that the transgenic suspension cells exhibited lignification earlier. Furthermore, 4CL-CCR significantly reduced the content of phenolic acids and increased the content of aldehydes in the medium, which led to an increase in lignin deposition. Moreover, transcriptome results showed that the genes related to lignin synthesis, such as PAL, 4CL, CCoAOMT and CAD, were significantly upregulated in the 4CL-CCR group. The expression of genes related to auxin, such as ARF3, ARF5 and ARF6, was significantly downregulated. The downregulation of auxin affected the expression of transcription factor MYBs. We hypothesize that the upregulated genes MYB306 and MYB315 are involved in the regulation of cell morphogenesis and lignin biosynthesis and eventually enhance lignification in tobacco suspension cells. Our findings provide insight into the function of 4CL-CCR in lignification and how secondary cell walls are formed in plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Straw returning is an effective practice for improving soil quality and increasing soil nutrients. However, the effect of straw returning on soil phosphate fractions and phosphate-solubilizing microorganisms (PSM) needs to be clarified. Here, we studied the variation of soil properties, soil phosphate fractions, and microbial communities at 0–40 cm soil layer under four treatments (S0 (0 kg/ha straw), S1 (3000 kg/ha straw), S2 (6000 kg/ha straw), and S3 (9000 kg/ha straw)). Soil properties were measured by conventional methods; soil phosphate fractions were measured by the Bowman-Cole method, and soil microbial communities were determined by high-throughput sequencing. The results showed that total phosphorus (TP), total organic phosphorus (TOP), and total inorganic phosphorus (TIP) increased by 16.16–59.52, 53–73.4, and 18.7–45.54% in S1, S2, and S3 compared to S0. The Chao1 (community richness) and Shannon (community diversity) index of bacteria and fungi were significantly higher in S1, S2, and S3 treatments than in S0. Redundancy analysis (RDA) results showed that the contribution of TOP, TIP, and soil organic matter (SOM) to the relative abundance of microbes were 84.20–94.80, 83.20–94.40, and 89.20–94.10%, respectively, which was significantly higher than that of other soil variables (field moisture capacity (FMC), soil porosity (SP), soil bulk density (SBD), pH, electrical conductivity (EC), cation exchange capacity (CEC), residual phosphorus (RP), TP, available phosphorus (AP)). Overall, long-term straw returning can alter the soil phosphate fractions by improving TOP, TIP, and SOM contents, thus effectively enhancing the abundance of soil microorganisms in 0–40 cm soil, especially the abundance of PSM in the surface soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Central catadioptric cameras with a single effective viewpoint contain both mirrors and pinhole cameras that increase the imaging field of view. In this study, the common pole–polar properties of central catadioptric sphere or line images are investigated and used for camera calibration. From these properties, the pole and polar with respect to the image of absolute conic and the modified image of absolute conic, respectively, can be recovered according to the generalized eigenvalue decomposition. Moreover, these techniques are valid for paracatadioptric sensors with the degenerate conic dual to the circular points being considered. At least three images of spheres or lines are required to completely calibrate any central catadioptric camera. The intrinsic parameters of the camera, the shape of reflective mirror, and the distortion parameters can be linearly estimated using the algebraic and geometric constraints of the sphere or line images obtained by the central catadioptric camera. The obtained experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed calibration algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optical fiber bending, deformation or shape sensing are important measurement technologies and have been widely deployed in various applications including healthcare, structural monitoring and robotics. However, existing optical fiber bending sensors require complex sensor structures and interrogation systems. Here, inspired by the recent renewed interest in information-rich multimode optical fibers, we show that the multimode fiber (MMF) output speckles contain the three-dimensional (3D) geometric shape information of the MMF itself. We demonstrate proof-of-concept 3D multi-point deformation sensing via a single multimode fiber by using k-nearest neighbor (KNN) machine learning algorithm, and achieve a classification accuracy close to 100%. Our results show that a single MMF based deformation sensor is excellent in terms of system simplicity, resolution and sensitivity, and can be a promising candidate in deformation monitoring or shape-sensing applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental factors could influence the epidemic of virus in human; however, the association remains intricate, and the evidence is still not clear in human coronaviruses (HCoVs). We aimed to explore and compare the associations between HCoVs' epidemic and environmental factors globally. Four common HCoVs' data were collected by a systematic literature review, and data of MERS, SARS, and COVID-19 were collected from the World Health Organization's reports. Monthly positive rates of common HCoVs and incidence rates of MERS, SARS, and COVID-19 were calculated. Geographical coordinates were used to link virus data and environmental data. Generalized additive models (GAMs) were used to quantitatively estimate the association of environmental factors with HCoVs' epidemic. We found that there are wide associations between HCoVs and environmental factors on a global scale, and some of the associations were nonlinear. In addition, COVID-19 has the most similarities in associations' direction with common HCoVs, especially for HCoV-HKU1 in four environmental factors including the significantly negative associations with average temperature, precipitation, vegetation coverage (p<0.05), and the U-shaped association with temperature range. This study strengthened the relevant research evidences and provided significant insights into the epidemic rules of HCoVs in general. The similarities between COVID-19 and common HCoVs indicated that it is critically important to strengthen surveillance on common HCoVs and pay more attention to environmental factors' role in surveillance and early warning of HCoVs' epidemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The architecture of rice plant represents important and complex agronomic traits, such as panicles morphology, which directly influence the microclimate of rice population and consequently grain yield. To enhance yield, modification of plant architecture to create new hybrid cultivars is considered a sustainable approach. The current study includes an investigation of yield and microclimate response index under low to high plant density of two indica hybrid rice R498 (curved panicles) and R499 (erect panicles), from 2017 to 2018. The split-plot design included planting densities of 11.9–36.2 plant/m2. The results showed that compared with R498, R499 produced a higher grain yield of 8.02–8.83 t/ha at a higher planting density of 26.5–36.2 plant/m2. The response index of light intensity and relative humidity to the planting density of R499 was higher than that of R498 at the lower position of the rice population. However, the response index of temperature to the planting density of R499 was higher at the upper position (0.2–1.4%) than at the lower position. Compared with R498, R499 at a high planting density developed lower relative humidity (78–88%) and higher light intensity (9900–15,916 lx) at the lower position of the rice population. Our finding suggests that erect panicles are highly related to grain yield microclimatic contributors under a highly dense rice population, such as light intensity utilization, humidity, and temperature. The application of erect panicle rice type provides a potential strategy for yield improvement by increasing microclimatic conditions in rice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leaf pigment content is a complicated quantitative trait which results from the cooperation of multiple related genes or quantitative trait loci (QTL) in rice. So far, more than 600 QTL for leaf pigment content has been reported. However, most QTL positions could not be directly compared with each other. In this study, our goal was to analyze consistent QTL regions affecting leaf pigment content by applying a genome wide QTL meta-analysis approach. 20 QTL related to leaf pigment content were detected at 5 different growth periods in 134 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) from a typical Indica-Japonica cross derived from PA64s and 9311 (two parents of super hybrid rice Liangyoupei 9). There was a candidate gene GLTP in the region of 3 QTL (qFS_Chla4, qFS_Chla+b4, and qFS_Car4), which related to component of chloroplast thylakoid membranes. After sequencing and qRT-PCR analysis, the gene showed significant difference in parents of the RILs. Meta-analysis was performed on 618 QTL collected from 38 previous studies. Consequently, a total of 64 MQTL (Meta-QTL) were obtained, of which 58.95% confidence intervals (CI) were smaller than the average Cl of the original QTL. In addition, 64 MQTL covered 6 of 20 QTL detected. Among them, four main QTL were included in 3 MQTL, and phenotypic variation of 21 MQTL was greater than 20%. The traits with higher number of QTL had higher number of MQTL, and candidate genes in overlapping MQTL include multiple effects. 7 candidate genes related to leaf pigment content were found in 4 MQTL spanning physical intervals < 0.5 Mb. These findings are not only anticipated to help molecular marker-assisted selection and pyramiding, but also contribute to determine candidate genes that regulate pigment content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid 3D imaging of entire organs and organisms at cellular resolution is a recurring challenge in life science. Here we report on a computational light-sheet microscopy able to achieve minute-timescale high-resolution mapping of entire macro-scale organs. Through combining a dual-side confocally-scanned Bessel light-sheet illumination which provides thinner-and-wider optical sectioning of deep tissues, with a content-aware compressed sensing (CACS) computation pipeline which further improves the contrast and resolution based on a single acquisition, our approach yields 3D images with high, isotropic spatial resolution and rapid acquisition over two-order-of-magnitude faster than conventional 3D microscopy implementations. We demonstrate the imaging of whole brain (~400 mm3), entire gastrocnemius and tibialis muscles (~200 mm3) of mouse at ultra-high throughput of 5~10 min per sample and post-improved subcellular resolution of ~ 1.5 μm (0.5-μm iso-voxel size). Various system-level cellular analyses, such as mapping cell populations at different brain sub-regions, tracing long-distance projection neurons over the entire brain, and calculating neuromuscular junction occupancy across whole muscle, are also readily accomplished by our method. High resolution imaging of large biological volumes typically takes a long time from hours to days. Here the authors use a Bessel light-sheet approach combined with a content-aware compressed sensing computational pipeline to image whole mouse organs at subcellular resolution in a few minutes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Citric acid (CA) is a non-formaldehyde and cost-effective crosslinking agent which can provide cotton fabrics a comparable anti-wrinkle property, however, the CA treated cotton fabrics show serious yellowish appearance which restricts its application. In this study, cotton fabrics treated by CA were whitened using a TBCC-activated peroxide post-bleaching. A response surface methodology based on central composite rotatable design was applied to establish models to investigate how were the CIE whiteness index (WI), wrinkle resistance angle (WRA) and tensile strength retention (TSR) of the CA treated cotton fabrics affected by the post-bleaching variables, namely activator N-[4-(triethylammoniomethyl)benzoyl]caprolactam chloride (TBCC) concentration, temperature and time. For each individual post-bleaching experiment, the molar ratio of TBCC: hydrogen peroxide: sodium bicarbonate was set at 1:1.1:1.2. The analysis of variance results shows that the optimal models for response WI, WRA and TSR were quadratic model, 2-factor interaction model and linear model, respectively. It was possible to obtain CA treated fabrics with enhanced WI, maintainable WRA and improved TSR by a moderate post-bleaching temperature near 60 °C and a TBCC concentration around 30 mmol/L. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present a means of solving the problem of camera calibration by using the sphere and the line passing through two projections of the spherical center. By analyzing the relationships among the eigenvalue, eigenvector, and projection of the right circular cone formed by the camera optical center and sphere, the line passing through two projections of the spherical center can be determined. Three lines passing through two projections of the spherical center are employed to obtain the projections of the spherical center. The image of the circular points can thereby be determined. The camera intrinsic parameters can be obtained by the constraint conditions of the image of the absolute conic and the image of the circular points. Results of simulation experiments using real data and a three-dimensional reconstruction showed the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adolescents at a high-risk for experiencing social anxiety display elevated distress and social skills deficits in social interactions with unfamiliar peers. However, not all adolescents find the same interactions distressing, necessitating an approach that is sensitive to key aspects of the social contexts in which interactions manifest. Along these lines, socially anxious adolescents may display significant impairments within interactions with unfamiliar peers, and yet a core challenge in clinical assessment involves simulating social interactions with unfamiliar peers. Recent work suggests that one can construct cross-contextual interaction tasks using personnel trained to resemble unfamiliar same-age peers. This study examined the psychometric properties of independent observers' ratings of adolescents' social anxiety and social skills within these tasks. Eighty-nine adolescents (M = 14.50 years; 30 clinic-referred; 59 community control) and their parents completed reports of adolescent social anxiety on parallel surveys. Adolescents participated in a series of counterbalanced tasks with trained unfamiliar peer confederates. These tasks assessed adolescents' reactions to interactions with unfamiliar peers within unstructured versus structured social contexts. Two trained observers independently completed behavioral ratings of adolescents using a well-established coding system, and peer confederates completed survey reports about social anxiety for the adolescents with whom they interacted. Observers' ratings related to informants' survey reports of adolescent social anxiety and social skills. Observers' ratings distinguished adolescents on referral status. Observers rated adolescents' social anxiety highest and social skills lowest during unstructured social contexts, relative to structured social contexts. These findings have important implications for constructing evidence-based, cross-contextual behavioral assessments of adolescents' social anxiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Five common used green algae species, Chlorella vulgaris, Chlorococcum sp. GD, Parachlorella kessleri TY, Scenedesmus obliquus, and Scenedesmus quadricauda, were evaluated for their growth and nitrogen removal properties when being cultivated in synthetic wastewater with ammonium and nitrate as nitrogen sources. The five microalgae could adapt wastewater with different kinds of nitrogen sources, but the growth potential and nitrogen removal ability were species-dependent. Parachlorella kessleri TY cultivated in wastewater with ammonium and nitrate had higher biomass concentration of 2750 and 2765 mg L−1, respectively, compared to C. vulgaris, S. obliquus, and S. quadricauda. Chlorococcum sp. GD in wastewater with nitrate had the highest biomass concentration of 3095 mg L−1. Although all microalgae showed a good removal efficiency of nitrogen (ammonium: 85.30-97.03%; nitrate: 100%) after 7 days of cultivation, Chlorococcum sp. GD and P. kessleri TY removed 85-90.24% of ammonium and 100% of nitrate within 2-3 days, which was faster than the other three microalgae. It was also found that the growth and pollutant removal of microalgae in wastewater with nitrate was superior to those of microalgae in wastewater with ammonium. This was caused by the inhibitory effect of the low pH when microalgae were cultivated in wastewater with ammonium as the nitrogen source. Based on the results above, the growth and nitrogen removal was closely related to the microalgal species and the pH of the wastewater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fluorescent dissolved organic matter (FDOM) components were identified by Parallel Factor Analysis (PARAFAC) in surface water of Daliao River and its estuary with a focus on terrestrial humic substance-(HS)-like FDOM identified under two contrasting hydrological conditions. The hydrological conditions did not have noticeable effect on the spectral features of the terrestrial HS-like FDOM, but did affect the components' intensities and photoreactivity: (1) the intensities of terrestrial HS-like components were higher in the normal flow period than in the high flow period, and (2) a spectrally similar terrestrial HS-like FDOM identified under the two contrasting hydrological conditions showed distinct photoreactivity to the same dose of UVA illumination. The findings indicated that terrestrial HS was generated at lower intensities at the terrestrial sources during the high flow period than during the normal flow period and that the transport of terrestrial HS material through the river-estuary system was affected dominantly by seawater dilution along the salinity gradient while fine-tuned by solar UVA illumination. This study exemplifies the effect of hydrological conditions on optical signatures of terrestrial HS-like FDOM and their photoreactivity towards UVA illumination, improving our understanding of the dynamics of terrestrial HS material in river-estuary systems in the framework of the currently proposed new conceptual model for terrestrial organic matter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exposure of tryptophan (Trp) in aqueous solutions to UVA radiation resulted in decrease of Trp (C1) but generated an unknown fluorescent component (C2) with fluorescence emission maxima extending into wavelength range characteristic of humic substance (HS)-like material. The intensity of the two components (C1 and C2) could be operationally fit to linear functions of the illumination time t (0~40 h). However, C1 and C2 decreased and increased nonlinearly respectively in a mixture (Trp mixed with a reference sample of natural organic matter, i.e., NOM) which was exposed to the same UVA illumination, and the change of both C1 and C2 was faster than that in the absence of NOM. Moreover, the UV-Vis absorption maximum (ex = 278 nm) of Trp was faster removed for the mixture (after 5 h) than for Trp solutions without NOM (after 20 h). These observations suggested NOM-facilitated photobleaching of Trp and photoproduction of a new FDOM component under UVA illumination. Meanwhile, the fluorescence of the NOM in the absence of Trp was well represented by two HS-like components which decayed monotonically upon exposure to UVA light, while the photoinduced decay became nonmonotonic in the presence of Trp, and one component even increased with illumination during certain time window, indicating Trp-facilitated production of HS-like fluorescence signatures from NOM. The findings show that UVA-induced optical signature changes of tryptophan and HS-like materials are coupled and highlight the potential impact of absorption of solar UVA light by natural dissolved organic matter (DOM) on using the optical signatures to trace sources and sinks of DOM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chemotherapies of FOLFOX (leucovorin + 5-fluorouracil + oxaliplatin) and FOLFIRI (folinic acid + 5-fluorouracil + irinotecan) are effective for a variety of malignant tumors. In particular, the sequential chemotherapy of FOLFOX/FOLFIRI has become the preferred post-operational treatment approach for gastrointestinal cancer and an important palliative care program for advanced cancer. However, the sequential chemotherapy of FOLFOX/FOLFIRI showed severe side effects due to the fact that the toxicity of the drugs can be enhanced by each other. Here, we report the dynamic changes in the activities of serum ACTH, cortisol, renin, angiotensin, and aldosterone in patients following multiple cycles of FOLFOX/FOLFIRI sequential chemotherapy. We found that the sequential chemotherapy might cause damage to the activities of the endocrine cells and/or the sympathetic nerve, and alter endocrine function, specifically the ACTH-cortisol and renin-angiotensin-aldosterone axes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To research the contribution of ILK and PTEN to the carcinogenesis and development of gastric carcinoma and the relation with anti-oncogene PTEN. ILK and PTEN proteins, PTEN mRNA of 76 cases of normal gastric mucous and 112 cases of gastric carcinoma were detected by immunohistochemistry method and in situ hybridization. The expression of ILK, PTEN protein in gastric carcinoma group and normal gastric mucosa group, muscular layer invasive group and no muscular layer invasive group, lymphatic metastasis group and non-lymphatic metastasis group were all statistical significance ( P < 0.05 or P< 0.01). The expression of PTEN mRNA of gastric carcinoma group was lower than that of normal gastric mucosa group ( P < 0.01). The expression of ILK and PTEN protein had negative correlation ( r = −0.347, P < 0.01). ILK protein increasing and PTEN protein decreasing have closely relation with the genesis and development of gastric carcinoma, and controlling them may become a new treating target gastric cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase hinge protein (UQCRH) is the hinge protein for the multi-subunit complex III of the mitochondrial electron transport chain and is involved in the electron transfer reaction between cytochrome c1 and c. Recent genome-wide transcriptomic and epigenomic profiling of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) by The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) identified UQCRH as the top-ranked gene showing inverse correlation between DNA hypermethylation and mRNA downregulation. The function and underlying mechanism of UQCRH in the Warburg effect metabolism of ccRCC have not been characterized. Here, we verified the clinical association of low UQCRH expression and shorter survival of ccRCC patients through in silico analysis and identified KMRC2 as a highly relevant ccRCC cell line that displays hypermethylation-induced UQCRH extinction. Ectopic overexpression of UQCRH in KMRC2 restored mitochondrial membrane potential, increased oxygen consumption, and attenuated the Warburg effect at the cellular level. UQCRH overexpression in KMRC2 induced higher apoptosis and slowed down in vitro and in vivo tumor growth. UQCRH knockout by CRISPR/Cas9 had little impact on the metabolism and proliferation of 786O ccRCC cell line, suggesting the dispensable role of UQCRH in cells that have entered a Warburg-like state through other mechanisms. Together, our study suggests that loss of UQCRH expression by hypermethylation may promote kidney carcinogenesis through exacerbating the functional decline of mitochondria thus reinforcing the Warburg effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Isotactic polypropylene (PP) composites achieved high impact strength by melt mixing with complex titanate whiskers/multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). The complex fillers, obtained via coupling agent γ-aminopropyl triethoxysilane, triggered additional reinforcement with stiff backup of whiskers and strengthened interfacial adhesion generated from MWCNTs, forwarding positive synergy on the PP composites. In presence of compatibilizer maleic anhydride-grafted polypropylene, 5 wt% of the complex fillers brought about impact strength 6.3 ± 0.3 kJ/m2 to the composite, which was 103% higher than PP. Meanwhile, tensile strength was also improved with 34.8 ± 0.5 MPa as compared with that of PP (32.6 ± 0.3 MPa). Morphology witnessed by scanning electron microscope revealed that the complex fillers favored dispersion of MWCNTs in polymer matrix, fulfilling bridging for reinforcement. Detection of differential scanning calorimetry also indicated that the complex fillers facilitated crystallization of PP in the composites. Upon high impact strength and improved tensile property, the PP composites could find potentials with facile processing manipulation in applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

5-Hydroxytryptamine (also known as 5-HT, serotonin) is one of the monoamine neurotransmitters which is distributed widely in plasma and brain of mammals and plays important roles in physiological manipulations. In the present method, we describe the development of a simple, efficient and rapid high performance liquid chromatographic method coupled with ultraviolet (HPLC–UV) detector for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of 5-HT in both cell extract and cell culture medium (RIN-14B). The experiments use repeated freeze–thaw cycles followed by centrifugation and direct injection of the supernatant into the chromatography. An analytical C18 column (Agilent Zorbax Extend, 4.6 × 250 mm, 5 μm.) was taken for chromatographic separation; the mobile phase was 0.05 mol/L potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KH2PO4)/acetonitrile (90:10 v/v). Isocratic elution is established at the flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. The time required for this chromatographic run is 8 min. Over the concentration range of 0.1–10 μg/mL, the calibration curve is linear in this method. Other unique characteristics and advantages include high accuracy (92.02–103.28%) and high precision (intra- and inter-day coefficients of variation ≤ 4.69%). This method is applicable for the investigation of drug/condition–response relationships in the function of synthesis and secretion of 5-HT in cultured RIN-14B cells in various in vitro studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]