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Anuran skin is a typical natural biomaterial with multifunctional features. A specific comparison of mechanical performance and morphology related to them was performed in the skin of Rana dybowskii and Bufo gargarizans using the tensile testing technique and morphological equipment. Rana dybowskii's skin has soft smooth surface covered by polygonal epidermal cells, while the Bufo gargarizans species has tough and uneven skin surface due to numerous verrucae structures. The collagen fibre bundles in lower dermis of Bufo gargarizans have wavelike organisation while the bundles of Rana dybowskii show a parallel arrangement. The mean elastic modulus of Rana dybowskii was nine times higher than that of Bufo gargarizans. This study clarified that the arrangement of collagen fibres play an important role in the strength and elasticity of skin material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frogs are characterized by their outstanding jumping ability, depending on the rapid extension of hindlimbs to propel their bodies into air. A typical jumping cycle could be broken into four phases: preparation, takeoff, flight, and landing. Considerable research has been performed to discuss the function of hindlimbs of frogs during takeoff phase, whereas the literature of limbs' motion in jumping between different species was limited. To profile the evolution of locomotion in anurans, it is necessary to investigate on the motion of fore‐ and hindlimbs of frogs within different taxa. In this work, we put forward a detailed description of jumping behavior of two frog species, Rana dybowskii and Xenopus laevis. High‐speed cameras were used to explore the movement of different joints in fore‐ and hindlimbs of these two animals, and kinematic analysis was operated to identify both homologous behaviors and significant differences between them. We found that the Rana dybowskii's fore‐ and hindlimbs had good cooperation during jumping, while the Xenopus laevis' uncooperative behavior in limbs may give a functional explanation for the deficiency in terrestrial jumping; besides, the R. dybowskii's landing followed the "hands‐belly‐feet slap" strategy, and Xenopus laevis had clumsy landing with "belly‐flops" sequence. The result gained here clarifies the cooperation behavior of anuran limbs and may supply a new insight into our understanding of the anuran's evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

publisher‐imprint‐name Springer volume‐issue‐count 1 issue‐article‐count 0 issue‐toc‐levels 0 issue‐pricelist‐year 2019 issue‐copyright‐holder The Author(s) issue‐copyright‐year 2019 article‐contains‐esm Yes article‐numbering‐style Unnumbered article‐registration‐date‐year 2019 article‐registration‐date‐month 11 article‐registration‐date‐day 19 article‐toc‐levels 0 toc‐levels 0 volume‐type Regular journal‐product ArchiveJournal numbering‐style Unnumbered article‐grants‐type OpenChoice metadata‐grant OpenAccess abstract‐grant OpenAccess bodypdf‐grant OpenAccess bodyhtml‐grant OpenAccess bibliography‐grant OpenAccess esm‐grant OpenAccess online‐first false pdf‐file‐reference BodyRef/PDF/40169_2019_Article_247.pdf target‐type OnlinePDF issue‐type Regular article‐type OriginalPaper journal‐subject‐primary Medicine & Public Health journal‐subject‐secondary Medicine/Public Health, general journal‐subject‐collection Medicine open‐access true --> Background: Bone is a preferential site for prostate cancer (PCa) metastasis. However, sites of synchronous distant metastases in PCa patients with bone metastases at initial diagnosis and their impacts on prognosis are still unclear, limiting our ability to better stratify and treat the patients. In this study, we examined the sites of synchronous extra‐skeletal metastases in de novo PCa patients with bone metastases and their associated prognoses. Methods: In total, 16,643 de novo PCa patients with bone metastases from the SEER database were included. After stratification of metastatic sites (bone, lung, liver, and brain) and treatment modalities, overall survival (OS) and independent predictors of OS, were analyzed. Results: Lung was the most frequent site of synchronous metastases, followed by liver, while brain metastases were relatively uncommon. Patients with bone‐only metastases showed the longest mean survival time (35.87 months, p < 0.001), followed by patients with bone and lung metastases (30.74 months, p < 0.001). Patients with bone and liver metastases had the shortest mean survival time (17.39 months, p < 0.001). Age > 70 years, unmarried status, high tumor grade, prostate‐specific antigen (PSA) > 50 ng/ml, and Gleason score ≥ 8 were associated with poor OS (all p < 0.01). Asian or Pacific Islander ethnic background was associated with a favorable OS (all p < 0.01). Chemotherapy improved OS in patients without brain metastases (all p < 0.05). For patients with bone‐only metastases, radical prostatectomy (RP) (HR, 0.339; 95% CI 0.231–0.495; p < 0.001), brachytherapy (BT) (HR, 0.567; 95% CI 0.388–0.829; p = 0.003), and chemotherapy (HR, 0.850; 95% CI 0.781–0.924; p < 0.001) were associated with prolonged OS. Conclusions: Age, race, tumor grade, PSA, Gleason score, sites of synchronous extra‐skeletal metastases, as well as treatment modalities affected OS in newly diagnosed PCa patients with bone metastases. Synchronous liver metastases were associated with poor OS. Chemotherapy improved OS in patients without brain metastases. RP and BT improved OS in patients with bone‐only metastases. Further investigation is warranted to validate these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To determine the accurate age‐adjusted incidence of prostate small cell carcinoma (SCC), update the clinical and pathological characteristics, as well as survival data of prostate SCC from Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) datasets. Methods: A total of 260 patients with prostate SCC were selected from the SEER database of the National Cancer Institute between 2004 and 2015. Age‐adjusted incidence (AAI) rates, the observed and relative survival rates were evaluated over time by the SEER*Stat Software version 8.3.5. Overall survival (OS) rates that stratified by summary stage and treatment effects were evaluated by Kaplan‐Meier method. The significant differences were assessed in a log‐rank test. Univariate and multivariate cox hazard regression analysis were performed to determine independent predictors of OS. Results: The incidence of prostate SCC has increased over time. The average age of prostate SCC patients was 70.25 years. More than 90% of tumors were poorly differentiated or undifferentiated. The majority of prostate SCC (77.7%) was at stage IV. 49% of patients had lymph node metastases and 68% of patients presented distant metastases (Compared with 60.5% of patients with distant metastases between 1973‐2003). Interestingly only 23.5% patients had high level PSA (>10 ng/mL). 58.8% of patients underwent chemotherapy, 25.4% of patients were treated by surgery, and 31.9% of patients were treated by radiotherapy. The observed survival rates of 1‐year, 2‐year, and 5‐year were 42.1%, 22.1%, and 12.5%, respectively (Compared with 47.9%, 27.5%, and 14.3%, respectively, between 1973 and 2003). Chemotherapy prolonged the OS of patients with regional (distant) metastases from 3 months (2 months) to 12 months (9 months). Multivariate cox regression analysis showed age, race, and stage were independent prognostic factors for prostate SCC patients. Conclusion: Prostate SCC is a highly malignant cancer and our analysis of recent data has shown its incidence is increasing. Incidence rate of metastatic prostate SCC has increased and the survival rates have worsened in recent years. However, chemotherapy shows some survival benefit for prostate SCC patients with regional and distant metastasis over other treatment methods. Further work is needed to understand the reason prognosis of this type prostate cancer is worsening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ionospheric disturbance is one of the most serious factors that limit the accuracy of deformation measurement of interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) especially for spaceborne SAR systems in low frequency such as L-band. Especially in imaging modes with a large coverage, ScanSAR mode for example, ionospheric disturbance phase screen almost submerges other useful geographical information. In this study, two ALOS-2 (L-band) full-aperture ScanSAR images (October 2015 and October 2016) are used to study ground deformation in Beijing from 2015 to 2016. The split range-spectrum technique is adopted to extract ionospheric distortion. The authors splice the differential interferograms of adjacent subswaths by resampling them to perform the overall ionospheric extraction. Also non-local filtering is used to improve the coherence of interferograms. Spatial deformation distribution that was obtained by differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar (D-InSAR) technique using the two ALOS-2 ScanSAR images is highly consistent with the result obtained by persistent scatterer interferometric synthetic aperture radar (PS-InSAR) technique using Sentinel Tops mode images (October 2015–February 2017). The comparison results show the effectiveness of the ionospheric distortion extraction method used in this study. Moreover, the spatial distribution is also highly consistent with the results before 2014, which means that the deformation trend in Beijing continues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Farnesoid X receptor ( FXR) has been confirmed to sense bile acids in various tissues. However, its expression in brain neurons remains obscure. In this study, we identified FXR mRNA and protein expression in mouse brain neurons and in mouse/human brain tissues. FXR was predominantly localized in the nucleus in cultured neurons, but in neurons in vivo, it mainly appeared in the cytoplasm. In nuclear compartments, the neuronal FXR exhibited a punctate distribution. Activation of FXR increased the small heterodimer partner ( SHP) mRNA and protein expression levels in cultured neurons and in brain tissues. These findings will help explore new functions of FXR in the brain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An Ultra-Broadband Metamaterial Absorber with High Absorption Rate Throughout the X-Band (Phys. In article no. 1900069 by Shijun Ji et al., a polarizationinsensitive ultra-broadband metamaterial absorber (UMMA) is proposed. Through a larger number of calculations, analysis and optimization from physical parameters of electromagnetic wave and structural parameters on the absorber, optimized parameters for the unit cell are obtained. [Extracted from the article]