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Background: Gabapentin, originally an antiepileptic agent, was found to have anti-cancer activity on multiple cancer cells. However, its effects on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and associated molecular mechanisms are unclear. Objectives: In this study, we investigated the anti-cancer effects of gabapentin against HCC cells in vitro and in vivo. Methods: Human HCC cells were inoculated with various levels of gabapentin for 24 and 48 h. We utilized the MTT assay to detect the proliferation of HCC cells after gabapentin treatment. The effect of gabapentin on the migration of HCC cells was detected by transwell migration assay. We established a model of subcutaneously transplanted HCC in nude mice and observed the impact of gabapentin on HCC cell tumorigenicity in vivo. The changes in RNA expression in gabapentin-treated HCC cells were evaluated by RNA sequencing analysis, and the results were analyzed and further validated by qRT-PCR. Results: Gabapentin significantly inhibited the proliferation of a variety of human HCC cells in a time- and dose-dependent approach. After treatment with 10 mM gabapentin for 12 h, the transendothelial migration of HCC cells via membrane remarkably reduced. Three weeks after the hypodermic transplanting of HCC in nude mice with Huh7 cell line, the gabapentin-treated group had a dramatic decrease in mean tumor volume and weight relative to the controls. Relative to the normal Huh7 cell line, the results of RNA sequencing of Huh7 cells treated with gabapentin for 24 h showed the differential enrichment of genes involved in "energy metabolism", "cancers", "signal transduction", and "folding, sorting, and degradation". The genes CDH11 and ARHGAP15 related to cell migration were further verified by qRT-PCR. Conclusions: Our results suggested that gabapentin has an inhibitory effect on the growth, migration, and tumor formation of hepatoma cells, and the mechanism of gabapentin’s inhibition on HCC cells may be related to some signaling pathways, which will lay a foundation for the future studies on branched-chain aminotransferase 1 (BCAT1) as a target for HCC treatment.

To obtain the cross sections of the 9Be(d, t)8Be reaction, a thick beryllium target was bombarded with a deuteron beam from 78 to 100 keV, with an energy step of 2 keV. The charged particles emitted from the d-9Be interaction were accumulated, and the cross sections were deduced from the thick-target yields of emitted tritium. The present work, in conjunction with the data reported in the high-energy region, extended the directly measured values of cross section to 65 keV in the center-of-mass system, thereby filling in the nuclear data gap in the low-energy region.

This paper investigates the influence of tip corona of free linear particle on the partial discharge pattern. The reduced scale apparatus of 126 kV GIS is set up in the laboratory. Linear particles with the same radii, same length and different tip radii are respectively placed in the experimental tank. The discharge signal, ultrasonic signal and movement track of linear particles were recorded and observed. The results indicate that: 1) Movement behavior of linear particles without corona on the tip mainly pass through four kinds of states with the increase of the applied voltage: static standing, jumping with a small height, jumping with a big height and jumping to high voltage electrode. As for the linear particles with corona on the tip, it only jumps with a small height rather than jumps to high voltage electrode. 2) In the low voltage, the V-ϕ ultrasonic signal scatter plot and q-ϕ discharge pulse signal scatter plot of both kinds of the linear particles with and without corona on the tip have strong phase correlation. Among them, the phase correlation of the discharge signals and the ultrasonic signals of the particles without corona on the tip decreases with the increase of the applied voltage, while the phase correlation of that of the particles with corona on the tip always keeps strong with the increase of the applied voltage. By analyzing the effect of tip corona on the particle motion and discharge characteristics, the discharge characteristic spectrum of linear particle with tip corona is obtained, which can provide important reference for pattern recognition of particle.

Wei-Jia Zhao,1,* Gui-Qi Zhu,2,* Yi-Ming Wu,3,* Wen-Wen Wang,4 Bing-Long Bai1 1Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital and Yuying Children’s Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang 325000, People’s Republic of China; 2Liver Cancer Institute, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, People’s Republic of China; State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Urology, The Second Affiliated Hospital and Yuying Children’s Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang 325000, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Oncology, The Affiliated Wuxi No.2 People’s Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Wuxi 214000, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Bing-Long BaiDepartment of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital and Yuying Children’s Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang 325000, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86-577-64056912Fax +86-577-64043181Email baibinglong@gmail.comWen-Wen WangDepartment of Oncology, The Affiliated Wuxi No.2 People’s Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Wuxi 214000, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86-577-54021976Fax +86-510-14047581Email www0228@126.comPurpose: Controversies exist for which treatment is optimal for early hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC): radiofrequency ablation (RFA), surgical resection (SR), or transplantation (LT). We compared outcomes between treatments as first-line therapy for HCC patients measuring up to 5 cm or different cancer risk groups.Patients and methods: The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database was retrieved for HCC patients treated with RFA, SR, or LT between 2004 and 2015. The effects of three treatments were compared using propensity score, inverse probability of treatment weights adjustment, and instrumental variable analysis for overall survival (OS) and competing risks regression models for disease-specific survival (DSS). We also evaluated whether the effect of treatments varied according to baseline clinical characteristics by locally weighted regression method.Results: Of 7664 patients, RFA and SR yielded worse OS (HR 1.67, CI 1.43–1.70, P1) for different tumor sizes measuring up to 5 cm and may be an appropriate first-line treatment. Additionally, RFA has more survival benefits compared with SR (HR 0.83, CI 0.53–1.25) for those patients with low tumor risk and good general health condition (without any prognostic risk factors). However, those patients with a predicted 5-year overall mortality risk >30% seem to benefit more for SR than RFA.Conclusion: Due to a shortage of donors, RFA and SR can be applied as either primary management of HCC or as a bridging therapy for LT. Furthermore, SR is an effective option for patients with different HCC tumor size. However, RFA could achieve comparable survival benefits with SR for patients without any risk factors.Keywords: hepatocellular carcinoma, outcomes, radiofrequency ablation, surgical resection, transplantation, propensity score, PS

Dynamin-1-like protein (DNM1L) encodes a member of the dynamin superfamily of GTPases. It mediates mitochondrial and peroxisomal division and is involved in the regulation of apoptosis. However, its role in gastric cancer remains unclear. MKN-45 gastric cancer cells were transfected with short hairpin RNA (shRNA) to suppress DNM1L expression. MTT, flow cytometry, and Transwell assays were used to detect the changes in cell proliferation, apoptosis, and invasion, respectively. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect DNM1L expression in gastric adenocarcinoma specimens, and the association of DNM1L expression with clinicopathological features and prognosis was analyzed. After the suppression of endogenous DNM1L expression in MKN-45 cells with shRNA, cell proliferation and invasion rates were significantly reduced, whereas apoptosis was significantly increased (all P

The MRI technique has been used in diagnosis of manganism in humans and non-human primates. This cross-sectional study was designed to explore whether the pallidal signal intensity in T1-weighted MRI correlated with Mn levels in the blood compartment among Mn-exposed workers and to understand to what extent the MRI signal could reflect Mn exposure. A group of 18 randomly selected male Mn-exposed workers of which 13 were smelting workers with high exposure (mean of airborne Mn in work place: 1.26 mg/m3; range: 0.31–2.93 mg/m3), and 5 power distribution control workers with low exposure (0.66 mg/m3 and 0.23–0.77 mg/m3) from a ferroalloy factory, and another group of 9 male subjects as controls from a non-smelting factory who were office or cafeteria workers (0.01 mg/m3 and 0–0.03 mg/m3) were recruited for neurological tests, MRI examination, and analysis of Mn in whole blood (MnB), plasma (MnP) or red blood cells (MnRBC). No clinical symptoms and signs of manganism were observed among these workers. MRI data showed average increases of 7.4% (p < 0.05) and 16.1% (p < 0.01) in pallidal index (PI) among low- and high-exposed workers, respectively, as compared to controls. Fourteen out of 18 Mn-exposed workers (78%) had intensified PI values, while this proportion was even higher (85%) among the high Mn-exposed workers. Among exposed workers, the PI values were significantly associated with MnRBC (r = 0.55, p = 0.02). Our data suggest that the workers exposed to airborne Mn, but without clinical symptoms, display an exposure-related, intensified MRI signal. The MRI, as well as MnRBC, may be useful in early diagnosis of Mn exposure.

The energetics and the stability of free transverse vibration of an axially moving string are investigated based on the Kirchhoff nonlinear model. The model is derived in a physically meaningful manner. The time-rate of the total mechanical energy associated with the vibration is calculated to show that the energy is not conserved. It is proved that there exists a conserved quantity that remains a constant during the nonlinear vibration. The conserved quantity is applied to verify the Lyapunov stability of the axially moving Kirchhoff string.