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Background Docetaxel (DTX) exhibits antitumor effects against breast cancer by stabilizing microtubules and increasing the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). DTX extravasation during infusion often causes skin injury. The present study aimed to investigate the effects and mechanisms of icaritin (ICT) on DTX‐induced skin injury. Methods The effects of ICT on the viability and apoptosis of HaCaT cells were measured by SRB assay and flow cytometry, respectively. Endogenous LC3 puncta and microtubules were determined by immunofluorescence. The number of mitochondria was measured by MitoTracker orange staining. ROS were determined by dihydroethidium staining. The expression of markers of ROS and autophagy were measured by western blotting. Chloroquine, compound D, and tamoxifen were employed as the inhibitor for autophagy and AMPK, estrogen receptors (ERs) modulator, respectively. Results DTX inhibited the viability and decreased apoptosis of HaCaT cells, which can be rescued by ICT. ICT decreased microtubule bundles, increased the number of mitochondria, and attenuated ROS of HaCaT cells induced by DTX. ICT blocks autophagy and the autophagic flux. Compound C or tamoxifen diminished the protection effects of ICT on DTX‐treated HaCaT cells. Conclusion ICT alleviates DTX‐induced skin injury by suppressing ROS, reducing microtubule bundles, and blocking autophagy via ERs. Our study indicated that ICT may be a potential candidate for DTX‐induced skin injury., ICT alleviates DTX‐induced skin injury by alleviating the microtubule bundles, while the specific mechanism is unknown. At the same time, ICT, as an ER modulator, promotes the phosphorylation of the α subunit of AMPK to activate AMPK, thereby regulating the level of autophagy. ICT also reduces the level of ROS by acting as an ER modulator to reduce cell apoptosis.

IntroductionBitter peptides are short peptides with potential medical applications. The huge potential behind its bitter taste remains to be tapped. To better explore the value of bitter peptides in practice, we need a more effective classification method for identifying bitter peptides.MethodsIn this study, we developed a Random forest (RF)-based model, called Bitter-RF, using sequence information of the bitter peptide. Bitter-RF covers more comprehensive and extensive information by integrating 10 features extracted from the bitter peptides and achieves better results than the latest generation model on independent validation set.ResultsThe proposed model can improve the accurate classification of bitter peptides (AUROC = 0.98 on independent set test) and enrich the practical application of RF method in protein classification tasks which has not been used to build a prediction model for bitter peptides.DiscussionWe hope the Bitter-RF could provide more conveniences to scholars for bitter peptide research.

Objective: We aim to investigate the anticancer effects and mechanisms of icaritin against breast cancer. Materials and Methods: Both estrogen receptor (ER) positive breast cancer cells MCF- 7 and ER-negative MDA-MB-231 cells were employed. We examined the effects of icaritin on the proliferation and migration by wound healing assay and transwell assay. Cell apoptosis and cell cycle of MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells were analyzed using Flow cytometry. Cell autophagy of MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells was assessed by western blotting, acridine orange staining and confocal microscopy. We also detected the expression of apoptosis-related genes by western blotting. In addition, an autophagy inhibitor was used to investigate whether cytoprotective autophagy was induced. Meanwhile, an ER inhibitor was utilized to explore whether ER was involved in autophagy. Results: Icaritin inhibited the proliferation and migration, and induced cell cycle arrest of both MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cells. Icaritin significantly induced apoptosis of MDA-MB- 231 cells by activating caspase-3. And icaritin stimulated autophagy in MCF-7 cells, as evidenced by increased LC3II/LC3I, enhanced p62 degradation, the accumulation of endogenous LC3 puncta formation, and the increased autophagy flux. Icaritin induced autophagy through upregulating the phosphorylation of AMPK and ULK1. Chloroquine, an autophagy inhibitor, increased icaritin-induced apoptosis and proliferation inhibition of MCF-7 cells. Meanwhile, tamoxifen, an ER inhibitor, reversed icaritin-induced autophagy and proliferation inhibition of MCF-7 cells. Conclusion: Our study demonstrated that the antitumor effects of icaritin against breast cancer are related to ER, which suggested that the status of ER should be considered in the clinical application of icaritin.

Unprecedented phosphine-catalyzed [4+1] cycloadditions of allenyl imides have been discovered using various N-based substrates including methyl ketimines, enamines, and a primary amine. These transformations provide a one-pot access to cyclopentenoyl enamines and imines, or (chiral) γ-lactams via two geminal C-C bond or two C-N bond formations, respectively. Several P-based key intermediates including a 1,4-(bis)electrophilic α,β-unsaturated ketenyl phosphonium species have been detected by 31P NMR and HRMS analyses, which shed light on the postulated catalytic cycle. The synthetic utility of this new chemistry has been demonstrated through a gram-scaling up of the catalytic reaction as well as regioselective hydrogenation and double condensation to form cyclopentanoyl enamines and fused pyrazole building blocks, respectively.

The knee joint is extremely susceptible to injury, which is usually identified by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In the present study, MRI was applied to quantitatively detect the association between anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture and anatomic morphologic changes of the intercondylar notch. Forty patients with unilateral ACL rupture who were treated between July, 2013 and October, 2014 were enrolled in the present study. The patients were divided into the observation (affected side) and control (healthy side) groups. MRI measurements were undertaken based on parameters associated with intercondylar notch of double knee joints. The results showed that intercondylar notch width (ICW) in the observation group was significantly smaller than that in the control group, and differences were statistically significant (P0.05). Notch width index (NWI) and notch shape index (NSI) in the observation group were significantly less than those in the control group and differences were statistically significant (P0.05). The differential value of ICW in the observation group was 2.6±1.3 mm and the ACL rupture time of the affected knee was 20.4±1.3 months on average. The correlation was statistically significant (P0.05). In conclusion, after ACL rupture, ICW on the affected knee had significant stenosis, NSI and NWI were significantly reduced and the stenosis degree was aggravated with the prolongation of course. By contrast, Lysholm and Tegner scoring of patients with different degrees of stenosis had no correlation.

Nerve injury is a large problem that produces much pain in patients. Injury to the nervous system causes serious consequences and affects a person's quality of life. The development of tissue engineering has created a brighter future for nerve regeneration, and research has not stopped since the discovery of stem cells. Stem cells are a type of pluripotent cell that exhibits the capacity of selfdifferentiation and proliferation. Many studies have demonstrated the ability of stem cells to differentiate into other types of cells, including neurons, after induction with trophic factors in vivo and in vitro. Scientists have isolated a variety of stem cells from different organs and tissues in the human body and demonstrated that these cells were efficacious in regenerative medicine. The use of these cells provides a non-surgical method for the treatment of neurological diseases, such as nerve defects. However, many problems must be resolved before using these cells in the clinical field. The microenvironment and delivery methods of cells also affect the regeneration process. The present article comprehensively summarizes the progress of stem cells in the field of nerve regeneration in the recent decades.

Cardiovascular complications represent a leading cause of mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). During such complicated progression, subtle variations in the cardiovascular risk (CVR)-related biomarkers have been used to identify cardiovascular disease at the incipient stage. In this study we attempt to integrally characterize the progression of cardiovascular complications and to assess the beneficial effects of metformin combined with salvianolic acid A (Sal A), in Goto-Kakizaki (GK) rats with spontaneous T2DM. The rats were treated with metformin (200 mg·kg -1 ·d -1 , ig) alone or in combination with Sal A (1 mg·kg -1 ·d -1 , ip) at ages from 8 to 22 weeks. During the treatment, the levels of asymmetric dimethylarginine, L-arginine, superoxide dismutase, malondialdehyde, glucose, high density lipoprotein and low density lipoprotein were assessed. Based on alterations in these biomarkers, a mini-network balance model was established using matrixes and vectors. Radar charts were created to visually depict the disruption of CVR-related modules (endothelial function, oxidative stress, glycation and lipid profiles). The description for the progression of cardiovascular disorder was quantitatively represented by u, the dynamic parameter of the model. The modeling results suggested that untreated GK rats tended to have more severe cardiovascular complications than the treatment groups. Metformin monotherapy retarded disease deterioration, whereas the combination treatment ameliorated the disease progression via restoring the balance. The current study, which focused on the balance of the mini-network and interactions among CVR-related modules, proposes a novel method for evaluating the progression of cardiovascular complications in T2DM as well as a more beneficial intervention strategy.

Various CuO-ZnO-ZrO2(CZZ) catalysts for methanol synthesis from CO2 hydrogenation were prepared by co-precipitation method. Small amount of silica was incorporated into CZZ catalyst to produce these modified ternary CZZ catalysts. The effects of silica on physicochemical and catalytic properties were studied by TG-DTG,XRD,BET,N2O chemisorption,H2-TPR,NH3-TPD and CO2-TPD techniques. The results show that the properties of catalysts were strongly influenced by the content of SiO2 used as promoter. The catalytic performance for methanol synthesis from CO2 hydrogenation was evaluated. The test results show that the CZZ catalyst modified with 4 wt.% SiO2 exhibits an optimum catalytic activity. The silica improves the dispersion of CuO and its modified CZZ catalysts exhibits higher specific surface area, which were confirmed to be responsible for excellent performance of the catalysts for methanol synthesis from CO2 hydrogenation.

Nerous system diseases, both central and peripheral, bring an incredible burden onto patients and enormously reduce their quality of life. Currently, there are still no effective treatments to repair nerve lesions that do not have side effects. Stem cell–based therapies, especially those using dental stem cells, bring new hope to neural diseases. Dental stem cells, derived from the neural crest, have many characteristics that are similar to neural cells, indicating that they can be an ideal source of cells for neural regeneration and repair. This review summarizes the neural traits of all the dental cell types, including DPSCs, PDLCs, DFCs, APSCs and their potential applications in nervous system diseases. We have summed up the advantages of dental stem cells in neural repair, such as their neurotrophic and neuroprotective traits, easy harvest and low rejective reaction rate, among others. Taken together, dental stem cells are an ideal cell source for neural tissue regeneration and repair.

The correlation techniques of nodes cooperative transmission strategy in wireless sensor networks with virtual MIMO are presented. A communication model between clusters is proposed. From it, we can see the correlation techniques include coding, forwarding, combining and decoding. The coding is generally divided into three categories: Layered Space-Time Coding, Space-Time Trellis Coding and Space-Time Block Coding. Forwarding can be broken down into Amplifying Forwarding, Decode Forwarding, and Selecting Dynamic Relay. Select combining, equal gain combining and maximum ratio combining are the common combine methods. The decode method is maximum likelihood algorithm.

Objective To discuss the effect of lesser-known potential risk factors, such as bedroom showers, on the prevalence of allergic rhinitis. Method A cross-sectional, population-based study was performed using both survey and fungal culturing in southern Taiwan. There were 998 participants enrolled in the survey, and 513 sets of fungal culture obtained. With score for allergic rhinitis (SFAR) more than 7, the patient was defined to have allergic rhinitis. Risks of allergic rhinitis were calculated as odds ratios for various predicted risk factors by logistic regression. Correlation between predicted risk factors and fungal level were examined with linear regression. Results The adjusted odds ratio of frequently using bedroom shower to having allergic rhinitis was 1.572 (95% confidence interval: 1.090–2.265), and 0.962 for people with older age to have AR (95% confidence interval: 0.949–0.976). As to the 24-hour fungal level, the standardized coefficient was 0.254 for frequent use of bedroom shower, and 0.106 for window open hours. Conclusions Use of bedroom shower is a potential risk factor for allergic rhinitis development.

The scalable reaction is successfully performed using aryl and alkyl amidines as well as foramidine.