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We describe an unusual case of subacute cutaneous lupus erythematosus concurrent with hand-foot syndrome, apparently associated with capecitabine treatment. We hypothesise that subacute cutaneous lupus erythematosus and hand-foot syndrome may occur in a novel overlap syndrome.

] Suenaga M. Genetical studies on skin diseases. VII. Dyschromatosis universalis hereditaria in five generations. Tohoku J Exp Med 1952;55:373–6. ] Urabe K, Hori Y, Dyschromatosis. Semin Cutan Med Surg 1997;16:81–5. Chaoxia Lu, Jie Liu, Fang Liu, Yaping Liu, Donglai Ma*, Xue Zhang** McKusick-Zhang Center for Genetic Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Biology, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and School of Basic Medicine Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100005, China; Department of Dermatology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Science and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100073, China

Heat shock proteins (HSPs) have been successfully applied to a broad range of vaccines as biological adjuvants to enhance the immune response. The recently defined HSP110, in particular, exhibits strong protein binding affinity and is capable of enhancing the immunogenicity of protein antigens remarkably more than other HSP family members. In our previous study, we verified that murine HSP110 (mHSP110) significantly enhanced the immune response of a C57BL/6 mouse model to the H-2d-restricted human papillomavirus (HPV) E749-57epitope (short peptide spanning the 49th to 57th amino acid residues in the E7 protein). To determine whether HSP110 similarly enhances the immunogenicity of human epitope peptides, we used theHLA-A2transgenic mouse model to investigate the efficacy of the mHSP110 chaperone molecule as an immunoadjuvant of the human HLA-A2-restricted HPV16 E711-20epitope vaccine. Results showed that mHSP110 efficiently formed a noncovalently bound complex with the E711-20epitope. The mHSP110-E711-20complex induced epitope-specific splenocyte proliferation and E711-20-specific gamma interferon (IFN-γ) secretion. Importantly, cytotoxic T lymphocytes primed by the mHSP110-E711-20complex exerted strong cytolytic effects on target T2cells pulsed with the E711-20peptide or TC-1 cells transfected with theHLA-A2gene. In addition, the mHSP110-E711-20complex elicited strongerex vivoandin vivoantitumor responses than either emulsified complete Freund's adjuvant or HSP70-chaperoned E711-20peptide. These collective data suggest that HSP110 is a promising immunomodulator candidate for peptide-based human cancer vaccines, such as for the HLA-A2-restricted E711-20epitope.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) causes functional impairment as a result of the initial injury followed by secondary injury mechanism. SCI provokes an inflammatory response that causes secondary tissue damage and neurodegeneration. While the use of neural stem cell (NSC) engraftment to mitigate secondary injury has been of interest to many researchers, it still faces several limitations. As such, we investigated if NSC-conditioned medium (NSC-M) possesses therapeutic potential for the treatment of SCI. It has been proposed that many of the beneficial effects attributed to stem cell therapies are due to secreted factors. Utilizing primary cell culture and murine models of SCI, we determined that systemic treatment with NSC-M was able to significantly improve motor function and lesion healing. In addition, NSC-M demonstrated significant anti-inflammatory potential in vitro and in vivo, reducing inflammatory cytokine expression in both activated macrophages and injured spinal cord tissues. NSC-M was also able to reduce the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) within the spleen of injured animals, indicating an ability to reduce systemic inflammation. Thus, we believe that NSC-M offers a possible alternative to direct stem cell engraftment for the treatment of SCI.

Cervical cancer is the second most common gynecological cancer worldwide and remains as one of the leading causes of cancer-related death among women. Despite great progress in the treatment of cervical cancer, the 5-year overall survival rate for patients with this disease remains unsatisfactory. Over the past decade, an increasing number of studies indicate a central role for microRNAs in the initiation and progression of cervical cancer. microRNA‑329-3p (miR-329-3p) has been studied in many types of human cancer; however, the expression level, biological role and the underlying mechanism of miR-329-3p in cervical cancer has not yet been investigated. In the present study, we found that the expression levels of miR-329-3p were reduced in both cervical cancer tissues and cell lines. Low miR-329-3p expression was negatively correlated with histological grade, International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage, and lymph node metastasis of cervical cancer patients. In addition, upregulation of miR‑329-3p suppressed cell proliferation, migration and invasion of cervical cancer. Furthermore, MAPK1 was identified as a direct target gene of miR-329-3p. MAPK1 was significantly upregulated in cervical cancer tissues and was inversely correlated with miR-329-3p expression in the cervical cancer tissues. Silencing of MAPK1 by RNA interference mimicked the effects of miR-329-3p overexpression on cell proliferation, migration and invasion in cervical cancer. Moreover, rescue experiments showed that restoration of the expression of MAPK1 reversed the effects of miR‑329-3p overexpression in cervical cancer cells. Taken together, these findings suggest that miR-329-3p has a critical tumor-suppressive roles by directly targeting MAPK1 in cervical cancer, and it may be investigated as a novel therapeutic target for the treatment of patients with this disease.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is highly associated with morbidity and mortality in population. Although studies have already demonstrated that the immune response plays a pivotal role in the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, the comprehensive regulation is unclear. Therefore, present study was carried out to investigate the non-alcoholic fatty liver disease development under neutrophil depletion. To achieve the aim of the study, C57BL/6 J mice were fed with high fat diet for 6 weeks before treated with neutrophil deplete antibody 1A8 or isotype control (200 μg/ mouse every week) for another 4 weeks. Treated with 1A8 antibody, obese mice exhibited better whole body metabolic parameters, including reduction of body weight gain and fasting blood glucose levels. Neutrophil depletion also effectively reduced hepatic structural disorders, dysfunction and lipid accumulation. Lipid β-oxidative markers, phosphorylated-AMP-activated protein kinase α and phosphorylated-acetyl-CoA carboxylase levels were increased in 1A8 antibody-treated obese mouse group. The mitochondrial number and function were also reversed after 1A8 antibody treatment, including increased mitochondrial number, reduced lipid oxidative damage and enhanced mitochondrial activity. Furthermore, the expression of inflammatory cytokines, tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-6, and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 were obviously reduced after neutrophil depletion, accompanied with decreased F4/80 mRNA level and macrophage percentage in liver. The decreased NF-κB signaling activity was also involved in the beneficial effect of neutrophil depletion. Taken together, neutrophil depletion could attenuate metabolic syndromes and hepatic dysfunction.

Background Macrophages play an important role in the inflammatory responses involved with spinal cord injury (SCI). We have previously demonstrated that infiltrated bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs) engulf myelin debris, forming myelin-laden macrophages (mye-Mϕ). These mye-Mϕ promote disease progression through their pro-inflammatory phenotype, enhanced neurotoxicity, and impaired phagocytic capacity for apoptotic cells. We thus hypothesize that the excessive accumulation of mye-Mϕ is the root of secondary injury, and that targeting mye-Mϕ represents an efficient strategy to improve the local inflammatory microenvironment in injured spinal cords and to further motor neuron function recovery. In this study, we administer murine embryonic stem cell conditioned media (ESC-M) as a cell-free stem cell based therapy to treat a mouse model of SCI. Results We showed that BMDMs, but not microglial cells, engulf myelin debris generated at the injury site. Phagocytosis of myelin debris leads to the formation of mye-Mϕ in the injured spinal cord, which are surrounded by activated microglia cells. These mye-Mϕ are pro-inflammatory and lose the normal macrophage phagocytic capacity for apoptotic cells. We therefore focus on how to trigger lipid efflux from mye-Mϕ and thus restore their function. Using ESC-M as an immune modulating treatment for inflammatory damage after SCI, we rescued mye-Mϕ function and improved functional locomotor recovery. ESC-M treatment on mye-Mϕ resulted in improved exocytosis of internalized lipids and a normal capacity for apoptotic cell phagocytosis. Furthermore, when ESC-M was administered intraperitoneally after SCI, animals exhibited significant improvements in locomotor recovery. Examination of spinal cords of the ESC-M treated mice revealed similar improvements in macrophage function as well as a shift towards a more anti-inflammatory environment at the lesion and parenchyma. Conclusions The embryonic stem cell conditioned media can be used as an effective treatment for SCI to resolve inflammation and improve functional recovery while circumventing the complications involved in whole cell transplantation.

Gold nanorods (GNRs) have shown great potential applications in cancer theranostics due to the unique phenomenon of surface plasmon resonance, which leads to strong electric fields on the surface and consequently enhances the absorption and scattering in the near-infrared (NIR) region. Indocyanine green (ICG), an amphipathic dye, is not only an excellent NIR imaging agent but also an ideal light absorber for laser-mediated photodynamic and photothermal therapy. In this study, in order to integrate the merits of GNRs and ICG in biomedical applications, we developed ICG conjugated silica-coated GNRs (GNR@SiO2-ICG) for cancer imaging and phototherapy. The covalent coupling strategy reduces the probability of leakage/desorption during the delivery. The as-prepared GNR@SiO2-ICG could serve as efficient probes to simultaneously enhance fluorescence (FL) imaging and two-photon luminescence (TPL) imaging.In vitroexperiments indicated that A375 cells could be killed through synergistic phototherapies effect of GNRs and ICG using single wavelength continuous-wave laser irradiation. Our results indicated that the synthesized GNR@SiO2-ICG are effective for simultaneously enhancing FL/TPL imaging and synergistic phototherapies.

Several strategies have been used to enhance the vaccine-induced immunity of peptide vaccines and effective therapeutic benefits, including the utilization of heat shock proteins (HSP), especially the HSP70 family. HSP110 exhibits a higher binding affinity with protein and is capable of enhancing the immunogenicity of protein antigens; however, whether HSP110 can also increase the efficiency of peptide vaccine remains unclear. Here, we investigated mHSP110 as a chaperone immunoadjuvant to enhance the immune response to HPV16 oncoprotein E7-derived CTL epitope E7(49-57) in a mouse model. We developed the HSP110-E7(49-57) complex and demonstrated that mHSP110 could form complexes with peptide E7(49-57) using FITC-labeled E7(49-57) as the tracer. Inoculation of the mHSP110-E7(49-57) complex was capable of priming strong epitope-specific immune response as determined by its ability to elicit an epitope-specific splenocytes proliferation and a cytotoxic T cell response, and IFNgamma production in splenocytes. Results also showed that immunization with the mHSP110-E7(49-57) complex completely protected mice against subsequent challenge with tumor cells. More importantly, immunization of this complex also significantly inhibited the growth of established tumors and prolonged the survival time of the tumor-bearing animals. Thus, mHSP110-E7(49-57) complex vaccine represents a potentially powerful approach for use in the immunotherapy of cervical cancer associated with HPV16 infection. More importantly, the multi-epitopes derived from E7 and other E proteins can be applied to the strategy described in this study to form a multi-antigenic vaccine to induce an improved antitumor immune response to cervical cancer in the future.

To warrant potential clinical testing, the equine anti-SARS-CoV F(ab')(2) requires evaluation in as many animal models as possible and a safety test in a primate model. In this study, we evaluated the pharmacokinetics, tolerance and immunity of this kind of antibody in macaques and rats. Results showed that the F(ab')(2) fragments had a normal metabolism in injected animals. The general physiological indexes did not differ between animals injected with anti-SARS-CoV F(ab')(2) or saline. However, a mild inflammatory response in local injection site and a moderate immune response against this antibody in the successively injected animals were observed, which however recovered 3 weeks after the last injection. The antibody titring from 1:100 to 400 against the equine anti-SARS-CoV F(ab')(2) in the inoculated hosts could be detected at week 2 during the successive injections of the equine F(ab')(2). The considerable safety of this antibody used in primates and the fact that the immune system of the host can be motivated by post-injection of the F(ab')(2) indicate that this type of anti-SARS-CoV antibody can be used for prevention and treatment of SASR, especially at the early stage of this virus infection. In addition, it can also provide the precious time for the combined use of other anti-SARS-CoV agents such as antiviral drug and vaccine.

The use of 0.6 vol.% single-walled carbon nanotubes in a poly(ethylene glycol)-based dispersion gave a thermal paste that was as effective as solder for improving thermal contacts. A thermal contact conductance of 20 × 104 W m−2 K−1 was attained. An excessive amount of nanotubes (e.g. 1.8 vol.%) degraded the performance, because of conformability loss. The nanotubes were more effective than hexagonal boron nitride particles but were less effective than carbon black, which gave a thermal contact conductance of 30 × 104 W m−2 K−1.

Macrophage-pathogen interaction is a complex process and the outcome of this tag-of-war for both sides is to live or die. Without attempting to be comprehensive, this review will discuss the complexity and significance of the interaction outcomes between macrophages and some facultative intracellular bacterial pathogens as exemplified by Francisella, Salmonella, Shigella and Yersinia. Upon bacterial infection, macrophages can die by a variety of ways, such as apoptosis, autophagic cell death, necrosis, necroptosis, oncosis, pyronecrosis, pyroptosis etc, which is the focus of this review.

Single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT)–poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) composites were fabricated by dispersion of SWNT in an aqueous surfactant solution, followed by mixing with PVDF powder, filtration and hot pressing. The thermal properties of the composites at various SWNT volume fraction up to 49% were investigated. The coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) was decreased with increase of the SWNT content. The thermal conductivity increased with temperature in the temperature range from 25 to 150 °C. The thermal conductivity was enhanced, but not up to the level required by heat sink applications. The melting point was not affected significantly by the addition of SWNT, but the degree of crystallinity was increased and the decomposition temperature of the matrix was decreased. The large number of junctions among SWNT largely offsets the benefit of the high thermal conductivity of SWNT. In addition, the impurity and defects in SWNT are believed to limit the thermal conductivity of the composites. Lastly, the reduced thermal stability of the composite compared to the matrix might result from the presence of the metal catalyst contained in the SWNT.

ejd.2013.2121 Auteur(s) : XueQi Zhang tigar@aliyun.com, JingJing Liu, XiaoHong Shao, JianFeng Cai, ShenMeng Gao, XiaoHua Lin, YueYue Yuan, ZhiMing Li, BingXu Li, YunSheng Xu First Affiliated Hospital, Wenzhou Medical College, No 1 Fuxue lane, 325000 Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China We report a 19-year-old patient (III10) from a four-generation Chinese pedigree with desquamation covering almost all the body since about 10 months of age. The development of cutaneous lesions initially occurred on the extremities [...]

Polyethylene-glycol-based thermal interface paste containing trifluoroacetic acid lithium salt (1.5 wt. percent optimum) and boron nitride particles (;18.0 vol. percent optimum), as well as water and N, N-dimethylformamide for helping the dissociation of the salt to release Li ions, gives thermal contact conductance that is almost as high as that given by Sn-Pb solder, similar to that given by boron nitride particle filled sodium silicate, and much higher than that given by boron nitride particle filled silicone. @DOI: 10.1115/1.1477191#

Enhanced glycolysis is a common trait of many types of human cancers. This study was to detect the expression pattern of three regulatory enzymes during glycolysis in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and to investigate their correlation with patients' outcome based on banked pathology material. A total of 141 surgically resected specimens of primary ESCC patients without prior treatments were retrospectively recruited from the First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical College Hospital from 2007 to 2009. Expression of HK1, PFKB, and PKM2 in ESCC specimens was analyzed by immunohistochemical staining and Western blotting analysis. HK1-shRNA was used to knock down HK1 expression in ESCC cells, and the functional significance was assessed by CCK8 assay. It was found that the expression of two glycolytic enzymes, HK1 and PKM2, was associated with disease progression, invasion, and poor survival of patients with ESCC. Silence of HK1-inhibited cell proliferation in vitro and suppressed phospho-S6 kinase expression. Our findings suggest that activation of key enzymes in glycolysis might serve as potential therapeutic targets and/or prognostic factors for patients with ESCC.

We describe an unusual case of subacute cutaneous lupus erythematosus concurrent with hand-foot syndrome, apparently associated with capecitabine treatment. We hypothesise that subacute cutaneous lupus erythematosus and hand-foot syndrome may occur in a novel overlap syndrome.

Thermally conducting, but electrically insulating, polymer-matrix composites that exhibit low values of the dielectric constant and the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) are needed for electronic packaging. For developing such composites, this work used aluminum nitride whiskers (and/or particles) and/or silicon carbide whiskers as fillers(s) and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) or epoxy as matrix. The highest thermal conductivity of 11.5 W/(m K) was attained by using PVDF, AlN whiskers and AlN particles (7 μm), such that the total filler volume fraction was 60% and the AlN whisker–particle ratio was 1:25.7. When AlN particles were used as the sole filler, the thermal conductivity was highest for the largest AlN particle size (115 μm), but the porosity increased with increasing AlN particle size. The thermal conductivity of AlN particle epoxy-matrix composite was increased by up to 97% by silane surface treatment of the particles prior to composite fabrication. The increase in thermal conductivity is due to decrease in the filler–matrix thermal contact resistance through the improvement of the interface between matrix and particles. At 60 vol.% silane-treated AlN particles only, the thermal conductivity of epoxy-matrix composite reached 11.0 W/(m K). The dielectric constant was quite high (up to 10 at 2 MHz) for the PVDF composites. The change of the filler from AlN to SiC greatly increased the dielectric constant. Combined use of whiskers and particles in an appropriate ratio gave composites with higher thermal conductivity and low CTE than the use of whiskers alone or particles alone. However, AlN addition caused the tensile strength, modulus and ductility to decrease from the values of the neat polymer, and caused degradation after water immersion.

The tensile strength of cement paste was increased by 56% and the modulus and ductility were increased by 39% by using silane-treated carbon fibers and silane-treated silica fume, relative to the values for cement paste with as-received carbon fibers and as-received silica fume. Silane treatment of fibers and silica fume contributed about equally to the strengthening. Silane treatment of fibers and silica fume also decreased the air void content and the drying shrinkage. The strengthening, air void content reduction and drying shrinkage reduction were less when the fiber treatment involved either potassium dichromate or ozone. Silane’s effectiveness is due to its hydrophilic nature.

Multimodal imaging guided synergistic therapy promises more accurate diagnosis than any single imaging modality, and higher therapeutic efficiency than any single one or their simple "mechanical" combination. Herein, we report a dual-stimuli responsive nanotheranostic based on a hierarchical nanoplatform, composed of mesoporous silica-coated gold nanorods (GNR@SiO2), Indocyanine Green (ICG), and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), for in vivo multimodal imaging guided synergistic therapy. The 5-FU loaded ICG-conjugated silica-coated gold nanorods (GNR@SiO2-5-FU-ICG) was able to response specifically to the two stimuli of pH change and near-infrared (NIR) light irradiation. Both the NIR light irradiation and acidic environment accelerated the 5-FU release. Meanwhile, the heat generation and singlet oxygen production can be induced by GNR@SiO2-5-FU-ICG upon light irradiation. Most intriguingly, the nanoplatform also promises multimodal imaging such as two-photon luminescence, fluorescence, photoacoustic, photothermal imaging, as well as trimodal synergistic therapy such as photothermal therapy (PTT), photodynamic therapy (PDT), and chemotherapy. The cancer theranostic capability of GNR@SiO2-5-FU-ICG was evaluated both in vitro and in vivo. The trimodal synergistic therapy with the guidance of multimodal imaging exhibited remarkably enhanced treatment efficacy. This concept of a hierarchical nanoplatform integrates multiple diagnostic/therapeutic modalities into one platform, which can potentially be applied as personalized nanomedicine with drug delivery, diagnosis, and treatment.

Silica fume cement was improved by using silane, which was introduced by either coating silica fume particles with silane or using silane as an admixture. Both methods of silane introduction similarly enhanced the workability, tensile strength and compressive strength, but the latter method resulted in lower compressive ductility, lower damping capacity, more drying shrinkage, lower air void content, higher density, higher specific heat and greater thermal conductivity, mainly due to the network of covalent coupling among the silica fume particles.

Cement paste of high specific heat and high thermal conductivity has been attained by using silane and silica fume as admixtures. These admixtures together cause the specific heat to increase by up to 50% and the thermal conductivity to increase by up to 38%. Silane acts to increase the specific heat and increase the thermal conductivity. Silica fume acts to increase the specific heat and decrease the thermal conductivity. Silane provides a network of covalent coupling among the silica fume particles. The network increases the compressive strength and modulus, decreases the compressive ductility, enhances heat conduction through phonons, and increases the specific heat through vibrations.

Surface treatment of carbon fibers and/or silica fume by silane prior to using these admixtures in cement paste increases the effectiveness of these admixtures for reducing the drying shrinkage. Silane treatment of fibers is more effective than dichromate treatment or ozone treatment.

The thermal conductivity of boron nitride and aluminum nitride particle epoxy-matrix composites was increased by up to 97% by surface treatment of the particles prior to composite fabrication. The increase in thermal conductivity is due to decrease in the filler-matrix thermal contact resistance through the improvement of the interface between matrix and particles. Effective treatments for BN involved acetone, acids (nitric and sulfuric) and silane. The most effective treatment involved silane such that the coating resulted from the treatment amounted to 2.4% of the weight of the treated BN. The effectiveness of a treatment was higher for a larger BN volume fraction. At 57 vol.% BN, the thermal conductivity reached 10.3 W/ m·K. The treatments had little effect on the specific surface area of the BN particles. Silane treatments were also effective for AlN. At 60 vol.% AlN, the thermal conductivity reached 11.0 W/m·K.

Sodium silicate based thermal interface pastes give higher thermal contact conductance across conductor surfaces than polymer based pastes and oils, due to their higher fluidity and the consequent greater conformability. Addition of hexagonal boron nitride particles up to 16.0 vol. percent further increases the conductance of sodium silicate, due to the higher thermal conductivity of BN. However, addition beyond 16.0 vol. percent BN causes the conductance to decrease, due to the decrease in fluidity. At 16.0 vol. percent BN, the conductance is up to 63 percent higher than those given by silicone based pastes and is almost as high as that given by solder. Water is almost as effective as sodium silicate without filler, but the thermal contact conductance decreases with time due to the evaporation of water. Mineral oil and silicone without filler are much less effective than water or sodium silicate without filler. [S1043-7398(00)00402-3]

Z-axis electrical conductor films in adhesive and standalone forms were made from nickel particles (one per conduction path) and a polymer matrix (polyvinylidene fluoride for the standalone film and epoxy for the adhesive film). The standalone film was found to exhibit resilience, conducting path pitch 125 µm and z-axis resistance 2 Ω. 4 Ω, 17, 48 Ω, and 160 Ω per connection at z-axis pressures of 1.39 MPa, 0.037 MPa, 0.0046 MPa, and 0 MPa respectively; each connection consisted of one nickel particle, which protruded from both sides of the film; the film exhibited no stress relaxation due to the absence of polymer deformation under z-axis pressure. The adhesive film exhibited pitch 64 µm and z-axis resistance 52 Ω per connection at zero pressure.

The tensile strength of cement paste was increased by 56% and the modulus and ductility were increased by 39% by using silane-treated carbon fibers and silane-treated silica fume, relative to the values for cement paste with as-received carbon fibers and as-received silica fume. Silane treatment of fibers and silica fume contributed about equally to the strengthening. Silane treatment of fibers and silica fume also decreased the air void content. The strengthening and air void content reduction were less when the fiber treatment involved potassium dichromate instead of silane and even less when the treatment involved ozone. Silane’s effectiveness is due to its hydrophilic nature.

The Fra-1 transcription factor is frequently upregulated in multiple types of tumors. Here we found that Fra-1 promotes miR-134 expression. miR-134 activates JNK and ERK by targeting SDS22, which in turn induces Fra-1 expression and leads to miR-134 upregulation. In addition, miR-134 augmented H2AX S139 phosphorylation by activating JNK and promoted non-homologous end joining (NHEJ)-mediated DNA repair. Therefore, ectopic miR-134 expression reduced chemosensitivity in ovarian cancer cells. Furthermore, miR-134 promotes cell proliferation, migration and invasion of ovarian cancer cells, and enhances tumor growth in vivo. Of particular significance, both Fra-1 and miR-134 are upregulated in ovarian cancer tissues, and Fra-1 and miR-134 expression is positively correlated. High levels of miR-134 expression were associated with a reduced median survival of ovarian cancer patients. Our study revealed that a Fra-1-miR-134 axis drives a positive feedback loop that amplifies ERK/JNK signaling and reduces chemosensitivity in ovarian cancer cells.

Background : It is well known that both heat shock protein (HSP) and Toll-like receptor (TLR)3 agonist polyinosinic:polycytidylic acid (poly(I:C)) are capable of promoting the antigen-specific immune responses. In the current study, we assessed whether the anti-tumor effects of the HPV16E7 49–57 -based vaccine can be elevated by combined applications of poly(I:C) and oxygen-regulated protein 150 (ORP150) in a mouse cervical cancer model. Methods : Recombinant mouse ORP150 and HPV E7 49–57 peptide were combined to passively form the ORP150–E7 49–57 complex under heat shock conditions. The effects of ORP150–E7 49–57 complex plus poly(I:C) adjuvant on lymphocyte proliferation and functional cytotoxic T cells were investigated by methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT), ELISPOT, and non-radioactive cytotoxicity assays. Finally, the complex's therapeutic anti-tumor effects with and without adjuvant therapy were observed in a tumor challenge experiment. Results : This combination vaccine approach significantly enhanced the proliferation of splenocytes and induced strong E7 49–57 -specific CTL responses. More importantly, the ORP150–E7 49–57 complex plus poly(I:C) vaccine format demonstrated more potent anti-tumor effects than ORP150–E7 49–57 complex alone or E7 49–57 plus poly(I:C) in TC-1 tumor-bearing mice. Conclusion : Both poly(I:C) and ORP150 chaperone can synergistically enhance the anti-tumor effects of the HPV16E7 49–57 -based vaccine in vitro and in vivo. This strategy provides a platform for the design of a tumor therapeutic vaccine capable of inducing an effective anti-tumor immune response.

Similarity measure formula between Vague set A and B is put forward: (, ) 1 1 22 ii i i i i i i mm m m m m m m n ab a b a b a b m i

The Vague optimization method sorted out is a special case of the pattern recognition method of the Vague set. Its specific application steps are as follows: 1 the set-up of characters to determine the evaluation; 2 the establishment of a collection of new varieties of wheat to be optimized; 3 the extract of the ideal set of new wheat varieties ; 4 the construction of Vague environment to collect all varieties of Vague sets; 5 the Vague optimization: to calculate similarity measures between Vague sets to obtain the new wheat varieties based on numerical similarity measures and to propose the similarity measures formula between the Vague sets. This optimization formula is supported by Vague class techniques. Breeding new varieties of wheat with comprehensive quality traits is one of the directions in wheat breeding. It is a new attempt to study the wheat assessment of the new wheat varieties with the application of optimization methods. The wheat assessment case of the new wheat varieties shows that both the formula and the method are practical.

Thermal interface pastes based on silicone, lithium doped polyethylene glycol (PEG), and sodium silicate were evaluated in their performance before and after heating up to 120°C. The thermal contact conductance of any of the pastes between copper disks decreased after heating, such that the fractional decrease was less for the silicone-based paste than the PEG-based and sodium-silicate-based pastes. Nevertheless, the conductance was lower for the silicone-based paste than the other pastes both before and after heating up to 100 cycles.

Sand addition was found to decrease the specific heat and increase the thermal conductivity of cement, in contrast to the opposite effects of silica fume addition. The thermal conductivity increase due to sand addition was much greater when silica fume was present. The thermal conductivity decrease due to silica fume addition was much smaller when sand was present.

Several strategies have been used to enhance the vaccine-induced immunity of peptide vaccines and effective therapeutic benefits, including the utilization of heat shock proteins (HSP), especially the HSP70 family. HSP110 exhibits a higher binding affinity with protein and is capable of enhancing the immunogenicity of protein antigens; however, whether HSP110 can also increase the efficiency of peptide vaccine remains unclear. Here, we investigated mHSP110 as a chaperone immunoadjuvant to enhance the immune response to HPV16 oncoprotein E7-derived CTL epitope E7(49-57) in a mouse model. We developed the HSP110-E7(49-57) complex and demonstrated that mHSP110 could form complexes with peptide E7(49-57) using FITC-labeled E7(49-57) as the tracer. Inoculation of the mHSP110-E7(49-57) complex was capable of priming strong epitope-specific immune response as determined by its ability to elicit an epitope-specific splenocytes proliferation and a cytotoxic T cell response, and IFNgamma production in splenocytes. Results also showed that immunization with the mHSP110-E7(49-57) complex completely protected mice against subsequent challenge with tumor cells. More importantly, immunization of this complex also significantly inhibited the growth of established tumors and prolonged the survival time of the tumor-bearing animals. Thus, mHSP110-E7(49-57) complex vaccine represents a potentially powerful approach for use in the immunotherapy of cervical cancer associated with HPV16 infection. More importantly, the multi-epitopes derived from E7 and other E proteins can be applied to the strategy described in this study to form a multi-antigenic vaccine to induce an improved antitumor immune response to cervical cancer in the future.

The addition of short carbon fibers (0.5% by weight of cement) to cement paste containing silica fume (15% by weight of cement) and methylcellulose (0.4% by weight of cement) causes the loss tangent under flexure at a loading frequency of ⩽1 Hz to decrease by up to 25% and the storage modulus (⩽2 Hz) to increase by up to 67%, such that both effects increase in the order: as-received fibers, ozone-treated fibers, dichromate-treated fibers, and silane-treated fibers. The addition of methylcellulose to cement paste containing silica fume causes the loss tangent to increase by up to 50% and the storage modulus to decrease by up to 14%. Silane treatment of silica fume has little effect on the loss tangent, but increases the storage modulus by up to 38%.

A preform technology for making particulate metal-matrix composites with a low particulate volume fraction (as low as 18%) by liquid metal infiltration is provided. This technology used a non-combustible reinforcement (SiC) as the primary particulate and combustible particles (carbon) as the secondary particulate in the preform. The secondary particulate was removed from the preform by oxidation prior to liquid metal infiltration.

Cement-based materials containing solid admixtures such as silica fume and short carbon fibers were improved by surface treatment prior to using the admixtures. Mortar with high consistency, even without a water-reducing agent, was obtained by using silica fume that had been surface treated with silane. The tensile strength was increased by 31% and the compressive strength was increased by 27%. Moreover, flexural storage modulus (stiffness), loss tangent (damping capacity), and density were increased. The tensile strength of cement paste was increased by 56%, and the modulus and ductility were increased by 39% by using silane treated carbon fibers and silane treated silica fume, relative to the values for cement paste with as-received carbon fibers and as-received silica fume. Silane treatment of fibers and silica fume contributed approximately equally to the strengthening effect. Silane treatment of fibers and silica fume also decreased the air void content. The effects on strengthening and air void content reduction were less when the fiber treatment involved potassium dichromate instead of silane, and even less when the treatment involved ozone. The addition of short carbon fibers to cement paste containing silica fume and methylcellulose caused the loss tangent under flexure to decrease by up to 26% and the storage modulus to increase by up to 67%, such that both effects increased in the following order. The addition of methylcellulose to cement paste containing silica fume caused the loss tangent to increase by up to 50% and the storage modulus to decrease by up to 14%. Silane treatment of silica fume had little effect on the loss tangent, but increased the storage modulus by up to 38%. The specific heat of cement paste was increased by 12% and the thermal conductivity was decreased by 40% by using silane-treated silica fume and silane-treated carbon fibers. The specific heat was increased by the carbon fiber addition because of fiber-matrix interface slippage. The specific heat was increased by the silica fume addition because of slippage at the interface between silica fume and cement. The increase was enhanced by silane treatment of the silica fume. Silane treatment of carbon fibers decreased the thermal conductivity. Silica fume and silane treatment of carbon fibers increased the effectiveness of these admixtures for reducing the drying shrinkage of cement paste.

Based upon the analysis of enzyme-catalyzed reactions occurring in living tissue, a model of thermal injury process is presented in which the fraction of denatured enzyme protein was taken as the indicator of thermal damage degrees. The results from this model describe the dependence of thermal damage on exposure time and temperature elevation.