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In this article, the trends and variability of precipitation and precipitable water (PW) over the Qinghai-Xizang (Tibet) Plateau (QXP) (1970-2009) were analysed by using ERA-40 (The European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) 40 years Re-analysis) and NCEP (The National Centers for Environmental Prediction)/NCAR reanalyses data and the ground observed precipitation data from 60 sites. The results showed that the precipitation over the QXP had an overall increasing trend; however, a slight decreasing trend was observed over the southeast. This decreasing precipitation trend might be related to the South Asia monsoon degradation. Since 1970, a decreasing PW trend has occurred over the QXP in which the southeast is the most significant region. Because of the rising temperatures in the QXP, a remarkable PW conversion rate (PWCR) increase of 0.87% per decade has occurred over the past 40 years. Because of its steep terrain, the PWCR in the middle eastern region of the QXP increased faster than that of the other regions. The mean PWCR in the wet southern region of the QXP was higher than that of the dry northern region, which was higher in the winter than that in the summer. Although much precipitation occurred in the summer, in the wet regions, the PWCR was higher in the winter than in the summer. The PWCR peak in the wet and dry regions occurred during the precipitation-short and precipitation-sufficient seasons, respectively. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study objective – Two selective V1 and V2 receptor antagonists of arginine vasopressin, d(CH2)5Tyr(Me)AVP and d(CH2)5[D-Ile2, Ile4, Ala9-NH2] AVP, were given intravenously in burn shocked rats to investigate the respective effects of V1 and V2 receptor blockade on the haemodynamic variables in burn shock.Design – Computer assisted on line real time measurements of mean arterial blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, left ventricular systolic pressure, dP/dtmax, and heart rate were used to study the effects of the receptor antagonists during burn shock. In addition, the radioactive microsphere method was used to measure the changes of cardiac output and regional blood flows to heart, kidney, and liver in response to the antagonists during burn shock. Third degree burns extending over 30% of body surface area were made by dipping the rat's shaved back into water at 100°C for 20 s.Experimental material – Male Sprague-Dawley rats (250-300 g) were used in groups of 6-9 per experiment.Measurements and main results – Mean and diastolic arterial blood pressures, left ventricular systolic pressure, dP/dtmax and heart rate were measured for 8 h after burns. Cardiac output and regional blood flow were measured at 3 h and 8 h postburn. Results showed that blockade of V1 receptor lowered mean and diastolic arterial blood pressures throughout the 8 h period, and raised left ventricular systolic pressure and dP/dtmax only during the early phase of shock. Cardiac output and blood flows to heart, kidney, and liver were increased by the V1 antagonist at 3 h but not at 8 h postburn. The V2 receptor antagonist increased mean and diastolic arterial blood pressures, left ventricular systolic pressure, and dP/dtmax both during the early and during the late phases of burn shock. It also improved cardiac output and blood flows to the heart, kidney, and liver during the early and late phases of burn shock. However, heart rate was not affected by V1 and V2 receptor antagonists. Conclusions – The V2 like receptor may be the dominating receptor mediating vasopressin's inhibitory effect on the heart. V1 receptor mediated coronary vasoconstriction contributes to the myocardial depression possibly only at the compensatory phase of shock. In addition V1 receptor mediated vasoconstriction is important in maintaining blood pressure during burn shock. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Current most land surface model neglect the effects of interactions between water movement and heat transfer in the soil. Such effects are critical for a complete understanding of water–heat transport within a soil thermohydraulic regime. In this study, a Fully Coupled water-heat transport Scheme (FCS) is incorporated into the Community Land Model version 4.5 (CLM4.5) to replaces its original isothermal scheme, which is more complete in theory. Observational data from five sites are used to validate the performance of the FCS. The results show that the FCS improved the simulation of soil moisture and temperature. FCS better reproduced the characteristics of drier and colder surface layers in arid regions by considering the diffusion of soil water vapor, which is a non-negligible process in soil, especially for soil surface layers, while its effects in cold regions are generally inverse. It also accounted for the sensible heat fluxes caused by liquid water flow, which can contribute to heat transfer in both surface and deep layers. The FCS provides the details of soil heat and water transportation, which benefits to understand the inner physical process of soil water-heat migration. To further improve simulation of soil freeze-thaw (FT) process, modifications of the FT parameterizations in CLM4.5 are proposed, which includes use of virtual temperature (Tv) instead of constant freezing point, introduction of phase change efficiency (ε) and consideration of inferred impacts of phase change on soil heat conduction. Compared to original parameterizations in CLM4.5, these modifications can reproduce the features of daily and diurnal variations in soil moisture, especially during soil thawing process, and make simulation in FT process closer to the observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the soil freeze/thaw phenomenon, the soil water phase and energy budget change, which can affect the land-atmosphere system. Herein, the role of freeze–thaw–process (FTP) in soil water and heat transport and its effects on soil moisture variation were investigated using the observations and numerical experiments on the Tibetan Plateau (TP). The seasonal persistence of soil moisture anomalies related to soil FTP over TP and relationship with summer precipitation in Eastern China (EC) were also analyzed. The results revealed that no soil FTP (i.e., no water phase change occurred) resulted in drier surface soil moisture is drier by about -0.02 mm3/mm3, reduced by ~10% as a result of enhanced evaporation in after-thaw (AT) period (spring). Soil FTP has a water storage effect, and the storage index (SI) can reach 0.95 at surface layer. Without soil FTP, the soil moisture memory was shortened by about -20 days in March. Soil moisture anomalies from the preceding autumn can be retained to the spring by water storage effect of soil FTP. The soil moisture over the TP during the preceding autumn and winter had the similar climatic effects as spring soil moisture. The wetter soil moisture anomalies in the eastern TP in the spring led to less summer precipitation in south China and the Yellow River basin, and more summer precipitation in the Yangtze River basin and northeast China. Our results suggested that the information related to soil FTP can provide "signal" of seasonal climate prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of land data assimilation is to merge multi-source observations into the dynamics of land surface model for improving the estimation of land surface states. We have developed a land data assimilation system for China's land territory. In this system, the Common Land Model and Simple Biosphere Model 2 are used to simulate land surface processes. The radiative transfer models of thawed and frozen soil, snow, lake, and vegetation are used as observation operators to transfer model predictions into estimated brightness temperatures. A Monte-Carlo based sequential filter, the ensemble Kalman filter, is implemented as data assimilation method to integrate modeling and observation. The system is capable of assimilating passive microwave remotely sensed data such as special sensor microwave/imager (SSM/I), TRMM microwave imager (TMI), and advanced microwave scanning radiometer enhanced for EOS (AMSR-E) and the conventional in Situ measurements of soil and snow. A spatiotemporally consistent assimilated dataset for soil moisture, soil temperature, snow and frozen soil, with a spatial resolution of 0.25 degree and temporal resolution of one hour, has been produced. This paper introduces the development of Chinese land data assimilation system and the progress made on data assimilation algorithms, land surface modeling, microwave remote sensing of land surface hydrological variables, and the preparation of atmospheric forcing data. The distinct characteristics and challenges of developing land data assimilation system and the perspectives for future development are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, WC-10Co/Ti-6Al-4V coatings were fabricated under varying cladding voltages via electron beam cladding technology. The microstructure, microhardness, and wear performance of the composite coatings were studied. In addition, temperature field simulations were performed for the cladding process applying ABAQUS. The thickness of the coatings ranged from 350 to 850 μm. The presence of α-Ti, (Ti, W)C 1-X , and small amounts of WC, TiC, (W, Ti)C 1-X , W 2 C, and β-Ti in the coatings was confirmed. WC and TiC were partially dissolved and, in accordance with the simulated temperature field, resulted in the appearance of (W, Ti)C 1-X around the WC particles. Moreover, the consumption of C atoms was beneficial for the diffusion of W atoms into the TiC lattice to form (Ti, W)C 1-X. In the comparison of experimental and numerical simulation results, it was found that a deeper penetration and further settlement of WC particles was observed experimentally, when a higher cladding voltage was applied. The coating prepared under 65 kV exhibited the best mechanical performance and its friction mechanism entailed abrasive and adhesive wear. • WC-10Co/Ti-6Al-4V composite coatings were fabricated via electron beam cladding. • Microstructures of the coatings were characterized. • Formation mechanisms of (Ti, W)C 1-X and (W, Ti)C 1-X were investigated. • The coating fabricated at 65 kV exhibited best wear resistance performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global spread of COVID-19 remains a significant threat to human health. The SARS-CoV-2 BQ.1.1 lineage, including BA.5.2, BF.7, BQ.1 and BQ.1.1, caused a new soaring of infection cases due to rapid transmission. However, the receptor binding mechanism and immune evasion capacity of these variants need to be explored further. Our study found that while the BA.5.2, BF.7 and BQ.1.1 variants pseudovirus had similar cell entry efficiency, the BF.7 and BQ.1.1 RBD bound to human ACE2 (hACE2) with a slightly stronger affinity than the BA.5.2 RBD. Structural analysis revealed R346T, K444T, and N460K mutations altered RBD-hACE2 binding interface details and surface electrostatic potential of BQ.1.1 RBD. Serum neutralization tests showed BQ.1.1 variant had stronger immune evasion capacity than BA.5.2 and BF.7 variants. Our findings illustrated the receptor binding mechanism and serological neutralization activity of the BA.5.2, BF.7 and BQ.1.1 variants, which verified the necessity for further antibody therapy optimization and vaccination development., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

To explore the effect of acute hypervolemic hemodilution (AHH) with bicarbonated Ringer's solution (BRS) on perioperative serum S100β protein (S100β) and neuron-specific enolase (NSE) in elderly patients undergoing spine surgery. Ninety patients with lumbar spondylolisthesis and fracture surgery admitted to our hospital from January 2022 to August 2022 were selected as the study subjects, and they were randomly and equally divided into group H1 (AHH with BRS), group H2 (AHH with lactated Ringer's solution) and group C (no hemodilution). The serum contents of S100β and NSE of the three groups at different times were evaluated. There were significant differences in the incidence of postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) among the three groups at T1 and T2 ( P  < 0.05). There were obvious differences in the contents of S100β and NSE among the three groups at T1 and T2 ( P  < 0.001), with no overt difference in the incidence of perioperative complications among the three groups ( P  > 0.05). The use of AHH with BRS can effectively reduce the effect on cognitive function in the elderly with spine surgery, which greatly reduces the nervous system injury, and has certain application value in clinic.

Langya virus (LayV) was recently detected in patients with acute pneumonic diseases in China. Genome alignment indicated that LayV is a type of zoonotic henipavirus (HNV) that might also infect domestic animals. Previous studies revealed that HNVs mainly use ephrin-B1, ephrin-B2, or ephrin-B3 as cell receptors and the attachment glycoprotein (G) is the host cell receptor-binding protein. However, the LayV receptor remains unknown. Here, we present the 2.77 Å crystal structure of the LayV G C-terminal domain (CTD). We show that the LayV G protein CTD possesses a similar architecture as the Mojiang virus (MojV) G protein but is markedly different from the Nipah virus (NiV), Hendra virus (HeV), and Cedar virus (CedV) G proteins. Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) experiments indicate that LayV G does not bind ephrin-B proteins. Steric hindrance may prevent interactions between LayV G and ephrin-B. Our data might facilitate drug development targeting LayV., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Bacillus thuringiensis Vip3Aa has been widely used in transgenic crops to resist the erosion of insects. The Scavenger Receptor-C (SR-C) and Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor (FGFR) of Spodoptera frugiperda (Sf-SR-C and Sf-FGFR) have formerly been identified as the cell receptors of Vip3Aa. However, the interaction mechanism of Vip3Aa binding to Sf-SR-C or Sf-FGFR is still unknown. Here, we purified the MAM domain of Sf-SR-C (Sf-MAM) and the Sf-FGFR ectodomain expressed extracellularly by Sf9 cells. We then solved the crystal structure of the Sf-MAM domain. Structure docking analysis of the Sf-MAM and Vip3Aa C-terminal domain (CTD) excluded the possibility of the two proteins binding. A further surface plasmon resonance (SPR) assay also revealed that the Sf-MAM and Sf-FGFR ectodomain could not bind to the Vip3Aa protein. Our results have raised the urgency of determining the authentic cell receptor for Vip3Aa.

Daytime radiative cooling technology offers a low-carbon, environmentally friendly, and nonpower-consuming approach to realize building energy conservation. It is important to design materials with high solar reflectivity and high infrared emissivity in atmospheric windows. Herein, a porous calcium silicate composite SiO 2 aerogel water-borne coating with strong passive radiative cooling and high thermal insulation properties is proposed, which shows an exceptional solar reflectance of 94%, high sky window emissivity of 96%, and 0.0854 W/m·K thermal conductivity. On the SiO 2 /CaSiO 3 radiative cooling coating (SiO 2 -CS-coating), a strategy is proposed to enhance the atmospheric window emissivity by lattice resonance, which is attributed to the eight-membered ring structure of porous calcium silicate, thereby increasing the atmospheric window emissivity. In the daytime test (solar irradiance 900W/m 2 , ambient temperature 43 °C, wind speed 0.53 m/s, humidity 25%), the temperature inside the box can achieve a cooling temperature of 13 °C lower than that of the environment, which is 30 °C, and the theoretical cooling power is 96 W/m 2 . Compared with the commercial white coating, SiO 2 -CS-coating can save 70 kW·h of electric energy in 1 month, and the energy consumption is reduced by 36%. The work provides a scalable, widely applicable radiative-cooling coating for building comfort, which can greatly reduce indoor temperatures and is suitable for building surfaces.

Background: Banxia Xiexin decoction (BXD) is a classic traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formula clinically used to treat chronic gastritis, gastric ulcers, gastric cancer, and many other gastrointestinal diseases. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been shown to play an important role in maintaining the malignant phenotype of tumors. However, no relevant studies have shown whether Banxia Xiexin decoction regulates and controls lncRNA TUC338, and the effect of TUC338 on the regulation of gastric cancer invasion and metastasis remains unclear., Purpose: To investigate the ability of the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) Banxia Xiexin decoction (BXD) to inhibit the migration and invasion of human gastric cancer AGS cells by regulating the long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) TUC338., Methods: UHPLC‒MS/MS was used to analyze the chemical components of BXD. MTT was performed to determine the effects of BXD on the proliferation of AGS cells. qRT‒PCR was used to determine the expression of lncRNA TUC338 in gastric cancer tissues, paracarcinoma tissues, AGS human gastric cancer cells and GES-1 normal gastric mucosa cells and to evaluate the effects of BXD on the expression of lncRNA TUC338 in AGS cells. Lentiviral transfection was used to establish human gastric cancer AGS cells with knocked down lncRNA TUC338 expression. The effects of lncRNA TUC338 knockdown on the migration and invasion of AGS cells were observed by a scratch assay and Transwell migration assay, respectively. Western blotting was performed to analyze the effects of lncRNA TUC338 knockdown on epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in AGS cells. We performed quality control on three batches of BXD. We used UHPLC‒MS/MS to control the quality of three random batches of BXD used throughout the study., Results: Ninety-five chemical components were identified from the water extract of BXD, some of which have anticancer effects. The expression of TUC.338 in gastric cancer tissues was higher than that in para-carcinoma tissues. BXD inhibited the invasion and migration of gastric cancer cells by inhibiting the expression of lncRNA TUC338, which reduced EMT. After knockdown of lncRNA TUC338, the migration and invasion of AGS cells were reduced; the expression of the EMT-related protein E-cadherin was increased, and the expression of N-cadherin and vimentin was reduced., Conclusions: The present results suggest that BXD has potential as an effective treatment for gastric cancer through the inhibition of lncRNA TUC338 expression., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2023 The Authors.)

Autophagy plays an important role in the interaction between viruses and host cells. SARS-CoV-2 infection can disrupt the autophagy process in target cells. However, the precise molecular mechanism is still unknown. In this study, we discovered that the Nsp8 of SARS-CoV-2 could cause an increasing accumulation of autophagosomes by preventing the fusion of autophagosomes and lysosomes. From further investigation, we found that Nsp8 was present on mitochondria and can damage mitochondria to initiate mitophagy. The results of experiments with immunofluorescence revealed that Nsp8 induced incomplete mitophagy. Moreover, both domains of Nsp8 orchestrated their function during Nsp8-induced mitophagy, in which the N-terminal domain colocalized with mitochondria and the C-terminal domain induced auto/mitophagy. This novel finding expands our understanding of the function of Nsp8 in promoting mitochondrial damage and inducing incomplete mitophagy, which helps us to understand the etiology of COVID-19 as well as open up new pathways for creating SARS-CoV-2 treatment methods., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Cell entry of severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) depends on specific host cell proteases, which are the key targets for preventing and treating viral infections. Herein, we describe miyabenol C and trans-ε-viniferin, two resveratrol oligomers that specifically inhibit SARS-CoV-2 entry by targeting host protease cathepsin L. Several cell-based assays were used to demonstrate the effect of resveratrol oligomers, and their target was identified via screening of antiviral targets. Molecular docking analysis suggested that the oligomers could occupy the active cavity of cathepsin L. The surface plasmon resonance assay showed that the equilibrium dissociation constant ( K D ) values of miyabenol C-cathepsin L and trans-ε-viniferin-cathepsin L were 5.54 and 8.54 μM, respectively, indicating their excellent binding ability for cathepsin L. Our study demonstrated the potential application of resveratrol oligomers as lead compounds in controlling SARS-CoV-2 infection by targeting cathepsin L.

Degradation of cryospheric components such as arctic sea ice and permafrost may pose a threat to the Earth's climate system. A rise of 2 °C above pre-industrial global surface temperature is considered to be a risk-level threshold. This study investigates the impacts of global temperature rises of 1.5 °C and 2 °C on the extent of the permafrost in the Northern Hemisphere (NH), based on the 17 models of Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5). Results show that, when global surface temperature rises by 1.5 °C, the average permafrost extent projected under Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) scenarios would decrease by 23.58% for RCP2.6 (2027-2036), 24.1% for RCP4.5 (2026-2035) and 25.55% for RCP8.5 (2023-2032). However, uncertainty in the results persists because of distinct discrepancies among the models. When the global surface temperature rises by 2 °C, about one-third of the permafrost would disappear; in other words, most of the NH permafrost would still remain even in the RCP8.5 (2037-2046) scenario. The results of the study highlight that the NH permafrost might be able to stably exist owing to its relatively slow degradation. This outlook gives reason for hope for future maintenance and balance of the cryosphere and climate systems.

Transcribed ultraconserved regions (T-UCRs) classified as long non-coding RNAs (Lnc-RNAs) are transcripts longer than 200-nt RNA with no protein-coding capacity. Previous studies showed that T-UCRs serve as novel oncogenes, or tumor suppressors are involved in tumorigenesis and cancer progressive. Nevertheless, the clinicopathologic significance and regulatory mechanism of T-UCRs in lung cancer (LC) remain largely unknown. We found that uc.454 was downregulated in both non-small-cell LC (NSCLC) tissues and LC cell lines, and the downregulated uc.454 is associated with tumor size and tumors with more advanced stages. Transfection with uc.454 markedly induced apoptosis and inhibited cell proliferation in SPC-A-1 and NCI-H2170 LC cell lines. Above results suggested that uc.454 played a suppressive role in LC. Heat shock protein family A member 12B (HSPA12B) protein was negatively regulated by uc.454 at the posttranscriptional level by dual-luciferase reporter assay and affected the expressions of Bcl-2 family members, which finally induced LC apoptosis. The uc.454/HSPA12B axis furthers our understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in tumor apoptosis, which may potentially serve as a therapeutic target for lung carcinoma., (Copyright © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Circ-RNAs are a type of non-coding-protein RNAs which act as an effector role in many physiological processes. However, the novel function of circ-PAX2 in lung carcinomas is still unidentified. The current study is to detect the expression of circ-PAX2 in lung squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) tissues and the physiological functions of circ-PAX2. Circ-PAX2 was distinguished in LSCC samples and matched non-tumor samples by human circRNA microarray analysis and was validated to be up-regulated in 86 specimens of LSCC tissues and lung cancer cell lines by qRT-PCR. Functional validation experiments showed that knockdown of circ-PAX2 promoted apoptosis of lung carcinoma cells, and then suppressed proliferation and migration of tumor cells. Small interfering RNA (siRNA) to circ-PAX2 inhibited growth in lung tumor cells. Bioinformatics prediction and rescue experiments showed that circ-PAX2 was a target of microRNA-186, confirmed by qRT-PCR and double luciferase reporter assay. On the whole, our findings reveal that circ-PAX2 was up-regulated and may be an oncogene in lung cancer; its function was reducing apoptosis, promoting cell proliferation and migration in lung carcinoma cells, which might be a novel therapeutic targetgene in lung cancer., Competing Interests: None., (IJCEP Copyright © 2018.)

Transcribed ultraconserved regions (TUCRs) belong to long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are transcripts longer than 200 base pair RNA with no protein-coding capacity. Previous studies showed that TUCRs serve as oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes are involved in tumorigenesis and cancer progressive. However, little is known about the expression level and biological role of TUCR.454 in lung carcinoma. Our data showed TUCR.454 is significantly down-regulated in NSCLC tissue and lung cancer cell lines, and the down-regulated TUCR.454 is associated with lymph node metastasis. Transfection with TUCR.454 markedly inhibited cell migration and invasion in A549 and H460 lung cancer cell lines. K-Ras was demonstrated to be negatively regulated by TUCR.454 at the posttranscriptional level by dual-luciferase reporter assay. Down-expression of K-Ras via siRNA inhibited NSCLC cell migration and down-regulates P63 and MMP9 in protein level, resembling that of overexpression of TUCR.454. In conclusion, these findings suggested that TUCR.454 acts as a novel tumor suppressor by targeting the K-Ras gene thus inhabiting lung cancer cell migration and invasion., Competing Interests: None., (IJCEP Copyright © 2018.)

Ultraconserved elements (UCEs) encoding noncoding RNAs serve as important regulators in cancer biology. Until now, the role of the UCE uc.189 in human cancers remains undefined and the clinical significance of uc.189 in esophageal cancers remains unknown. This study was to identify the prognostic value of uc.189 expression in esophageal squamous cell carcinomas (ESCC). Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to detect the expression level of uc.189 in matched cancerous tissues and adjacent noncancerous tissues from 152 patients with ESCC. The correlation of uc.189 with clinicopathological features and prognosis were also analyzed. The expression of uc.189 was significantly higher in human ESCC compared with the adjacent noncancerous tissues (122/152, 80.3%, p<0.01), and the high level of uc.189 expression was significantly correlated with invasion of the tumor (p=0.009), advanced clinical stage (p=0.000), lymph node metastasis (p=0.000), and poor prognosis. High expression of uc.189 might reflect poor prognosis of ESCC and indicate a potential diagnostic target in ESCC patients. Uc.189 might be considered as a novel molecule involved in ESCC progression, which provides a potential prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.)

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are aberrantly expressed in cervical cancer. miR-7 has been demonstrated to function as both an oncogene and a tumor suppressor in some types of human cancers. In the present study, miR-7 was significantly downregulated in cervical cancer, especially metastatic tumors. Ectopic expression of miR-7 significantly inhibited metastasis and invasion in Hela and C33A cells. Upregulated miR-7 significantly suppressed focal adhesion kinase (FAK) at transcriptional and translational levels. Furthermore, the level of FAK was negatively correlated with miR-7 in cervical cancer tissues. In conclusion, miR-7 inhibited the metastasis and invasion of cervical cancer at least partially through targeting FAK. The findings of this study provide novel insight with potential therapeutic applications for the treatment of metastatic cervical cancer.

Objective: To explore the expression and distribution of Ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) mRNA and its protein in the facial motoneuron in order to clarify its functional state after long-term facial denervation., Method: The facial nerves on the right sides were cut in dogs. Brain stems were removed and sectioned, and sections were separately used for histochemistry, immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization of CNTF. The facial motoneurons were identified by Nissl staining. The count and intense of positive reactive motoneurons were measured by computer image processing system., Result: Transection of the facial nerve led to a very marked reduce in the count and intense of CNTF mRNA positive reactive motoneurons, and reached the minimal levels at week 3. CNTF immunoreactivity increased rapidly and reached the maximal levels at also week 3. At week 4, a significant increase in CNTF mRNA expression and decrease in CNTF immunoreactivity were observed. At week 6, both CNTF mRNA and its protein expression were significantly less than those of unlesioned contralateral sides. Although a little difference between at week 12 and at 32 was observed, the motoneurons were generally stable in the expression level of CNTF mRNA and its protein, and in the size and count after 12 weeks, with 78%, 84.4%, 80.9% and 83.7% respectively as compared with the unlesioned contralateral facial motoneurons., Conclusion: The results indicated that although degenerating changes occurred in the facial motoneurons after long-term facial denervation, the ciliary neurotrophic factors activity of the lesioned motoneurons was still maintained at a certain level.

Objective: To evaluate the role of opioid receptors in the fatal distress., Methods: Pregnant near-term rabbits were given an intravenous dose of normal saline solution or the opiate antagonist beta-FNA and ICI and then asphyxiated. The rabbit fetus were delivered by cesarean section and evaluated for respiration, heart beat, color, muscle tone, and response to stimulation at 1, 5, 10, 15, and 30 minutes of age., Results: The FNA-treated pups (6.8 +/- 1.7) and the ICI-treated pups (4.9 +/- 0.7) had significantly better scores than the saline-treated pups (2.5 +/- 1.1) and the fetal distress group (2.1 +/- 1.0, P < 0.01 and P < 0.05); there was no statistical difference between the saline group and the non treated pups (P > 0.05). The Apgar scores in ICI group, saline group, and fetal distress group were significantly decreased than that in control group (P < 0.01 and P < 0.05); Scores of all five subjects could be raised markedly in FNA group, there was no significant difference in the FNA-treated pups and the control group (P > 0.05)., Conclusions: These results suggested that both mu- and delta- receptors participated in conducting the endogenous opioid peptides effect, it was associated with the pathophysiological changes in fetal distress; mu- receptor was much more important between the two.

Objective: To investigate the postburn change in hypothalamic paraventricular beta-endorphin and the roles of delta-receptor in scalded rats., Methods: Male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into 3 groups, i.e. ICI174864, DPDPE and control groups. The rats were inflicted with 20% TBSA of III degree scalding on the back by boiling (100 degrees ) water. The postburn change in the tissue content of the hypothalamic paraventricular beta-endorphin was determined by radioimmuno assay (RIA). The effects of delta-receptor in scalded shock rats were investigated by observing the change of the rats'survival time and cardiac indices after the micro-injection of delta-receptor agonist DPDPE or antagonist ICI174864 into the hypothalamic paraventricle., Results: (1) The tissue content of the hypothalamic paraventricular beta-endorphin increased significantly (P < 0.01) at 1, 2 and 4 postburn hours (PBHs) in the scalded rats. (2) When compared with that of control group, the ratio of the cardiovascular parameters [mean arterial pressure (MAP), dp/dt(max) and HR] were obviously increased at different time points in rats with pre-injection of ICI174864 whereas the ratio was decreased when DPDPE was used. Nevertheless, the change in the heart rate ratio was not obvious whether ICI174864 or DPDPE was used. (3) The average animal survival time in ICI174864 group was much longer than that in DPDPE group., Conclusion: An excessive increase in hypothalamic paraventricular beta-endorphin was one of the factors leading to the aggravation of burn shock and earlier death. delta-receptor located in the tissue might have played important roles in the mediation of the action of hypothalamic paraventricular beta-endorphin. It is beneficial to antagonize the action of delta-receptor for the correction of burn shock and for the prolongation of the of life of animals.