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Accurate magnetic field measurement is the key to evaluating the second-order Zeeman effect. The conventional method is to deduce the magnetic field by determining the center frequency of the magnetic-field-sensitive Ramsey fringes. In this Letter, we present a more rigorous theory for this method and demonstrate that the current peak-searching method has a non-negligible sub-Hz or even larger deviation. We introduce an improved method that considers more parameters and a strict formula that can correct the deviation and suppress it to below 0.1 Hz. Corresponding experiments on the 85Rb atomic fountain demonstrate that this improved method is expected to enhance the precision of magnetic field measurement and improve the atomic fountain clock.

Ouabain, a cardiac glycoside found in plants, is primarily used in the treatment of congestive heart failure and arrhythmia. Recently ouabain has been shown to exert anticancer effects, but the underlying mechanism is not clear. Aberrant activation of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling cascade is associated with numerous human cancers. In this study, we identified ouabain as a potent inhibitor of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway by targeting the low density lipoprotein-receptor-related protein 6 (LRP6) and β-catenin. In colon cancer HCT116 and non-small cell lung cancer A549 cells, nanomolar concentrations of ouabain significantly decreased the levels of phosphorylated LRP6, total LRP6, active β-catenin and β-catenin. In addition, ouabain inhibited β-catenin-stimulated Wnt target gene expression, including expression of CD44 and fibronection . Furthermore, ouabain reduced the viability of HCT116 and A549 cells and induced apoptosis in both cell lines. This study clarified the molecular mechanism underlying anti-cancer activity of ouabain through blocking the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway.

Histone deacetylases (HDACs) are crucial for regulating chromatin activity, which plays a critical role in cell proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis of various cancers. Therefore, HDAC inhibitors have been applied as effective therapeutic agents for cancer treatment. However, the expression profiles and regulatory mechanisms of histone deacetylases in lung cancer are not well understood. In the present study, aberrant high levels of HDAC5 were observed in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and further analysis indicated a negative relationship between HDAC5 and a tumor suppressor, miR‑589‑5p, in NSCLC specimens. Consistently, miR‑589‑5p reduced the expression of HDAC5 by targeting the 3'UTR of HDAC5 mRNA in NSCLC cells. Considering the loss of miR‑589‑5p in NSCLC, the methylation status of the miR-589 gene promoter was examined. The hypermethylation of the miR-589 gene promoter was more significant in NSCLC cells compared with lung epithelial cells, and methylation inhibition by 5-aza-2-deoxycytidine (5-Aza-dC) decreased HDAC5 expression. Furthermore, several downstream gene clusters of HDAC5 were studied in the present investigation. As a result, miR‑589‑5p/HDAC5 pathway was found to regulate a number of cell cycle and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-related genes in NSCLC cells. In vitro and in vivo phenotype experiments revealed a critical role of miR‑589‑5p/HDAC5 pathway in the migration, invasion, and tumorigenicity of NSCLC cells. These findings demonstrate a novel mechanism for deregulation of HDAC5 in NSCLC and suggest that miR‑589‑5p/HDAC5 pathway may represent a new prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target against NSCLC.

BRAF mutations are known as oncogenic drivers of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). BRAF inhibition has demonstrated anti-tumor activity in patients with BRAF V600E mutant NSCLC. Further molecular screening for novel BRAF thr599dup mutation is warranted. The novel BRAF Thr599dup gene mutation, for which the repeat amino acid-tyrosine is inserted between the 599th amino acid and the 600th amino acid in exon 15 of BRAF, was identified by next-generation sequencing (NGS) during routine clinical care in a lung carcinoma sample from an Asian never-smoker. Other putative driver alterations including EGFR, ALK were not found in that patient. BRAF Thr599dup gene mutation analysis was consistent with BRAF v600E gene mutation. Here we report a novel BRAF gene mutation with molecular characteristics consistent with those in BRAF-driven NSCLC. Our case expands the scope of BRAF gene mutations and provides broader molecular profiling for optimizing therapeutic options for patients with NSCLC. The new BRAF gene mutation has important clinical meaning for cancer patients.

Objectives RET fusions have been reported in 1–2% of lung adenocarcinomas, and represent an actionable target. Patients whose tumors possess RET fusion are associated with clinical benefit from the treatment with multi-kinase inhibitors such as cabozantinib and vandetanib. Further molecular screening for RET fusions is warranted. Novel KIF13A-RET fusion containing an intact RET kinase domain involving exons 1–18 of KIF13A and exons 12–20 of RET was identified in a lung cancer specimen from an 74-year-old Asian never smoker by next-generation sequencing (NGS) during clinical care. The patient was negative for EGFR, ALK, ROS1 and other putative driver alterations. Fusion analysis is consistent with other described RET fusions and is predicted to result in aberrant constitutive activation caused by dimerization and sensitivity to RET-directed therapies. We describe a novel RET-fusion with molecular characteristics consistent with RET-driven non-small cell lung cancer. Our case expands the spectrum of RET fusion partners and supports broad molecular profiling in non-small cell lung cancer optimizing patient therapeutic options. The new RET fusion has immediate clinical implications for cancer patients.

Objective: Draining of the chest cavity with two chest tubes after pulmonary lobectomy is a common practice. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether using two tubes after a pulmonary lobectomy is more effective than using a single tube. Patients and Methods: We performed a meta-analysis of five randomized studies that compared the single chest tube with double chest tube application after pulmonary lobectomy. The primary end-point was amount of drainage and duration of chest tube drainage. The secondary end-points were the patient's numbers of new drain insertion after operation, hospital stay after operation, the patient's numbers of subcutaneous emphysema after operation, the patient's numbers of residual pleural air space, pain score, the number of patients who need thoracentesis, and cost. Results: Five randomized controlled trials totaling 502 patients were included. Meta-analysis results are as follows: There were statistically significant differences in amount of drainage (risk ratio [RR] = –0.15; 95% confidence interval [CI] = –3.17, –0.12, P = 0. 03), duration of chest tube drainage (RR = –0.43; 95% CI = –0.57, –0.19, P = 0.02), pain score (P < 0.05). Compared with patients receiving the double chest tube group, there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups with regard to the patient's numbers of new drain insertion after operation. Conclusion: Compared with the double chest tube, the single chest tube significantly decreases amount of drainage, duration of chest tube drainage, pain score, the number of patients who need thoracentesis, and cost. Although there is convincing evidence to confirm the results mentioned herein, they still need to be confirmed by large-sample, multicenter, randomized, controlled trials.

Previous studies have shown that the expression of microRNA-4458 (miR-4458) is dysregulated in hepatocellular carcinoma and colon cancer. In this study, we investigated the direct target of miR-4458 and its biological functions in human lung cancer cells. By using the database TargetScan, we identified Lin28B, an oncogene, as a direct target gene of miR-4458. In dual-luciferase reporter assay, we found that miR-4458 mimics dose-dependently inhibited the luciferase activity of the wild-type 3'UTR of Lin28B in human lung cancer A549 and NCI-H1299 cell lines without affecting its mutant forms, whereas anti-miR-4458, an inhibitor of miR-4458, dose-dependently promoted the luciferase activity of the wild-type 3'UTR of Lin28B in A549 and NCI-H1299 cell lines without affecting its mutant forms. Overexpression of miR-4458 significantly decreased the protein levels of Lin28B in the cells, and inhibited the cell growth and colony formation. Conversely, knockdown of miR-4458 with anti-miR-4458 significantly increased the protein levels of Lin28B, and promoted the cell proliferation, which could be reverted by knockdown of Lin28B expression. In addition, we detected the expression of Lin28B using RT-PCR in 40 human lung cancer tissues and matched peritumoral tissues, and found that Lin28B was overexpressed in lung cancer tissues and negatively correlated with miR-4458 expression (r=-0.694, P

Esophageal squamous cell cancer (ESCC) is an aggressive malignancy with poor survival. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play important roles in tumorigenesis and cancer progression; hence, lncRNAs are also involved in the development and progression of ESCC. In this study, we used quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) to investigate expression of lncRNA, maternally expressed gene 3 (MEG3) in ESCC. Ectopic expression of MEG3 was performed in ESCC cell lines. Proliferation and apoptosis of ESCC cell lines were analyzed after ectopic expression of MEG3. We found MEG3 was significantly downregulated in ESCC tissues compared with normal tissues by qRT-PCR. Low expression of MEG3 was correlated with lymph node metastasis and advanced TNM stages of ESCC patients and indicated shorter survival (HR = 0.471, 95 % CI 0.234–0.950, P = 0.035), which was confirmed by The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) esophageal cancer dataset. DNA-demethylating agent (5-aza-2-deoxy-cytidine (5-aza-CdR)) treatment significantly increased MEG3 expression level in ESCC cells, and TCGA esophageal cancer dataset also showed that DNA methylation of MEG3 predicted survival. Ectopic expression of MEG3 in ESCC cells inhibited cell proliferation, promoted apoptosis, and suppressed metastasis. Further investigation showed enforced expression of MEG3 activated p53 and its target genes by downregulation of mouse double minute 2 homolog (MDM2). Overall, our study indicated that MEG3 expression loss is common in ESCC and MEG3 could activate p53 and predict prognosis in ESCC.

The main features of product design embodies in the diversity and singularity of ecological material form, nature is a rich design library, nature gave birth to a variety of species, every creature has magical modeling characteristics and biological characteristics, these vivid characteristics constitute the nature's most distinctive ecological law. This is the place that humanoid robot bionic design derived, with multi-faceted imitation and reference to characters in the design of robot, endowing the product with natural characteristics, based on the concept and application field of characters form bionic, from the perspective of modeling, functioning and mechanical structure. The article proposed the concept and applications of bionic, exploring its numerous features, the broad prospects of development brought by the control of intelligent information and highly active adsorption material bionic, their revelation of industrial design, all provided new ideas and methods for industrial design, playing an important role in the development of industrial design.

OBJECTIVE: We conducted this meta-analysis to compare the clinical outcomes of single-incision and multiple-incision video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) lobectomy for lung cancer patients. METHODS: A literature search was conducted of the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register Databases, Medline, EMBASE, Web of Science databases, and Chinese Biomedical Literature Database. Eleven studies that compared single-incision VATS with multiple-incision VATS in the treatment of lung cancer were analyzed. Statistical analysis was carried out using RevMan 5.1 software. RESULTS: Eleven trials totaling 1273 patients were included. There were statistically significant differences in the duration of chest tube (standardized mean difference [SMD] = −0.42; 95% confidence interval [CI] [−0.78, −0.07], P < 0.02), hospital stays after surgery (SMD = −0.28; 95% CI [−0.41, −0.15], P < 0.0001), hospital stays after surgery in the subgroup analysis of lobectomy (SMD = −0.28; 95% CI [−0.42, −0.14], P < 0.0001), length of wound (P < 0.05), and pain visual analog scale (VAS) in the postoperative 1 day (SMD = −1.19; 95% CI [−1.94, −0.44], P = 0.002) between single-incision VATS group and multiple-incision VATS group. Compared with patients receiving multiple-incision VATS group, there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups with regard to the operative time (OT), blood loss (BL), rate of conversion to thoracotomy, and complication. CONCLUSION: Compared with multiple-incision VATS on the condition of same lymph nodes retrieved number, single-incision VATS reduced the length of wound, shortened the duration of chest tube, cut down the hospital stays after surgery, alleviated the pain VAS in the postoperative 1 day, did not significantly increase the OT and the BL in operation, and did not increase the rate of conversion to thoracotomy and complication.

An experiment on measuring the magnetic field in Ramsey interaction region of the atomic fountain clock by detecting the Zeeman frequency shift of 87Rb hyperfine transition is presented. By mu-metal shielding and coils compensating, the magnetic fluctuations resulting from asymmetry and instability are less than 10 and 0.025 nT, respectively. The relative frequency uncertainty of atomic fountain clock caused by the magnetic field is less than 5.4×10-16.

We discuss the feasibility of realizing a cold atom space clock with counter-propagating cold atoms in microgravity. The design of the space clock is based on an atomic beam clock with Ramsey cavity, except that magneto-optical trap (MOT) is placed at each side. Cold atoms are launched simultaneously from the MOTs at both sides of the clock and they move at the counter-direction towards each other. The velocity of the launched atoms is precisely controlled to Ramsauer-Townsend resonance so that no additional collision frequency shift takes place. Such configuration can efficiently cancel the frequency shift resulting from cavity phase shift and increase the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).

A fountain atomic clock based on cold 87 Rb atoms has been in operation in our laboratory for several months. We therefore report the design of the rubidium fountain clock including its physical package, optical system and daily operation. Ramsey fringes have been attained with the signal to noise ratio of about 100.