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Peipei Gao,1 Ting Peng,1 Shitong Lin,1 Wenhua Zhi,1 Canhui Cao,1 Ping Wu,1 Ling Xi,1,2 Peng Wu,1,2 Qin Yang,3 Wencheng Ding1,2 1Cancer Biology Research Center (Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education), Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, People’s Republic of China; 3Institute of Pathology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Wencheng DingDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, People’s Republic of ChinaEmail dingwencheng326@163.comQin YangInstitute of Pathology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, People’s Republic of ChinaEmail 70918404@qq.comBackground: Mitochondrial calcium uniporter regulator 1 (MCUR1, also known as CCDC90A) is a protein-coding gene that plays a key role in mitochondrial calcium uptake. However, knowledge about its clinical significance in breast cancer is still limited.Methods: The expression profile of MCUR1 in various cancers was analyzed via the ONCOMINE and Tumor Immune Estimation Resource databases. The correlation between MCUR1 expression and the clinical features of breast cancer was investigated using UALCAN and MEXPRESS. Immunohistochemical analysis was applied to verify the expression of MCUR1 in breast cancer. The prognostic significance of MCUR1 in breast cancer was evaluated using Kaplan–Meier plotter and the PrognoScan database. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) was performed to explore the possible biological functions of MCUR1. In addition, the function of MCUR1 was examined by gene silencing in vitro. Western blotting was applied to detect the expression of proteins.Results: MCUR1 was overexpressed in breast cancer and significantly related to the clinical characteristics of breast cancer. Results from the public databases and IHC analysis indicated that MCUR1 expression was the highest in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). The high expression of MCUR1 was associated with poor overall survival, distant metastasis-free survival, and recurrence-free survival. GSEA showed that the hypoxia pathway, cellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) pathway, epithelial–mesenchymal transition pathway, and notch signaling pathway were differentially enriched in the high MCUR1 expression phenotype. In vitro experiments showed that MCUR1 knockdown in TNBC cell lines led to a decrease in cellular ROS and weakened cell migration and invasion abilities. Moreover, Western blotting showed that MCUR1 knockdown inhibited the epithelial–mesenchymal transition of TNBC cells via the ROS/Nrf2/Notch pathways.Conclusion: Our study suggests that MCUR1 plays a pivotal role in the malignant progression of breast cancer.Keywords: MCUR1, breast cancer, reactive oxygen species, epithelial-mesenchymal transition

Bacteria are the principal component of airborne microbes in atmospheric particles, closely related to human health. However, hitherto, the monthly variation in the composition of microbial communities in the constructed wetlands and the relevance to environmental factors is poorly understood. Here, the bacterial composition monthly variation of the total suspended particle (TSP) in a free surface flow reed constructed wetland in a coastal city of Yellow Sea and associated with its influencing factors were investigated. The cultivable bacteria concentration and bacterial community composition were analyzed through the culture-dependent method and high-throughput sequencing. The results showed that the peak concentration of cultivable bacteria in constructed wetland aerosol was found in the reed harvest season (December). The particle size of the bacteria in the TSP was mainly distributed between 0.65 and 1.1 μm, which was smaller than in other environments. A total of 21 phyla and 687 genera were identified. Among them, the first dominant phyla were all Proteobacteria, especially during heavy pollution, the relative abundance was as high as 94.74%, and only Sphingomonas had a relative abundance >1% in all samples. Bacterial genera in the TSP were mainly driven by temperature, while other factors also contributed, such as humidity, NO2, SO2, and PM10 contents.

Cosmic rays were first discovered over a century ago, however the origin of their high-energy component remains elusive. Uncovering astrophysical neutrino sources would provide smoking gun evidence for ultrahigh energy cosmic ray production. The IceCube Neutrino Observatory discovered a diffuse astrophysical neutrino flux in 2013 and observed the first compelling evidence for a high-energy neutrino source in 2017. Next-generation telescopes with improved sensitivity are required to resolve the diffuse flux. A detector near the equator will provide a unique viewpoint of the neutrino sky, complementing IceCube and other neutrino telescopes in the Northern Hemisphere. Here we present results from an expedition to the north-eastern region of the South China Sea. A favorable neutrino telescope site was found on an abyssal plain at a depth of $\sim$ 3.5 km. Below 3 km, the sea current speed was measured to be $v_{\mathrm{c}}, Comment: 33 pages,16 figures. Correspondence should be addressed to D. L. Xu (donglianxu@sjtu.edu.cn)

Introduction The management of urachal nodules or masses include complete urachus excision with partial cystectomy and umbilectomy, for urachal adenocarcinoma is a highly aggressive disease and prognosis is poor in advanced stages. This video aims to present a novel step-by-step robotic-assisted laparoscopic partial cystectomy (RAPC) technique with total umbilical-tract excision and umbilectomy. Methods A step-by-step RAPC technique: (1) siting of supra-umbilical camera-port (incorporated into subsequent umbilectomy), (2) creation of 3 robotic ports and one 12-mm assistant-port, (3) identification and incision markings of median and medial umbilical ligaments and bladder dome, (4) mobilization of whole urachus from umbilicus caudally to the dome attachment, (5) ‘skeletonization’ of bladder dome to reveal optimal entry site followed by partial cystectomy, (6) 2-layer bladder defect repair using 3–0 barbed sutures, (7) bagging of specimen and excision of urachal attachment at umbilicus en-bloc with umbilectomy. Patient demographics, peri‑and post-operative short-term outcomes were analyzed. Results Nine consecutive cases of RAPC for urachal lesions were performed from August 2015 to December 2019. Four patients (44.4%) had concurrent umbilectomy performed. Demographics, peri‑and post-operative data are as follows: median age: 60 (44–64) years, median operative time: 190 (160–255) minutes, median estimated blood-loss: 50 (50–125) ml, median hospitalization: 2 days, urinary leakage on cystogram (POD-10): 0. There were two patients who had Clavien-Dindo complications (22%) within 90 days of surgery. Final histology showed adenocarcinoma: 3 (33%), benign urachal nodule: 6 (67%). Conclusions RAPC is an intuitive and ergonomic approach for total urachus excision and umbilectomy for urachal mass. It represents a minimally-invasive treatment with excellent oncological and cosmetic outcomes.

In non-high-risk (non-HR) patients, the Malaysia-Singapore Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia 2003 (MS2003) study achieved good outcomes. However, its delayed-intensification (DI) phase, comprising repeated blocks of protocol III (2003-PIII), was toxic and caused significant treatment delays. The successor MS2010 study attempted to lower DI toxicity by replacing myelosuppressive drugs (doxorubicin, cytarabine) with vincristine and asparaginase.We analysed 1748 admissions for fever in 315 Singapore children with non-HR acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) (MS2003, n = 183; MS2010, n = 132), comprising 76% of the total cohort (n = 413), to study the impact of these changes.The new 2010-PVa which has no doxorubicin, was associated with significantly fewer hospitalisations due to fever (0.08 versus 0.30 admissions per block [A/blk], p 0.001), as than 2003-PIIIa. Similarly in 2010-PIIIb and PVb, where one block of cytarabine was replaced by two doses of vincristine, admissions for fever were also fewer (0.47 versus 0.74 A/blk, p 0.001) than in 2003-PIIIb. However, the addition of single doses of vincristine and asparaginase in 2010-PIIIa, even with a mandatory seven-day rest, led to more hospitalisations (0.45 A/blk, p 0.001), increased risk of bacteraemia (relative-risk (RR) = 7.66, p = 0.005) and critical-care admissions (RR = 4.31, p = 0.13). Despite this, overall treatment-related mortality decreased from 2.7% to 0.8%. Taken together, the reduced phase delays allowed earlier completion of the intensive phase of treatment (standard risk: 38.1 versus 49.4 weeks, p 0.001; intermediate risk: 50.9 versus 58.8 weeks, p 0.001), while maintaining excellent 10-year event-free survival of 95.4% and overall survival of 96.2%.In non-HR ALL, replacing doxorubicin/cytarabine with vincristine/asparaginase during some DI blocks is effective in reducing toxicity without compromising outcomes.NCT0289464.

Understanding concentration-discharge (C-Q) relationships are essential for predicting chemical weathering and biogeochemical cycling under changing climate and anthropogenic conditions. Contrasting C-Q relationships have been observed widely, yet a mechanistic framework that can interpret diverse patterns remains elusive. This work hypothesizes that seemingly disparate C-Q patterns are driven by switching dominance of end-member source waters and their chemical contrasts arising from subsurface biogeochemical heterogeneity. We use data from Coal Creek, a high-elevation mountainous catchment in Colorado, and a recently developed watershed reactive transport model (BioRT-Flux-PIHM). Sensitivity analysis and Monte-Carlo simulations (500 cases) show that reaction kinetics and thermodynamics and distribution of source materials across depths govern the chemistry gradients of shallow soil water and deeper groundwater entering the stream. The alternating dominance of organic-poor yet geo-solute-rich groundwater under dry conditions and organic-rich yet geo-solute-poor soil water during spring melt leads to the flushing pattern of dissolved organic carbon and the dilution pattern of geogenic solutes (e.g., Na, Ca, and Mg). In addition, the extent of concentration contrasts regulates the power law slopes (b) of C-Q patterns via a general equation (Formula presented.). At low ratios of soil water versus groundwater concentrations (Cratio=Csw/Cgw1.8), flushing arises; chemostasis occurs in between. This equation quantitatively interprets b values of 11 solutes (dissolved organic carbon, dissolved P, NO3−, K, Si, Ca, Mg, Na, Al, Mn, and Fe) from three catchments (Coal Creek, Shale Hills, and Plynlimon) of differing climate, geologic, and land cover conditions. This indicates potentially broad regulation of subsurface biogeochemical heterogeneity in determining C-Q patterns and wide applications of this equation in quantifying b values, which can have broad implications for predicting chemical weathering and biogeochemical transformation at the watershed scale.

We explored the roles of phenotypic plasticity and competition in contributing to the success of Eupatorium catarium, a recently invasive noxious annual forb in South China. We compared the growth and functional traits of E. catarium with those of a common native plant, Vernonia cinerea, and a long-term historic invader, Ageratum conyzoides, along a nutrient gradient under both competitive and non-competitive conditions. Under non-competitive conditions, biomass differed little between species under low-nutrient conditions. However, nutrient addition resulted in a greater increase in biomass of the two invasive species than that of V. cinerea. The greater increase in biomass in the two invasive plants may be partly explained by their greater plasticity in specific leaf area. The competition experiments involved different combinations of species: plants of E. catarium were grown with either a plant of A. conyzoides or with a plant of V. cinerea, or individual plants of all three species were grown in competition with a grassland sward grown from 1.5 g seeds of Digitaria radicosa. Relative to non-competitive conditions, competition further increased the biomass difference between the two invasive plants and V. cinerea under high nutrient conditions. A. conyzoides outcompeted E. catarium in terms of biomass production under high nutrient conditions. Overall, these results indicate that A. conyzoides and E. catarium tend to outperform V. cinerea under high nutrient conditions and in both competitive and non-competitive environments. However, E. catarium cannot outperform A. conyzoides in terms of biomass production under each of the nutrient and competitive conditions.

Mucinous adenocarcinoma(MC) of prostate is extremely rare, with an incidence of approximately 0.2% Mucinous adenocarcinoma of the prostate usually has no obvious symptoms, its usual clinical symptom are frequency, dysuria, difficulty in voding which are similar to benign prostate hypertension, the diagnosis of mucinous adenocarcinoma is made only when extraluminal pools of mucin involve at least 25% of the tumor volume at prostatectomy, the different with the prostate acinar cell carcinoma is that MC is more likely to occur in skeletal and visceral metastases. Some studies suggest that 77.8% of MC patients’ PSA will be increased, and there is no significant difference in the degree of increase compare with the prostate acinar cell carcinoma. This case report describes the excellent clinical course of a 74-year-old patient with mucinous adenocarcinoma of the prostate, treated by trans-urethral resection of prostate (TURP). In our case, mucinous adenocarcinoma of the prostate does not appear to behave differently than acinar prostate cancer, and with a review of the current literature.

Retraction notice to: A theoretical investigation on the electron structures of Al-based intermetallic compounds [Arch. Metall. Mater. 58 (2013) 1023-1027] The article by Y. He, W. Zhi, C. Rong (A theoretical investigation on the electron structures of Al-based intermetallic compounds [Arch. Metall. Mater. 58 (2013) 1023-1027], DOI: 10.2478/amm-2013-0121) was retracted by the editor. The reason of retraction is: this article was published under different titles, with different authorship, and minor alterations to the text elsewhere simultaneously.

Clustering with constraints is an important and developing area. However, most work is confined to conjunctions of simple together and apart constraints which limit their usability. In this paper, we propose a new formulation of constrained clustering that is able to incorporate not only existing types of constraints but also more complex logical combinations beyond conjunctions. We first show how any statement in conjunctive normal form (CNF) can be represented as a linear inequality. Since existing clustering formulations such as spectral clustering cannot easily incorporate these linear inequalities, we propose a quadratic programming (QP) clustering formulation to accommodate them. This new formulation allows us to have much more complex guidance in clustering. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach in two applications on text and personal information management. We also compare our algorithm against existing constrained spectral clustering algorithm to show its efficiency in computational time.

Aim As the use of nutraceuticals has become increasingly popular, there is now a general interest regarding the amount of fruit one must consume in order to fulfil the recommended intake of a particular bioactive. Consequently, the variation in the amount of bioactive between apparently equivalent (variety, maturity) fruits has become an important factor to consider. The present study is conducted to principally address the variation of bioactives between fruits, which has received scant attention in the literature. Methods Kensington Pride mangoes were chosen as the fruit of interest and two signature bioactive compounds, -carotene and mangiferin representing two extreme polarities, were chosen to study inter- and intra-fruit variability. Visible spectrometry and HPLC-tandem mass spectrometry were used to measure the compounds. Results The intra- and inter-fruit variability of mangiferin content was found to be 12.7% and 139%, respectively (n = 10). The intra-fruit variability of -carotene was 2.57%, while the inter-fruit variability was 38.5% (n = 10).

Background and Aim: To determine the correlation of histopathological classification and patient outcomes, we performed a meta-analysis of histological subtypes on postoperative survival in gastric cancer. Methods: A dataset composed of 11073 gastric cancers from 21 publications, combined with our cohort was included in the metaanalysis. We evaluated the association between the 5-year survival rate and the subtypes of gastric cancer based on histological grading or Lauren classification. All literatures were from Pubmed and Embase (up to December 2011). Results: In our cohort from Shanghai Ruijin Hospital, the differentiated gastric cancer revealed a significantly higher accumulative 5-year survival rate, compared to that in poor-differentiated cases (62.6% vs 44.8%, P < 0.001). Intestinal-type gastric cancer shown a higher accumulative 5-year survival rate, compared to that in diffuse-type cases (61.7% vs 41.1%, P < 0.001). In overall meta-analysis, the poordifferentiated gastric cancer significantly increased the postoperative 5-year death risk, compared to the differentiated cases (OR=1.24, 95% CI 1.13-1.36, P < 0.001). The 5-year death risk was increased in the diffuse-type cases relative to the intestinal-type cases (OR=1.29, 95% CI 1.11-1.49, P < 0.001). Conclusions: Gastric cancer with a differentiated histology or intestinal-type shows a better prognosis than individual with a poordifferentiated histology or a diffuse-type. Accurate histologic classification is desirable for gastric cancer handling.

Invasion ecologists have often found that exotic invaders evolve to be more plastic than conspecific populations from their native range. However, an open question is why some exotic invaders can even evolve to be more plastic given that there may be costs to being plastic. Investigation into the benefits and costs of plasticity suggests that stress may constrain the expression of plasticity (thereby reducing the benefits of plasticity) and exacerbate the costs of plasticity (although this possibility might not be generally applicable). Therefore, evolution of adaptive plasticity is more likely to be constrained in stressful environments. Upon introduction to a new range, exotic species may experience more favorable growth conditions (e.g., because of release from natural enemies). Therefore, we hypothesize that any factors mitigating stress in the introduced range may promote exotic invaders to evolve increased adaptive plasticity by reducing the costs and increasing the benefits of plasticity. Empirical evidence is largely consistent with this hypothesis. This hypothesis contributes to our understanding of why invasive species are often found to be more competitive in a subset of environments. Tests of this hypothesis may not only help us understand what caused increased plasticity in some exotic invaders, but could also tell us if costs (unless very small) are more likely to inhibit the evolution of adaptive plasticity in stressful environments in general.

The variations of emission intensities of SrB4O7:Eu2+ and Sr2B5O9Cl:Eu2+ prepared in different atmospheres are discussed in view of the structure of host compounds. A model of substitution defects is proposed to explain the abnormal reduction of Eu3+ --> Eu2+ in non-reducing atmospheres of N-2, air and O-2. Experiment results show that SrB4O7:Eu2+ phosphor sample prepared in N-2 atmosphere has an emission intensity of 94% as high as that of the sample prepared in H-2 gas. This implies that the reduction of Eu2+ --> Eu2+ in non-reducing atmospheres could be potentially used in preparing phosphors, such as SrB4O7:Eu2+. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Background The sustained growth of tumors necessitates neovascularization. As one of the potent endogenous vascular inhibitors, endostatin has been widely used in antiangiogenesis therapy for tumor. Cisplatin is normally administered in chemotherapy for lung cancer but accompanied with serious side effects. In the current study, we investigated a novel chemo-antiangiogenesis therapeutic strategy to both improve toxic effects on lung cancer cells and reduce damages to normal cells in the anti-tumor therapy. Methods In vitro, we transduced LLC cells with Ad-hEndo and collected supernatants. Western blotting analysis of the supernatants revealed expression of endostatin. In vivo, to fully investigate the suppression effect on murine lung cancer of the combination therapy, we injected recombinant human endostatin adenovirus intratumorally plus a low dose of cisplatin intraperitoneally routinely. The tumor volume and survival time were observed. Angiogenesis was apparently inhibited within the tumor tissues and on the alginate beads. Assessment of apoptotic cells by the TUNEL assay was conducted in the tumor tissues. Results The combination treatment significantly suppressed the tumor growth and prolonged survival time of the murine LLC tumor model. This anti-tumor activity was associated with decreased microvessel density and increased apoptotic index of tumor cells. Conclusion According to the results in this study, recombinant human endostatin adenovirus in combination with a low dose of cisplatin demonstrated apparent synergistic anti-tumor activity without marked toxicity. Thus, these observations may provide a rational alternative for lung cancer treatment.

We report the magnetic and magnetotransport properties of Ca doped La1-xCaxCrO3 (x=0, 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3). Both the magnetic and transport properties are very sensitive to Ca substitution. The Neel temperature TN decreases substantially with increasing calcium doping concentration from 290 to 160 K. A weak ferromagnetic state with large coercive fields of up to 3 T is present for the Ca doped LaCrO3. The temperature dependence of the resistivity shows that all the Ca doped compounds are semiconducting and their resistivities decrease with increasing Ca for low doping levels. The resistivity curves show thermally activated behavior and a variable range hopping behavior at high temperatures. The magnetotransport measurements show a negative magnetoresistance. Furthermore, an anomalous peak was observed in the field dependence of magnetoresistance for the LCCO materials.

Rabies virus (RV) induces encephalomyelitis in humans and animals. However, the pathogenic mechanism of rabies is not fully understood. To investigate the host responses to RV infection, we examined and compared the pathology, particularly the inflammatory responses, and the gene expression profiles in the brains of mice infected with wild-type (wt) virus silver-haired bat RV (SHBRV) or laboratory-adapted virus B2C, using a mouse genomic array (Affymetrix). Extensive inflammatory responses were observed in animals infected with the attenuated RV, but little or no inflammatory responses were found in mice infected with wt RV. Furthermore, attenuated RV induced the expression of the genes involved in the innate immune and antiviral responses, especially those related to the alpha/beta interferon (IFN-α/β) signaling pathways and inflammatory chemokines. For the IFN-α/β signaling pathways, many of the interferon regulatory genes, such as the signal transduction activation transducers and interferon regulatory factors, as well as the effector genes, for example, 2′-5′-oligoadenylate synthetase and myxovirus proteins, are highly induced in mice infected with attenuated RV. However, many of these genes were not up-regulated in mice infected with wt SHBRV. The data obtained by microarray analysis were confirmed by real-time PCR. Together, these data suggest that attenuated RV activates, while pathogenic RV evades, the host innate immune and antiviral responses.

We have investigated the structural, magnetic, and ferroelectric properties of magnetically frustrated multiferroic YMnO3 single crystals. The ferroelectric domain structures of YMnO3 samples were studied by piezoresponse force microscopy. Instead of domain vortex structure in stoichiometric crystals, YMnO3−δ exhibits a random domain configuration with straight domain walls. In magnetic measurements, the YMnO3−δ crystal shows typical antiferromagnetic behavior with higher Neel temperature and lower magnetization compared to the stoichiometric sample. The ordered oxygen vacancies dominate multiferroicity through tailoring the domain wall structure.

Citrate synthase (CS), which has been denatured in either guanidine hydrochloride (GdnHCl) or urea can be assisted in its renaturation in a variety of ways. The addition of each of the assistants--bovine serum albumin (BSA), oxaloacetate (OAA), and glycerol--promotes renaturation. In combination, the effect of these substances is additive with respect to the yield of folded CS. The report of Buchner et al. (Buchner, J., Schmidt, M., Fuchs, M., Jaenicke, R., Rudolph, R., Schmid, F.X., & Kiefhaber, T., 1991, Biochemistry 30, 1586-1591) that refolding of CS is facilitated by the GroE system (an Escherichia coli chaperonin [cpn] that is composed of GroEL [cpn60] and GroES [cpn10]) has been confirmed. However, we observed substantially higher yield of reactivated CS, 82%, and almost no reactivation in the absence of GroES, < 5%, whereas Buchner et al. reported 28% and 16%, respectively. In addition, we find that GroE-assisted refolding is more efficient for CS denatured in GdnHCl than for CS denatured in urea. This result is discussed in light of the known difference in the denatured states generated in GdnHCl and urea. Because GroEL inhibits the BSA/glycerol/OAA-assisted refolding, this system will be useful in future studies on the mechanism of GroE-facilitated refolding.

We investigated the geometrical barrier in a high purity Bi 2 Sr 2 CaCu 2 O 8+x single crystal platelet using the powerful magneto-optical technique with a sensitive indicator film. The dome-shaped profile was clearly observed over the temperature range 20 – 70 K, and is possibly present below 20 K, the lowest temperature studied. The experimentally derived flux densities agree well with the calculated flux profiles. After γ-ray irradiation of the crystal, the flux distribution for moderate pinning was observed.

In this work, the flow of the Josephson vortices (JVs) has been studied for the highly anisotropic Bi2Sr2Ca2Cu3Oy (Bi2223) single crystals. A giant flow of JVs or giant positive magnetoresistance (MR) of over 500%–2000% was obtained in fields of 0.1–5T and remained almost constant over a wide temperature range from 110 down to 4K, in contrast to superconducting vortices (SVs), which only produced MR in the vicinity of Tc. The flow of the JVs is expected to be much faster than that of SVs. It is proposed that the Josephson vortices could be used to manipulate the spin and charge in magnetic semiconductors in the same way as SVs [M. Berciu, T. G. Rappoport, and B. Janko, Nature (London) 435, 71 (2005)]. Hybrid systems consisting of layered superconductors with Josephson junctions and magnetic semiconductors will be discussed.

Cylindrical single grains of GdBa2Cu3Oy (Gd-123) with a diameter of 25mm were successfully fabricated by melt-texture growth (MTG) process in air to study the influence of different starting powders on flux pinning. Measurements of the magnetic critical current density (Jc) showed that it was possible to fabricate large Gd-123 single grain with a high Jc at high temperatures and fields by means of properly controlling the starting powders of Gd2O3, BaCO3, and CuO before the MTG process.