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Background Zinc finger and BTB domain-containing 4 (ZBTB4), which is a transcriptional regulator, has been identified as a tumor suppressor in several human carcinomas. So far, however, the expression of ZBTB4 and its possible clinical significance in colorectal cancer (CRC) remain unknown. Materials and methods The mRNA and protein expressions of ZBTB4 in five CRC cell lines were respectively detected by performing qRT-PCR and Western Blotting. ZBTB4 expression in colorectal tissue specimens was determined, and subsequently its relationship with clinical prognosis was examined. Results The mRNA and protein expressions of ZBTB4 were significantly decreased in all the five CRC cell lines compared with normal colonic epithelial cells. Consistent with the cell data, immunohistochemical results showed that as compared with the normal colorectal tissue samples, ZBTB4 protein expression was clearly lower in the CRC tissue samples, especially in CRC patients with liver metastasis. In addition, low-expressed ZBTB4 was found associated with tumor metastasis stage (P=0.0003) and level of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) (P=0.0004). The overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) in the ZBTB4-low group were significantly lower than those in the ZBTB4-high group (P=0.0007 and P=0.0077). Conclusion The current findings showed that patients with high-expressed ZBTB4 in CRC tissues may develop a better prognosis, and ZBTB4 could serve as a potential therapeutic target for CRC treatment.

Background The synergistic effect of nanomaterials and chemotherapeutics provides a novel strategy for the treatment of tumors. Silver nanotriangles (AgNTs) exhibited some unique properties in nanomedicine. Studies on the synergy of silver-based nanomaterials and anti-tumor drugs against gliomas are rare. Materials and methods Chitosan-coated AgNTs were prepared, followed by characterization using transmission electron microscopy, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. The anti-glioma effect of cyclophosphamide (CTX), 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), oxaliplatin (OXA), doxorubicin (DOX) or gemcitabine (GEM) combined with AgNTs in different glioma cell lines (U87, U251 and C6) was assessed by the MTT assay to screen out a drug with the most broad-spectrum and strongest synergistic anti-glioma activity. The intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) level, mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) and cell apoptosis were detected by flow cytometry. The possible underlying mechanisms of the synergy were further investigated with ROS scavenger and specific inhibitors of C-jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), p38 and extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 pathways. Results The synthesized AgNTs were mainly triangular and truncated triangular with an average edge length of 125 nm. A synergistic anti-glioma effect of AgNTs combined with CTX was not observed, and the synergism between AgNTs and 5-FU was cell type-specific. AgNTs combined with OXA, DOX or GEM displayed synergistic effects in various glioma cell lines, and the combination of AgNTs and GEM showed the strongest synergistic activity. A decrease in cell viability, loss of the MMP and an increase in apoptosis rate induced by this synergy could be significantly attenuated by the ROS scavenger N-acetylcysteine and JNK inhibitor SP600125. Conclusion Our results suggested that the combination of AgNTs and GEM possessed broad-spectrum and potent synergistic anti-glioma activity, resulting from cell apoptosis mediated by a ROS-dependent mitochondrial pathway in which JNK might be involved.

Neonicotinoid pesticides are widely applied for controlling pests in a variety of agriculture crops. Due to the systemic distribution in plants, neonicotinoid pesticides have been found in nectar and pollen, which are the main source of food for the important pollinator honeybee. The risk of neonicotinoid residues in honeybee products and honeybee has caused great attention since their impacts on the environment, ecology, and food safety issues. These concerns require the accurate and sensitive determination of neonicotinoids and their metabolites in the honeybee products and honeybee. Since the trace residue level of neonicotinoid and the complexity of the samples, analysis of neonicotinoid targets in these important matrices is still a great challenge. The present review provides general overview of analytical methods for the determination of neonicotinoid pesticides and their metabolites in honeybee products and honeybee.

The synthesis conditions of HZSM-5 zeolite, including crystallization temperature, crystallization time and raw material ratio, were investigated by L32 (48) orthogonal test to specifically optimiz...

This paper investigates the problem of delay-dependent stability analysis for systems with interval time-varying delay. By means of a new double free-matrix-based integral inequality and augmented ...

This study aimed to evaluate the variation of milk mineral and chemical components in colostrum and milk corresponding to milking time and lactation day. Samples were collected at 1, 7, 14 and 21 d...

The Lunpola oil shale is the largest oil shale resource in Tibet. Twenty-four samples were collected from this deposition to determine the platinum group element (PGE) characteristics. The total PGE contents in terrestrial oil shale are low (average 2.386 ng/g). The PGEs are enriched in the oil shale samples near the boundary between the oil shale and its underlying strata. The PGE enrichment may be the result of a change of oxic–anoxic conditions. The individual PGEs of oil shale samples from the Lunpola oil shale exhibit similar modes of occurrence, and their distributions are controlled mainly by Fe-bearing minerals (pyrite). The source of PGEs in the Lunpola oil shale is probably related to water chemistry and terrigenous supply.

The Bilong Co oil shale, located in the South Qiangtang depression, northern Tibet Plateau, may record the Early Jurassic anoxic event in the eastern Tethys. New geochemical data from the Bilong Co oil shale section are presented in order to determine the mechanism of organic accumulation and to evaluate Early Jurassic anoxia in the eastern Tethys. In organic-rich oil shales, many redox proxies including the relationship of Mo to total organic carbon (TOC), Re/Mo ratios, and pyrite framboid size distribution suggest deposition under euxinic conditions. However, the correlation between TOC and P and Mo contents indicates that organic matter accumulation was controlled mainly by primary productivity. The Sr/Al ratios and clastic influx proxies such as Si, Ti, Th, Zr, and Al concentrations suggest a continuous supply of fresh water from a nearby continent during oil shale deposition. This supply could have initiated stratification of the water so that the upper zone became favourable for marine life. Increas...

The deformable layer tomography (DLT) is now a popular way to characterize the unknown geometry of the velocity interface by using the traveling time observed in data, which is difficult to solve accurately, because of the strong ill-posedness. In this paper, new regularization approaches based on the spectral method are introduced, which can invert the velocity value and the geometry of the interface simultaneously. The unknown interfaces are parameterized by Legendre spectral expansion, and various regularization methods combined with traditional regularization parameters selections are utilized to solve the ill-conditioned algebraic equation system. Moreover, a regularized algorithm with prior choice of regularization parameters is proposed to solve the DLT.

Silver nanoparticles have been prepared by reducing a silver nitrate precursor and loaded on the surface of bacterial cellulose (BC) in situ to form Ag/BC composite membrane. The membrane microstructure was characterized by using scanning electron microscope (SEM). The SEM images showed that the number of the silver nanoparticles with diameters in the range of 50–80 nm increases with higher silver nitrate concentration. X-ray diffraction spectra results indicated that the silver nanoparticles are with face-centered cubic structure. X-ray fluorescence spectrum showed that Ag element was incorporated into the bacterial cellulose. UV-Vis results showed characteristic silver absorption peak at 424 nm. Both antimicrobial activity and biocompatibility of the Ag/BC nanocomposites have been evaluated. The silver nanoparticles exhibited good antimicrobial activities against E. coli and S. aureus. The antibacterial ratio against E. coli and S. aureus reached 99.4% and 98.4%, respectively. The Ag/BC composite membra...

In this paper, the variation laws of parameters in air bubbling humidification of solar desalination process are studied. The experimental system and experimental phenomenon are introduced. The parameters of remaining water quantity, humidifying capacity, and water temperature at any instantaneous time in humidifier are calculated and analyzed under different conditions by differential equations of energy balance and mass balance. The results show that the water temperature and the humidifying capacity are changed significantly with time increased in the initial humidifying stage. The change of these parameters depends on heat supplied to the water in the humidifier, whether the heat is higher or lower than the one absorbed by the water evaporating. If the supplied heat is higher, the water temperature and the humidifying capacity will increase in the initial humidifying stage; otherwise they will decrease or remain unchanged. After a certain time of humidifying, these parameters tend to be stabl...

Bacterial cellulose (BC) was chosen as carrier of nanometer titanium dioxide due to its superfine network structure. BC/titanium dioxide composite membrane was prepared by a sol–gel method using tetraisopropyl titanate as starting material. Photocatalytic properties of composite membrane were studied using methyl orange as degradation agent. Titania nanoparticles were successfully loaded on bacterial cellulose membrane. The degradation rate of methyl orange solution was up to 100% under ultraviolet (UV) irradiation.

Bacterial cellulose (BC) was chosen as a support for nanometer titanium dioxide (TiO2) particles due to its superfine network structure. The composite membrane of TiO2/BC doped with rare earth elements was prepared by a sol-gel method using tetraisopropyl titanate as starting material. Photocatalysis properties of this composite membrane were estimated by using methyl orange as a degradation agent. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectra showed that rare earth ions were incorporated into TiO2/BC membrane. X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectra showed that the resulting titanium dioxide was anatase type, which didn't change after doping. Compared with a pure TiO2/BC membrane, photocatalysis efficiency was significantly enhanced for the doped one. The degradation rate of methyl orange solution for a composite membrane doped with Ce4+ was up to 100%, while with La3+ it was was up to 79.7%. The optimal dosage of Ce4+ was 2 mmol/L, while the most suitable concentration of La3+ was 5 mmol/L within the experimental range.

In this article, we describe the use of diphenyl carbonate (DPC) as a carbonyl source instead of isocyanate to synthesize asymmetric substituted urea derivatives. In a study aiming to discover new lead compounds with agricultural activities, thiazole[5,4-b]pyridine ureas were prepared by this method and characterized by mass spectrometry, elemental analysis, and 1H NMR spectroscopy. The biological activities show that the title compounds have moderate activities on herbicide, fungicide, and plant growth regulation. Supplemental materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Phosphorus, Sulfur, and Silicon and the Related Elements to view the free supplemental file. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

Identification of a workspace and its boundary is an important issue in the design and performance evaluation for manipulators, especially for the exoskeleton rehabilitation robot. This paper estimates roughly the volume covering the workspace of a manipulator and then meshes the volume into a lot of small cubes. A distance-weight and a three-dimensional (3-D) distance-weight matrix are defined. The distance-weight describes the point distribution around the corners of 3-D cubes and the 3-D distance-weight matrix characterizes the degree of point distribution in the workspace. The smoothing procedure and boundary curve extraction of grey-scale images available in mathematic morphology are employed to process the 3-D distance-weight matrix. A general algorithm of the workspace boundary extraction is proposed. The set of boundaries of all slices of the workspace forms the manipulator's workspace boundary. Two examples are given to verify the workspace boundary extracting algorithm. The workspace boundary of...

Previous research shows that Chinese A-share initial public offerings (IPOs) experience very high initial returns. This study focuses on Chinese B-share IPOs and investigates their initial returns, operating performance change before and after listing, and long-run market performance. We study all B-share IPOs listed from 1992 to 2000 in China and find that the average underpricing of Chinese B-share IPOs is 28.63 percent, which is statistically and economic significant. The initial returns of B-share IPOs on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange are significantly higher than those on the Shanghai Stock Exchange; the smaller size IPOs are significantly higher than those of larger issuance; and the periods with fewer IPOs are higher than those when more IPOs are listed. Results show that the operating performance of B-share companies deteriorates after listing, indicating that earnings management is popular among those firms. We also find that the abnormal long-run returns of B shares are marginally negatively signi...

In this article, we incorporated the organic phosphorus group on to a triazolothiadiazole ring to prepare the title compounds fused 1,2,4-triazolo[3,4-b][1,3,4]thiadiazole heterocyclic compounds. From the results on biological activities, we found that most compounds showed weak activities, and thus the structures need to be further optimized for improved activity.

In this article, we introduce organic phosphorus moiety into triazole ring to prepare O-dialkyl-dithiophosphoryl-S-acetoxy triazolo compounds and characterize their structures by elementary analysis and 1 HNMR and IR spectral data. From the results of biological activity screening, we found that the O-dialkyl-dithiophosphoryl-S-acetoxy triazolo compounds show lower fungicidal activities and their structures need to be optimized for the better.

Starting from L-serine, cyclic thiophosphoramidate conjugates (2 and 3) of Tegafur and uridine were synthesized via a multiple-step procedure of esterification, cyclic phosphorylation, and sulfurization, etc. L-serinoate was N-alkylated, then cyclized with phosphorus oxychloride, and further reacted with N3-(2-hydroxyethyl) Tegafur to afford cyclic phospholipid conjugate 4. The resultants (2, 3, and 4) were successfully separated in the form of pure diastereomer by column chromatography on silica gel. Their configurations were discussed and assigned according to their NMR spectra. The asymmetric induction effects of the carbon-based chiral centre on the diastereomer preference were also observed in these two synthetic phosphorylation cyclizations. The bioassay on their antitumor activities is under investigation.

Caizhao Lin1, Ketao Jin2,3, Huanrong Lan4, Lisong Teng2, Jianjiang Lin1, Wenbin Chen11Department of Coloproctological Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 2Department of Surgical Oncology, First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 3Department of Surgery, Affiliated Zhuji Hospital, Wenzhou Medical College, Zhuji, 4Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Affiliated Taizhou Hospital, Wenzhou Medical College, Linhai, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of ChinaBackground: The relative rarity and anatomical position of retrorectal tumors may lead to difficulty in diagnosis and surgical management.Methods: This was a retrospective review of 62 patients who had resection of retrorectal tumors between 2002 and 2010.Results: All patients in this study were treated by excision of the retrorectal tumors. Surgical approach included transsacral approach (52 cases), transabdominal approach (eight cases), and combined approach (two cases). A total of 48 benign lesions (77.4%) and 14 malignant lesions (22.6%) were confirmed by histological examination. The 48 benign cases included dermoid cysts (17 cases), simple cysts (eight cases), teratomas (eight cases), neurofibromas (eight cases), fibrolipomas (four cases), neurilemmomas (two cases), and synovioma (one case). The 14 malignant cases included lymphomas (four cases), malignant teratomas (three cases), fibrosarcomas (two cases), interstitialomas (four cases) and malignant mesothelioma (one case). Complications occurred in 14.5% of patients and included intraoperative bleeding (three cases), rectal injury (three cases), and presacral infection (three cases).Conclusion: Primary retrorectal tumors are very rare. Successful treatment of these tumors requires extensive knowledge of pelvic anatomy and expertise in pelvic surgery.Keywords: retrorectal space, retrorectal tumor, surgical treatment