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Background: Abnormal expression of protein tyrosine kinase 6 (PTK6) has been proven to be involved in the development of gynecological tumors. However, its immune-related carcinogenic mechanism in other tumors remains unclear. Objective: The aim of this study was to identify PTK6 as a novel prognostic biomarker in pan-cancer, especially in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD), which is correlated with immune infiltration, and to clarify its clinicopathological and prognostic significance. Methods: The prognostic value and immune relevance of PTK6 were investigated by using bio-informatics in this study. PTK6 expression was validated in vitro experiments (lung cancer cell lines PC9, NCI-H1975, and HCC827; human normal lung epithelial cells BEAS-2B). Western blot (WB) revealed the PTK6 protein expression in lung cancer cell lines. PTK6 expression was inhibited by Tilfrinib. Colony formation and the Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay were used to detect cell proliferation. The wound healing and trans-well were performed to analyze the cell migration capacity. Then flow cytometry was conducted to evaluate the cell apoptosis. Eventually, the relationship between PTK6 and immune checkpoints was examined. WB was used to estimate the PD-L1 expression at different Tilfrinib doses. Results: PTK6 was an independent predictive factor for LUAD and was substantially expressed in LUAD. Pathological stage was significantly correlated with increased PTK6 expression. In accordance with survival analysis, poor survival rate in LUAD was associated with a high expression level of PTK6. Functional enrichment of the cell cycle and TGF-β signaling pathway was demonstrated by KEGG and GSEA analysis. Moreover, PTK6 expression considerably associated with immune infiltration in LUAD, as determined by immune analysis. Thus, the result of vitro experiments indicated that cell proliferation and migration were inhibited by the elimination of PTK6. Additionally, PTK6 suppression induced cell apoptosis. Obviously, PD-L1 protein expression level up-regulated while PTK6 was suppressed. Conclusion: PTK6 has predictive value for LUAD prognosis, and could up regulated PD-L1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) leads to disturbed brain discharge rhythm, elevated excitability, anxiety-like behaviors, and decreased learning and memory capabilities. Cognitive dysfunctions severely affect the quality of life and prognosis of TBI patients, requiring effective rehabilitation treatment. Evidence indicates that moderate exercise after brain injury decreases TBI-induced cognitive decline. However, the underlying mechanism remains unelucidated. Our results demonstrate that TBI causes cognitive impairment behavior abnormalities and overexpression of Nav1.1, Nav1.3 and Nav1.6 proteins inside the hippocampus of mice models. Three weeks of voluntary running wheel (RW) exercise treatments before or/and post-injury effectively redressed the aberrant changes caused by TBI. Additionally, a 10% exercise-conditioned medium helped recover cell viability, neuronal sodium current and expressions of Nav1.1, Nav1.3 and Nav1.6 proteins across cultured neurons after injury. Therefore, the results validate the neuroprotection induced by voluntary RW exercise treatment before or/and post-TBI. The RW exercise-induced improvement in cognitive behaviors and neuronal excitability could be associated with correcting the Nav1.1, Nav1.3, and Nav1.6 expression levels. The current study proves that voluntary exercise is an effective treatment strategy against TBI. The study also highlights novel potential targets for rehabilitating TBI, including the Navs proteins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A plateau on the background inflaton potential can lead inflation into the ultraslow-roll (USR) stage, during which the primordial curvature perturbation R can still remarkably evolve outside the horizon. In this paper, the evolution of the Fourier mode R k and the resulting power spectrum P R (k) are systematically investigated. It is found that, when a scale crosses the horizon well before or after the USR stage, R k only revolves around the origin in the complex plane. In contrast, if a scale crosses the horizon around the start of the USR stage, the argument of R k will be nearly frozen and R k will have a subsequent linear evolution accordingly, in which it may stop rather near or extremely far away from the origin, naturally explaining the entire growing stage of P R (k) on small scales from the minimum to the peak. Moreover, there is a sharp dip in P R (k) , but the lowest point cannot reach 0 exactly. Our work provides a whole picture for R k and P R (k) in the USR inflation and will help our understanding of the relevant primordial black hole and gravitational wave physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Targeting angiogenesis is an attractive strategy for the effective treatment of cancer. This study aimed to investigate the anti-cancer activities of YAP inhibitor verteporfin (VP) in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) cells through its inhibitory effect on tumor angiogenesis. Methods: Cell proliferation, apoptosis, migration and invasion abilities were estimated by MTT, colony formation, DAPI staining, wound healing and transwell assays, respectively. Human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) tube formation assay and chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) model were used to observe angiogenesis in vitro and in vivo. The interactions between ESCC cells and HUVECs were assessed by cell chemotactic migration and adhesion assays. The expression levels of angiogenesis-related molecules were detected by Western blot. Results: We found that VP was potential to inhibit ESCC cell proliferation, migration, invasion and induce apoptosis in the dose-dependent fashion. VP also significantly suppressed proliferation, migration, and tube formation of HUVECs and promoted apoptosis of HUVECs, and reduced angiogenesis in CAM. Moreover, VP inhibited ESCC cell-induced angiogenesis in vitro by decreasing HUVEC chemotactic migration, adhesion and tube formation, and also reduced ESCC cell-induced neovascularization of the CAM in vivo. In addition, VP suppressed the expression of pro-angiogenic molecules such as VEGFA, MMP-2 and β-catenin in ESCC cells. Furtherly, VP increased the chemosensitivity of ESCC-resistant cells to paclitaxel (PTX). The combination of VP and PTX attenuated the resistant cell-mediated angiogenesis in vitro and in vivo. Conclusion: These results reveal for the first time that VP potently inhibits malignant progression and overcomes chemoresistance of ESCC cells via inhibition of tumor angiogenesis. It provides insight into a new strategy for the treatment of ESCC that VP could be a potential drug candidate for targeting tumor angiogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Yangtze River drainage basins are China’s most important economic development zones and also the locations of several large-scale fluorine chemical industries. In order to reveal the contribution from the tributaries at the dividing point between the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River with respect to perfluorinated substances (PFASs), 17 PFAS compounds in surface water, groundwater, and tap water samples were analyzed in the tributary system of the Jiujiang section of the Yangtze River. The total concentrations of PFASs in the surface waters ranged from 7.8 to 586.2 ng/L. High proportion of short-chain compound PFBS in surface waters in Nanchang City, Poyang Lake, and the Yangtze River was observed which is likely of WWTPs’ origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on thilation by the Lawesson's reagent (LR), a concise and efficient synthesis of ( R or S)-4-methyl-1-(1,4,5,8-tetramethoxynaphthalen-2-yl)pent-3-ene-1-thiol was developed with relatively high yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of 6-substituted 1,4-naphthoquinone oxime derivatives were synthesized and evaluated for their in vitro cytotoxicity against four cancer cell lines and one normal cell line. Some compounds exhibited moderate to good cytotoxicity towards cancer cells and meanwhile all the synthesized compounds displayed no apparent cytotoxic activity against normal cells (IC > 100 μM). Among these oxime derivatives, three compounds showed more potent cytotoxicity against human colon cancer cell lines (HCT-15) than adriamycin and 5-fluorouracil, with an IC value of 2.52, 1.96, and 2.27 μM, respectively. Additionally, structure-activity relationship studies revealed that cytotoxic effects of these oxime derivatives were not only largely dependent upon the size of alkyl chain R, but also upon substituents R of the branch chain, indicating that the strong cytotoxicity of these compounds was ascribed to their appropriate lipophilicity. Collectively, this study could provide available strategy for design and synthesis of 6-substituted 1,4-naphthoquinone oxime derivatives as potential anticancer agents. Graphical abstract: [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deep convolutional neural networks (DCNNs) based methods recently keep setting new records on the tasks of predicting depth maps from monocular images. When dealing with video-based applications such as 2D (2-dimensional) to 3D (3-dimensional) video conversion, however, these approaches tend to produce temporally inconsistent depth maps, since their CNN models are optimized over single frames. In this paper, we address this problem by introducing a novel spatial-temporal conditional random fields (CRF) model into the DCNN architecture, which is able to enforce temporal consistency between depth map estimations over consecutive video frames. In our approach, temporally consistent superpixel (TSP) is first applied to an image sequence to establish the correspondence of targets in consecutive frames. A DCNN is then used to regress the depth value of each temporal superpixel, followed by a spatial-temporal CRF layer to model the relationship of the estimated depths in both spatial and temporal domains. The parameters in both DCNN and CRF models are jointly optimized with back propagation. Experimental results show that our approach not only is able to significantly enhance the temporal consistency of estimated depth maps over existing single-frame-based approaches, but also improves the depth estimation accuracy in terms of various evaluation metrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Variation in tree litter inputs and understory vegetation caused by human disturbances and climate change in forest plantations can extend to alter forest stability and productivity over time. Here, we explore how tree litter inputs interact with understory plant management to influence belowground processes in a managed forest plantation. Methods: We conducted a two-factor nested experimental manipulation of pine litter and understory vegetation in a nutrient-poor Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica plantation. Three levels of tree litter manipulation (ambient litter, litter removal and litter addition) were nested in two levels of understory manipulation (understory intact and understory removal). After two years of manipulation, mineral soils were analyzed for total and extractable C, N and P concentrations, N mineralization, enzyme activities, as well as the microbial community structure (as indicated by phospholipid fatty acids). Results: Litter removal had little impact on C and nutrient cycling as well as microbial biomass and community structure in this low nutrient pine plantation; however, litter addition and the removal of the understory vegetation had large impacts on these processes. Litter addition elevated soil microbial biomass, acid phosphatase and β-1, 4-glucosidase activities, by a much greater degree when the understory vegetation was intact than when the understory was removed. Litter addition also reduced soil available P by 39% when the understory vegetation was intact, and reduced soil available P by 74% and NO -N by 45% when the understory was removed. Litter addition significantly reduced the ratio of Gram-positive to Gram-negative bacteria as well as the ratio between PLFA markers cy17:0 and 16:1ω7. Understory removal reduced the ratio of PLFA markers cy17:0 to 16:1ω7. Conclusions: Our study results show that, in this managed pine plantation, soil microbial community structure and function were more sensitive to an increase rather than to a decrease in pine litter inputs. Further, we found that the presence of understory vegetation can increase soil microbial biomass and alleviate the reduction in available N and P concentrations induced by pine litter addition. Thus, preservation of the understory vegetation is an effective way to maintain the functional stability of managed forests on nutrient-poor soils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artesunate, a derivative of artemisinin, has anti-inflammatory properties and exerts protective roles in sepsis. Heme oxygense-1 (HO-1) inhibits the inflammatory response through reduction of proinflammatory cytokines and leukocyte influx into tissues. The present study investigated the effects of artesunate on HO-1 and septic lung injury. Cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) was employed to induce septic lung injury. Mice pretreated with artesunate (AS) (15 mg/kg) exhibited decreased sepsis-induced mortality and lung injury and alleviated lung pathological changes and neutrophil infiltration. In addition, AS lowered the levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in the serum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and inhibited cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and inducible nitric oxide synthase isoform (iNOS) expression and NF-κB activation in lung tissue. In addition, AS enhanced NF-E2-related factor-2 (Nrf2) activation and HO-1 expression and enzymatic activity in lung tissue. However, the protective effects of AS on sepsis-induced lung injury were eliminated by ZnPP IX, an HO-1 competitive inhibitor. Therefore, AS plays protective roles in septic lung injury related to the upregulation of HO-1. These findings suggest an effective and applicable treatment to sepsis-induced lung injury and provide new insights into the molecular mechanisms and actions of AS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three differential equations based on different definitions of current density are compared. Formulation I is based on an incomplete equation for total current density (TCD). Formulations II and III are based on incomplete and complete equations for source current density (SCD), respectively. Using the weak form of finite element method (FEM), three formulations were applied in a spiral coil electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT) example to solve magnetic vector potential (MVP). The input impedances calculated by Formulation III are in excellent agreement with the experimental measurements. Results show that the errors for Formulations I & II vary with coil diameter, coil spacing, lift-off distance and external excitation frequency, for the existence of eddy-current and skin & proximity effects. And the current distribution across the coil conductor also follows the same trend. It is better to choose Formulation I instead of Formulation III to solve MVP when the coil diameter is less than twice the skin depth for Formulation I is a low cost and high efficiency calculation method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) rs2197076 and rs2241883 in fatty acid-binding protein 1 (FABP1) gene and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Methods: The two alleles rs2197076 and rs2241883 in FABP1 gene in 221 PCOS women and 198 normal women were amplified and sequenced. Allele frequency comparison was performed between the PCOS and control groups, and genotype-phenotype correlation analysis was performed using dominant and recessive models to assess the association of FABP1 and the main features of PCOS. Results: Allele frequency analyses showed a strong association of SNPs rs2197076 and rs2241883 of FABP1 gene with PCOS ( P < 0.001). The additive, dominant, and recessive genotype model analyses further supported this association even after adjusting for age and body mass index (BMI). The minor allele frequency (MAF) of rs2241883 in obese PCOS women was less than that in obese control women. Further genotype-phenotype correlation analysis showed that SNP rs2197076 had a stronger association with the main features of PCOS than SNP rs2241883. Conclusion: In the association of SNPs in FABP1 gene with PCOS, rs2197076 was more closely associated with its main features than rs2241883 and seemed to play a more important role in the pathogenesis of PCOS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cutaneous adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are common. However, no prospective study assessing cutaneous ADRs is available for Chinese populations. This study aimed to assess the incidence, manifestations, causative drugs, and other factors related to cutaneous ADRs. A total of 22,866 inpatients were surveyed prospectively from January to April 2012 at the Peking Union Medical College Hospital. Only cutaneous ADRs induced by systemic drugs were considered. Fifty cases were confirmed as cutaneous ADRs, for an estimated incidence of 2.2 per 1000 during this period (95 % confidence interval 1.6-2.8). Cases of cutaneous ADRs comprised 69 % females, while 63 % of all inpatients were female ( χ = 0.641, P = 0.427). The department of infectious diseases was the most frequently involved department. Morbilliform exanthema (40 %) was the most frequent cutaneous ADR, followed by urticaria (23.1 %). Anti-infection drugs (36.9 %) caused most cases of cutaneous ADRs, followed by iodinated contrast media (ICM, 18.5 %) and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs, 18.5 %). The most frequently associated disorders were cancer (24 %), infection (22 %), cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases (20 %), and autoimmune diseases (18 %). In this first prospective study assessing the incidence of cutaneous ADRs in China, anti-infection drugs were the most commonly involved drugs, followed by ICM and NSAIDs. No evidence of increased cutaneous ADR incidence in AIDS or SLE patients was observed. Our findings indicate that cancer and its treatments were often related to cutaneous ADRs in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are abundant and evenly distributed throughout the maize (Zea mays L.) genome. SNPs have several advantages over simple sequence repeats, such as ease of data comparison and integration, high-throughput processing of loci, and identification of associated phenotypes. SNPs are thus ideal for DNA fingerprinting, genetic diversity analysis, and marker-assisted breeding. Here, we developed a high-throughput and compatible SNP array, maizeSNP3072, containing 3072 SNPs developed from the maizeSNP50 array. To improve genotyping efficiency, a high-quality cluster file, maizeSNP3072_GT.egt, was constructed. All 3072 SNP loci were localized within different genes, where they were distributed in exons (43 %), promoters (21 %), 3′ untranslated regions (UTRs; 22 %), 5′ UTRs (9 %), and introns (5 %). The average genotyping failure rate using these SNPs was only 6 %, or 3 % using the cluster file to call genotypes. The genotype consistency of repeat sample analysis on Illumina GoldenGate versus Infinium platforms exceeded 96.4 %. The minor allele frequency (MAF) of the SNPs averaged 0.37 based on data from 309 inbred lines. The 3072 SNPs were highly effective for distinguishing among 276 examined hybrids. Comparative analysis using Chinese varieties revealed that the 3072SNP array showed a better marker success rate and higher average MAF values, evaluation scores, and variety-distinguishing efficiency than the maizeSNP50K array. The maizeSNP3072 array thus can be successfully used in DNA fingerprinting identification of Chinese maize varieties and shows potential as a useful tool for germplasm resource evaluation and molecular marker-assisted breeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A dual-wavelength erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) with outstanding stability is presented. In the fiber laser system, two nested active optical fiber ring filters are configured to improve the comb spectrum performance, a saturable absorber is employed to form a gain grating for both filtering and frequency stabilizing, two cascaded fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) are utilized to achieve dual-wavelength output, and a variable attenuator is arranged to adjust output power. Experimental results illustrate that the peak wavelength drift is less than 3 pm, and a good linear relationship between output power and pump power is realized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies indicate that high-mobility group box protein 1 (HMGB1) contributes to the pathogenesis of diverse autoimmune disorders. It induces the production of interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) in vitro. In the present study, plasma HMGB1, TNF-alpha, and IFN-alpha were determined with ELISA in 37 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and 39 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HC). The possible associations of these cytokines with disease activities, autoantibodies, and certain laboratory parameters were also explored. The plasma levels of HMGB1, TNF-alpha, and IFN-alpha were increased in SLE patients compared with those of HC ( P < 0.05). Moreover, the levels of HMGB1 and TNF-alpha in the active SLE patients were elevated compared with those in inactive patients and HC. Additionally, plasma HMGB1 was positively correlated with peripheral neutrophils, and plasma TNF-alpha was positively correlated with anti-Sm, ESR and CRP, while plasma IFN-alpha was inversely correlated with the age and platelet level in SLE patients. Our data indicated that increased plasma HMGB1 was associated with disease activity in SLE, which was similar to TNF-alpha. High level of plasma IFN-alpha may be related to nephritis and thrombocytopenia in SLE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ZnMgO thin films have been deposited on Si(111) substrates by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique at growth temperature from 300 to 700°C in nitrogen ambient of 1.0 Pa. The effects of growth temperature on structural and optical properties of deposited ZnMgO thin films have been characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), infrared absorption (IR) spectra and photoluminescence (PL) spectra. The results of XRD and SEM analyses show that the film fabricated at 400°C possesses good crystallinity with hexagonal wurtzite structure and surface morphology. The Mg has been incorporated into ZnO in the form of substitutional Zn. The IR spectra reveal the typical absorption peaks of ZnMgO. The band-gap values have been obtained from 2.96 to 4.23 eV with increasing growth temperature. The PL spectra show that the highest UV emission is obtained at growth temperature of 600°C, and the obvious blue-shift is observed. This may be assigned as the change of the band-gap due to the increasing incorporation of Mg ions with the increasing growth temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of nerve growth factor (NGF) on tunicamycin (Tm)-treated neurons in the trigeminal ganglion was investigated by use of caspase-3 immunohistochemistry. In intact embryos at embryonic day 16.5, only a few caspase-3-immunoreactivity were detected in the ganglion neurons. Mean ± SE of the density of the immunoreactivity was 0.22 ± 0.03%. In contrast, the number of the immunoreactive neurons was increased at 24 h after injection of 0.5 μg Tm in 1 μl of 0.05 N NaOH solution into mouse embryos at embryonic day 15.5. The density of immunoreactivity was also increased (mean ± SE = 1.44 ± 0.11%) compared to intact and 0.05 N NaOH-treated embryos (mean ± SE = 0.35 ± 0.03%). The Tm treatment caused increase of the number of trigeminal neurons representing apoptotic profiles (intact, mean ± SE = 79.3 ± 8.5; 0.05 N NaOH, mean ± SE = 132 ± 11.5; 0.5 μg Tm, mean ± SE = 370.2 ± 64.8). In addition, NGF significantly prevented the increase of density of the immunoreactivity (mean ± SE = 0.54 ± 0.16%) and the number of apoptotic cells (mean ± SE = 146.2 ± 11.3). Saline application (without NGF) had no effect on Tm-induced increase of the immunoreactivity (mean ± SE = 1.78 ± 0.23%) or the apoptotic profiles (mean ± SE = 431.9 ± 80.5). These results indicate that Tm-induced cell death in the trigeminal ganglion is suppressed by NGF in the mouse embryo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]