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Background: Elemene injection could provide clinical benefit for the treatment of various cancers, but the clinical evidence is weak. Thus, its wide use in China has raised concerns about the appropriateness of its use.Methods: This was a multicenter retrospective study to evaluate the prevalence of inappropriateness of elemene injection for hospitalized cancer patients. Patients who met the inclusion criteria were retrospectively included, and demographic characteristics were extracted from the hospital information systems. The inappropriateness of elemene injection use was assessed using the preset criteria, and the prevalence was calculated. Multivariate logistic analysis was applied to identify any factors associated with inappropriate use.Results: A total of 275 patients were included in the analysis. The median age was 62 years, and 30.9% were females. The most common cancer was lung cancer (24.0%), and 68.2% of the patients were receiving chemotherapy. The overall prevalence of inappropriateness was 61.8%. The most common reason for inappropriateness was inappropriate indications, and the second was inappropriate doses. Age and oncological department were significant risk factors associated with inappropriate use, while lung cancer, liver cancer and admission to cardiothoracic surgery were associated with a low risk of inappropriate use.Conclusion: The prevalence of inappropriateness among hospitalized elemene injection users was high. More efforts, especially those to improve the appropriateness of indications, should be made to improve the rational use of elemene, as well as other complementary medicines. Physicians should take caution to avoid inappropriate use when prescribing drugs with limited clinical evidence.

ABSTRACTLong non-coding RNAs (LncRNAs) have been found to play a regulatory role in the pathophysiology of vascular remodeling-associated illnesses through the lncRNA-microRNA (miRNA) regulation axis. LncRNA metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1) is thought to be involved in proliferation, migration, apoptosis, and calcification of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). The purpose of this study was to investigate the regulatory role of MALAT1 on vascular remodeling in hypertension. Our data indicate that the expression of MALAT1 is significantly upregulated in hypertensive aortic smooth muscle. Knockdown of MALAT1 inhibited the proliferation, migration, and phenotypic transition of VSMCs induced by Ang II. Bioinformatics analysis was used to predict the complementary binding of miR-145-5p to the 3’-untranslated region of MALAT1. Besides, the expressions of MALAT1 and miR-145-5p were negatively correlated, while luciferase reporter assays and RNA immunoprecipitation assay validated the interaction between miR-145-5p and MALAT1. The proliferation, migration and phenotypic transformation of VSMCs induced by overexpression of MALAT1 were reversed in the presence of miR-145-5p. Furthermore, we verified that miR-145-5p could directly target and bind to hexokinase 2 (HK2) mRNA, and that HK2 expression was negatively correlated with miR-145-5p in VSMCs. Knockdown of HK2 significantly inhibited the effects of overexpression of MALAT1 on Ang II-induced VSMCs proliferation, migration and phenotypic transformation. Taken together, the MALAT1/miR-145-5p/HK2 axis may play a critical regulatory role in the vascular remodeling of VSMCs in hypertension.

Ivermectin (IVM) is a dewormer commonly utilized in animal farming. Nevertheless, there is a deficiency of research on the bioecotoxicity of IVM in soil. In this study, earthworms were utilized as test animals to investigate the ecotoxicological impacts of IVM. The experiment lasted 28 days and involved adding varied doses of IVM to a culture substrate of soil mixed with cow dung and feeding it to earthworms. The experiment entailed recording earthworm weight, number of earthworm cocoons, histological damage, oxidative stress indicators, and gene expression levels. The analysis results showed that earthworm growth and reproduction were hampered by IVM. Moreover, pathological damage to the earthworms increased with increasing IVM concentration, which caused increased oxidative damage to the earthworms. These findings offer a summary of the impact of IVM on earthworms and a reference point for future research examining the ecological implications of IVM.

Objective Acute Exacerbation Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (AECOPD) is associated with an acute worsening of respiratory symptoms that have effects on lung function, quality of life and health economic burden. In addition, the development of pulmonary infections is a common complication of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). In the pathophysiology of AECOPD, interleukin (IL)-6 is a pleiotropic cytokine that can be produced by inflammatory and primary lung epithelial cells in response to a variety of different stimuli. We aim to investigate the correlation between serum cytokine levels and AECOPD with pulmonary infection. Methods 37 AECOPD patients diagnosed with pulmonary infection and 33 patients diagnosed with AECOPD only were selected. All COPD patients were diagnosed according to the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) criteria. Serum samples for C-reactive protein (CRP) and cytokines were obtained from the patients immediately after admission. Serum concentrations of cytokines were measured using a fluorescent bead immunoassay on a flow cytometer. Logistic regression was used to identify risk factors for AECOPD co-infection of the lungs. Results Serum characterization of our cohort showed patients with AECOPD and pulmonary infection had higher levels of IL-6 and IL-10 compared with the AECOPD group, and IL-6 was independently associated with AECOPD with pulmonary infection. ROC curve analysis showed that IL-6 was a useful predictor of the incidence of pulmonary infection in AECOPD patients. Conclusions Our findings highlight the role of IL-6 in the pathogenesis of AECOPD with pulmonary infection.

Abstract Comorbid glucose metabolism abnormalities are very common in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), and glucose metabolism and lipid metabolism are closely related. However, there are few researches on the incidence and related factors of lipid metabolism abnormalities among MDD patients with comorbid glucose metabolism abnormalities. A cross-sectional study involving 1718 first-episode and drug-naïve (FEDN) MDD patients was conducted. The 17-item Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD-17), Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAMA) and Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) positive subscale were utilized to evaluate depressive, anxiety and psychotic symptom, respectively. Serum thyroid function-related parameters, glucose- and lipid-metabolism parameters were measured. The prevalence of abnormal lipid metabolism was significantly higher in FEDN MDD patients with abnormal glucose metabolism than in those without abnormal glucose metabolism (P

Abstract This letter proposes a novel parallel sparse nested array and then provides a matrix reconstruction‐based method with three steps, to enhance the performance of direction of arrival (DOA) estimation in practice. The spacings between the closest antennas along x‐ and y‐axes, are coprime and much greater than half‐wavelength in the proposed array, which contributes to efficiently eliminate the mutual coupling and achieve larger aperture with limited physical antennas. By using the oblique projection operator with iteration, the proposed method can employ all items of covariance matrix of the received data to construct a virtual covariance matrix with increased degrees of freedom, for effectively improving angle estimation performance. Then the unique and high‐accuracy DOA estimation is obtained via the coprime‐ness. The simulation results show the superiority of the proposed array and method for DOA estimation in the presence of mutual coupling and limited antennas.

BackgroundLipid metabolism is associated with glucose metabolism, but whether there are variations between sexes in risk factors and prevalence of abnormal lipid metabolism in major depressive disorder (MDD) patients with glucose metabolism abnormalities remains ambiguous. In the present study, the frequency and risk factors of dyslipidemia in first-episode and drug-naïve (FEDN) MDD patients with dysglycemia were examined according to sex.MethodsOne thousand seven hundred and eighteen FEDN MDD patients were recruited and their demographic data, clinical data, various biochemical indicators and scale assessment scores including 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAMD-17), 14-item Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAMA-14), and positive subscale of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) were collected.ResultsThe prevalence of abnormal lipid metabolism in both male and female MDD patients with abnormal glucose metabolism was higher than that in patients without abnormal glucose metabolism. Among male MDD patients with abnormal glucose metabolism, TC was positively correlated with HAMD score, TSH and TgAb levels, but negatively correlated with PANSS positive subscale scores. LDL-C was positively correlated with TSH and BMI, but negatively correlated with PANSS positive subscale scores. HDL-C was negatively correlated with TSH levels. Among females, TC was positively correlated with HAMD score, TSH, and BMI, but negatively correlated with PANSS positive subscale score. LDL-C was positively correlated with HADM score and negatively correlated with FT3 level. HDL-C was negatively correlated with TSH and BMI levels.ConclusionThere are sex differences in the correlated factors of lipid markers in MDD patients with impaired glucose.

BackgroundTo explore the association between soy product consumption and the risk of depression in the community.MethodsIn 2014, a total of 10,901 older people were recruited from Zhejiang province, China, and completed food frequency interviews. Participants were followed up over the next 6 years, and depression was assessed at each visit. Finally, 6,253 participants were included in the present study. Mixed effects models were performed to analyze the association by multivariate adjustments for potential confounders.ResultsOver four-fifths of the eligible participants took soy food at least one day per week. The mixed effects model has shown the adjusted odds ratios (95% CI) of high-frequency consumers (4–7 days per week) were 0.46 (0.39–0.54) for depression with a cut-off score of 5, compared with non-consumers.ConclusionsMore frequent soy product consumption was associated with a lower risk of depression.

BackgroundVascular dementia (VaD) mainly results from cerebral vascular lesions and tissue changes, which contribute to neurodegenerative processes. Effective therapeutic approaches to targeting angiogenesis may reduce mortality of VaD. Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) play a key role in postnatal angiogenesis. Many exosomal microRNAs (exo-miRNAs) have been reported to involve in the development of dementia. The present study was designed to investigate whether the expression profile of the exo-miRNAs is significantly altered in patients with VaD and to reveal the function of differentially expressed miRNAs and the relevant mechanisms in EPC-mediated angiogenesis in VaD rat model.ResultsExosomes isolated from serum of patients with VaD (n = 7) and age-matched control subjects (n = 7), and miRNA sequencing and bioinformatics analysis found that circulating exosome miRNA-155-5p, miRNA-154-5p, miR-132-5p, and miR-1294 were upregulated in patients with VaD. The expression of miRNA-154-5p was further verified to be upregulated in clinical samples (n = 23) and 2-vessel occlusion-induced VaD rat model by reverse transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). Notably, miRNA-154-5p inhibition in bone marrow-EPCs (BM-EPCs) from VaD rats improved EPC functions, including tube formation, migration, and adhesion, and elevated concentrations of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and stromal cell-derived factor-1α (SDF-1α). The mRNA levels of ICAM-1, VCAM-1, and MCP-1 were reduced in miRNA-154-5p-inhibited EPCs. In addition, miRNA-154-5p inhibition increased the level of superoxide dismutase (SOD), and decreased reactive oxygen species (ROS) in EPCs. PRKAA2 was chosen as a promising target gene of miR-154-5p, and miRNA-154-5p inhibition upregulated the protein expression of AMPKα2. Furthermore, upregulation of miR-154-5p markedly diminished EPC functions and inhibited angiogenesis following EPC transplantation in VaD rats.ConclusionCirculating exo-miR-154-5p was upregulated in patients with VaD, and miR-154-5p upregulation was associated with impaired EPC functions and angiogenesis in VaD rat model. Therefore, miR-154-5p is a promising biomarker and therapeutic strategy for VaD.

The protective effects of mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-based therapy for myocardial infarction (MI) are largely hampered as they age. Apelin is an endogenous ligand of its receptor APJ and plays an essential role in regulating multiple biological activities including MSC proliferation and survival. In this study, we investigated whether Apelin regulates MSC senescence and whether its overexpression could rejuvenate aged MSCs (AMSCs) to improve cardiac protection following infarction in mice. MSC senescence was evaluated by senescence-associated β-galactosidase assays. Apelin level was examined by western blotting. Autophagy was determined by transmission electron microscopy. The cardioprotective effect of AMSCs with Apelin overexpression (Apelin-AMSCs) was assessed in a mouse MI model. Apelin expression was dramatically reduced in AMSCs. Interestingly, knockdown of Apelin induced young MSCs (YMSC) senescence, whereas overexpression rescued AMSC senescence. Apelin overexpression also increased AMSC angiogenic capacity. Mechanistically, Apelin overexpression upregulated the autophagy level of AMSCs by activating AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) signaling, thereby rejuvenating AMSCs. Compared with AMSCs, transplantation of Apelin-AMSCs achieved better therapeutic efficacy for MI by enhancing cell survival and angiogenesis. In conclusion, our results reveal that Apelin activates AMPK to rejuvenate AMSCs by increasing autophagy and promotes cardioprotection following infarction in mice. This study identified a novel target to rejuvenate AMSCs and enhance their therapeutic efficacy.

The coarray techniques, e.g., nested and coprime arrays, can significantly improve degrees of freedom (DOFs) via constructing a so-called difference coarray, which enables underdetermined direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation within reach in the presence of unknown nonuniform noise. There are repeated lags in the difference coarray, which also contain useful statistical information. In this paper, the repeated lags are properly used for DOA estimation algorithm design in unknown nonuniform noise environments. Specifically, the number of repeated lags in the difference coarray is rigorously given. Then these repeated lags and unique lags are judiciously rearranged to form a pseudo data set, which is composed of linearly independent vectors. Based on the pseudo data set, we propose two algorithms for DOA estimation in the presence of unknown nonuniform noise. One is a searching algorithm without source number knowledge (SASNK), and the other is a multi-snapshot compressive sensing method (MSCS) with better DOA estimation performance. The MSCS also does not require source number information. Numerical results are included to showcase the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms.

The alternations in soil physicochemical properties caused by the reclamation of coastal tidal land can strongly affect the activities of soil extracellular enzymes. Soil extracellular enzymes are one of the most active organic components in soil ecosystem, which is involved in almost all the biochemical reactions. Determining the importance of potential influencing factors of soil extracellular enzymes and thus estimating their activities are important for clarifying the biological mechanism of soil carbon and nitrogen cycling. In this study, the multiple linear regressions (MLR) and random forest (RF) models were conducted to estimate the activities of soil amylase and urease activities using covariates, such as soil water content (SWC), electrical conductivity (EC), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), and soil organic carbon (SOC) as well as the soil bulk density (BD) and pH. The results reveals that the amylase activity of fishpond was significantly higher than that of other land use types, while the urease activity of rape land, broad bean land, and fishpond were notably higher than that of bare flat, Spartina alterniflora, and uncultivated land. The RF model indicated that the SWC and TN is the main variable affecting amylase and urease activity, respectively. The RF model performed much better than MLR model in estimating the soil amylase and urease activity as it revealed much lower error indices (MAE and RMSE) and higher R2 value. The superiority of RF model in estimating amylase and urease activity is due to its advantages to handle the nonlinear and hierarchical relationships between enzyme activities and covariates, and insensitivity to overfitting and the presence of noise in the data.

Background & Aims Aging is one of the risk factors of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Yet, the mechanism underlying the aging-associated NAFLD-like syndrome is not fully understood. Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD), a ubiquitous coenzyme, has protective effects against aging. Here, we investigated the actions of NAD precursors nicotinamide riboside (NR) on the development of aging-induced NAFLD. Methods NR supplemented food (2.5 g/kg food) was applied to aged mice for three months while normal chow to the other groups. Body weight, food intake, liver weight and fat pat mass were measured. The serum concentrations of lipid content, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and NAD were determined by biochemical assays. Pathological assessment and immunohistochemistry analysis of hepatic tissues were used to evaluate the effect of NR on NAFLD development and inflammatory infiltration. Results NR repletion significantly reduced fat pat mass in aged mice, while not altered the body weight, food intake, and liver weight. NR repletion significantly rescued the NAD reduction in aged mice. The total cholesterol and triglyceride levels could be lowered by NR repletion in aged mice. The AST level was also significantly reduced by NR repletion in aged group, while the ALT level lowered but without significance. Notably, moderate NAFLD phenotypes, including steatosis and hepatic fibrosis could be markedly corrected by NR repletion. In addition, Kupffer cells accumulated and inflammatory infiltration could also be remarkably reversed by NR repletion in aged mice. Conclusion Aging was associated with NAFLD-like phenotypes in mice, which could be reversed by oral NR repletion. Therefore, oral NR uptake might be a promising strategy to halt the progression of NAFLD.

Unreasonable human activities may cause the accumulation of heavy metals (HMs) in the agricultural soil, which will ultimately threaten the quality of soil environment, the safety of agricultural products, and human health. Therefore, the accumulation characteristics, potential sources, and health risks of HMs in agricultural soils in China’s subtropical regions were investigated. The mean Hg, Cu, Zn, Pb, and Cd concentrations of agricultural soil in Jinhua City have exceeded the corresponding background values of Zhejiang Province, while the mean concentrations of determined 8 HMs were less than their corresponding risk-screening values for soil contamination of agricultural land in China. The spatial distribution of As, Cr, Ni, Cu, and Pb were generally distributed in large patches, and Hg, Zn, and Cd were generally sporadically distributed. A positive definite matrix factor analysis (PMF) model had better performance than an absolute principal component–multiple linear regression (APCS-MLR) model in the identification of major sources of soil HMs, as it revealed higher R2 value (0.81–0.99) and lower prediction error (−0.93–0.25%). The noncarcinogenic risks (HI) of the 8 HMs to adults and children were within the acceptable range, while the carcinogenic risk (RI) of children has exceeded the safety threshold, which needs to be addressed by relevant departments. The PMF based human health risk assessment model indicated that industrial sources contributed the highest risk to HI (32.92% and 30.47%) and RI (60.74% and 61.5%) for adults and children, followed by agricultural sources (21.34%, 29.31% and 32.94% 33.19%). Therefore, integrated environmental management should be implemented to control and reduce the accumulation of soil HMs from agricultural and industrial sources.

Background: Impaired wound healing is a common complication of diabetes and is the leading cause of lower extremity amputation. Treatment with fenofibrate, a peroxisome proliferators–activated receptor α (PPARα) agonist, was associated with a lower risk of amputations, particularly minor amputations without known large-vessel diseases, probably through non-lipid mechanisms. The current study aimed to test our hypothesis that fenofibrate stimulates angiogenesis and restores endothelial precursor cell (EPC) function via inhibiting Nod-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic mice. Methods: Male C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into three groups: control, STZ-induced diabetic mice and fenofibrate treated diabetic group. Wound closure was assessed by wound area and CD31 positive capillaries. Both the migration and tube formation capacities of EPCs were measured. Intracellular nitric oxide (NO) and superoxide (O2-) levels were determined. Activity of NLRP3 inflammasome in EPCs was assessed by measuring thioredoxin-interacting protein (TXNIP), NLRP3, and caspase-1 expression. Results: Compared with the untreated diabetic mice, wound closure and capillary densities were significantly increased in fenofibrate treated group. Fenofibrate treatment restored EPC function, increased NO production, and decreased O2- level in EPCs of diabetic mice. Furthermore, fenofibrate deregulated the activity of NLRP3 inflammasome by reducing TXNIP, NLRP3 and caspase-1 expression in EPCs of diabetic mice. In vitro, fenofibrate prevented high glucose induced EPC dysfunction, deregulated NLRP3 inflammasome activity. In addition, fenofibrate inhibited IL-1β expression caused by combination use of high glucose and lipopolysaccharide. Conclusion: Fenofibrate can accelerate wound healing in diabetic mice, which at least in part was mediated by improving the impaired EPC function via a NLRP3 inflammasome pathway, suggesting the significance of PPARα agonists in the treatment of diabetes.

The impact of human interference on the ecological environment has attracted a significant amount of attention. In this study, hemeroby index (HI) was constructed to quantify the degree of human disturbance, and the relationship between HI and landscape pattern index was explored in a newly metropolitan area. The main objectives of this study were to analyze the temporal and spatial characteristics of landscape pattern and human disturbance in the process of urbanization of county-level cities in China, and to explore the relationship between the landscape pattern index and human disturbance under different disturbance intensity. The conclusions showed that: (1) the degree of human interference in the new area is on the rise, with a slow increase from 1980 to 2010, but since 2010, human interference has increased significantly. The diffusion of human disturbance intensity has obvious spatial directivity, spreading from east to west. (2) The impact of human activities on landscape pattern is shown as increasing fragmentation and increasing number of landscape types. With the enhancement of human activities, the heterogeneity and fragmentation of landscape types in the region reach their highest points. With the continuous increase of human activities, on a certain scale, the landscape types will gradually tend to be the same, and the same type of landscape patches will become one piece and tend to be integrated. This phenomenon is particularly obvious at the patch type level. (3) There is an inflection point value between human disturbance and landscape pattern index in landscape or patch type. On both sides of the inflection point value, the landscape pattern parameters and human disturbance have obvious opposite trends. (4) In the low interference range (1 ≤ HI < 4), with the increase of human interference, more heterogeneous structures (shown in the increase of SHDI) are brought to the landscape, there is more landscape fragmentation (shown in the decrease of LPI, CONTRACT, and AI), and the patch shape and landscape structure tend to be complex (shown in the increase of LSI, SQP, ED, and other indexes); in the high interference range (4 ≤ HI ≤ 7), due to human intervention, the increase of LPI, contract, and AI indicates that intense human activities turn the landscape into a broken and scattered structure and tend to be consistent and homogeneous. LSI, SQP, and ED were negatively correlated with HI at this stage, indicating that with the enhancement of human activities, the complexity of landscape shape decreased.

Heavy metal (HM) accumulation in farmland soil can be transferred to the human body through the food chain, posing a serious threat to human health. Exploring the environmental risk and safe utilization zoning of soil HMs in farmland can provide the basis for the formulation of effective control strategies. Soil samples from typical subtropical farmland were collected in Jinhua City and analyzed for HMs (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, and Zn). The objective of this study was to explore the spatial distribution and environmental risk of soil HMs, and then divide the safe utilization area of soil HMs of farmland in Jinhua City. The results showed that the mean concentrations of soil HMs were, in descending order: Zn (76.05 mg kg−1) > Cr (36.73 mg kg−1) > Pb (32.48 mg kg−1) > Cu (18.60 mg kg−1) > Ni (11.95 mg kg−1) > As (6.37 mg kg−1) > Cd (0.18 mg kg−1) > Hg (0.11 mg kg−1), and all determined soil HMs did not exceed the risk screening values for soil contamination of agricultural land of China. The fitted semi-variogram showed that the spatial autocorrelation of Cd, Hg, Pb, and Zn was weak, with island-shaped distribution, while As, Cr, Cu, and Ni had medium spatial autocorrelation, with strip-shaped and island-shaped distribution. The hot spot analysis and environmental risk probability showed that the environmental risks of As, Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn, and Cu were relatively high, whereas those of Cr, Hg, and Ni were relatively low. Safe utilization zones and basic safe utilization zones accounted for 89.35% and 8.58% of the total farmland area in Jinhua, respectively, and only a small part of the farmland soil was at risk of use.

In recent years, atmospheric PM2.5 pollution in China has become increasingly severe and exploring the relationships among its influencing factors is important in the prevention and control of air pollution. Although previous studies have identified complexity in variations in PM2.5 concentrations and recognized the interaction of multiple factors, little quantitative information is available on the evolution of the relationships among these factors, their spatial heterogeneity, and the multiscale interactions between them. In this study, geographical detector and multiscale geographically weighted regression models have been used to explore the multiscale interactions among natural and socioeconomic factors and PM2.5 concentration in China over the period 2000–2015. The results indicate that the relationship between natural factors and PM2.5 concentration is stronger than that for socioeconomic factors. The type of interaction between each factor is dominated by bivariate and nonlinear enhancement, exhibiting strong interactions between natural factors and anthropogenic factors. Although the effect of each factor on PM2.5 is complex, the relative influence of both human activities and social factors is shown to have gradually increased over time and population, agriculture, urbanization, and socioeconomic activities in general make important contributions to PM2.5. In addition, the scale of effects related to natural factors is smaller and more stable compared to the influence of human activities during the period 2000-2015. There are significant differences in the way natural factors and socioeconomic factors affect PM2.5, and there is strong non-stationarity of spatial relationships. Factors associated with topography, vegetation (NDVI), climate (temperature), natural sources, and agricultural activity are shown to be important determinants of PM2.5 across China and warrant significant attention in terms of managing atmospheric pollution. The study demonstrates that spatial differences in the direction, intensity, and scale of each factor should be accounted for to improve prevention and control measures and alleviate regional PM2.5 pollution.

The fruit and root of Clausena lansium are remedy for bronchitis in oriental traditional medicine. Extracts from Clausena lansium are reported to have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer activities. This study is designed to investigate whether the ethanol extract of Clausena lansium (Lour.) Skeels could inhibit the lipopolysaccharides (LPS)-induced inflammatory in RAW 264.7 macrophages and the underlining mechanisms. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) are used to detect the secretion of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) protein and expression of TNF-α mRNA, respectively. RT-PCR and Western blotting are used to determine the mRNA and protein levels of TLR4, MYD88, and TRAF6, respectively. The extract of Clausena lansium suppressed the expression and secretion of TNF-α, which is released by RAW 264.7 cells after LPS induction. Meanwhile, the expression of TLR4, MYD88, and TRAF6 are decreased by extracts from Clausena lansium . Meanwhile, NBP2-29328, an inhibitor of MYD88, synergistically enhances the inhibiting effect of extract from Clausena lansium . The results imply that ethanol extract from Clausena lansium attenuate macrophage-mediated inflammation and TLR4/MYD88/TRAF6 pathway is its potential target.

Background and objective Cisplatin is a standard first-line chemotherapeutic agents for treating advanced non-small cell lung cancer. Unfortunately, the clinical application cisplatin is restricted because it induces serious adverse reaction. The aim of this study is to investigate the influence and probable mechanism of berberine on cisplatin antineoplastic effect on lung cancer A549 cells. Methods The total Cx43 protein amount, localization of Cx43 on cell membrane, and gap junction function were observed after the A549 cells were treated with berberine. The influence of berberine on the antitumor action of cisplatin was detected by standard colony-forming assay. Protein kinase C (PKC) protein, which regulates the gap junction, was subsequently determined. Results Berberine did not affect cell survival at concentrations of 0 μM to 10 μM in the A549 cells. The gap junction function between the cells was enhanced through increased Cx43 protein expression and localization of Cx43 on the membrane after berberine treatment. The intercellular dye coupling through gap junction increased when the cells exposed to 0.1 μM, 1 μM, 10 μM berberine [33.3% (P=0.002,3), 67.0% (P

In order to explore the forming mechanism of the fiber whipping motion in slot-die melt blowing, the turbulent airflow in slot-die melt blowing was measured online with the approach of the Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) technique. The PIV results visualized the structure of the turbulent airflow and provided the distributions of air velocity components (vx, vy, and vz). Moreover, the PIV results also demonstrated the evolutive process of turbulent airflow at successive time instants. By comparing the characteristics of the turbulent airflow with the fiber whipping path, the PIV results provide a preliminary explanation for the specific fiber whipping motion in slot-die melt blowing.

Background/Aims: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are reported to regulate cell invasion and functions by interfering with the translation of target mRNAs, but the role of miRNAs in esophageal cancer (EC) remains unclear. Methods: RT-PCR and Western blot were used to detect the expression of miRNAs and candidate genes in EC samples (n=89). miR-140 mimics and inhibitor were tansfected in human TE-1 and Eca-109 cells. The transwell assay was used to examine the cell invasive ability. The regulation mechanism was confirmed by luciferase reporter assay. The markers of EMT were detected by using Western blot. Results: miR-140 expression was decreased in the EC tissues compared with the corresponding adjacent tumor tissues. Low expression of miR-140 promotes cell invasion by using transwell assay, while the effect of miR-140 high expression is reverse. Slug, a target gene of miR-140, was examined by luciferase assay and Western blot. Conclusions: miR-140 may regulate the cell invasion of EC via controlling Slug expression.

In melt blowing, microfibrous nonwoven material is manufactured by using high-speed air to attenuate polymer melt. The melt-blown air jet determines the process of polymer attenuation and fiber formation. In this work, the importance of lateral velocity on the fiber was first theoretical verified. The lateral diffused characteristic of the air flow field in slot-die melt blowing was researched by measuring the velocity direction using a dual-wire probe hot-wire anemometer. Meanwhile, the fiber path was captured by high-speed photography. Results showed that there existed a critical boundary of the lateral diffusion, however, air jets in the x−z plane are a completely diffused field. This work indicates that the lateral velocity in the y−z plane is one of the crucial factors for initiating fiber whipping and fiber distribution.

The surfaces of polymer and interfaces between polymer and inorganic particles are of particular importance for the properties of polymers and composites. However, the determination of the properties of surfaces and interfaces poses many challenges due to their extremely small dimensions. Herein, polystyrene and polymethyl methacrylate thin film on silicon wafer was used as a model system for the measurement of the properties of the polymer near free surface and at the polymer-solid interface. Two different methods, i.e., nanoindentation using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and the gold nanoparticle embedding technique, were used for these measurements. The results showed the elastic modulus of PS near the free surface determined by nanoindentation was lower than the bulk value. Based on contact mechanics analysis, nanoparticle embedding also revealed the existence of a lower-modulus, non-glassy layer near the free surface at temperatures below the bulk glass transition temperature (Tg). However, near the polymer-solid interface, the AFM nanoindentation method is not applicable due to the geometry confinement effect. On the other hand, the nanoparticle embedding technique can still correctly reflect the interactions between the polymer and the substrate when compared to the ellipsometry results.