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As a disorder of the myocardium caused by diabetes mellitus, DCM has become a key health concern in the world. Autophagy plays an important role in the pathogenesis of DCM. Sphingosine kinase 1 benefits to cell survival and growth, and regulates the pathogenesis of many diseases, including diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Silibinin is widely used as a hepatoprotective and antioxidant agent in Asia and Europe. However, how silibinin governs DCM remains poorly understood. To this aim, the present study is to mine the role of Sphk1 in autophagy induction and cell survival in myocardial cells under high glucose treatment, and how silibinin regulates DCM. Herein, the study used the embryonic rat heart-derived myogenic H9C2 cells and adenovirus based gene manipulation was utilized. It was found that silibinin could induce autophagy in a dose-dependent manner. Overexpression of Sphk1 significantly increased mRNA expression of autophagy gene markers in H9C2 cells. Gain of function of Sphk1 significantly increased protein level of Beclin1 in H9C2 cells under treatments of low (5.5 mM) and high (25 mM) glucose. High glucose inhibited autophagy induction in H9C2 cells. Gain of function of Sphk1 compromised inhibition of on autophagy induction by high glucose. The results of the present study may assist in attaining an improved understanding of the pathogenesis of DCM, and developing novel therapies for treatment of DCM.

In this paper, we proposed an in-fiber Mach-Zehnder temperature sensor based on a dual-core fiber (DCF) in which one core, working as the sensing arm, is suspended in an embedded fluidic channel filled with silicone oil, while the other one, working as the reference arm, locates eccentrically in the DCF. Temperature variations would change the refractive index of silicone oil infiltrated as well as the effective index of the guided mode in the suspended core, thus shifting the interference spectra. Both experiments and numerical simulations were carried out to characterize the sensor. The spectrum shifts measured experimentally agreed well with the theoretical results. Experimental sensitivity of the sensor using a DCF infiltrated with ~20 cm-long silicone oil was found to be as high as −1.42 nm/°, comparable to those of the SPR fiber sensors and other interferometric sensors. The measuring range of the sensor was more than 120°. The proposed sensor could be easily fabricated with good robustness and stability, which makes the sensor promising for applications such as environment and architecture monitoring.

The therapeutic effect of inflammatory bowel disease has improved in the past decades, but most of patients cannot tolerate, do not respond to drugs, or relapse after treating with conventional therapy. Therefore, new and more effective treatment methods are still needed in treatment of IBD. In this review, we will discuss the relevant mechanisms and the latest research progress of biologics (anti-TNF treatments, interleukin inhibitors, integrin inhibitors, antisense oligonucleotide, and JAK inhibitors) for IBD, focus on the efficacy and safety of drugs for moderate-to-severe IBD, and summarize the clinical status and future development direction of biologics in IBD.

Introduction: Exosomes are polyvesicles that are formed by invagination of intracellular lysosomal particles, and are released into the extracellular matrix after the fusion of polyvesicular outer membrane and cell membrane. In the body, immune response, antigen presentation, cell migration, cell differentiation and tumor invasion are closely related to tumorigenesis and tumor progression. This study aimed to conduct a meta-analysis for evaluating the clinicopathological, diagnostic and prognostic significance of exosomal expression in gastrointestinal tumors. Methods: The original English articles were systematically searched in the online databases. The diagnostic accuracy, prognostic utility and clinicopathological correlation of gastrointestinal tumors were investigated. The quality assessment for studies of diagnostic accuracy II and Newcastle-Ottawa scale were used for quality evaluation, and the data was strictly extracted to judge the deviation of the study. Results: A total of 14 studies with 1837 gastrointestinal tumor patients were included. The change in exosomal expression showed significant correlation with poor clinicopathological parameters (tumor diameter: combined P = .00024394; differentiation: combined P = 2.796e-08; lymphatic metastasis: P = 9.610e-07; distant metastasis: combined P = .00017326; pathological classification: combined P = .00875213; invasion depth: combined P = 3.504e-08) carcinoembryonic antigen (combined P = . 04458857) and tumor location (combined P = .00145983). The difference in the area under the curve between gastrointestinal tumor patients and healthy people showed an area under the curve of 0.89 (95%Cl 0.85–0.91) and heterogeneity of 0.59, 95% CI=[0.55–0.68]. The sensitivity was 0.88 (95%Cl 0.83 mi 0.91), the specificity was 0.72 (95%Cl 0.63 mi 0.80), and the diagnostic odds ratio was 18 (10–33). The results of survival analysis revealed that the abnormally expressed exosomes were significantly correlated with poor overall survival (hazard ratio =2.81, 95% CI: 2.02–3.93, P=0.013∗ 62.7%∗). Conclusion: The abnormally expressed exosomes might act as auxiliary biomarkers in diagnosing gastrointestinal tumors and demonstrated good prognostic significance in predicting the survival of patients with gastrointestinal tumors.

We demonstrate a dual-core fiber-based Mach–Zehnder interferometer that could be used for precise detection of variations in refractive indices of gaseous samples. The fiber used here have a solid germanium-doped silica core and an air core that allows gases to flow through. Coherent laser beams are coupled to the two cores, respectively, and thus excite guiding modes thereby. Interferogram would be produced as the light transmitted from the dual cores interferes. Variations in refractive index of the hollow core lead to variations in phase difference between the modes in the two cores, thus shifting the interference fringes. The fringe shifts can be then interrogated by a photodiode together with a narrow slit in front. The resolution of the sensor was found to be ~1 × 10−8 RIU, that is comparable to the highest resolution obtained by other fiber sensors reported in previous literatures. Other advantages of our sensor include very low cost, high sensitivity, straightforward sensing mechanism, and ease of fabrication.

In this paper, an endlessly single mode microstructured polymer optical fiber (mPOF) in a Mach–Zehnder (M–Z) interferometer configuration is demonstrated for temperature and strain measurement. Because there is no commercial splicer applied for POF-silica optical fiber (SOF) connectorization, prior to the M–Z interferometric sensing, we introduce an imaging projecting method to align a polycarbonate mPOF to a SOF and then the splice is cured permanently using ultraviolet (UV) glue. A He-Ne laser beam at 632.8 nm coupled in a SOF is divided by a 1 × 2 fiber coupler to propagate in two fiber arms. A piece of mPOF is inserted in one arm for sensing implementation and the interference fringes are monitored by a camera. For non-annealed fiber, the temperature sensitivity is found to be 25.5 fringes/◦ C for increasing temperature and 20.6 fringes/◦ C for decreasing temperature. The converted sensitivity per unit length is 135.6 fringes/◦ C/m for increasing temperature, which is twice as much as the silica fiber, or 852.2 rad/◦ C/m (optical phase change versus fiber temperature), which is more than four times as much as that for the PMMA fiber. To solve the sensitivity disagreement, the fiber was annealed at 125◦ C for 36 h. Just after the thermal treatment, the temperature measurement was conducted with sensitivities of 16.8 fringes/◦ C and 21.3 fringes/◦ C for increasing and decreasing process, respectively. One month after annealing, the linear response was improved showing a temperature sensitivity of ~20.7 fringes/◦ C in forward and reverse temperature measurement. For the strain measurement based on non-annealed fiber, the sensitivity was found to be ~1463 fringes/%ε showing repeatable linear response for forward and reverse strain. The fiber axial force sensitivity was calculated to be ~2886 fringes/N, showing a force measurement resolution of ~3.47 × 10−4 N. The sensing methodology adopted in this work shows several advantages, such as very low cost, high sensitivity, a straightforward sensing mechanism, and ease of fabrication.

In this paper, we report a capillary-based Mach&ndash, Zehnder (M&ndash, Z) interferometer that could be used for precise detection of variations in refractive indices of gaseous samples. The sensing mechanism is quite straightforward. Cladding and core modes of a capillary are simultaneously excited by coupling coherent laser beams to the capillary cladding and core, respectively. An interferogram would be generated as the light transmitted from the core interferes with the light transmitted from the cladding. Variations in the refractive index of the air filling the core lead to variations in the phase difference between the core and cladding modes, thus shifting the interference fringes. Using a photodiode together with a narrow slit, we could interrogate the fringe shifts. The resolution of the sensor was found to be ~5.7 &times, 10&minus, 8 RIU (refractive index unit), which is comparable to the highest resolution obtained by other interferometric sensors reported in previous studies. Finally, we also analyze the temperature cross sensitivity of the sensor. The main goal of this paper is to demonstrate that the ultra-sensitive sensing of gas refractive index could be realized by simply using a single capillary fiber rather than some complex fiber-optic devices such as photonic crystal fibers or other fiber-optic devices fabricated via tricky fiber processing techniques. This capillary sensor, while featuring an ultrahigh resolution, has many other advantages such as simple structure, ease of fabrication, straightforward sensing principle, and low cost.

Cooperation runs through all aspects of our work, study and life and it is an important driving force for the development of our society. This article focuses on the influence of power sense on cooperation and tries to explore the inherent mechanism. We used questionnaire and laboratory experiment to explore the influence of power sense on cooperation and its psychological mechanism. There are three studies in this article, the results of our studies proved that: 1) The individual’s power sense is positively correlated with the tendency of cooperation; 2) power sense positively affects cooperation; 3) perceived control of individual plays an intermediary role between power and cooperation; 4) dominance motivation can effectively alleviate the effect of power sense on perceived control.

In this paper, we proposed an in-fiber Mach-Zehnder temperature sensor based on a dual-core fiber (DCF) in which one core, working as the reference arm, is located in the center of fiber and the other core, working as the sensing arm, is suspended in an embedded fluidic channel partially filled with silicone oil. Temperature variations would mainly change the refractive index of the silicone oil and therefore the effective index of the guided modes in the suspended core, while the guided modes in the center core were barely affected. Phase difference between guided modes in the two cores would be accumulated along the DCF, thus shifting the interference spectrum of the sensor. Both experiments and numerical simulations were carried out to characterize the sensor. The spectrum shifts measured experimentally agreed well with the theoretical results. Experimental sensitivity of the DCF sensor filled with 33.5-cm-long silicone oil was found to be as high as −2.18 nm/°C, comparable to that of other interferometric sensors. The proposed sensor could be easily fabricated with good robustness and stability, which makes the sensor promising for applications such as environment and architecture monitoring.

This article is dedicated to creating a decision support model that helps Chinese road owners select appropriate ETC tags. The main function of this model is to provide a decision tree to guide road owners to find a suitable path to make decision. In this research, our project team interviewed road owners for requirement analysis and listed suitable ETC application samples with appropriate attributes. Based on these samples, we introduced C4.5 algorithm to generate a decision tree model which provided suitable path for decision. After model creation, the validating work confirmed that decision model is applicable for most ETC application scenarios.

In this paper, we propose an in-fiber Mach–Zehnder temperature sensor based on a dual-core fiber with an eccentric core and a central core. The latter one is beside a fluidic channel embedded in the fiber. The effective refractive index of the guided mode in the central core could be influenced by the glycerol–water solution filled in the fluidic channel. Thus, the transmitted spectrum of the sensor is shifted as a function of temperature. By monitoring the selected spectral dip shifts, an experimental sensitivity of 2.77 nm/°C is obtained in the range of 25 to 40 °C for a solution length of 15 cm. To further improve the temperature sensitivity, the solution length is increased up to 29.5 cm, and a higher sensitivity of 5.69 nm/°C is achieved in the same temperature range. The experimental results agree well with the theoretical ones. The proposed sensor has good robustness and stability, which makes it promising for applications of high precision temperature monitoring.

In order to understand the clinical significance of rapamycin-insensitive companion of mammalian target of rapamycin (Rictor) in colorectal cancer (CRC), 62 CRC tissue samples excised during operations were evaluated by immunohistochemistry. Analysis of the association between the expression level of Rictor protein and clinicopathological parameters demonstrated that the expression level of Rictor in CRC tissues was significantly higher than that in paracarcinoma tissues (P

The lift used in automobile maintenance industry is usually installed in a place permanently. It occupies the place, and also has poor adaptability to vehicles with different size. Furthermore, there exists physical connection between lifting columns, which affects maintenance operation. To solve these problems, a mobile hydraulic lift control system based on wireless network has been designed. It uses the STM32F103 microcontroller and nRF905 wireless communication module to form a control network for several mobile lifts. The height of each lift is measured with laser displacement sensors, and synchronously controlled through the wireless control network. The control system was verified by lifting the Jinlong bus with wirelessly connected four lifts. The lifting process is stable, which demonstrates a bright prospect for practical usages.

To investigate the clinical value of three-dimensional (3D) high-definition (HD) laparoscope in laparoscopic radical resection of gastric cancer.From January to December, 2013, 40 patients underwent radical resection of gastric cancer with 3D HD laparoscopy (3D group) and another 40 patients received 2D HD laparoscopy (2D group). The duration of surgery, intra-operative blood loss, learning curve, and costs during hospitalization were compared between the two groups.The average operation duration of 3D group was 2.8=0.6 h, significantly shorter that in the 2D group (3.2=0.8 h, P0.05); the intraoperative blood loss in the 3D group was significantly less than that in the 2D group (110=18 ml vs 120=21 ml, P0.05). The mean hospitalization cost was 75 000=16 000 RMB Yuan in 3D group, similar to significantly lower than that of 71 000=13 000 RMB Yuan in 2D group (P0.05).3D HD laparoscopy can provide three-dimensional vision and better sense of depth to facilitate precise operation and shorten the operation time. The high-definition 3D vision also allows surgeons to quickly improve surgical skills and shorten the learning curve.

Colon cancer is a common type of malignancy in the digestive system. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of S-phase kinase-associated protein 2 (Skp2) in colon carcinoma and to identify whether depletion of Skp2 by Skp2‑RNA interference (RNAi) attenuates the proliferation and migration of colon carcinoma. Three pairs of small interfering (si)RNA were designed based on the Skp2 gene sequence and the most effective one was used to silence the Skp2 gene in SW620 cells. Subsequent to the interference, quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blot analysis were used for detecting the expression of Skp-2 mRNA and protein, respectively. The data demonstrated that the Skp2‑siRNA effectively inhibited proliferation (P

Alpinetin, a novel plant flavonoid derived from Alpinia katsumadai Hayata, has been reported to exhibit anti-inflammatory properties. However, the effect of alpinetin on mastitis has not been investigated. The aim of this study was to investigate the protective effect of alpinetin against lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced mastitis and to clarify the possible mechanism. In the present study, primary mouse mammary epithelial cells and an LPS-induced mouse mastitis model were used to investigate the effect of alpinetin on mastitis and the possible mechanism. In vivo, we observed that alpinetin significantly attenuated the infiltration of neutrophilic granulocytes, and the activation of myeloperoxidase; down-regulated the level of pro-inflammatory cytokines, including TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6; inhibited the phosphorylation of IκB-α, NF-κB p65 and the expression of TLR4, caused by LPS. In vitro, we also observed that alpinetin inhibited the expression of TLR4 and the production of TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6 in LPS-stimulated primary mouse mammary epithelial cells. However, alpinetin could not inhibit the production of IL-1β and IL-6 in TNF-α-stimulated primary mouse mammary epithelial cells. In conclusion, our results suggest that the anti-inflammatory effects of alpinetin against LPS-induced mastitis may be due to its ability to inhibit TLR4-mediated NF-κB signaling pathways. Alpinetin may be a promising potential therapeutic reagent for mastitis treatment.

Background Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) are a research hotspot due to their noninvasive delivery ability. Among the identified CPPs, the TAT and R8 peptides have been preferentially applied to transduction into different cells. However, this process is nonselective among various cells. Recent research suggested that CPP2 could selectively penetrate human colorectal cancer (CRC) cells. Methods Using in vitro experiments, the mean fluorescence intensity of fluorescein isothiocyanate–labeled CPPs (CPPs-FITC) incubated with different cell lines was compared to corroborate the colon tumor targeting ability of CPP2. The targeting ability of CPP2 was determined in the same way in tumor-bearing mice. We synthesized antitumor peptides by fusing CPP2 to the minimal inhibitory sequence of p16 (p16MIS), which had the ability to restore the function of lost p16, the expression of which was absent in tumor cell lines of various origins. The antitumor effect of the combined peptide was tested in both CRC cell lines and tumor-bearing mice. Results In each CRC cell line, the mean fluorescence intensity of CPP2-FITC was higher than that of the TAT-FITC (p