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With the increasing intermittent renewable sources integrated into active distribution networks (ADNs), distributed management should be adopted to improve the control and management level of ADNs effectively. Accurate partitioning is a vital step to manage distributed resources. A partitioning method of ADNs by using spectral clustering algorithm is proposed in this paper to avoid the curse of dimensionality and accurately obtain the partitioning scheme of the ADNs. First, the graph model of the ADN is established to simplify the distribution network structure. Then the normalized symmetric Laplacian matrix of the distribution network is calculated according to the graph model. Finally, the eigenvectors of the normalized Laplacian matrix are solved and dimensionally reduced by using spectral clustering. The k-means algorithm is used to cluster the newly generated node data to obtain the partitions of the ADN. Case studies on the IEEE 13-node test feeder and IOWA 240-node distribution test system demonstrate the feasibility, adaptability, and efficacy of the proposed partitioning method.

Background Breast cancer, the most common malignancy among women, has a high mortality rate in clinical practice. Early detection, diagnosis and treatment can reduce the mortalities of breast cancer greatly. The method of mammogram retrieval can help doctors to find the early breast lesions effectively and determine a reasonable feature set for image similarity measure. This will improve the accuracy effectively for mammogram retrieval. Methods This paper proposes a similarity measure method combining location feature for mammogram retrieval. Firstly, the images are pre-processed, the regions of interest are detected and the lesions are segmented in order to get the center point and radius of the lesions. Then, the method, namely Coherent Point Drift, is used for image registration with the pre-defined standard image. The center point and radius of the lesions after registration are obtained and the standard location feature of the image is constructed. This standard location feature can help figure out the location similarity between the image pair from the query image to each dataset image in the database. Next, the content feature of the image is extracted, including the Histogram of Oriented Gradients, the Edge Direction Histogram, the Local Binary Pattern and the Gray Level Histogram, and the image pair content similarity can be calculated using the Earth Mover's Distance. Finally, the location similarity and content similarity are fused to form the image fusion similarity, and the specified number of the most similar images can be returned according to it. Results In the experiment, 440 mammograms, which are from Chinese women in Northeast China, are used as the database. When fusing 40% lesion location feature similarity and 60% content feature similarity, the results have obvious advantages. At this time, precision is 0.83, recall is 0.76, comprehensive indicator is 0.79, satisfaction is 96.0%, mean is 4.2 and variance is 17.7. Conclusions The results show that the precision and recall of this method have obvious advantage, compared with the content-based image retrieval.

Increased deposition of β-amyloid (Aβ) protein is one of the typical characteristics of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Recent evidence has demonstrated that the microRNA let-7 family, which is highly expressed in the central nervous system, participates in the regulation of pathologic processes of AD. In the present study, the effect of let-7a overexpression on Aβ1-40-induced neurotoxicity was evaluated in PC12 and SK-N-SH cells. The results indicated that overexpression of let-7a enhanced the neurotoxicity induced by Aβ1-40 in PC12 and SK-N-SH cells. In addition, the apoptosis induced by Aβ1-40 in PC12 and SK-N-SH cells was increased by let-7a overexpression. Furthermore, Aβ1-40 treatment increased the protein levels of microtubule-associated protein 1A/1B-light chain 3 (LC3) and beclin-1 and increased the LC3 II/I ratio. The mRNA expression levels of beclin-1, autophagy protein 5 (Atg-5) and Atg-7 were also increased by Aβ1-40 treatment in PC12 cells. Let-7a overexpression further upregulated the above autophagy-related markers. Furthermore, the protein level of p62 was increased by Aβ1-40 treatment, and this was further enhanced by let-7a overexpression. Finally, the present results demonstrated that the phosphoinositide-3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway was involved in the autophagy regulation by let-7a. In conclusion, the present study demonstrates that the neurotoxicity induced by Aβ1-40 is augmented by let-7a overexpression via regulation of autophagy, and the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway also serves a function in this process.

// Nanchang Yin 1 , Minwen Ha 2 , Yu Liu 3 , Huizi Gu 4 , Zetian Zhang 5 and Wei Liu 2 1 Department of Thoracic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinzhou Medical University, Jinzhou 121001, China 2 Department of Medical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinzhou Medical University, Jinzhou 121001, China 3 Department of Thoracic Surgery, Liaoning Cancer Hospital and Institute, Shenyang 110042, China 4 Department of Internal Neurology, The Second Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian 116027, China 5 Shenyang Yike Biotechnology Co., Ltd, Shenyang 110000, China Correspondence to: Wei Liu, email: 39240031@qq.com Keywords: lung cancer, lymph node metastasis, T category, prognosis, stage IIB Abbreviations: AJCC/UICC: American Joint Committee on Cancer/Union for International Cancer Control; TNM: tumor-node-metastasis Received: January 30, 2017 Accepted: April 03, 2017 Published: April 25, 2017 ABSTRACT We investigated the prognostic significance of subclassification of stage IIB lung cancer according to the eighth tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) classification. To this purpose, the prognostic outcomes of 226 stage IIB lung cancer patients who underwent surgery without adjuvant therapies between 2001 and 2010 were evaluated retrospectively based on the eighth TNM classification. Of the 226 patients, 23, 30, 118 and 55 had pT1b, pT1c, pT2a, and pT2b stage cancers, respectively. Their 5-year survival rates were 67%, 33%, 21%, and 27%, respectively. There was no significant difference in the 5-year survival between T1b and T1c, between T1c and T2a, and between T2a and T2b (p = 0.128, 0.105, and 0.403, respectively). There were significant differences in the 5-year survival between T1b and T2a, between T1b and T2b, and between T1c and T2b (p = 0.005, 0.002, and 0.042, respectively). The 5-year survival of patients with pleural invasion and vessel invasion was significantly worse than that of their counterparts (p = 0.009 and

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0103482.].

Objective To investigate the effect of Sulfiredoxin-1 (Srxn1) on astrocyte injury induced by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Methods Observing the changes of H2O2 on contents of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and apoptosis after transfected Srxn1 siRNA into astrocytes. The protein expression of Notch 1, NICD and Hes1, the content of LDH and MDA, the activity of SOD and apoptosis rate of astrocytes after inhibiting or activation of Notch signalling pathway were detected by Western blot, ELISA and flow cytometry, respectively. Results Knockdown of Srxn1 could promote the secretion of LDH and MDA, decrease the activity of SOD and aggravate apoptosis of astrocytes induced by H2O2. The results of Western blot, ELISA assay and flow cytometry indicated that activation of the Notch signalling pathway attenuated the effect of Srxn1 on H2O2-induced oxidative damage and apoptosis of astrocytes. Conclusion Srxn1 may protect astrocytes from oxidative stress injury induced by H2O2 by activation of Notch signalling pathway.

// Caigang Liu 1,* , Yanlin Jiang 1,2,* , Xin Gu 3,* , Zhen Xu 2 , Liping Ai 2 , Hao Zhang 2 , Guanglei Chen 2 , Lisha Sun 4 , Yue Li 2 , Hong Xu 5 , Huizi Gu 6 , Ying Yu 7 , Yangyang Xu 8 and Qiyong Guo 9 1 Department of Breast Surgery, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, China 2 Department of Breast Disease and Reconstruction Center, Breast Cancer Key Lab of Dalian, the Second Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China 3 Department of Head and Neck Surgery, Harbin Medical University Cancer Hospital, Harbin, China 4 Department of Surgical Oncology, the First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, China 5 Department of Breast Surgery, Liaoning Cancer Hospital & Institute, Shenyang, China 6 Department of Internal Neurology, the Second Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China 7 Liaoning Medical Device Test Institute, Shenyang, China 8 Department of Urinary Surgery, Harbin Medical University Cancer Hospital, Harbin, China 9 Department of Radiology, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, China * Co-first authors Correspondence to: Qiyong Guo, email: // Yangyang Xu, email: // Keywords : breast cancer, neoadjuvant chemotherapy, level 2 axillary lymph node metastasis, nomogram, level 2 axillary lymph node dissection Received : November 18, 2016 Accepted : February 22, 2017 Published : March 15, 2017 Abstract Background: We aimed to develop a new nomogram to predict the probability of level 2 axillary lymph node metastasis (L-2-ALNM) in breast cancer (BC) patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). Methods: Data were collected from 709 patients who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy and then underwent axillary lymph node (ALN) dissection between May 2009 and December 2015 at the Liaoning Cancer Hospital. The level 2 axillary lymph node metastasis (L-2-ALNM ) nomogram was created from the logistic regression model. An additional set of 141 consecutive patients treated at the same institution between January 2015 and December 2015 were enrolled as the validation group. The predictive accuracy of the L-2-ALNM nomogram was measured by calculating the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). Results: In multivariate analysis, age, tumor size, histological grade, skin invasion, and response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy were identified as independent predictors of L-2-ALNM. The new model was accurate and discriminating for both the modeling and validation groups (AUC: 0.819 vs 0.849). The false-negative rates of the L-2-ALNM nomogram were 4.44% and 7.69% for the predicted probability cut-off points of 10% and 20%. Conclusion: The L-2-ALNM nomogram shows reasonable accuracy for making clinical decisions. The omission of level 2 axillary lymph node dissection after neoadjuvant chemotherapy might be possible if the probability of level 2 lymph node involvement was < 10% or < 20% in accordance with the acceptable risk determined by medical staff and patients.

We report here, for the first time, a simple method to prepare ordered mesoporous carbon containing separate gold, and palladium nanoparticles (AuPd-OMC). Furthermore, the new catalysts were evaluated in the selective hydrogenation of cinnamaldehyde under atmospheric conditions. In comparison with the monometallic catalysts, the AuPd-OMC exhibited excellent catalytic activity (96.2% selectivity for hydro cinnamaldehyde). The observed synergistic effects were ascribed to hydrogen spillover. The Pd nanoparticles possess the main active sites that formed the active hydrogen species, while the Au nanoparticles served as active hydrogen acceptors and diluted the Pd active sites in order to suppress the deep hydrogenation.

A series of gold containing ordered mesoporous carbon (Au–OMC) samples are prepared by using two different hard templates: AuCl4−/SBA-15 as well as gold containing and amino functionalized SBA-15. The hard templates and obtained Au–OMC catalysts were investigated using Fourier transform infrared spectrum, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and nitrogen adsorption/desorption methods. Compared with Au–OMC1 using AuCl4−/SBA-15 as hard template, the Au–OMC2 using modified SBA-15 as hard template had highly dispersed Au nanoparticles with narrow particle size distribution (2.3 ± 0.5 nm) that exhibited much superior activity and selectivity in the liquid phase hydrogenation of nitro aromatic compounds. An important role is played in the post grafting of SBA-15 surface by amino and Au nanoparticles in the preparation of highly dispersed gold nanoparticles that are confined to the walls of an OMC.

This study aimed to evaluate survival trends for patients with gastric cancer in northeast China in the most recent three decades and analyze the applicability of the UICC tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) classification 7th edition for Chinese patients with gastric cancer. A review of all inpatient and outpatient records of patients with gastric cancer was conducted in the first hospital of China Medical University and the Liaoning Cancer Hospital and Institute. All patients who met the inclusion criteria and were seen from January 1980 through December 2009 were included in the study. The primary outcome was 5-year survival, which was analyzed according to decade of diagnosis and TNM classifications. From 1980 through 2009, the 5-year survival rates for patients with gastric cancer (n=2414) increased from 39.1% to 57.3%. Decade of diagnosis was significantly associated with patient survival (p = 0.013), and the 5-year survival rate in the 2000s was remarkably higher than that in the 1980s and 1990s (p = 0.004 and 0.049, respectively). When classified according to the UICC TNM classification of gastric cancer 7th edition, the prognoses of stage IIIA and stage IIIB patients were not significantly different (p = 0.077). However, if stage T4b and stage N0 patients were classified as stage IIIA, the prognoses of stage IIIA and stage IIIB patients were significantly different (p < 0.001). Hence, there was a significant difference in survival during the three time periods in Northeast China. Classifying stage T4b and stage N0 patients as stage IIIA according to the 7th edition of UICC gastric cancer TNM classifications better stratified Chinese patients and predicted prognoses.

A highly active and chemoselective assembled Pt/C(Fe) catalyst was prepared by an adsorption protocol. Pt nanoparticles (∼2.4 nm) in a Pt colloid solution obtained from the decomposition of Pt 2 (dba) 3 (dba = dibenzalacetone) were utilized as Pt precursors and adsorbed by Fe-modified active carbon (AC). The adsorption method makes Pt nanoparticles enriched on the surface of the catalyst, and the enrichment was further enhanced due to the presence of Fe in the active carbon, leading to the formation of more active sites exposed on the surface. XPS analysis revealed that a much more electron-deficient state of the Pt nanoparticles was existed due to the electron transfer between Pt nanoparticles and Fe 2 O 3 . This catalyst was used for the liquid phase hydrogenation of o -chloronitrobenzene ( o -CNB) to o -chloroaniline ( o -CAN) with the highest turnover frequencies (TOF) of 78 (mol o -CNB /(mol Pt s)) and a selectivity of 99.5% at complete conversion of o -CNB. The catalyst was also recycled for five times and the total turnover number was more than 625,000 (mol o -CNB /mol Pt ).

Objective. High dose fluorescein sodium has been utilized for fluorescence-guided tumor resection with conflicting reports on the efficacy of this procedure. The aim of this study was to reevaluate the utility and clinical limitations of using fluorescein sodium for the treatment and resection of glioma brain tumors.Methods. Patients diagnosed with glioma were divided into two groups with a total of 22 patients enrolled in the study: 1) the study group (n=10), patients that received intravenous injection of fluorescein sodium and 2) the control group (n=12), patients that did not receive injections during surgical resection. Quality of life was evaluated according to Karnofsky Performance Scale (KPS) score and neurological status. Fluorescein sodium was intravenously injected at a dose of 15-20mg/kg of body weight. Glioma resection was evaluated preoperative and postoperatively with enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).Results. Significant differences in the gross total resection (GTR) rates were observed between the two patient groups (Fisher's Exact Test p=0.047). Progressive free survival was significantly longer in the study group (Student's T-Test p=0.033) as well as in the GTR group (Student's T-Test p=0.0001) compared to the control and non-GTR groups, respectively. Three patients in the study group and four patients in the control group had transient neurological deterioration. One patient in the control group had permanent hemiplegia.Conclusion. The intraoperative utility of using fluorescein sodium can significantly increase the GTR rate without obvious deterioration. In addition, we find that it is better to apply the fluorescein sodium in the cases with BBB (blood-brain barrier) disruption, which had been enhanced in preoperative MRI.

This study aimed to analyze the applicability of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) classification 8th edition for Chinese patients with gastric cancer.A review of all inpatient and outpatient records of patients with gastric cancer was conducted in the First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University and Liaoning Cancer Hospital and Institute. All patients who met the inclusion criteria and were seen from January 1980 through December 2009 were included in the study. The primary outcome was 5-year survival, which was analyzed according to the decade of diagnosis and TNM classifications.Two thousand five hundred fifty-four patients were enrolled in this study. When classified according to the UICC TNM classification of gastric cancer 8th edition, the prognoses of patients with stage IIIB (n = 250) and stage IIIC (n = 101) disease were not significantly different (P = .332). However, if T4aN2 patients were classified as having stage IIIB disease, and T4bN2 and T4aN3a patients were classified as having stage IIIC disease, the prognoses of stage IIIB (n = 221) and stage IIIC (n = 172) patients were significantly different (P = .03).Classifying T4bN0 patients as having stage IIIB disease, and T4bN2 and T4aN3a patients as having stage IIIC disease according to the 8th edition of UICC gastric cancer TNM classifications better stratified Chinese patients and predicted prognoses.

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs), γ-alumina (γ-Al 2 O 3 ) and silica (SiO 2 ) supported Pt and Pd catalysts were produced by laser vaporization deposition of respective bulk metals. The catalysts were characterized by inductive coupled plasma emission spectrometer (ICP), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The catalytic properties of the catalysts were investigated in the liquid phase hydrogenation of o -chloronitrobenzene ( o -CNB) to o -chloroaniline ( o -CAN) under 333 K and 1.0 MPa hydrogen pressure. The results show that the catalytic properties are greatly affected by the supports. Pt/CNTs catalyst exhibits the best catalytic performance among the Pt-based catalysts, producing o -CAN with 99.6% selectivity at complete conversion. Pd/CNTs catalyst exhibits the best catalytic performance among the Pd-based catalysts, giving o -CAN with 95.2% selectivity at complete conversion. For Pt-based catalysts, geometric effect and the textures and properties of the supports play important roles on catalytic properties. On the other hand, geometric effect, electronic effect and the textures and properties of the supports simultaneously influence the catalytic properties of the Pd-based catalysts. In addition, hydrogenolysis of the C–Cl bond can be well inhibited over all catalysts prepared by laser vaporization deposition.

In the novel catalytic transfer hydrogenation, 12 active hydrogen (H*) can be transferred from water/ethanol system as the efficient hydrogen donor and used directly for the hydrogenation of halogenated nitrobenzene over Ru–Fe/C catalyst, obtaining o-chloroaniline (o-CAN) with 98.0% selectivity at 99.8% conversion without hydrodehalogenation. Most other halogenated nitrobenzenes were reduced with selectivity >98%, and conversion >99.0%. Moreover, the Ru–Fe/C catalyst was still active after reaction for 480 h.

In this study, we examined the mechanisms associated with EZH2 mediation of apoptosis and chemoresistance to arsenic trioxide (ATO) in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cell lines through the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. The induction of spontaneous apoptosis observed in multiple EZH2-silenced leukemic cell lines was assessed by flow cytometry, and levels of Wnt/β-catenin-related expression were determined by western blot analysis. In comparison with AML control cells, EZH2-knockdown cells exhibited increased apoptosis and significant downregulation of β-catenin expression, as well as decreases in GSK-3β phosphorylation and β-catenin activation (p

The assembled Pt catalyst was prepared using activated carbon as support to capture “unprotected” Pt nanoparticles obtained from the decomposition of Pt 2 (dba) 3 (dba = dibenzene acetone). Transmission electron microscopy showed that the size of the Pt nanopar-ticles depended on the decomposition pressure. The catalytic activity was evaluated by the liquid-phase hydrogenation of o -chloronitrobenzene. The Pt/C catalyst exhibited high conversion and selectivity. When the Pt nanoparticles were prepared at 2.0 MPa of hydrogen pressure and 30°C, the average size of the Pt nanoparticles was 2.8 nm with 0.5% Pt loading. Under the hydrogenation conditions of 60°C and 1.0 MPa hydrogen pressure, the dehalogenation rate was less than 1.67% while the TOF was 39.8 s −1 .

Objective. High dose fluorescein sodium has been utilized for fluorescence-guided tumor resection with conflicting reports on the efficacy of this procedure. The aim of this study was to reevaluate the utility and clinical limitations of using fluorescein sodium for the treatment and resection of glioma brain tumors. Methods. Patients diagnosed with glioma were divided into two groups with a total of 22 patients enrolled in the study: 1) the study group (n=10), patients that received intravenous injection of fluorescein sodium and 2) the control group (n=12), patients that did not receive injections during surgical resection. Quality of life was evaluated according to Karnofsky Performance Scale (KPS) score and neurological status. Fluorescein sodium was intravenously injected at a dose of 15-20mg/kg of body weight. Glioma resection was evaluated preoperative and postoperatively with enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Results. Significant differences in the gross total resection (GTR) rates were observed between the two patient groups (Fisher’s Exact Test p=0.047). Progressive free survival was significantly longer in the study group (Student’s T-Test p=0.033) as well as in the GTR group (Student’s T-Test p=0.0001) compared to the control and non-GTR groups, respectively. Three patients in the study group and four patients in the control group had transient neurological deterioration. One patient in the control group had permanent hemiplegia. Conclusion. The intraoperative utility of using fluorescein sodium can significantly increase the GTR rate without obvious deterioration. In addition, we find that it is better to apply the fluorescein sodium in the cases with BBB (blood-brain barrier) disruption, which had been enhanced in preoperative MRI.