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Background The numbers of IL-27-producing CD4.sup.+ T cells and the concentration of soluble IL-27 have been found to be increased in tuberculous pleural effusion (TPE). The objective of the present study was to explore the mechanism by which IL-27.sup.+CD4.sup.+ T cells are recruited into the pleural space, and to explore the impact of IL-27 on pleural mesothelial cells (PMCs). Methods The expression profiles of chemokine receptor (CCR) were determined by flow cytometry. The chemoattractant activity of chemokines CCL20 and CCL22 for IL-27.sup.+CD4.sup.+ T cells in vitro was observed. Effects of IL-27 on wound healing, proliferation and apoptosis of PMCs were also investigated. Results IL-27.sup.+CD4.sup.+ T cells in TPE expressed high level of CCR6, medium level of CCR4, and low levels of CCR2, CCR3, CCR5, CCR7, CCR10, and CXCR3. Recruitment of IL-27.sup.+CD4.sup.+ T cells into TPE could be induced by pleural CCL20 and CCL22. By activating STAT3 signaling, IL-27 significantly improved wound healing and promoted proliferation of PMCs, and completely prevented apoptosis of PMCs induced by IFN-[gamma]. Conclusions After being recruited into pleural space by CCL20 or/and CCL22, these pleural IL-27-producing CD4.sup.+ T cells may play important roles in tuberculosis immunity by affecting PMC functions., Author(s): Zhi-Jian Ye[sup.1] [sup.2] , Li-Li Xu[sup.2] , Qiong Zhou[sup.4] , Ai Cui[sup.2] , Xiao-Juan Wang[sup.2] , Kan Zhai[sup.3] , Zhen Wang[sup.2] , Zhao-Hui Tong[sup.2] , Huan-Zhong Shi[sup.2] [sup.3] Author [...]

Dexmedetomidine (DEX), the most specific α 2 -adrenergic receptor agonist widely used for its sedative and analgesic properties, has been reported to upregulate HIF-1α expression to protect hypoxic and ischemic tissues. However, it is largely unclear whether DEX can also upregulate Hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1α) expression and its downstream vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGFA) in cancer tissues with oxygen-deficient tumor microenvironment. We used SMMC-7721 cells, MHCC97-H cells, and a mouse model of orthotopic hepatic carcinoma to explore the effect of DEX on angiogenesis and vasculogenic mimicry (VM) and its mechanism. Under normoxic (20% O 2) and hypoxic (1% O 2) conditions, DEX was used to intervene cells, and yohimbine was used to rescue them. The results showed that DEX promoted angiogenesis and VM in human liver cancer cells within a certain dose range, and the addition of yohimbine inhibited this effect. DEX could activate HIF-1α/VEGFA pathway, which was further verified by silencing HIF-1α. Consistently, in vivo results also showed that DEX can up-regulate HIF-1α/VEGFA expression, and enhance the number of VM channels and microvessel density (MVD). We believe that HIF-1α/VEGFA might be an important signaling pathway by which DEX promotes angiogenesis and VM formation in human hepatocellular carcinoma, whereas α 2 -adrenergic receptor mediation might be the critical mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Our previous data have demonstrated that the number of IL-9-producing [CD4.sup.+] T cells (Th9 cells) in malignant pleural effusion (MPE) was significantly increased when compared with that in blood. The aim of the present study was to investigate the mechanism by which Th9 cells were recruited into MPE and the phenotypic characteristics of pleural Th9 cells. Methods The expression patterns of chemokine receptors (CCRs) on Th9 cells and the chemoattractant activity of chemokine CCL20 for Th9 cells in vitro were observed. The phenotypic features of Th9 cells in MPE were determined by flow cytometry. Results We found that Th9 cells in both MPE and blood expressed a high level of CCR6 on their surface. An in vitro migration assay confirmed that both MPE and supernatants of cultured pleural mesothelial cells could induce the migration of Th9 cells, and anti-CCL20 mAb significantly inhibited the ability of MPE or supernatants to stimulate Th9 cell chemotaxis. We also noted that pleural Th9 cells expressed high levels of CD45RO and very low levels of CD45RA and CD62L, displaying the phenotype of effector memory cells. Conclusions Our data revealed that recruitment of Th9 cells into MPE could be induced by pleural CCL20 and that the majority of Th9 cells in MPE displayed the phenotype of effector memory cells. Keywords Lung cancer * Malignant pleural effusion * Th9 cells, Introduction Carcinomas derived from almost all organs can metastasize to the pleura, but the most common ones are lung and breast adenocarcinoma [1]. The presence of malignant pleural effusion (MPE) [...]

Background: Regulatory T cells (Treg cells) in the peripheral blood of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) may be closely related to the progression of PTB. In this study, the distribution characteristics and clinical importance of CD8+CD28- Treg cells in patients with tuberculosis were systematically analyzed, and the role and importance of CD8+CD28- Treg cells in influencing the immune response and progression of tuberculosis were discussed, which will provide immunological indices and reference values for the clinical diagnosis of tuberculosis.Methods: Flow cytometry, sputum smears and computed tomography imaging were used to analyze the distribution characteristics of CD8+CD28- Treg cells in the peripheral blood of patients with PTB and the correlation between CD8+CD28-Treg cells and clinical and immune indices.Results: The percentages of CD4+CD25high and CD8+CD28- Treg cells in the peripheral blood of patients with PTB were significantly higher than those in the healthy control (HC) group. Further analysis showed that the percentage of CD4+CD25highTreg cells in the Stage II group was significantly higher than that in the HC group. The percentages of CD4+CD25high and CD8+CD28- Treg cells increased significantly in patients in the Stage II group. The proportion of CD8+CD28- Treg cells was directly proportional to the degree of positivity in sputum smears, while CD4+CD25highTreg cells did not exhibit this trend. The correlations between the percentage of CD4+CD25high and CD8+CD28- Treg cells and the percentage of lymphocyte subsets were examined. The percentage of CD8+CD28- Treg cells was negatively correlated with the percentage of CD4+T cells and positively correlated with the CD8+T cell percentage in the HC and PTB groups. The percentage of CD4 + CD25highTreg cells was positively correlated with the percentage of CD4+T cells only in the PTB group.Conclusions: This study was the first to show that the proportion of CD8+CD28- Treg cells in the peripheral blood of patients with PTB was significantly increased, and the increase in CD8+CD28- Treg cells was related to the progression of PTB, which may affect the proportion of immune cell subsets by inhibiting the immune response, resulting in the progression of PTB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Both regulatory T cells (Tregs) and T helper IL-17-producing cells (Th17 cells) have been found to be involved in human malignancies, however, the possible implication of Tregs in regulating generation and differentiation of Th17 cells in malignant pleural effusion remains to be elucidated. Methods The numbers of both CD39+Tregs and Th17 cells in malignant pleural effusion and peripheral blood from patients with lung cancer were determined by flow cytometry. The regulation and mechanism of Tregs on generation and differentiation of Th17 cells were explored. Results Both CD39+Tregs and Th17 cells were increased in malignant pleural effusion when compared with blood, and the numbers of CD39+Tregs were correlated negatively with those of Th17 cells. It was also noted that high levels of IL-1β, IL-6, and TGF-β1 could be observed in malignant pleural effusion when compared the corresponding serum, and that pleural CD39+Tregs could express latency-associated peptide on their surface. When naïve CD4+ T cells were cocultured with CD39+Tregs, Th17 cell numbers decreased as CD39+Treg numbers increased, addition of the anti-latency-associated peptide mAb to the coculture reverted the inhibitory effect exerted by CD39+Tregs. Conclusions Therefore, the above results indicate that CD39+Tregs inhibit generation and differentiation of Th17 cells via a latency-associated peptide-dependent mechanism.

Summary: Programmed death 1 (PD-1), PD-ligand 1 (PD-L1), and PD-L2 have been demonstrated to be involved in tuberculosis immunity, however, the expression and regulation of PD-1/PD-Ls pathways in pleural mesothelial cells (PMCs) and CD4+ T cells in tuberculous pleural effusion (TPE) have not been investigated. Expression of PD-1 on CD4+ T cells and expressions of PD-L1 and PD-L2 on PMCs in TPE were determined. The impacts of PD-1/PD-Ls pathways on proliferation, apoptosis, adhesion, and migration of CD4+ T cells were explored. Concentrations of soluble PD-l, but not of soluble PD-Ls, were much higher in TPE than in serum. Expressions of PD-1 on CD4+ T cells in TPE were significantly higher than those in blood. Expressions of PD-Ls were much higher on PMCs from TPE when compared with those from transudative effusion. Interferon-γ not only upregulated the expression of PD-1 on CD4+ T cells, but also upregulated the expressions of PD-Ls on PMCs. Blockage PD-1/PD-Ls pathways abolished the inhibitory effects on proliferation and adhesion activity of CD4+ T cells induced by PMCs. PD-1/PD-Ls pathways on PMCs inhibited proliferation and adhesion activity of CD4+ T cells, suggesting that Mycobacterium tuberculosis might exploit PD-1/PD-Ls pathways to evade host cell immune response in human. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Th22 cells have been reported to be involved in human cancers. However, differentiation and immune regulation of Th22 cells in malignant pleural effusion (MPE) remain unknown. We noted that Th22 cell numbers were increased in MPE, and that IL-22 substantially promoted the proliferation and migratory activity of A549 cells. Moreover, IL-22 could strongly facilitate intercellular adhesion of A549 cells to pleural mesothelial cell monolayers. Our data revealed that the increase in Th22 cells in MPE was due to pleural cytokines and chemokines, and that Th22 exerted an important immune regulation on cancer cells in human pleural malignant environment. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: Both regulatory T cells (Tregs) and T helper IL-17-producing cells (Th17 cells) have been found to be involved in human malignancies, however, the possible implication of Tregs in regulating generation and differentiation of Th17 cells in malignant pleural effusion remains to be elucidated.Methods: The numbers of both CD39(+)Tregs and Th17 cells in malignant pleural effusion and peripheral blood from patients with lung cancer were determined by flow cytometry. The regulation and mechanism of Tregs on generation and differentiation of Th17 cells were explored.Results: Both CD39(+)Tregs and Th17 cells were increased in malignant pleural effusion when compared with blood, and the numbers of CD39(+)Tregs were correlated negatively with those of Th17 cells. It was also noted that high levels of IL-1β, IL-6, and TGF-β1 could be observed in malignant pleural effusion when compared the corresponding serum, and that pleural CD39(+)Tregs could express latency-associated peptide on their surface. When naïve CD4(+) T cells were cocultured with CD39(+)Tregs, Th17 cell numbers decreased as CD39(+)Treg numbers increased, addition of the anti-latency-associated peptide mAb to the coculture reverted the inhibitory effect exerted by CD39(+)Tregs.Conclusions: Therefore, the above results indicate that CD39(+)Tregs inhibit generation and differentiation of Th17 cells via a latency-associated peptide-dependent mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researches on the educational wisdom demonstrated by the three generations of the collective leadership of the Party Central Committee in their practice in guiding China's educational reform is closely related to the study of the development of Marxist educational thoughts in contemporary China. As social practices and educational practices develop all the time, ideas of education have been changing in different eras since the foundation of the People's Republic of China. Whether we are able to grasp the theme of the times is not only a new turn of practice but also one part of practical wisdom. Obviously, three generations of the collective leadership of the Party Central Committee vary in their choices of educational themes: from Mao Zhedong's "educational democracy", to Deng Xiaoping's "open education", and Jiang Zemin's "educational innovation". This kind of transformation meets the requirement of changes of the times and realistic development. Educational ideas take educational themes as its object of thought. Consequently, faced with different educational themes, three generations of the collective leadership of the Party have different educational ideas. Mao Zedong holds the new democratic educational belief in "establishing new national, scientific culture and education for the broad masses of the people". Den Xiaoping lays emphasis on the" three orientations of education to the needs of modernization, the world and the future". Jiang Zemin initiates the idea of quality education, focusing on the cultivation of human dignity and personality. The unique educational ideas conceived under the influence of different educational themes area reflection of the intensification and implementation of the educational wisdom of the three generations of the collective leadership of the Party Central Committee. The strategies of China's education have gone through the three development stages of "educational revolution", "priority on education" and "educational innovation". Under different strategies, it is only natural to take different actions. These strategies and actions have been a vivid demonstration of the educational wisdom of our nation's leaders. Generally, these development strategies and action tactics are identical in that they are of the Marxist stand, viewpoint and method in a down-to-earth attitude. Specifically, they are also different in that each of them reflects a different stage in China's national development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Dexmedetomidine (DEX), the most specific α 2 -adrenergic receptor agonist widely used for its sedative and analgesic properties, has been reported to upregulate HIF-1α expression to protect hypoxic and ischemic tissues. However, it is largely unclear whether DEX can also upregulate Hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1α) expression and its downstream vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGFA) in cancer tissues with oxygen-deficient tumor microenvironment., Methods: We used SMMC-7721 cells, MHCC97-H cells, and a mouse model of orthotopic hepatic carcinoma to explore the effect of DEX on angiogenesis and vasculogenic mimicry (VM) and its mechanism. Under normoxic (20% O 2 ) and hypoxic (1% O 2 ) conditions, DEX was used to intervene cells, and yohimbine was used to rescue them., Results: The results showed that DEX promoted angiogenesis and VM in human liver cancer cells within a certain dose range, and the addition of yohimbine inhibited this effect. DEX could activate HIF-1α/VEGFA pathway, which was further verified by silencing HIF-1α. Consistently, in vivo results also showed that DEX can up-regulate HIF-1α/VEGFA expression, and enhance the number of VM channels and microvessel density (MVD)., Conclusion: We believe that HIF-1α/VEGFA might be an important signaling pathway by which DEX promotes angiogenesis and VM formation in human hepatocellular carcinoma, whereas α 2 -adrenergic receptor mediation might be the critical mechanisms., (Copyright © 2022 The Editorial Board of Biomedical and Environmental Sciences. Published by China CDC. All rights reserved.)

This paper proposes an optimization model for the integrated aircraft flight scheduling and routing problem, which allows a simultaneous determination of the departure time of each flight trip and assignment of a set of aircraft located at different airports to perform all flight trips. The proposed model envisages that each flight trip is covered by its own particular aircraft type or a larger airplane. Further, departure and arrival times of each flight trip are within a flexible time window in its aircraft's route and origin/destination airports, and the number of airplanes firstly distributed in the base airports is fully accounted for in the model. The model not only can effectively minimize weighted operation costs for the number of airplanes and the total idle time for adjacent flight trips covered by an aircraft, but also can maximize the number of transported passengers. This paper further presents a two-stage heuristic approach based on the ant colony optimization algorithm, which efficiently finds the most acceptable solutions. The above algorithm is used to generate a series of aircraft routes, and a polynomial algorithm is designed to obtain their feasible flight trip timetable. Finally, the model is applied to a case study to design the integrated aircraft flight scheduling and routing plan for a real airline in China. A comparative analysis of the conventional and proposed models proved the latter's feasibility.

Background: Both regulatory T cells (Tregs) and T helper IL-17-producing cells (Th17 cells) have been found to be involved in human malignancies, however, the possible implication of Tregs in regulating generation and differentiation of Th17 cells in malignant pleural effusion remains to be elucidated., Methods: The numbers of both CD39(+)Tregs and Th17 cells in malignant pleural effusion and peripheral blood from patients with lung cancer were determined by flow cytometry. The regulation and mechanism of Tregs on generation and differentiation of Th17 cells were explored., Results: Both CD39(+)Tregs and Th17 cells were increased in malignant pleural effusion when compared with blood, and the numbers of CD39(+)Tregs were correlated negatively with those of Th17 cells. It was also noted that high levels of IL-1β, IL-6, and TGF-β1 could be observed in malignant pleural effusion when compared the corresponding serum, and that pleural CD39(+)Tregs could express latency-associated peptide on their surface. When naïve CD4(+) T cells were cocultured with CD39(+)Tregs, Th17 cell numbers decreased as CD39(+)Treg numbers increased, addition of the anti-latency-associated peptide mAb to the coculture reverted the inhibitory effect exerted by CD39(+)Tregs., Conclusions: Therefore, the above results indicate that CD39(+)Tregs inhibit generation and differentiation of Th17 cells via a latency-associated peptide-dependent mechanism.

Objective: To evaluate the surgical outcomes after transumbilical single-port access laparoscopic surgery for colorectal cancer., Methods: Patients undergoing transumbilical single-port access laparoscopic radical resection for colorectal cancer at the Zhongshan Hospital of Xiamen University were included., Results: Three patients underwent transumbilical single-port access laparoscopic radical resection for sigmoid colon cancer and 1 for rectal cancer between August 2010 and September 2010. There were no intraoperative or postoperative complications. No conversion was required. The mean operative time was 206 min and the mean estimated blood loss was 75 ml. The mean number of harvested lymph nodes was 21. Patients were ambulatory in the same day of surgery or postoperative day 1. Length of hospital stay ranged from 7 to 10 days., Conclusions: Transumbilical single-port access laparoscopic surgery is safe for colorectal cancer. Long-term outcomes warrant further investigation.