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Aim: To investigate Omicron's impact on clinical presentation of acute primary angle closure (APAC) in China., Methods: A consecutive case series with historical controls was conducted at Shenzhen Eye Hospital, the largest specialized hospital in Shenzhen, China. Medical records from a two-month period during the Omicron pandemic (December 1, 2022, to January 31, 2023) were compared with records from two control groups (12/2018-1/2019 and 12/2021-1/2022) before pandemic. Patients with APAC were included, and the prevalence of APAC and demographic characteristics in Omicron-infected and non-infected patients were compared., Results: Seventy-one (23.43%) out of 303 patients were diagnosed with APAC in the pandemic cohort, which was 2.98 and 2.61 times higher than that in control cohorts (7.87% in 2019, 8.96% in 2022, P <0.001). The pandemic cohort has significantly higher Omicron-infected rate (78.87% vs 0 vs 0; P <0.001), lower proportion of glaucoma history (16.90% vs 42.86% vs 41.67%, P =0.005), higher surgical rate (95.77% vs 83.33% vs 78.57%, P =0.024), higher total medical costs and larger pupil diameter (5.63±0.15 vs 4.68±0.15 vs 4.69±0.22 mm, P <0.01). In 83% Omicron-infected patients, ocular symptoms appeared within 3d after systemic symptoms onset. In multivariate analysis, Omicron infection ( P <0.001) was the only independent predictor of pupil diameter., Conclusion: In the Omicron epidemic in China, there is an increase of prevalence and severity of APAC, particularly focusing on the first 3d following infection., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: Fang D, None; Li WT, None; Liang J, None; Chen L, None; Dou NX, None; Zheng HY, None; Huang CF, None; Xie T, None; Zhuang YJ, None; Li PF, None; Mao XX, None; Zhang SC, None., (International Journal of Ophthalmology Press.)

Selective autophagy is a defense mechanism by which foreign pathogens and abnormal substances are processed to maintain cellular homeostasis. Sequestosome 1 (SQSTM1)/p62, a vital selective autophagy receptor, recruits ubiquitinated cargo to form autophagosomes for lysosomal degradation. Nab-PTX is an albumin-bound paclitaxel nanoparticle used in clinical cancer therapy. However, the role of SQSTM1 in regulating the delivery and efficacy of nanodrugs remains unclear. Here we showed that SQSTM1 plays a crucial role in Nab-PTX drug delivery and efficacy in human lung and colorectal cancers. Nab-PTX induces SQSTM1 phosphorylation at Ser403, which facilitates its incorporation into the selective autophagy of nanoparticles, known as nanoparticulophagy. Nab-PTX increased LC3-II protein expression, which triggered autophagosome formation. SQSTM1 enhanced Nab-PTX recognition to form autophagosomes, which were delivered to lysosomes for albumin degradation, thereby releasing PTX to induce mitotic catastrophe and apoptosis. Knockout of SQSTM1 downregulated Nab-PTX-induced mitotic catastrophe, apoptosis, and tumor inhibition in vitro and in vivo and inhibited Nab-PTX-induced caspase 3 activation via a p53-independent pathway. Ectopic expression of SQSTM1 by transfection of an SQSTM1-GFP vector restored the drug efficacy of Nab-PTX. Importantly, SQSTM1 is highly expressed in advanced lung and colorectal tumors and is associated with poor overall survival in clinical patients. Targeting SQSTM1 may provide an important strategy to improve nanodrug efficacy in clinical cancer therapy. This study demonstrates the enhanced efficacy of Nab-PTX for human lung and colorectal cancers via SQSTM1-mediated nanodrug delivery.

This study collected ambient air total suspended particle (TSP) concentrations and dry depositions at Taichung Science Park sampling site. The metallic elements concentrations and dry depositions were analyzed. The possible pollutant sources are discussed in this study. In addition, this study used the principal component analysis method to find metallic element sources and their transportation pathway and distributions at Taichung Science Park (T.S.P). The results indicated that the average highest TSP concentrations and dry deposition fluxes occurred in the autumn and winter seasons. The highest average metallic element concentration and dry deposition was Fe, while the lowest average metallic element concentration and dry deposition was Hg(p). The study results further indicated that the lowest metallic element concentrations and dry depositions all occurred in the summer season. The pollutant parcels originated from the northern Taiwan counties and sea surface in the autumn, winter and spring seasons. Factor 1 was responsible for the local industrial emission results and traffic road dust. The metallic elements Hg(p) yield a value greater than 0.7 in Factor 2 which revealed that ambient air particulate pollutants were generated from Taichung Thermal Power Plant (T.T.P.P.) emissions and were transported from the coastal area of mainland China cities. The mean seasonal concentration differences existed for ambient air particulates, and there were no mean seasonal concentrations differences for all metallic elements. In addition, there were no significant mean concentrations differences for all metallic elements and meteorological factors such as temperature, humidity and wind speed. Therefore, the ambient air metallic element emissions were stable and considered primary emissions sources. The health risk value for metallic element Cr was higher than that for the acceptable health risk value suggested by the EPA. Metallic element Cr revealed that it was no mean seasonal concentrations differences. Thus, metallic element Cr was considered came from local emission source at this T.S.P. sampling site., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)

Newborn screening (NBS) programs operate in many countries, processing millions of dried bloodspot (DBS) samples annually. In addition to early identification of various adverse health outcomes, these samples have considerable potential as a resource for population-based research that could address key questions related to child health. The feasibility of archival DBS samples for emerging targeted and untargeted multi-omics analysis has not been previously explored in the literature. This review aims to critically evaluate the latest advances to identify opportunities and challenges of applying omics analyses to NBS cards in a research setting. Medline, Embase and PubMed databases were searched to identify studies utilizing DBS for genomic, proteomic and metabolomic assays. A total of 800 records were identified after removing duplicates, of which 23 records were included in this review. These papers consisted of one combined genomic/metabolomic, four genomic, three epigenomic, four proteomic and 11 metabolomic studies. Together they demonstrate that the increasing sensitivity of multi-omic analytical techniques makes the broad use of NBS samples achievable for large cohort studies. Maintaining the pre-analytical integrity of the DBS sample through storage at temperatures below -20 °C will enable this important resource to be fully realized in a research capacity., (© 2022 Yuan-Jessica Zhuang et al., published by De Gruyter, Berlin/Boston.)

The main goal of this study is to compare concentrations of atmospheric Hg(p) for various particles sizes Total Suspended Particulates (TSP), PM 18 , PM 10 , PM 2.5 , PM 1 , PM <1 before (2018-2019) and during (2019-2020 and 2020-2021) COVID-19 occurred periods in central Taiwan. In addition, test the statistical differences concentrations of Hg(p) for various particles sizes before and during COVID-19 occurred periods in central Taiwan. Finally, calculate the Hg(p) health risk assessment before and during COVID-19 occurred period in central Taiwan.The result indicated that the mean Hg(p) concentrations in TSP and PM 2.5 were higher during (2020-2021) the COVID-19 occurred period than that of the mean Hg(p) concentrations in TSP and PM 2.5 before the COVID-19 occurred period. In addition, the Hg(p)concentrations PM 18 , PM 10 , PM 2.5 , PM 1 and PM <1 were all increased during the COVID-19 occurred period. The Hg(p) concentrations in TSP were decreased during (2019-2020) the COVID-19 occurred period when compared with that of the before the COVID-19 occurred period. Moreover, significant mean Hg(p) concentrations differences were existed at PM 18 , PM 10 and PM 2.5 before and during (2020-2021) COVID-19 occurred periods. Finally, the HQ and HI values for Hg(p) were both increased during COVID-19 occurred periods when compared with before COVID-19 occurred period in this study.

Cervical cancer is the fourth highest mortality cancer among women worldwide. Many researchers have discovered the major anticancer role of miR-192-5p. However, no study has revealed the effect of miR-192-5p on cervical cancer and its molecular mechanism. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to explore the role of miR-192-5p in proliferation, invasion of cervical cancer, and its regulatory mechanism. Firstly, the expression level of miR-192-5p was examined by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Cell counting kit-8 analysis was applied to detect the proliferation of transfected Caski and SiHa cells. Flow cytometry assay was applied to detect the apoptosis of transfected Caski and SiHa cells. Our result showed that miR-192-5p restrained cervical cancer cell proliferation and induced apoptosis. Then we employed wound healing and transwell assays to analyze the migration and invasion abilities of Caski and SiHa cells in vitro. The results showed that miR-192-5p had an inhibitory effect on cervical cancer migration and invasion. The results of in vivo experiment demonstrated that miR-192-5p also inhibited tumor development in nude mice. We further detected that the binding of transient receptor potential melastatin-subfamily member 7 (TRPM7) to miR-192-5p using bioinformatic methods and dual-luciferase reporter assay. Finally, we found that TRPM7 overexpression reversed the inhibitory effects of miR-192-5p on proliferation, migration, and invasion on cervical cancer cells. In conclusion, the findings of the present study revealed that miR-192-5p performs an inhibitory role in cervical cancer proliferation and invasion by targeting TRPM7., (© 2021 The Authors. The Kaohsiung Journal of Medical Sciences published by John Wiley & Sons Australia on behalf of Kaohsiung Medical University.)

Online Social networks exhibit heterogeneous nature with nodes playing far different roles in structure and function. To identify influencers is thus very significant, allowing us to control the outbreak of public negative opinion, to conduct advertisements for e-commercial products, to predict popular scientific publications, and so on. The identification of influencers attracts increasing attentions from both computer science and communication science, with multiple dimensional metrics ranging from structure-based to information-based and action-based. However, most work simply rely on one dimensional metrics. Therefore, in this paper, we analyze three dimensional characteristics (structure-based, information-based, and action-based factors) to develop the multidimensional social influence (MSI) measurement approach. With topic distillation and conditional expectation, the MSI approach can not only measure users topic-level influence, but also measure users global-level influence. Based on data collected from SinaWeibo.com, the experimental results show that the proposed framework outperforms two traditional methods (LeaderRank and FBI) both on the topic-level and the global-level. The proposed framework can be effectively applied to promote word-of-mouth marketing, and to steer public opinion in certain directions, even to support decisions during a negotiation process., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (© 2021 The Author(s).)

Taichung Science Park in central Taiwan releases ambient air pollutants to the atmosphere. This issue has attracted much attention over the past few years. This study concerns seasonal concentrations of atmospheric particles and metallic elements and particle size distributions. A M.O.U.D.I sampler is used at a Taichung Science Park sampling site to obtain relevant data. Fe, followed by Al, had the highest average metallic element concentrations in particles of various sizes (PM 18 , PM 10 , PM 2.5 , PM 1 and PM <1(0.3) ); Cd had the lowest. The average concentrations of metallic elements in particles of various sizes were lowest in the summer. Fe, Al and Cr had the three highest concentrations among all metallic elements for all particles sizes in all seasons. Ambient air particulate pollutants (crustal and anthropogenic metallic elements) were released from a single emission source at Taichung Science Park site.

Ambient air TSP concentrations, dry deposition fluxes and particulate-bound mercury (Hg(p)) concentrations were measured and analyzed at a complex (traffic, residential and commercial) site. Zhang and He's model [ 1 ] was used to predict the dry deposition fluxes of ambient air particulates and Hg(p) at this complex site. The results revealed that October had the highest mean particulate concentration and lowest Hp(p) concentration and dry deposition flux. The mean calculated dry deposition fluxes of PM 2.5 and PM 2.5-10 accounted for 1%-2% and 0.06%-5% of the average total calculated dry deposition particle flux, respectively. The average calculated particle dry depositions flux of PM 10+ , accounted for 93%-99% of the average total calculated dry depositions particle flux. Finally, the model of Zhang and He underestimated the ambient air dry depositions fluxes of both particulates and Hg(p) for all particles sizes (PM 2.5 , PM 2.5-10 , PM 10 + ) at the mixed site in this study. Better results concerning the dry deposition fluxes of pollutants were obtained as the particles size increased.

This study aimed to measure and discuss the relationship of ambient air precipitations with respect to mercury wet depositions at suburban, agriculture and traffic three characteristic sampling sites during the year of 2019. In addition, the mercury volume weighted mean concentrations (VWM) at three characteristic sampling sites were also calculated. Finally, the ambient mercury wet depositions data obtained in this study to various world sampling sites were also compared and discussed in this study. The results indicated that the average mercury wet depositions for suburban, agriculture and traffic areas were 0.62, 0.55 and 2.32 ng/m 2  min, respectively. And the average mercury VWM values were 0.9, 0.72 and 1.85 ng/m 2  min for suburban, agriculture and traffic sites, respectively. In addition, the highest VWM and wet depositions for mercury both occurred in March at traffic and suburban areas. And the mercury wet depositions displayed a declined trend when the month was moved from March to July at both traffic and suburban sampling sites. In addition, the relationship between wet depositions and precipitations was low to moderate correlated in traffic area, while the relationship between wet depositions and precipitations was insignificant at both suburban and agriculture areas. Moreover, the average highest mercury wet deposition occurred in Nepal when compared to the other world sites. In addition, the average value of mercury wet depositions in Nepal was about 17.23 times to that of data obtained in this study during the period of 2007-2019. Finally, the average highest VWM (ng/L) occurred in the China. In addition, the average value mercury VWM in China was about 14.82 times to that of data obtained in this study during the period of 2007-2019.

The main goal of this study is to measure the ambient air of total suspended particulates at a mixed (traffic, residential and commercial) sampling site. And the concentrations of phthalate acid ester (PAE) which attached on total suspended particles were also analyzed. In addition, the possible sources of PAEs were also analyzed by the method of back trajectories. Finally, appropriate statistical methods were also used to test monthly and seasonal mean pollutants' (particulates, PAEs) concentration differences at this sampling site. The results indicated that the monthly concentration variation trends were similar for DEHP and total PAEs with the results as followed: November > October > July > December > September. In addition, back trajectories results also indicated that the main pollutant parcels were came from the east side of Taiwan in July. And the pollutant parcels were came from the north side of Taiwan during the month of September, October, November and December in this study. Moreover, the results also showed that the DEHP, DNOP, total PAEs' concentrations with TSP and meteorological conditions were not significantly different. But the relationship among DEHP, DNOP and total PAEs was significantly different; particularly, the relationship between DEHP and total PAEs was highly correlated in this study (R 2  = 0.994). Finally, the statistical analysis of total PAEs T test statistic for mean monthly concentrations results suggested that the sample population means were not differed significantly. In other words, there were not any mean monthly concentration differences for PAEs at this sampling site. The only exception was occurred in the month of September versus November. The results showed that there is a statistically significant PAEs' concentration difference between the input groups (September vs. November).

Objective: To investigate the epidemiological characteristics of a family clustering of COVID-19. Methods: Field epidemiological survey was conducted. Results: Case 1 of the long-term residents from Hubei province was the source of infection of this family clustering. There were 6 cases (from case 2 to case 7) infected in the whole incubation period. The incubation period was more than 14 days for 3 of the second-generation cases. Routes of transmission included respiratory droplets (from case 1 transmitted to case 6, from case 1 to her family members) and close contact (from case 1 to other cases in her family). All the age groups were generally susceptible, while elderly were easier to progress to critically ill. Besides respiratory symptoms, there were also gastrointestinal symptoms, of which diarrhea was the most common one. Conclusions: Family clustering had been an important part for COVID-19 cases.

Salicylaldehyde is established as an efficient visible light photocatalyst for the first time. Compared to other simple aldehyde analogies, salicylaldehyde has a unique deprotonative red-shift from 324 to 417 nm and gives rise to the remarkable increase of fluorescence quantum from 0.0368 to 0.4632, thus enabling salicylaldehyde as a visible light (>400 nm) photocatalyst. The experimental investigations suggest that the reactive radical species are generated by sensitization of the substrates by the deprotonated salicylaldehyde through an energy-transfer pathway. Consequently, the C-C cleaving alkylation reactions of N -hydroxyphthalimide esters proceed smoothly in the presence of as low as 1 mol % of salicylaldehyde under the visible-light irradiation, affording desired alkylation products with up to 99% yields. Application in visible-light induced aerobic oxidation of N -alkylpyridinium salts is also reported.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the efficacy and molecular mechanisms of ZSP1603 as a novel anti-fibrotic compound., Materials and Methods: The unilateral left pulmonary fibrosis model was established in the Sprague Dawley (SD) rats. The bilateral pulmonary fibrosis model was established in the C57BL/6J mice. The therapeutic treatment regimen began after the induction of pulmonary fibrosis. The preventive treatment regimen began on the first day of bleomycin administration. Animals were randomly divided into the sham, model, Nintedanib, and ZSP1603 treatment groups. Haematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and Masson's trichrome staining were performed to evaluate pulmonary injury, inflammation, and fibrosis. Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay and Western blot were used to investigate the effects and mechanisms of ZSP1603 on the proliferation of primary human pulmonary fibroblasts (pHPFs). The messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) expression of transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1, tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 1 (TIMP-1), and collagen 1A1 (COL1A1) in pHPFs was detected by quantitative Real Time-Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)., Results: ZSP1603 inhibited the proliferation of pHPFs in vitro by blocking the platelet-derived growth factor receptor-β (PDGF-Rβ) and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) signalling pathway. ZSP1603 also inhibited the differentiation of pHPFs by reducing the expression of TGF-β1, TIMP-1, and COL1A1. ZSP1603 significantly attenuated pulmonary injury, inflammation, and fibrosis in vivo in four independent animal studies of pulmonary fibrosis., Conclusions: ZSP1603 is an effective anti-fibrotic compound with clear mechanisms.

The particulate size distributions of aerosol pollutants (particulates and Hg(p)) at a mixed site were measured and their seasonal variations identified. Atmospheric particulates and the Hg(p) mass median diameter (m.m.d.) were obtained. Hg(p) concentrations increased by approximately 20% during the peak demand period for all particle sizes (18, 10, 2.5, 1 and 0.3 μm). The mean percentage concentration of Hg(p) was highest in summer and followed the order summer > spring > winter > autumn for all particle sizes. Hg(p) concentration exhibited increased from 2004 to 2019.

Background: We report an acute pulmonary embolism with negative D-dimer masquerading as right pneumonia with pleural effusion proven by CT pulmonary arteriography (CTPA)., Methods: Appropriate laboratory tests are carried out. The application of vascular ultrasound for the cause of left lower extremity edema. CTPA were performed when vascular ultrasound suggested the existence of venous thrombosis of left lower extremity., Results: Serum D-dimer was negative. Vascular ultrasound revealed left lower extremity venous thrombosis, CTPA demonstrated large emboli in the main pulmonary artery and main pulmonary artery branches., Conclusions: Negative serum D-dimer is not safe to rule out acute pulmonary embolism. When CT shows peripheral triangle-shaped infiltrate with pleuritis or small pleural exudate, physicians should pay attention to pulmonary infarction.

The ambient air particulates pollutants of total suspended particulates (TSP) and PM 2.5 were collected by using PS-1 and Wilbur PM 2.5 sampler, simultaneously during the year of 2015-2017 at a photoelectric factory in Science Park of central Taiwan. And those of the ambient air atmospheric metallic elements (Cr, Mn, Ni, Cu, Zn, Pb) concentrations which attached on the TSP and PM 2.5 were analyzed by using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer. In addition, identifying anthropogenic and natural pollutants sources were conducted by using the enrichment factor (EF) and principal component analysis (PCA) methods. The results indicated that the average TSP and PM 2.5 concentrations were ranked highest in winter season, while summer season was ranked lowest during the year of 2015-2016. In addition, the average highest metallic element concentrations were occurred in winter season for both TSP and PM 2.5 during the year of 2015-2016, while the average lowest metallic elements concentrations in TSP and PM 2.5 were also occurred in winter season during the year of 2016-2017. Moreover, the EF analysis results showed that the metallic element Zn came from anthropogenic emission source. As for metallic element Mn, the results showed that metallic element Mn was mainly attributed to natural emission in this study. Finally, the PCA results showed that metallic elements Cr, Zn and Pb were the dominant emissions metallic elements in this study. As for PM 2.5 , the results showed that the metallic elements Cr, Cu and Pb were the dominant emissions metallic elements at this HPB sampling site.

The plum rain season in Taiwan is in May and June. The severest plum rain season over the last 21 years was in 2017. This study involves the collection of mercury wet depositions in the plum rain season of May-June in 2017. A DMA-80 (Direct Mercury Analyzer) was used to analyze the precipitated mercury concentrations and calculate the wet depositions of mercury in the plum rain season. The results indicate that the highest wet depositions of mercury in the aqueous phase were on 6/16, reaching 209.04 μg/m 2  * day, while the lowest were on 5/15, at 0.18 μg/m 2  * day. The mercury wet depositions in the particulate phase were highest on 6/17, when it exceeded 100 μg/kg, and lowest on particulate phase were occurred in 6/11, when it was 3.64 μg/m 2  * day. The relationship between the wet depositions of mercury in the aqueous phase and rainfall was insignificant, while that between the wet depositions of mercury in the particulate phase and rainfall was significant. The wet depositions of mercury in this study were second highest (30.73 μg/m 2  day) when compared with those in studies in the years 2007-2017. Although the rainfall in this study was only 564 mm H 2 O, high mercury concentrations obtained from the plum rain season result in the high wet depositions of mercury in Taichung, Taiwan.

Objective: To investigate the effect of infiltrating mast cells on neuroendocrine differentiation (NED) and docetaxel sensitivity of prostate cancer (PCa) cells in vitro., Methods: Human PCa cell lines (LNCaP and C4-2) were co-cultured with human mast cell line (HMC-1) in Transwell chambers. Androgen receptor (AR) was silenced in C4-2 cells using sh-AR lentivirus, and p21 was knocked down and overexpressed by transfecting C4-2 cells with pLKO.1-sh-p21 and pCMV-p21, respectively. The morphological changes of LNCaP and C4-2 cells were observed. MTT assay and colony formation assay were used to assess the proliferation of LNCaP and C4-2 cells. CCK8 assay was used to detect the cell viability of C4-2 cells following docetaxel trreatment. RT-qPCR and Western blotting were performed to determine the mRNA and protein expressions of neuroendocrine markers, AR and p21 in the cells., Results: Co-culture with HMC-1 cells enhanced the neuroendocrine phenotypes, inhibited the proliferation and up-regulated the expression of p21 in LNCaP and C4-2 cells. P21 positively regulated NED through a non-AR-dependent signaling pathway, while p21 knockdown partially reversed NED promoted by the mast cells. PCa cells co-cultured with HMC-1 cells showed increased resistance to docetaxel, and silencing p21 partially reversed docetaxel resistance in PCa cells., Conclusion: Infiltrating mast cells up-regulates p21 to promote NED and increase docetaxel resistance in PCa cells in vitro.

In Asian countries such as China, Malaysia, Pakistan, India, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and Hong Kong, ambient air total suspended particulates and PM 2.5 concentration data were collected and discussed during the years of 1998-2015 in this study. The aim of the present study was to (1) investigate and collect ambient air total suspended particulates (TSP) and PM 2.5 concentrations for Asian countries during the past two decades. (2) Discuss, analyze and compare those particulates (TSP and PM 2.5 ) annual concentration distribution trends among those Asian countries during the past two decades. (3) Test the mean concentration differences in TSP and PM 2.5 among the Asian countries during the past decades. The results indicated that the mean TSP concentration order was shown as China > Malaysia > Pakistan > India > Taiwan > Korea > Japan. In addition, the mean PM 2.5 concentration order was shown as Vietnam > India > China > Hong Kong > Mongolia > Korea > Taiwan > Japan and the average percentages of PM 2.5 concentrations for Taiwan, China, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Mongolia and Other (India and Vietnam) were 8, 21, 6, 8, 14, 13 and 30%, respectively, during the past two decades. Moreover, t test results revealed that there were significant mean TSP and PM 2.5 concentration differences for either China or India to any of the countries such as Taiwan, Korea and Japan in Asia during the past two decades for this study. Noteworthy, China and India are both occupied more than 60% of the TSP and PM 2.5 particulates concentrations out of all the Asia countries. As for Taiwan, the average PM 2.5 concentration displayed increasing trend in the years of 1998-1999. However, it showed decreasing trend in the years of 2000-2010. As for Korea, the average PM 2.5 concentrations showed decreasing trend during the years of 2001-2013. Finally, the average PM 2.5 concentrations for Mongolia displayed increasing trend in the years of 2004-2013.

The concentrations of particulates and metallic elements that were bound to total suspended particulates in ambient air at Long Cyuan Elementary School (LCYES), Lung Ching Elementary School (LCHES) and Long Shan Primary School (LSPS) sampling sites in the Longjing area were measured. Significant difference tests were conducted at LSPS, LCYES and LCHES sites. Finally, carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risk values for LSPS, LCYES and LCHES sites in the Longjing district were evaluated. The results show that the most average particulate and metallic element concentrations were highest in October, November, January, February, March, April, August, and September The average particulate and metallic element concentrations at LCHES were higher than at the other sampling sites. The Concentration Scatter Diagrams reveal the absence of significant variation among the LSPS, LCYES and LCHES sampling sites in the Longjing district. Therefore, these sampling sites are inferred to have similar emission sources. The children and adults inhalation carcinogenic risks which referenced US EPA method were all within acceptable ranges. Non-carcinogenic risks revealed that all metallic elements considered herein were harmless to human health.

PM 2.5 has become an important environmental issue in Taiwan during the past few years. Moreover, electricity increased significantly during the summertime and TTPP generated by coal burning base is the main electricity provider in central Taiwan. Therefore, summer season has become the main research target in this study. The ambient air concentrations of particulate matter PM 2.5 and PM 10 collected by using VAPS at a mixed characteristic sampling site were studied in central Taiwan. The results indicated that the average daytime PM 2.5 and PM 10 particulate concentrations were occurred in May and they were 44.75 and 57.77 µg/m 3 in this study. The results also indicated that the average nighttime PM 2.5 and PM 10 particulate concentrations were occurred in June and they were 38.19 and 45.79 µg/m 3 in this study. The average PM 2.5 /PM 10 ratios were 0.7 for daytime, nighttime and 24-h sampling periods in the summer for this study. This value was ranked as the lowest ratios when compared to the other seasons in previous study. Noteworthy, the results further indicated that the metallic element Pb has the mean highest concentrations for 24-h, daytime and nighttime sampling periods when compared to those of the other metallic elements (Ni, Cu, Zn and Cd). The average mean highest metallic Pb concentrations in PM10 were 110.7, 203.0 and 207.2 ng/m 3 for 24-h, daytime and nighttime sampling periods in this study. And there were 59.53, 105.2 and 106.6 ng/m 3 for Pb in PM2.5 for 24-h, daytime and nighttime sampling periods, respectively. Moreover, the results further indicated that mean metallic element Pb concentrations on PM 2.5 and PM 10 were all higher than those of the other elements for 24 h, day and nighttime.

The main purpose of this study was to monitor ambient air particulates and mercury species [RGM, Hg(p), GEM and total mercury] concentrations and dry depositions over rural area at Longjing in central Taiwan during October 2014 to September 2015. In addition, passive air sampler and knife-edge surrogate surface samplers were used to collect the ambient air mercury species concentrations and dry depositions, respectively, in this study. Moreover, direct mercury analyzer was directly used to detect the mercury Hg(p) and RGM concentrations. The result indicated that: (1) The average highest RGM, Hg(p), GEM and total mercury concentrations, and dry depositions were observed in January, prevailing dust storm occurred in winter season was the possible major reason responsible for the above findings. (2) The highest average RGM, Hg(p), GEM and total mercury concentrations, dry depositions and velocities were occurred in winter. This is because that China is the largest atmospheric mercury (Hg) emitter in the world. Its Hg emissions and environmental impacts need to be evaluated. (3) The results indicated that the total mercury ratios of Kaohsiung to that of this study were 5.61. This is because that Kaohsiung has the largest industry density (~60 %) in Taiwan. (4) the USA showed average lower mercury species concentrations when compared to those of the other world countries. The average ratios of China/USA values were 89, 76 and 160 for total mercury, RGM and Hg(p), respectively, during the years of 2000-2012.

This study characterized diurnal variations in the compositions of total suspended particulates (TSP) and dry deposits of particulates from ambient air, and the metallic elements that are contained in them at harbor, airport and farmland (HAF) sampling sites from August, 2013 to July, 2014. Two-way ANOVA of the amounts of metallic elements in the TSP and dry deposits was carried out in all four seasons at the HAF sampling sites. The metallic elements Cr and Cu originated in local emission sources at the airport. Metallic elements Zn and Pb originated in local emission sources at the harbor. Finally, metallic element Cd originated in local emissions form farmland. The following results were also obtained. (1) The metallic composition of the TSP differed significantly from that of the dry deposits in all four seasons at the harbor and farmland sampling sites, but not at the airport sampling site. (2) High correlations coefficients were found between the amounts of metallic elements Cr and Cu in the TSP and those in the dry deposits at the airport sampling site. (3) Pb was present in the TSP and the dry deposits at the harbor sampling site.

This study measured the concentrations of particulates and metallic elements in ambient air by using PS-1 sampler (TSP) at Longjing area. And this study focuses on the collection of ambient air particulates, metallic elements, particulate-bound mercury Hg(p), concentrations. In addition, the sources of ambient pollutants by way of back trajectory analysis are found. Moreover, test mean concentration variance differences for metallic elements (PM, Hg(p), Mn, Fe, Zn, Cr, Cu, and Pb) among the four seasons (spring, summer, autumn and winter) through ANOVA are calculated. The result indicates that the average highest particulate concentration occurred in winter season, and the order was winter > spring > autumn > summer, and the mostly highest average metallic element (Mn, Fe, Zn, Cr, Cu, Pb) concentrations occurred in autumn. Moreover, the mostly average lowest metallic element concentrations occurred in summer. In addition, the above results of backward trajectories that the major particulate pollutants parcel mainly come from northeastern Taiwan. Moreover, when comparing the results of the first half year to that of the second half year, the they indicated that all metallic elements displayed significant differences in concentrations except those of Hg(p), Mn, Fe, Zn. Finally, metallic element Hg(p) is the only one which showed no significant concentration difference from either seasonal variations or half-year observations.

Oxychlorination of alkenyl oximes is harder compared to the analogous oxybromination or oxyiodination because of the difficulty associated with the formation of chlorine cations or radicals. A transition-metal-free oxychlorination of alkenyl oximes has been developed, using t-BuONO as a dual oxidant and AlCl3 as a chlorine source. This convenient and practical method has been used to construct chloroisoxazolines in moderate to good yields, whereas N-chlorosuccinimide (NCS) failed to promote this reaction.

High loaded phenolic pollutants, refractory and high toxic, which existed in coal gasification wastewater, could cause the inhibition of sludge activity. In biological denitrification process of activated sludge treatment system, people tend to focus on the phenol inhibition on the efficiency and activity of nitrifying bacteria while there are few researches on the denitrification process. In order to investigate the inhibition of phenolic compounds from coal gasification wastewater on the denitrification and sludge activity, we used anoxic denitrification system to indentify the influence of different phenol load on denitrification efficiency (removal efficiency of NO₃⁻-N and NO₂⁻-N) as well as the stress and degradation activity of sludge. The results showed that when the concentration of total phenol was changed from 50 mg · L⁻¹ to 200 mg · L⁻¹, the removal rates of NO₃⁻-N and NO₂⁻-N were changed from 55% and 25% to 83% and 83% respectively. In the process of sludge domestication, the characteristics of denitrifying sludge were influenced to a certain degree.

Background: A Chinese medical team managed Ebola virus disease (EVD) patients in Sierra Leone from October 2014 to March 2015 and attended to 693 suspected patients, of whom 288 had confirmed disease., Methods: A retrospective study was conducted of the 288 patients with confirmed disease. Clinical symptoms, manifestations, and serum viral load were analyzed and compared among the different groups for mortality and survival time., Results: Among the 288 confirmed EVD patients (149 male and 139 female, median age 28 years, and median log viral load 6.68), 98 died, 36 recovered, and 154 were lost to follow-up. Common symptoms were fever (77.78%), fatigue (64.93%), abdominal pain (64.58%), headache (62.85%), and diarrhea (61.81%). Compared to patients aged<18 years, those who were older than 40 years had a higher probability of death (odds ratio 2.855, p=0.044). Patients with a viral load of >10(6) copies/ml had a higher case fatality rate than those with <10(6) copies/ml (odds ratio 3.095, p=0.004). Cox regression showed that age, viral load, and the presence of diarrhea correlated with mortality., Conclusion: Patients with a high viral load, of older age, and with diarrhea had a higher mortality and shorter survival time., (Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Ubiquitin-specific protease 22 (USP22) is closely related with poor prognosis of cancer patients. However, the role of USP22 expression in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) has not been determined. The main aim of this study was to determine the role of USP22 in the pathologic processes of NPC. Immunohistochemistry (IHC), western blot (WB), and real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) were used to measure the expression of USP22 in cell lines and tissues of NPC in comparison with expression in non-cancerous cells and tissues. USP22-specific short hairpin RNA (shRNA) was used to knock down USP22 expression in the NPC cell line CNE-1 and CNE-2. Furthermore, the impact of USP22 in cellular proliferation, growth, and cell cycle were detected respectively. WB was used to determine the role of USP22 in the AKT/GSK-3/Cyclin signaling pathway. The expression levels of USP22 were remarkably higher in NPC cell lines and tissues. With cell counting and the MTS assay, cellular growth and proliferation progression of USP22 knockdown cell line was shown to be effectively restrained. The USP22 silencing both in CNE-1 and CNE-2 cells caused them to accumulate in the G0/G1 phase of the cell cycle. USP22 knockdown was also found to modulate the AKT/GSK-3/Cyclin pathway, resulting in downregulation of p-AKT, p-GSK-3β, and cyclinD1. This study suggests that USP22 plays a critical regulatory role in the pathologic processes of NPC, and that it may be a potential biological treatment target in the future.

This study characterized and discussed particulate ambient air particulate concentrations and seasonal variations for PM18, PM10, PM2.5, and PM1 during June 2013-July 2013 at this traffic sampling site. In addition, this study also characterized the ambient air particulates size distributions by using MOUDI-100S4 sampler to collect 1-day the ambient suspended particles (PM18, PM10, PM2.5, and PM1) at this sampling site. In addition, the study also showed that the main pollutants contributions were from traffic and residual areas. As for the pollutants seasonal concentrations variations, the results indicated that the average particle concentrations orders were all displayed as daytime > nighttime for PM18, PM10, PM2.5 and PM1 at this characteristic sampling site. The results further indicated that the mean highest of metal concentrations in this study indicated that the average metal concentration were all displayed as Mn > Cr > Ni > Pb > Cd for PM18, PM10, PM2.5 and PM1 on daytime and nighttime at this characteristic sampling site.

The fungus of Ganoderma is a basidiomycete that possesses a variety of pharmacological effects and has been used in traditional Asian medicine for centuries. Ganoderma formosanum is a native Ganoderma species isolated in Taiwan, and we have previously demonstrated that PS-F2, a polysaccharide fraction purified from the submerged culture broth of G. formosanum, exhibits immunostimulatory properties in macrophages. In this study, we further characterized the adjuvant functions of PS-F2. In vitro, PS-F2 stimulated dendritic cells (DCs) to produce proinflammatory cytokines, including TNF-α, interleukin (IL)-6, and IL-12/IL-23 p40. PS-F2 also stimulated DCs to express the maturation markers CD40, CD80, CD86, and MHC class II. In a murine splenocyte culture, PS-F2 treatment resulted in elevated expression of T-bet and interferon (IFN)-γ in T lymphocytes. When used as an adjuvant in vivo with the ovalbumin (OVA) antigen, PS-F2 stimulated OVA-specific antibody production and primed IFN-γ production in OVA-specific T lymphocytes. PS-F2-adjuvated immunization also induced OVA-specific CTLs, which protected mice from a challenge with tumor cells expressing OVA. Collectively, our data show that PS-F2 functions as an adjuvant capable of inducing a Th1-polarized adaptive immune response, which would be useful in vaccines against viruses and tumors., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: The fungus of Ganoderma is a traditional medicine in Asia with a variety of pharmacological functions including anti-cancer activities. We have purified an extracellular heteropolysaccharide fraction, PS-F2, from the submerged mycelia culture of G. formosanum and shown that PS-F2 exhibits immunostimulatory activities. In this study, we investigated the molecular mechanisms of immunostimulation by PS-F2., Results: PS-F2-stimulated TNF-α production in macrophages was significantly reduced in the presence of blocking antibodies for Dectin-1 and complement receptor 3 (CR3), laminarin, or piceatannol (a spleen tyrosine kinase inhibitor), suggesting that PS-F2 recognition by macrophages is mediated by Dectin-1 and CR3 receptors. In addition, the stimulatory effect of PS-F2 was attenuated in the bone marrow-derived macrophages from C3H/HeJ mice which lack functional Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4). PS-F2 stimulation triggered the phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinases JNK, p38, and ERK, as well as the nuclear translocation of NF-κB, which all played essential roles in activating TNF-α expression., Conclusions: Our results indicate that the extracellular polysaccharides produced by G. formosanum stimulate macrophages via the engagement of multiple pattern-recognition receptors including Dectin-1, CR3 and TLR4, resulting in the activation of Syk, JNK, p38, ERK, and NK-κB and the production of TNF-α.

This study investigated the pollution of dust mite allergens in the houses of 30 families and their infection to young allergic asthma patients in Shanghai. Medical records, family information, and dust samples were collected from the dwellings of 15 young allergic asthma patients and 15 healthy subjects. Der 1 allergen, which is a common allergen causing allergic asthma, was measured in collected dust samples using the Pharmacia Uni-CAP System. A significant correlation was found between the number of Der 1 allergens collected from floor surfaces and the number of Der 1 allergens collected from bed surfaces. Some factors influencing Der 1 allergen levels were found in this study. Relative humidity in dwellings was found to be most influential to the allergen levels. The findings suggested that traditional reduction methods for coarse particles, such as opening windows and periodic cleaning of beddings, may be effective in removing dust mite allergens.

The bioactive components of Ganoderma formosanum have not yet been characterized. We investigated the immunomodulatory activities of the extracellular polysaccharides produced from a submerged mycelial culture of G. formosanum. The polysaccharides were mainly composed of D-mannose, D-galactose and D-glucose. After gel filtration chromatography, three polysaccharide fractions (PS-F1, PS-F2 and PS-F3) were purified. PS-F2 stimulated mouse RAW264.7 macrophages to produce TNF-α and nitric oxide, and enhanced the phagocytic activity of macrophages. PS-F2 challenge in mice triggered an acute inflammatory response characterized by the recruitment of neutrophils and monocytes, which protected mice from subsequent infection of Listeria monocytogenes. The results indicate that the heteropolysaccharides produced by G. formosanum can activate the innate immune response on macrophages.

Objective: To study the expression of COX-2 and pregnancy associate plasma protein A (PAPP-A) in coronary arteries and their relationship with acute coronary syndrome., Methods: Twenty-one autopsy cases with acute coronary syndrome encountered during the period from 2002 to 2007 were enrolled into the study. Another 21 autopsy cases without evidence of acute coronary syndrome were used as the controls. The right and left coronary arteries of each group were dissected, embedded and processed as paraffin sections. Immunohistochemical study for CD68 and alpha-actin was performed to highlight the presence of macrophages and smooth muscle cells, respectively. The expression of COX-2 and PAPP-A was evaluated., Results: In the acute coronary syndrome group, COX-2 was localized mainly in the cytoplasm of endothelial cells, macrophages and smooth muscle cells. COX-2 expression in the cytoplasm of smooth muscle cells (28.60%) was significantly higher than that in the control group (4.76%, chi(2) = 14.13, P< 0.05). There was a positive correlation on COX-2 and PAPP-A expression in smooth muscle cells of the media layer of coronary arteries in acute coronary syndrome group (r = 0.88, P < 0.05). The expression of PAPP-A in smooth muscle cells of the media layer in coronary arteries not associated with plaque formation, was higher than that when there were atherosclerotic plaques (chi(2) = 10.36, P < 0.05)., Conclusion: In coronary arteries, COX-2 and PAPP-A play certain roles in the pathogenesis of acute coronary syndrome.

Objective: To evaluate the clinical effect of external tissue expansion in the repair of massive skin and soft tissue defects., Methods: From August 1998 to January 2004, 10 patients with massive skin and soft tissue defects ( the area ranging from 10 cm x 4 cm to 24 cm x 15 cm) , including 7 with wounds in the leg, 2 with wounds in knee region, and 1 with wounds in the forearm, were enrolled in the study. All patients were subjected to external tissue expansion together with external skeletal fixation for 2 -3 weeks, then the wounds were closed with suturing or supplemented with skin flaps., Results: The defects were closed completely after external expansion in 4 cases, and in other 5 cases the wounds were significantly decreased in area, and the residual wounds were covered with free skin grafting. In I case the wound could only be reduced in size, and the residual wound was closed with a local flap. Follow-up from 1 to 12 months showed that the wounds were closed with normal cutaneous sensation and good appearance., Conclusion: External skin expansion is a simple, economical method for repair of massive skin soft-tissue defect, which can significantly be reduced or entirely closed.

We identified prosaposin (PSAP) as a secreted protein expressed in androgen-independent (AI) prostate cancer cells by cloning/sequencing, after probing a PC-3 cDNA library expressed in the lambdaTriplEx phagemid expression vector with a polyclonal rabbit antibody generated against pooled human seminal plasma. PSAP is a neurotrophic molecule; its deficiency or inactivation has proved to be lethal in man and mice, and in mice, it leads to abnormal development and atrophy of the prostate gland, despite normal testosterone levels. We used Southern hybridization, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, and/or single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array analysis, and we now report the genomic amplification of PSAP in the metastatic AI prostate cancer cell lines, PC-3, DU-145, MDA-PCa 2b, M-12, and NCI-H660. In addition, by using SNP arrays and a set of 25 punch biopsy samples of human prostate cancer xenografts (LAPC3, LuCaP 23.1, 35, 49, 58, 73, 77, 81, 86.2, 92.1, 93, 96, 105, and 115), lymph nodes, and visceral-organ metastases, we detected amplification of the PSAP locus (10q22.1) in LuCaP 58 and 96 xenografts and two lymph node metastases. In addition, AI metastatic prostate cancer cell lines C4-2B and IA8-ARCaP over-expressed PSAP mRNA without evidence of genomic amplification. Taken together with prior data that demonstrated the growth-, migration-, and invasion-promoting activities, the activation of multiple signal transduction pathways, and the antiapoptotic effect of PSAP (or one of its active domains, saposin C) in prostate cancer cells, our current observation of PSAP amplification or overexpression in prostate cancer suggests, for the first time, a role for this molecule in the process of carcinogenesis or cancer progression in the prostate., ((c) 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)

Arteries that belong to the central nervous system (CNS) have thick and monotonous internal elastic lamina (IEL), Willis ring, and no collateral branch to the systemic circulation. These characteristics suggest that the circulation of the CNS is constant. In order to know how flow controls the arterial configuration of the CNS, flow of the vertebral and basilar arteries was increased experimentally using eight adult male Japanese white rabbits. Flow increase was induced by the simple ligation of the bilateral common carotid arteries (ligation group, n = 4) or by the ligation of the bilateral common carotid arteries at 1 week after arteriovenous fistula (AVF) between the left common carotid artery and the left external jugular vein (ligation plus AVF group, n = 4). Cineangiography revealed distinct flow increase in the ligation group at 5 weeks after ligation and in the ligation plus AVF group at 5 weeks after AVF (4 weeks after ligation). Vertebral and basilar arteries were remarkably dilated and elongated. Histopathologically, severe disruption of the IEL and focal thinning of the media were distinct. Endothelial cells were preserved and there was no inflammatory cell infiltration. These morphological features are consistent with increased flow-induced adaptive remodeling. It is suggested that the constancy of the flow may give the arterial tree of the CNS these morphological characterizations.

Gaps in the internal elastic lamina (IEL) have been observed in arteries exposed to high blood flow. To characterize the nature and consequences of this change, blood flow was increased in the carotid arteries of 56 adult, male, Japanese white rabbits by creating an arteriovenous fistula between the common carotid artery and the external jugular vein. The common carotid artery proximal to the arteriovenous fistula was studied at intervals from 1 hour to 8 weeks after exposure to high flow. In the controls, the IEL showed only the usual, small, physiological holes, 2 to 10 microm in diameter. At 3 days, some of the holes in the IEL had become enlarged, but they could not be detected by scanning electron microscopy, despite manifest endothelial cell proliferation. At 4 days, gaps in the IEL appeared as small, luminal surface depressions, 15 to 50 microm wide. At 7 days, the gaps in the IEL had enlarged and formed circumferential, luminal depressions occupying 15+/-5% of the lumen surface. Endothelial cell proliferation persisted in the gaps while proliferative activity decreased where the IEL remained intact. At 4 weeks, as the artery became elongated and dilated, the gaps in the IEL widened as intercommunicating circumferential and longitudinal luminal depressions occupying 64+/-5% of the lumen surface. At 8 weeks, the rate of elongation and dilatation of the artery slowed and the widening of the gaps in the IEL diminished. Endothelial cells covered the gaps throughout. We conclude that flow-induced arterial dilatation is accompanied by an adaptive remodeling of the intima. The gaps in the IEL permit an increase in lumen surface area while endothelial cell proliferation assures a continuous cell lining throughout.

Objectives: To assess the effect of chronic, repetitive increases and decreases in blood flow on an artery., Materials and Methods: Arteriovenous fistulae were created in Japanese male rabbits between the left common carotid artery and the corresponding external jugular vein. Animals were placed into either control groups or one of six cycle groups consisting of flow variations (0.5 cycles, 1.0 cycle, 1.5 cycles, 2.0 cycles, 2.5 cycles and 3.0 cycles). Each complete cycle consisted of 4 weeks of increased flow followed by 6 weeks of normalised flow by fistula ligation., Results: Arteries exposed to increased flow for 4 weeks (0.5 cycles) had a significant increase in lumen diameter without intimal thickening. After 6 weeks of normalised flow (1.0 cycle), shear stress became subnormal (0.42 +/- 0.17 N/m2), intimal thickening developed. In subsequent cycles, intimal thickening continued to develop with each point of flow normalisation and reduction in shear stress. Histologic and ultrastructural analysis revealed endothelial cells preservation at all time points, with individual strata of smooth muscle cell proliferation in the intima corresponding to the cycle numbers., Conclusion: Progressive intimal thickening occurred in the previously flow-induced remodelled artery when shear stress was reduced to subnormal levels with preserved endothelium, but was inhibited by high flow periods.

Arteries enlarge in response to increased blood flow, but the molecular signals controlling this enlargement are not well understood. Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) is a potent mitogen for endothelial cells (EC) and smooth muscle cells (SMC) and promotes cellular proliferation and differentiation. In order to determine whether bFGF is expressed in response to increased blood flow in vivo, carotid-jugular arteriovenous fistulas (AVF) were created in Japanese white rabbits. The carotid artery proximal to the fistula was harvested after 1, 3, or 7 days and compared to nonoperated, control carotid arteries. Arterial blood flow increased five- to eightfold in all AVF animals and resulted in a significant increase in wall shear stress. The proximal carotid artery arterial diameter was no different from control after 1 and 3 days (2.3 +/- 0. 1 mm) but enlarged to 2.9 +/- 0.1 mm (P < 0.05) after 7 days. RT-PCR revealed early transcription of bFGF mRNA at 1 and 3 days with increased densitometric band ratio (bFGF/beta-actin) at 7 days. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed bFGF protein localization in EC of control arteries as well as AVF arteries at all time points. SMC and adventitia expression of bFGF was absent in controls, minimal at 1 day, and increased after 3 and 7 days in the experimental groups. Western blotting confirmed the presence of bFGF in samples and transmission immunoelectron microscopy confirmed its nuclear localization. Endothelial cells in vivo express bFGF under both normal and elevated flow conditions. Smooth muscle cells, however, do not express bFGF under normal flow conditions but begin to express bFGF after 1 day of high flow with increased expression after 3 and 7 days. Flow-induced arterial enlargement begins after SMC expression of bFGF. Therefore, bFGF may play a role in arterial enlargement and adaptive remodeling in response to increased flow., (Copyright 1998 Academic Press.)

An autopsy case of aortic sarcoma who died of acute myocardial infarction caused by coronary involvement is reported. The patient was a 54 year old woman who was admitted because of an undiagnosed fever and general fatigue of 6 months duration. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed a tumor in the aortic arch. Total aortic arch replacement was performed. It was diagnosed as a malignant mesenchymal tumor of the aorta. The patient died of acute myocardial infarction 10 months after the operation. At autopsy, the tumor had invaded the luminal surface and intima of the proximal anastomosis (the remnant ascending aorta and the graft), the aortic valves, the distal anastomosis (surgical line of the thoracic aorta plus the graft), and the coronary arteries. The left main coronary artery showed complete obstruction by fibrin thrombus with tumor invasion in the intima, which was responsible for acute myocardial infarction. Primitive and bizarre tumor cells proliferated with many slit-like tissue spaces. Most of the tumor except for its luminal surface showed necrosis. Ultrastructurally, there were spaces between tumor cells, suggesting lumen formation, and some of them had microvilli. This sarcoma was considered to be the so-called aortic intimal sarcoma.

This paper studies the heterogeneity of metastatic potential of murine cervical carcinoma (U14). Two cell lines, P11-90 and L10-90, were established from a pulmonary metastatic substrain (U14AP11) and a lymphatic metastatic substrain (U14AL10), which were selected from U14 in vivo after 11 and 10 passages, respectively. The biologic differences between the two cell lines are as follows. (1) The cells of the P11-90 line grow more rapidly compared with the L10-90 line. From the 40th passage the medium pH was different. (2) The median number of chromosomes in P11-90 and L10-90 was 72 and 64, respectively; the rates of gap aberration were 88% and 78%, respectively. (3) The number of T lymphocytes and T helper lymphocytes in the peripheral blood from hosts with P11-90 were higher than that of hosts transplanted with L10-90, but the number of B lymphocytes in the latter was larger than that in the former. (4) The metastatic potential of each cell line partially decreased compared to the relative tumor substrain, but their organ preference still remained and the transplant locations, axillary or footpad, had a prominent influence on their metastatic behavior. To observe the effects of metastatic target organs on the metastatic phenotypes of tumor cells, as well as to explore a method for the establishment and maintenance of the metastatic organ preference of tumor cells, conditioned medium (CM) from pulmonary or lymphatic node diploid cells was added to the culture medium of P11-90 and L10-90. Two sublines, P + P11-90 and Ln + L10-90, were thus established. Using stereological methods we found that the majority of P + P11-90 cells became larger and their nuclei also increased in size compared with their parental lines, but the majority of Ln + L10-90 cells became smaller in size, though the nuclei were enlarged. The pulmonary metastatic rate and lymphatic metastatic rate of P + P11-90, as well as the lymphatic metastatic rate of Ln + L10-90, were restored dramatically. The results suggest that by taking advantage of the interaction between tumor cells and the CM of host cells the metastatic potential of tumor cell lines can be maintained in vitro. Our work may offer an experimental model for the manipulation of metastasis of cell lines coming from the same parent strain but with different metastatic potentials.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)