Curcumin, a natural compound derived from the turmeric rhizome
Linn, has anticancer and chemoresistance reduction biological activities. We evaluated the efficacy of curcumin in sensitizing ...chemotherapy drugs through regulation of Bcl-2-mediated apoptosis in breast cancer stem-like cells (BCSCs).
Cell survival was measured using MTT assay. Apoptosis-related proteins were observed using western blot analysis. Apoptosis was detected with flow cytometric analysis and by Hoechst 33258 staining. The mitochondrial membrane potential was observed with flow cytometric analysis.
The ability of BCSCs to propagate decreased gradually along the passages and was completely lost at the fifth passage 0.1 μmol/L mitomycin C (MMC) with 5 μmol/L curcumin in MCF-7 and 0.5 μmol/L MMC with 5 μmol/L curcumin in MDA-MB-231 cells. Curcumin combined with MMC treatment significantly decreased the levels of antiapoptotic Bcl-2 and Bcl-w expression, increased the levels of proapoptotic Bax, Bak, Bad, Bik, and Bim expression, and activated caspase-3 and caspase-9 in MCF-7 BCSCs. In the presence of Bcl-2 siRNA, the apoptosis rate increased by 15% in cells treated with curcumin and MMC. The mitochondrial membrane potential decreased by approximately 20% in MCF-7 BCSCs undergoing the combination treatment of curcumin and MMC. The combination-induced decrease in Bcl-2 was regulated by the presence of the Wnt-specific inhibitor PFK115-584 and PI3k inhibitor LY294002.
Our study indicates that curcumin might represent a novel therapeutic agent for treating breast cancer chemoresistance induced by MMC.
Defects can greatly promote the catalytic activity of a carbon-based electrocatalyst due to charge redistribution of its electroneutral π-conjugated structure. However, it is still a huge challenge ...to introduce enough defects into carbon-based materials to improve their catalytic activity. Herein, we report a new method for defect generation by the pyrolysis of the sulfur-nitrogen-containing coordination polymer Zn(ptt)
2
n
(ptt = 1-phenyl-1
H
-tetrazole-5-thiol). A series of controlled experiments clearly demonstrates that the carbothermal reduction reaction of zinc sulfide with carbon at a high temperature plays an important role in creating defects and enhancing the catalytic activity for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) of the carbon-based materials. The ZnS/C-1100 with a high content of defects and a small number of ZnS nanoparticles exhibits excellent ORR electrocatalytic performances in alkaline media, in which the half-wave potential (0.894 V
vs.
RHE), stability, and methanol tolerance are all superior to that of a 20 wt% Pt/C catalyst. Moreover, the ZnS/C-1100 driven ZAB (zinc air battery) exhibits a stable discharge at 10 mA, a peak power density of 134 mW cm
−2
and a cathode current density of 265 mA cm
−2
, which are significantly better than that catalyzed by 20 wt% Pt/C under the same conditions. This research not only develops a new highly active catalyst, but also provides a new method for the preparation of defect-rich carbon materials.
The carbothermal reduction of ZnS with carbon could produce a large number of defects during pyrolysis of the Zn(ptt)
2
n
. The obtained ZnS/C-1100 with a high defect content and a small number of ZnS nanoparticles exhibits high ORR activity.
The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Ethics Committee of the First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University (No. Because this was a retrospective study and the ...data analysis was performed anonymously, this study was exempt from informed consent from patients. 1–5 PD consisted of the complete removal of the pancreatic head and uncinate process with the cut margin above the superior mesenteric vein, the duodenum, the partial stomach, and the common bile duct. The patients were followed for a long time (≥1 year), their quality of life was evaluated using the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire C30 (QLQ-C30) (version 3.0),6,7 and their nutritional status was evaluated using the Nutrition Risk Screening 2002 tool.
The present study aimed to identify risk factors for venous thromboembolism (VTE) after pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) and to develop and internally validate a predictive model for the risk of venous ...thrombosis.
We retrospectively collected data from 352 patients who visited our hospital to undergo PD from January 2018 to March 2022. The number of patients recruited was divided in an 8:2 ratio by using the random split method, with 80% of the patients serving as the training set and 20% as the validation set. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (Lasso) regression model was used to optimize feature selection for the VTE risk model. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to construct a prediction model by incorporating the features selected in the Lasso model. C-index, receiver operating characteristic curve, calibration plot, and decision curve were used to assess the accuracy of the model, to calibrate the model, and to determine the clinical usefulness of the model. Finally, we evaluated the prediction model for internal validation.
The predictors included in the prediction nomogram were sex, age, gastrointestinal symptoms, hypertension, diabetes, operative method, intraoperative bleeding, blood transfusion, neutrophil count, prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST)/alanine aminotransferase (ALT) ratio (AST/ALT), and total bilirubin (TBIL). The model showed good discrimination with a C-index of 0.827, had good consistency based on the calibration curve, and had an area under the ROC curve value of 0.822 (P < 0.001, 95%confidence interval:0.761-0.882). A high C-index value of 0.894 was reached in internal validation. Decision curve analysis showed that the VTE nomogram was clinically useful when intervention was decided at the VTE possibility threshold of 10%.
The novel model developed in this study is highly targeted and enables personalized assessment of VTE occurrence in patients who undergo PD. The predictors are easily accessible and facilitate the assessment of patients by clinical practitioners.
The classic toxicity of carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) is to induce liver lesion and liver fibrosis. Liver fibrosis is a consequence of chronic liver lesion, which can progress into liver cirrhosis even ...hepatocarcinoma. However, the toxicological mechanisms of CCl4-induced liver fibrosis remain not fully understood. We combined transcriptomic and proteomic analysis and biological network technology, predicted toxicological targets and regulatory networks of CCl4 in liver fibrosis. Wistar rats were treated with CCl4 for 9 weeks. Histopathological changes, hydroxyproline (Hyp) contents, serum ALT and AST in the CCl4-treated group were significantly higher than that of CCl4-untreated group. CCl4-treated and -untreated liver tissues were examined by microarray and iTRAQ. The results showed that 3535 genes (fold change ≥ 1.5, P < 0.05) and 1412 proteins (fold change ≥ 1.2, P < 0.05) were differentially expressed. Moreover, the integrative analysis of transcriptomics and proteomics data showed 523 overlapped proteins, enriched in 182 GO terms including oxidation reduction, response to oxidative stress, inflammatory response, extracellular matrix organization, etc. Furthermore, KEGG pathway analysis showed that 36 pathways including retinol metabolism, PPAR signaling pathway, glycolysis/gluconeogenesis, arachidonic acid metabolism, metabolism of xenobiotics by cytochrome P450 and drug metabolism. Network of protein-protein interaction (PPI) and key function with their related targets were performed and the degree of network was calculated with Cytoscape. The expression of key targets such as CYP4A3, ALDH2 and ALDH7A1 decreased after CCl4 treatment. Therefore, the toxicological mechanisms of CCl4-induced liver fibrosis may be related with multi biological process, pathway and targets which may provide potential protection reaction mechanism for CCl4 detoxication in the liver.
Background
The aim of this study was to compare the long-term quality of life (QoL) in patients after Sweet, Ivor-Lewis, or Mckeown esophagectomy.
Methods
Esophageal cancer patients after Sweet, ...Ivor-Lewis, or Mckeown esophagectomy from 2010 to 2012 were included. QoL was assessed according to the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer general questionnaire: QLQ-C30 and esophagus-specific questionnaire: QLQ-OES18.
Results
A total of 126 qualified patients who have been alive for more than 3 years without tumor recurrence were divided into three groups: the Sweet group (
n
= 40), Ivor-Lewis group (
n
= 38), and Mckeown group (
n
= 48). Among these three groups, the QLQ-C30 mean scores of global health status, functional and symptom scales, and general QoL were similar. The symptom scales of QLQ-OSE18 showed that patients who had a Mckeown operation experienced more problem of eating (
P
= 0.029), choking when swallowing (
P
= 0.010) and coughing (
P
= 0.016), while patients undergoing Sweet operation complained more symptom of reflux (
P
= 0.003) and pain (
P
= 0.000).
Conclusions
All three types of esophagectomy provided a generally good long-term QoL. However, patients in Sweet and Mckeown group tend to suffer from a higher symptomatic burden as compared to Ivor-Lewis approach.
Accurate and real-time recognition of rice plants is the premise underlying the implementation of precise weed control. However, achieving desired results in paddy fields using the traditional visual ...method is difficult due to the occlusion of rice leaves and the interference of weeds. The objective of this study was to develop a novel rice plant recognition sensor based on a tactile method which acquires tactile information through physical touch. The tactile sensor would be mounted on the paddy field weeder to provide identification information for the actuator. First, a flexible gasbag filled with air was developed, where vibration features produced by tactile and sliding feedback were acquired when this apparatus touched rice plants or weeds, allowing the subtle vibration data with identification features to be reflected through the voltage value of an air-pressured sensor mounted inside the gasbag. Second, voltage data were preprocessed by three algorithms to optimize recognition features, including dimensional feature, dimensionless feature, and fractal dimension. The three types of features were used to train and test a neural network classifier. To maximize classification accuracy, an optimum set of features (b (variance), f (kurtosis), h (waveform factor), l (box dimension), and m (Hurst exponent)) were selected using a genetic algorithm. Finally, the feature-optimized classifier was trained, and the actual performances of the sensor at different contact positions were tested. Experimental results showed that the recognition rates of the end, middle, and root of the sensor were 90.67%, 98%, and 96% respectively. A tactile-based method with intelligence could produce high accuracy for rice plant recognition, as demonstrated in this study.
To demonstrate the discrepancies of the international standards on compatibility evaluation for energetic additives, a comparative study on compatibility of three typical graphene-based catalysts ...with common energetic ingredients has been done by using DSC and VST methods. Based on some unusual findings, further suggestions are proposed on improvement in the compatibility evaluation standard. The compatibility results from DSC and VST methods for HMX/GT-Ni, HMX/GC-Cu, AP/GC-Cu, AP/GT-Ni and RDX/GC-Cu systems are contradictory. The major discrepancies between DSC and VST results are caused by combination of contradictory nature of stabilization and catalytic effects of these additives on the corresponding energetic ingredients. It has been shown that the HMX/GC-Ni, HMX/GT-Ni, AP/GT-Ni, NC/GC-Ni, NC/GT-Ni, NC/GT-Cu and NC/GA-Cu mixtures have good compatibility, and the RDX/GC-Ni, AP/GC-Ni and NC/GC-Cu mixtures have moderate compatibility. In general, the copper-based additives even under the stabilization of graphene oxide are not so compatible with nitramine oxidizers and AP. These results indicate that each of the evaluation standards on compatibility has its own feature and limitation. The DSC standard is probably not suitable for the evaluation of the compatibility of GC-Ni, GC-Cu, GT-Ni, GT-Cu and GA-Cu with energetic ingredients. The compatibility assessment cannot simply rely on the available standards, and more comprehensive evaluation procedures need to be established according to the nature of the materials evaluated.
Background
Ligation of thoracic duct is the standard procedure currently used to prevent postoperative chylothorax for patients undergoing esophagectomy when thoracic duct is surgically injured or ...invaded by tumor. However, preservation of lymphovenous circulation is particularly important for a subset of patients, including individuals with liver cirrhosis, ascites, nephrotic syndrome, sclerosing mesenteritis, or some cardiac conditions.
Methods
We have developed a new technique of restoring lymphovenous circulation for patients undergoing esophagectomy. Intrathoracic lymphovenous anastomosis was performed for an esophageal cancer patient by intravenous catheter assisted end-to-side “insertion” technique.
Results
The time taken for lymphovenous anastomosis was 35 min. No massive bleeding or other adverse events occurred during operation, and the patient had an uneventful postoperative course. Lipid metabolisms, assessed by pre- and postoperative plasma concentrations of cholesterol, triglycerides, high-density and low-density lipoprotein, were not affected after lymphovenous anastomosis. Lymphangiography also indicated lymphovenous anastomosis remained patent 3 years after operation. No long-term surgery-related adverse events were observed during 3-year follow-up.
Conclusion
Lymphovenous anastomosis was successfully implemented for the patient with esophagectomy, selected patients might benefit from this novel technique.
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