Summary
Epidemiologic evidence has shown inconsistent findings regarding the relationships between abdominal fatness, as measured by waist circumferences (WC) or waist‐to‐hip ratio (WHR), and risks ...of pre‐ and postmenopausal breast cancer (BC). A dose–response meta‐analysis of prospective studies was conducted to address these issues. Potentially eligible studies were identified by searching PubMed and EMBASE databases, and by carefully reviewing the bibliographies of retrieved publications and related reviews. The summary relative risks (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using a random‐effects model. When the most fully adjusted RRs were combined, both WC (14 studies, RR per 10‐cm increase = 1.06, 95% CI: 1.04–1.09, I2 = 29.9%) and WHR (15 studies, RR per 0.1‐unit increase = 1.07, 95% CI: 1.01–1.14, I2 = 52.9%) were significantly positively associated with postmenopausal BC, but neither WC (eight studies, RR per 10‐cm increase = 1.05, 95% CI: 0.99–1.10, I2 = 0%) nor WHR (11 studies, RR per 0.1‐unit increase = 1.07, 95% CI: 0.95–1.21, I2 = 59.7%) were associated with premenopausal BC. The WHR‐postmenopausal BC association lost statistical significance after correcting publication bias (RR per 0.1‐unit increase = 1.06, 95% CI: 0.99–1.13). When considering BMI‐adjusted RRs, WC was associated with both pre‐ (five studies, RR per 10‐cm increase = 1.09, 95% CI: 1.02–1.16, I2 = 0%) and postmenopausal BC (seven studies, RR per 10‐cm increase = 1.05, 95% CI: 1.02–1.08, I2 = 6.3%), whereas WHR was not associated with either pre‐ (seven studies, RR per 0.1‐unit increase = 1.12, 95% CI: 0.94–1.34, I2 = 70.9%) or postmenopausal BC (eight studies, RR per 0.1‐unit increase = 1.05, 95% CI: 0.98–1.13, I2 = 57.3%). Among non‐current (former or never) users of hormone replacement therapy, the summary RR per 10‐cm increase of postmenopausal BC associated with WC was 1.08 (95% CI: 1.03–1.05, I2 = 69.2%, seven studies; BMI‐adjusted RR = 1.05, 95% CI: 1.02–1.09, I2 = 22.8%, four studies). This meta‐analysis indicates that central obesity measured by WC, but not by WHR, is associated with modestly increased risks of both pre‐ and postmenopausal BC independent of general obesity.
Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are inherently resistant to chemotherapy, and CSCs in chemotherapy-failed recurrent tumors are enriched; however, the cellular origin of chemotherapy-induced CSC enrichment ...remains unclear. Communication with stromal fibroblasts may induce cancer cell dedifferentiation into CSCs through secreted factors. We recently demonstrated that fibroblast-derived exosomes promote chemoresistance in colorectal cancer (CRC). Here, we report that fibroblasts confer CRC chemoresistance via exosome-induced reprogramming (dedifferentiation) of bulk CRC cells to phenotypic and functional CSCs. At the molecular level, we provided evidence that the major reprogramming regulators in fibroblast-exosomes are Wnts. Exosomal Wnts were found to increase Wnt activity and drug resistance in differentiated CRC cells, and inhibiting Wnt release diminished this effect in vitro and in vivo. Together, our results indicate that exosomal Wnts derived from fibroblasts could induce the dedifferentiation of cancer cells to promote chemoresistance in CRC, and suggest that interfering with exosomal Wnt signaling may help to improve chemosensitivity and the therapeutic window.
We introduce a new approach of materials design for terahertz magnonics making use of quantum confinement of terahertz magnons in layered ferromagnets. We show that in atomically designed multilayers ...composed of alternating atomic layers of ferromagnetic metals one can efficiently excite different magnon modes associated with the quantum confinement in the third dimension, i.e., the direction perpendicular to the layers. We demonstrate experimentally that the magnonic band structure of these systems can be tuned by changing the material combination and the number of atomic layers. We realize the idea of opening band gaps, with a size of up to several tens of millielectronvolts, between different terahertz magnon bands and thereby report on the first step toward the realization of atomic-scale magnonic crystals.
The mdm2 oncogene has recently been suggested to be a valuable target for cancer therapy and prevention. Overexpression of mdm2 is often seen in various human cancers and correlates with high-grade, ...late-stage, and more treatment-resistant tumors. The MDM2-p53 auto-regulatory loop has been extensively investigated and is an attractive cancer target, which indeed has been the main focus of anti-MDM2 drug discovery. Much effort has been expended in the development of small molecule MDM2 antagonists targeting the MDM2-p53 interaction, and a few of these have advanced into clinical trials. However, MDM2 exerts its oncogenic activity through both p53-dependent and -independent mechanisms. Recently, there is an increasing interest in identifying natural MDM2 inhibitors; some of them have been shown to decrease MDM2 expression and activity in vitro and in vivo. These identified natural MDM2 inhibitors include a plethora of diverse chemical frameworks, ranging from flavonoids, steroids, and sesquiterpenes to alkaloids. In addition to a brief review of synthetic MDM2 inhibitors, this review focuses on natural product MDM2 inhibitors, summarizing their biological activities in vitro and in vivo and the underlying molecular mechanisms of action, targeting MDM2 itself, regulators of MDM2, and/or the MDM2-p53 interaction. These MDM2 inhibitors can be used alone or in combination with conventional treatments, improving the prospects for cancer therapy and prevention. Their complex and unique molecular architectures may provide a stimulus for developing synthetic analogs in the future.
The exchange process between CO2 and methane hydrate has been observed in numerous laboratory experiments, computer simulations, and recently confirmed in a field test. Yet, to date there is no ...kinetic model capable of accurately predicting the swapping process at given fluid composition and p-T conditions. Major obstacles on the way to an adequate mathematical description are caused by the insufficient characterization of experimental environments and a nearly complete lack of information on the time-resolved composition of the two-phase fluid at the gas hydrate interface. Here we show that all necessary data can be provided by a combination of cryo-SEM, Raman, and neutron diffraction measurements that deliver accurate space-averaged, time-resolved in situ data on the CH4–CO2 exchange reactions at conditions relevant to sedimentary matrixes of continental margins. Results from diffraction are cross-correlated with ex situ Raman spectroscopy to provide reliable information on the preferential sites for CO2 and CH4 in the (partially) exchanged hydrate. We also show a novel approach based on scattering of neutrons to probe the fluid composition during the in situ replacement in a time-resolved, noninvasive manner. The replacement is seen as a two-step process including (1) a fast surface reaction parallel to a fast enrichment of the surrounding fluid phase with CH4 followed by (2) a much slower permeation-limited gas swapping between the gas hydrate and mixed ambient CH4–CO2 fluid. The main part of the replacement reaction takes place in the second stage. Based on our earlier experimental studies and existing literature we work toward a quantitative gas exchange model which elaborates the hole-in-cage-wall diffusion mechanism to describe the two-component gas replacement.
Insects possess a fairly sophisticated olfactory system in their antennae to detect odorants essential for their survival and reproduction. Among them, insect first perceives odour sources by ...odorant‐binding proteins (OBPs) to locate host‐plants. Methyl salicylate, (Z)‐3‐hexenyl acetate and dibutyl phthalate are major volatile components of Ulmus pumila and Ricinus communis and elicit strong responses of the scarab beetle Holotrichia oblita adults. However, olfactory perception of the scarab beetle to these odorant compounds is unclear. In the current study, we cloned the OBP6 and OBP7 of H. oblita. The expression pattern shows that the two genes were highly expressed in the antennae of female beetles. Binding assays verified that the HoblOBP6 had a better binding affinity to methyl salicylate, and so did HoblOBP7 to (Z)‐3‐hexenyl acetate and dibutyl phthalate. The effect on the responses of female beetles to the three compounds was decreased significantly after these two genes were silenced by RNA interference. These results indicate that HoblOBP6 and HoblOBP7 are essential for female H. oblita perception of methyl salicylate, (Z)‐3‐hexenyl acetate and dibutyl phthalate. Our study provides important insights into the olfactory mechanism of female H. oblita to ester plant volatiles and could facilitate the development of potential pest control strategies in the field.
Numerous astrophysical and cosmological observations are best explained by the existence of dark matter, a mass density which interacts only very weakly with visible, baryonic matter. Searching for ...the extremely weak signals produced by this dark matter strongly motivate the development of new, ultra-sensitive detector technologies. Paradigmatic advances in the control and readout of massive mechanical systems, in both the classical and quantum regimes, have enabled unprecedented levels of sensitivity. In this white paper, we outline recent ideas in the potential use of a range of solid-state mechanical sensing technologies to aid in the search for dark matter in a number of energy scales and with a variety of coupling mechanisms.
Summer mortality of some bivalve species is often associated with the change of environmental temperature. This study compares the response of immunological parameters to temperature change in three ...marine bivalves: Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas, Mediterranean mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis and mud cockle Katelysia rhytiphora. Each species was exposed to three temperatures, 15 °C, 20 °C and 25 °C for 14 days. The total haemocyte count (THC), phagocytosis, reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the activity of antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) were used as indicators to measure the response of each species to different temperatures. The highest temperature (25 °C) significantly increased the THC and phagocysis of haemocytes in all species. The SOD and CAT activities in the haemocytes of M. galloprovincialis and K. rhytiphora rapidly increased with temperature elevation, concomitantly with the increase of ROS ions. In contrast, the increases of ROS and SOD in C. gigas only occurred from 20 °C to 25 °C, suggesting that this intertidal species is more adaptive to different temperature levels. This study indicates that the activities of antioxidant enzymes can reflect the immune response of marine bivalves to thermal stress. Intertidal species such as Pacific oysters have a greater tolerance to thermal stress than subtidal species (e.g. Mediterranean mussel) and demersal species buried in sand (e.g. cockle).
•Antioxidant enzymes in the haemocytes reflect a response of bivalves to thermal stress.•Thermal stress increases haemocyte number and phagocytic activity.•Intertidal species tolerate more thermal stress than subtidal or buried demersal species.
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