Cancer metastasis is the main cause of death in breast cancer (BC) patients. Therefore, prediction and treatment of metastasis is critical for enhancing the survival of BC patients. In this study, we ...aimed to identify biomarkers that can predict metastasis of BC and elucidate the underlying mechanism of the functional involvement of such markers in metastasis. miRNA expression profile was analyzed using a custom microarray system in 422 BC tissues. The relationship between the upregulated miR-665, metastasis and survival of BC was analyzed and verified in another set of 161 BC samples. The biological function of miR-665 in BC carcinogenesis was explored with in vitro and in vivo methods. The target gene of miR-665 and its signaling cascade were also analyzed. There are 399 differentially expressed miRNAs between BC and noncancerous tissues, of which miR-665 is the most upregulated miRNA in the BC tissues compared with non-tumor breast tissues (P < 0.001). The expression of miR-665 predicts metastasis and poor survival in 422 BC patients, which is verified in another 161 BC patients and 2323 BC cases from online databases. Ectopic miR-665 expression promotes epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), proliferation, migration and invasion of BC cells, and increases tumor growth and metastasis of BC in mice. Bioinformatics, luciferase assay and other methods showed that nuclear receptor subfamily 4 group A member 3 (NR4A3) is a target of miR-665 in BC. Mechanistically, we demonstrated that miR-665 promotes EMT, invasion and metastasis of BC via inhibiting NR4A3 to activate MAPK/ERK kinase (MEK) signaling pathway. Our study demonstrates that miR-665 upregulation is associated with metastasis and poor survival in BC patients, and mechanistically, miR-665 enhances progression of BC via NR4A3/MEK signaling pathway. This study provides a new potential prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target for BC patients.
The naturally persistent flow of hundreds of dust particles is experimentally achieved in a dusty plasma system with the asymmetric sawteeth of gears on the electrode. It is also demonstrated that ...the direction of the dust particle flow can be controlled by changing the plasma conditions of the gas pressure or the plasma power. Numerical simulations of dust particles with the ion drag inside the asymmetric sawteeth verify the experimental observations of the flow rectification of dust particles. Both experiments and simulations suggest that the asymmetric potential and the collective effect are the two keys in this dusty plasma ratchet. With the nonequilibrium ion drag, the dust flow along the asymmetric orientation of this electric potential of the ratchet can be reversed by changing the balance height of dust particles using different plasma conditions.
To understand the reasons for the quality deterioration of traditional battered and deep‐fried pork slices during storage, fried pork slices stored for 12 h at 0–40 °C are used as the research ...samples, and Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy （FTIR） and gas chromatography‐mass spectrometry （GC‐MS） are used as analytical methods. The oil migration mode, fatty acid composition change, and functional group changes in the meat slices are analyzed. The experimental results show that the unsaturated fatty acid (USFA) in the starch paste enters the meat slice in a single diffusion mode during storage, and the migration direction of the fatty acid is reversed after 7 h. Oxidation mainly occurs after 4 h of storage. At this time, the absorption peak intensities of the C═C, OH, CH2, and CH3 groups began to increase significantly. After 8 h, the characteristic peak of C═O narrowed and disappeared after 12 h, indicating that the oxidation has entered a decline period. The content of USFA and linoleic acid (C18:2) showed a downward trend in phospholipids. Therefore, the stability of phospholipids, especially linoleic acid, plays an important role in the edibility of meat slices during storage.
Practical Applications: Many studies have demonstrated that the edible quality of fried meat products decreases gradually during storage and the change in lipid content is the main reason for this phenomenon. However, there is a lack of targeted studies on lipid migration and compositional and structural changes during the storage of deep‐fried foods. In this study, dynamic mobility, dynamic modeling, and changes in fatty acid composition and structure of lipids before and after storage provide data support for the implementation of targeted improvement measures to reduce oil migration, oxidation, and decomposition, and thus effectively extend the consumption cycle.
The first part of the image is the migration process of the lipid in the meat slices during storage for 12 h, 7 h is the dividing line, the first 7 h the lipid is diffused inward from the starch paste into the slices, and after 7 h it diffuses back. The second part is the use of gas chromatography‐mass spectrometry to analyze the changes in fatty acid composition after 12 h of storage. The fan shape represents the percentage of the main components. The most obvious change is that among the three types of fatty acids, only the USFA and linoleic acid content in the phospholipids decreased, especially the content of linoleic acid decreased significantly. The third part is to analyze the structure of fatty acids by Fourier Infrared. The triangles represent the oxidation intensity from top to bottom. The C═O bond first oxidized in the first 4 h, and the content of CH3 and CH2 began to increase significantly after 8–12 h. After 12 h, the C═O bond began to disappear, indicating that the oxidation entered a decay period at 12 h.
Sparse linear arrays based on a novel subarrayed scheme are proposed and synthesized in this letter. The array with a fixed aperture size is partitioned into several uniformly spaced subarrays while ...number, spacing, and excitation in each subarray are optimized with multiple constraints. Compared with conventional sparse linear array with all the elements excited independently, the sparse linear array with the novel subarrayed scheme provides excitations at the subarray port and reduces the excitation control numbers remarkably. By integrating the cuckoo search (CS) algorithm with convex programming (CP), a hybrid CS-CP method is proposed and applied to the synthesis problem while the constraints are satisfied during the optimization process. Three examples with series of cases are presented, and the obtained results are compared to those presented in some state-of-the-art references. The optimized array achieves an improved peak sidelobe level and reduced excitation control number.
Wideband rotationally symmetric sparse circular arrays (RSSCAs) with multiple constraints are synthesized in this letter. First, the circular aperture is partitioned into several rotationally ...symmetric sections, and each section consists of some annular sectors (ASs). The element positions and element numbers in these ASs are optimized. Taking the peak sidelobe level as the fitness function, and using the total number of array elements, the aperture size, and the minimum spacing between two adjacent elements to form multiple constraints, we formulate the synthesis problem as a constrained optimization problem. Then, the optimization technique is developed. By defining a projection process, the constrained optimization problem is transformed into a new constrained one with only box constraints, which is solved by the improved harmony search algorithm. During the optimization process, the infeasible solutions are avoided. As a result, the optimal element positions in the ASs are obtained. Finally, three synthesis examples are presented. Comparisons with some synthesis results in the literature indicate that our RSSCAs achieve relatively lower sidelobe levels over the wider bandwidths.
Context: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a devastating neurodegenerative disorder that affects millions of elderly people worldwide. However, no efficient therapeutic method for AD has yet been ...developed. Recently, Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge (Lamiaceae), a well-known traditional Chinese medicine which is widely used for treating cardio-cerebrovascular, exerts multiple neuroprotective effects and is attracting increased attention for the treatment of AD.
Objective: The objective of this study is to discuss the neuroprotective effects and neurogenesis-inducing activities of S. miltiorrhiza components.
Methods: A detailed search using major electronic search engines (such as Pubmed, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar) was undertaken with the search terms: Salvia miltiorrhiza, the components of S. miltiorrhiza such as salvianolic acid B, salvianolic acid A, danshensu, tanshinone I, tanshinone IIA, cryptotanshinone, dihydrotanshinone, and neuroprotection.
Results: Salvia miltiorrhiza components exert multiple neuroprotective potentials relevant to AD, such as anti-amyloid-β, antioxidant, anti-apoptosis, acetylcholinesterase inhibition, and anti-inflammation. Moreover, S. miltiorrhiza promotes neurogenesis of neural progenitor cells/stem cells in vitro and in vivo.
Conclusions: The properties of S. miltiorrhiza indicate their therapeutic potential in AD via multiple mechanisms. In addition, S. miltiorrhiza provides lead compounds for developing new drugs against AD.
To explore the characteristics and prognostic significance of genetic mutations in acute myeloid leukemia (AML), we screened the gene mutation profile of 171 previously untreated AML patients using a ...next‐generation sequencing technique targeting 127 genes with potential prognostic significance. A total of 390 genetic alterations were identified in 149 patients with a frequency of 87.1%. Younger age and high sensitivity to induction chemotherapy were associated with a lower number of mutations. NPM1 mutation was closely related to DNMT3A and FLT3‐internal tandem duplication (FLT3‐ITD) mutations, but mutually exclusive with ASXL1 mutation and CEBPAdouble mutation. In univariate analysis, ASXL1 or TET2 mutation predicted shorter overall survival (OS) or relapse‐free survival (RFS), DNMT3A, FLT3‐ITD, or RUNX1 mutation predicted a higher likelihood of remission‐induction failure, whereas NRAS mutation or CEBPAdouble mutation predicted longer OS. Concurrent DNMT3A, FLT3‐ITD, and NPM1 mutations predicted shorter OS. Hypomethylation agents could improve the OS in patients with DNA methylation‐related mutations. According to multivariate analysis, TET2 mutation was recognized as an independent prognostic factors for RFS. In summary, our study provided a detailed pattern of gene mutations and their prognostic relevance in Chinese AML patients based on targeted next‐generation sequencing screening.
Genetic mutations can predict favorable or unfavorable prognosis of AML patients. Allo stem cell transplantation can provide benefits for AML patients with bad genetic mutations.
Circadian rhythms regulate various biological processes, such as cell division and metabolism. Circadian rhythm disruption (CRD) is often associated with malignant tumor progression and poor ...prognosis. However, the effect of CRD on liver cancer prognosis has not been systematically analyzed or fully elucidated. Here, we developed a method to quantify and assess intratumoral CRD in a single-cell transcriptomic analysis of liver cancer and systematically analyzed the role of CRD in tumor progression and prognosis. Furthermore, a LASSO-Cox regression model based on 14 CRD genes was used to predict overall patient survival across multiple datasets. We found that malignant cells with high CRD scores were enriched in specific metabolic pathways, such as fatty acid metabolism and the trichloroacetic acid cycle. Intercellular communication analysis suggested that CRD regulates chemokine-mediated interactions. With the bulk transcriptomic datasets, we determined that LiverCRD scores were significantly correlated with macrophage infiltration levels and could guide targeted immunotherapy and chemotherapy strategies. In addition, LiverCRD is also associated with the mutational landscape-for example, TP53 mutation frequency was higher in high-CRD samples. Finally, the 14-gene-based LASSO-Cox regression model could accurately predict overall patient survival across datasets. In conclusion, Our proposed analysis reflects the relationship between CRD and the immune environment in liver cancer, suggesting that CRD may serve as a potential prognostic indicator. Our results may help guide targeted anti-tumor strategies.
Great changes have taken place in terms of people's lifestyles and behavioral habits. Diabetes has become a threat to human health and is the most important noncommunicable disease. More than 60% of ...rural diabetic patients experience delayed diagnosis and treatment. In this study, we explore the inner experience of the delayed diagnosis and treatment of patients with diabetes in rural areas and provide a reference for targeted intervention.
A qualitative research design was used to examine the cognitive behavioral intention of patients in rural areas with delayed diagnosis and treatment of diabetes. Thirteen diabetes patients with delayed diagnosis and treatment were sampled with maximum variation in rural Daqing City and Tangshan City in China. The data analysis involved several levels of analysis consistent with qualitative research.
The following themes were relevant to diabetes patients in rural areas with delayed diagnosis and treatment delay: "Lacked knowledge of diabetes", "Negative coping style", "Dissatisfaction with the existing medical service" and "Influence of social support".
The respondents' delayed diagnosis and treatment represent a common phenomenon. Medical personnel should provide interventions for patients and encourage them to go to the hospital on time.
Sanguisorba officinalis
L., one kind of perennial plants, has been widely distributed in southern Europe, northern Africa and China. The objective of the present work was to evaluate the ...antibacterial captivities of polyphenolic extract (PE) of
S. officinalis
L. on five pathogenic bacteria, including Gram-negative bacteria (
Escherichia coli
and
Salmonella typhimurium
) and Gram-positive bacteria (
Staphylococcus aureus
,
Listeria monocytogenes
and
Bacillus subtilis
). The antibacterial activities were determined by the diameter of inhibition zone, minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum bactericidal concentration tests. The results showed that purified PE had significantly better performance in inhibiting bacteria than crude PE (
P
< 0.05), and PE had better inhibition effect on Gram-positive bacteria than Gram-negative bacteria. Using LC–ESI–QTOF–MS/MS technology, a total of 44 polyphenolic compounds were tentatively identified, 26 of which have been discussed for the first time in
S. officinalis
L. Gallic acid, ellagic acid, catechin and their derivatives, which have been identified as antibacterial bioactivities previously, were the major constituents with the amounts of 10, 8 and 11, respectively. Besides, compared with potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate, purified PE with a low concentration had significantly stronger antibacterial ability against all the tested bacteria (
P
< 0.05), suggesting that purified PE of
S. officinalis
L. could be a promising source of food preservatives.
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