Remotely sensed imagery is ideally used to monitor and detect land cover changes that occur frequently in urban and peri-urban areas as a consequence of incessant urbanization. It is a lengthy ...process to convert satellite imagery into land cover map using the existing methods of manual interpretation and parametric image classification digitally. In this paper we propose a new method based on Normalized Difference Built-up Index (NDBI) to automate the process of mapping built-up areas. It takes advantage of the unique spectral response of built-up areas and other land covers. Built-up areas are effectively mapped through arithmetic manipulation of re-coded Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and NDBI images derived from TM imagery. The devised NDBI method was applied to map urban land in the city of Nanjing, eastern China. The mapped results at an accuracy of 92.6% indicate that it can be used to fulfil the mapping objective reliably. Compared with the maximum likelihood classification method, the proposed NDBI is able to serve as a worthwhile alternative for quickly and objectively mapping built-up areas.
Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are well-known mediators in intercellular communication playing pivotal roles in promoting liver inflammation and fibrosis, events associated to hepatic lipotoxicity ...caused by saturated free fatty acid overloading. However, despite the importance of lipids in EV membrane architecture which, in turn, affects EV biophysical and biological properties, little is known about the lipid asset of EVs released under these conditions. Here, we analyzed phospholipid profile alterations of EVs released by hepatocarcinoma Huh-7 cells under increased membrane lipid saturation induced by supplementation with saturated fatty acid palmitate or Δ9 desaturase inhibition, using oleate, a nontoxic monounsaturated fatty acid, as control. As an increase of membrane lipid saturation induces endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, we also analyzed phospholipid rearrangements in EVs released by Huh-7 cells treated with thapsigargin, a conventional ER stress inducer. Results demonstrate that lipotoxic and/or ER stress conditions induced rearrangements not only into cell membrane phospholipids but also into the released EVs. Thus, cell membrane saturation level and/or ER stress are crucial to determine which lipids are discarded via EVs and EV lipid cargos might be useful to discriminate hepatic lipid overloading and ER stress.
To investigate the effects of ubiquitin ligase Cullin3 (CUL3) on the proliferation, migration and invasion ability of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cells and its mechanism of action.
...Bioinformatics-based methods were used to obtain CUL3 gene and protein expression data in TNBC tissues, and to assess the expression of CUL3 in tumour tissues of TNBC patients (
=160) and in normal breast tissues (
=572), and its relationship with clinical prognosis. The effects of overexpression of CUL3 on the proliferation, migration and invasion ability of TNBC cells in vitro were detected by CCK8 cell proliferation assay, scratch assay and transwell assay; proteins that might interact with CUL3 were screened by immunoprecipitation combined with mass spectrometry analysis, and the substrate protein regulated by CUL3 was identified as Glutathione S-Transferase Pi 1 (GSTP1); the effects of overexpression of GSTP1 on the migration and invasion ability of TNBC cells were detected by scratch assay and Transwell assay, and it
Recent studies have demonstrated that erythropoietin (EPO) has extensive nonhematopoietic biological functions. However, little is known about how EPO regulates bone formation, although several ...studies suggested that EPO can affect bone homeostasis. In this study, we investigated the effects of EPO on the communication between osteoclasts and osteoblasts through the ephrinB2/EphB4 signaling pathway. We found that EPO slightly promotes osteoblastic differentiation with the increased expression of EphB4 in ST2 cells. However, EPO increased the expression of Nfatc1 and ephrinB2 but decreased the expression of Mmp9 in RAW264.7 cells, resulting in an increase of ephrinB2-expressing osteoclasts and a decrease in resorption activity. The stimulation of ephrinB2/EphB4 signaling via ephrinB2-Fc significantly promoted EPO-mediated osteoblastic differentiation in ST2 cells. EphB4 knockdown through EphB4 shRNA inhibited EPO-mediated osteoblastic phenotypes. Furthermore, in vivo assays clearly demonstrated that EPO efficiently induces new bone formation in the alveolar bone regeneration model. Taken together, these results suggest that ephrinB2/EphB4 signaling may play an important role in EPO-mediated bone formation.
The interactions between dislocations and twin boundaries (TBs) are significantly affected by both intrinsic material properties and extrinsic factors, including stacking fault energy, the energy ...barriers for dislocation reactions at TBs, twin thickness and applied stress. In this study, dislocation–TB interactions in grains with different dislocation densities were investigated and we conclude that the dislocation density also affects the dislocation–TB interactions. In a twinned grain with a low dislocation density, a dislocation may react with a TB to fully or partially penetrate the TB or to be absorbed by the TB via different dislocation reactions. Alternatively, in a twinned grain with a high dislocation density, dislocations tangle with each other and are pinned at the TBs, thereby making it unfavourable for further dislocation reactions to mediate dislocation penetration across the TB. This leads to an accumulation of dislocations at the TBs, raising the local strain energy, which, in turn, is released by the activation of secondary twins by partial dislocation emissions from the other side of the TB.
Maternal depressive symptoms influence neurodevelopment in the offspring. Such effects may appear to be gender-dependent. The present study examined contributions of prenatal and postnatal maternal ...depressive symptoms to the volume and microstructure of the amygdala in 4.5-year-old boys and girls. Prenatal maternal depressive symptoms were measured using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) at 26 weeks of gestation. Postnatal maternal depression was assessed at 3 months using the EPDS and at 1, 2, 3 and 4.5 years using the Beck's Depression Inventory-II. Structural magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion tensor imaging were performed with 4.5-year-old children to extract the volume and fractional anisotropy (FA) values of the amygdala. Our results showed that greater prenatal maternal depressive symptoms were associated with larger right amygdala volume in girls, but not in boys. Increased postnatal maternal depressive symptoms were associated with higher right amygdala FA in the overall sample and girls, but not in boys. These results support the role of variation in right amygdala structure in transmission of maternal depression to the offspring, particularly to girls. The differential effects of prenatal and postnatal maternal depressive symptoms on the volume and FA of the right amygdala suggest the importance of the timing of exposure to maternal depressive symptoms in brain development of girls. This further underscores the need for intervention targeting both prenatal and postnatal maternal depression to girls in preventing adverse child outcomes.
Summary
Background Patients with papulopustular rosacea (PPR) frequently complain of dry, sensitive skin. We have previously demonstrated that patients with PPR have reduced skin surface hydration ...levels in the presence of normal sebum casual levels, suggesting that it may be the quality and not the quantity of sebum that plays a role in PPR.
Objectives To compare the sebaceous fatty acid composition of patients with PPR to that of controls with normal facial skin.
Methods The sebaceous fatty acid composition of 25 patients with PPR and 24 age‐ and sex‐matched controls was analysed by gas chromatography ‐ mass spectrometry.
Results Myristic acid (C14:0) was present in greater concentrations in PPR sebum, while the long chain saturated fatty acids arachidic acid (C20:0), behenic acid (C22:0), tricosanoic acid (C23:0) and lignoceric acid (C24:0) as well as the monounsaturated fatty acid cis‐11‐eicosanoic acid (C20:1) were present in the sebum of patients with PPR in lesser concentrations as compared with controls.
Conclusions There is increasing evidence that sebaceous fatty acids play a role in the maintenance of skin barrier integrity. We have shown for the first time that patients with PPR have an abnormal sebaceous fatty acid composition, with reduced levels of long chain saturated fatty acids. These new findings may have therapeutic implications for the development of sebum‐modifying nonantibiotic treatments for patients with PPR.
To investigate the clinicopathological features of colorectal adenocarcinoma with enteroblastic differentiation (CAED).
Eight cases of CAED diagnosed at the Department of Pathology, Fudan University ...Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai, China from January 2017 to August 2023 were collected. The histopathological, immunohistochemical, molecular and prognostic features of 8 CAED cases were analyzed. The relevant studies were also reviewed.
Among the eight patients, there were six males and two females, with an average age of 58 years (range: 29-77 years, median age: 61.5 years). Preoperative serum alpha-fetoprotein levels were elevated in five patients (14.0-286.6 μg/L). Four tumors were located in the colon, and four tumors in the rectum. Two patients were clinically staged as advanced stage (stage Ⅳ), and distant metastasis occurred at the initial diagnosis (one case had liver metastasis, and the other had lung, bone and multiple lymph nodes metastases). Six patients were clinically staged as locally-advanced sta
In order to elucidate pressure-induced second superconducting phase (SC-II) in AxFe2−ySe2 (A = K, Rb, Cs, and Tl) having an intrinsic phase separation, we perform a detailed high-pressure ...magnetotransport study on the isoelectronic, phase-pure (Li1−xFex)OHFe1−ySe single crystals. Here we show that its ambient-pressure superconducting phase (SC-I) with a critical temperature Tc ≈ 40 K is suppressed gradually to below 2 K and an SC-II phase emerges above Pc ≈ 5 GPa with Tc increasing progressively to above 50 K up to 12.5 GPa. Our high-precision resistivity data uncover a sharp transition of the normal state from Fermi liquid for SC-I to non-Fermi liquid for SC-II phase. In addition, the reemergence of high-Tc SC-II is found to accompany with a concurrent enhancement of electron carrier density. Without structural transition below 10 GPa, the observed SC-II with enhanced carrier density should be ascribed to an electronic origin presumably associated with pressure-induced Fermi surface reconstruction.
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