Dear Editor, I am Dr Tzu-Chun Lin, from the Department of Dermatology, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan, China. We write to you to present a rare case of plexiform variant of ...schwannoma on the glans penis.
Abstract Mycosis fungoides is a form of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL). Malignant CD4+ T cells have been found to adopt the T-regulatory (Treg) cell phenotype and function. We present the case of a ...66-year-old man diagnosed with mycosis fungoides that was progressing from the plaque to the tumor stage. The histopathological examinations showed that the Langerhans cell (LC) infiltration in the skin lesion of the tumor stage was greater than that in the patch/plaque stage; the tumor stage lesions resembled LC histiocytosis pathologically. The associations among LCs, apoptotic tumor cells, Treg CTCL cells, and relevant cytokines are complex. Treg CTCL cells produce the immunosuppressive cytokines interleukin-10 and transforming growth factor beta, which facilitate continuous recruitment of LCs and maintenance of long-term dendritic cell immaturity, thereby explaining the remarkable LC infiltration in the tumor stage samples from our patient. This phenomenon indicates that LCs accompanied by Treg CTCL cells may play an important synergistic role in the tumor progression. The development of immunotherapy directed against Treg CTCL cells and LCs overproduction and other immunosuppressive cytokines may be a potent useful adjuvant and worthy of further investigation.
In this paper, we proposed an effective method to design the power system stabilizers (PSS). The design of a PSS can be formulated as an optimal linear regulator control problem; however, ...implementing this technique requires the design of estimators. This increases the implementation and reduces the reliability of control system. Therefore, favor a control scheme that uses only some desired state variables, such as torque angle and speed. To deal with this problem, we use the optimal reduced models to reduce the power system model into two state variables system by each generator and use grey prediction PID control to find control signal of each generator. Moreover, we will apply genetic algorithms (GAs) to find the appropriate parameter values for the desired system. Finally, the advantages of the proposed method are illustrated by numerical simulation of the two machines-infinite-bus power systems.
Design of sliding mode power system stabilizer via genetic algorithm Tsong-Liang Huang; Chih-Han Chang; Ju-Lin Lee ...
Proceedings 2003 IEEE International Symposium on Computational Intelligence in Robotics and Automation. Computational Intelligence in Robotics and Automation for the New Millennium (Cat. No.03EX694),
2003, Volume:
2
Conference Proceeding
This paper proposes a new approach for combining genetic algorithm and sliding mode control to design the power system stabilizers (PSS). The design of a PSS can be formulated as an optimal linear ...regulator control problem. However, implementing this technique requires the design of estimators. This increases the implementation and reduces the reliability of control system. These reasons, therefore, favor a control scheme that uses only some desired state variables, such as torque angle and speed. To deal with this problem, we use the optimal reduced models to reduce the power system model into two state variables system by each generator. We use the genetic algorithm to find the switching control signals and use sliding mode control to find control signal of the generator. The advantages of the proposed method are illustrated by numerical simulation of the multi-machine power systems.
Diabetes causes vascular injury and carries a high risk of ischaemic stroke. Human amniotic fluid stem cells (hAFSCs) can enhance cerebral vascular remodelling and have the potential to improve ...neurological function after stroke in diabetic rats. Five groups of female rats were examined: (1) normal control, (2) type 1 diabetic (T1DM) rats induced by streptozotocin injection (DM), (3) non‐DM rats receiving 60‐minute middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO), (4) T1DM rats receiving 60‐minute MCAO (DM + MCAO) and (5) T1DM rats receiving 60‐minute MCAO and injection with 5 × 106 hAFSCs at 3 h after MCAO (DM + MCAO + hAFSCs). Neurological function was examined before, and at 1, 7, 14, 21 and 28 days, and cerebral infarction volume and haemorrhage, cerebral vascular density, angiogenesis and inflammatory were examined at 7 and 28 days after MCAO. hAFSCs treatment caused a significant improvement of neurological dysfunction, infarction volume, blood‐brain barrier leakage, cerebral arterial density, vascular density and angiogenesis and a reduction of brain haemorrhage and inflammation compared with non‐treatment. Our results showed that the effect of hAFSCs treatment against focal cerebral ischaemia may act through the recovery of vascular remodelling and angiogenesis and the reduction of inflammation in ischaemic brain.
The present study examined whether bladder detrusor dysfunction due to partial bladder outlet obstruction (pBOO) could be improved after the treatment of human amniotic fluid stem cells (hAFSCs). 72 ...female rats were grouped into sham operation, pBOO, and pBOO with hAFSCs treatment (pBOO + hAFSCs) for in vitro and in vivo studies. Bladder weight, bladder wall thickness, the ratio of collagen to smooth muscle and the levels of positive CD11b/c and HIS48 cells was significantly increased after pBOO but improved after hAFSCs treatment. Cystometries showed impaired bladder function after pBOO. Protein and mRNA levels of hypoxia inducible factor-1α, CCL2, interleukin-1β, transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1), connective tissue growth factor (CTGF), α-smooth muscle actin, collagen I and collagen III were increased at 2 and/or 6 weeks, but proteins and mRNA expressions of protein gene product 9.5 were decreased at 2 and 6 weeks after pBOO. These abnormalities were improved after hAFSCs treatment. The expressions of TGF-β1 and CTGF in cultured detrusor cells of pBOO rats were increased but were improved after hAFSCs treatment. The present results showed hAFSCs treatment could improve bladder detrusor dysfunction in pBOO rats, which may be related to the reduction of inflammatory and pro-fibrotic markers in detrusor muscle cells.
Upregulation of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) has been indicated as one of the inflammatory biomarkers. In the central nervous system (CNS), the MMP-9 is induced by several proinflammatory ...mediators and participates in the CNS disorders, including inflammation and neurodegeneration. In addition, protein kinase Cs (PKCs) has been shown to be involved in regulation of various inflammatory factors like MMP-9 by several stimuli in many cell types. Several phytochemicals are believed to reduce the risk of several inflammatory disorders including the CNS diseases. The rottlerin, a principal phenolic compound of the Kamala plant Mallotus philippinensis, has been shown to possess an array of medicinal properties, including anti-PKC-δ, antitumor, anti-oxidative, and anti-inflammatory activities.
Herein, we used rat brain astrocytes (RBA) to demonstrate the signaling mechanisms of phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA)-induced MMP-9 expression by zymographic, RT-PCR, subcellular isolation, Western blot, ROS detection, and promoter reporter analyses. Then, we evaluate the effects of rottlerin on PMA-induced MMP-9 expression in RBA and its influencing mechanism.
We first demonstrated that PMA stimulated activation of various types of PKC, including PKC-δ in RBA. Subsequently, PMA induced MMP-9 expression via PKCδ-mediated reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) activation, and then induced c-Fos/AP-1 signaling pathway. Finally, upregulation of MMP-9 by PMA via the pathway may promote astrocytic migration, and the event could be attenuated by rottlerin.
These data indicated that rottlerin may have anti-inflammatory activity by reducing these related pathways of PKC-δ-dependent ROS-mediated MMP-9 expression in brain astrocytes.
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