Metastasis of the cervical lymph nodes frequently leads to poor survival of patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). The underlying mechanisms of lymph node metastasis are unclear. ...Wingless-type MMTV integration site family, member 5B (WNT5B), one component of the WNT signal pathway, was markedly up-regulated in OSCC sublines with high potential of lymphatic metastasis compared to that in OSCC cells with low nodal metastasis. Increased WNT5B mRNA was demonstrated in human OSCC tissues in comparison with adjacent non-tumorous tissues. Interestingly, the high level of WNT5B protein in serum was associated with lymph node metastasis in OSCC patients. Knockdown of WNT5B expression in OSCC sublines did not affect tumour growth but impaired lymph node metastasis and tumour lymphangiogenesis of orthotopic transplantation. Conditioned medium from WNT5B knockdown cells reduced the tube formation of lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs). In contrast, recombinant WNT5B enhanced the tube formation, permeability and migration of LECs. In LECs stained with phalloidin, the morphology of those treated with recombinant WNT5B changed from flat to spindle-like. Recombinant WNT5B also increased α-smooth muscle actin and inhibited the expression of vascular endothelial-cadherin but retained characteristics of endothelial cells. The results suggest that WNT5B functions in the partial endothelial-mesenchymal transition (EndoMT). Furthermore, WNT5B-induced tube formation was impaired in the LECs following the knockdown of EndoMT-related transcription factor, SNAIL or SLUG. The WNT5B-induced expression of Snail or Slug was abolished by IWR-1-endo and Rac1 inhibitors, which are involved in the WNT/β-catenin and planar cell polarity pathways, respectively. Collectively, the data suggest that WNT5B induces tube formation by regulating the expression of Snail and Slug proteins through activation of canonical and non-canonical WNT signalling pathways.
Summary
Background Bullous pemphigoid (BP) has been associated with neurological and psychiatric diseases; however, large‐scale population‐based study of different comorbid diseases in patients with ...BP is quite limited.
Objectives We sought to analyse the prevalence of neurological, psychiatric, autoimmune and inflammatory skin diseases prior to the diagnosis of BP and their associations with BP among patients with BP from a nationwide database in Taiwan.
Methods A total of 3485 patients with BP and 17 425 matching controls were identified from the National Health Insurance Database in Taiwan from 1997 to 2008. Conditional logistic regression analyses for a nested case–control study were performed to examine the prevalence of comorbidities prior to the diagnosis of BP between these two groups.
Results Overall, our results showed that stroke odds ratio (OR) 3·30; 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 3·03–3·60, dementia (OR 4·81; 95% CI 4·26–5·42), Parkinson disease (OR 3·49; 95% CI 3·05–3·98), epilepsy (OR 3·97; 95% CI 3·28–4·81), schizophrenia (OR 2·56; 95% CI 1·52–4·30) and psoriasis (OR 2·02; 95% CI 1·54–2·66) were significantly associated with BP. Among them, the association with schizophrenia and psoriasis was predominant in female and male patients, respectively, with BP. It remains for all these comorbid diseases to be independently associated with BP by multivariate analysis.
Conclusions Patients with BP are more likely to have various neurological diseases, schizophrenia and psoriasis prior to the diagnosis of BP, supporting associations found in other studies. Further research is required to elucidate the tentative causal association with BP.
The design of atomic-scale microstructural traps to limit the diffusion of hydrogen is one key strategy in the development of hydrogen-embrittlement-resistant materials. In the case of bearing ...steels, an effective trapping mechanism may be the incorporation of finely dispersed V-Mo-Nb carbides in a ferrite matrix. First, we charged a ferritic steel with deuterium by means of electrolytic loading to achieve a high hydrogen concentration. We then immobilized it in the microstructure with a cryogenic transfer protocol before atom probe tomography (APT) analysis. Using APT, we show trapping of hydrogen within the core of these carbides with quantitative composition profiles. Furthermore, with this method the experiment can be feasibly replicated in any APT-equipped laboratory by using a simple cold chain.
Abstract Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality among patients with diabetes mellitus (DM). Chronic inflammation and derangement of myocardial energy and lipid ...homeostasis are common features of DM. The transcription factors of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) belong to the nuclear receptor superfamily, which are important in regulating energy and lipid homeostasis. There are three PPAR isoforms, α, γ, and δ, and their roles have been increasingly recognized to be important in CVD. These three isoforms are expressed in the heart and play pivotal roles in myocardial lipid metabolism, as well as glucose and energy homeostasis, and contribute to extra metabolic roles with effects on inflammation and oxidative stress. Moreover, regulation of PPARs may have significant effects on cardiac electrical activity and arrhythmogenesis. This review describes the roles of PPARs and their agonists in DM cardiomyopathy, inflammation, and cardiac electrophysiology.
Abstract
An ordinary Hall effect in a conductor arises due to the Lorentz force acting on the charge carriers. In ferromagnets, an additional contribution to the Hall effect, the anomalous Hall ...effect (AHE), appears proportional to the magnetization. While the AHE is not seen in a collinear antiferromagnet, with zero net magnetization, recently it has been shown that an intrinsic AHE can be non-zero in non-collinear antiferromagnets as well as in topological materials hosting Weyl nodes near the Fermi energy. Here we report a large anomalous Hall effect with Hall conductivity of 27 Ω
−1
cm
−1
in a chiral-lattice antiferromagnet, CoNb
3
S
6
consisting of a small intrinsic ferromagnetic component (≈0.0013
μ
B
per Co) along
c
-axis. This small moment alone cannot explain the observed size of the AHE. We attribute the AHE to either formation of a complex magnetic texture or the combined effect of the small intrinsic moment on the electronic band structure.
The current case was the first report demonstrating a single case presenting with sudden-onset tinnitus and cochleopathy after his first dosage of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. Audiometry ...revealed an abnormally high short increment sensitivity index. His tinnitus/cochleopathy was reversible and recoverable under conservative steroid management. The abnormality of the high short increment sensitivity index returned to the normal range after steroid management. This case report aimed to increase the cautionary awareness of clinicians concerning the potential adverse events of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine and the new onset of tinnitus/cochleopathy. In addition, immediate treatment is recommended for managing these patients after the onset of tinnitus/cochleopathy. Furthermore, due to the fact that the adverse event of new-onset tinnitus was reversible and recoverable, we still strongly recommend the continuation of the administration of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, based on its merits and demerits.
Abstract Sixty-three consecutive patients undergoing bimaxillary surgery between June and August 2015 were included in this study. Twenty-one patients were included in each of three study groups. In ...group 1, sevoflurane was the sole maintenance anaesthesia agent used; in group 2, propofol was the predominant agent, in addition to a reduced amount of sevoflurane; in group 3, patients received sevoflurane until fixation was completed, at which point it was switched to propofol. The mean intraoperative blood loss (ml) was 707.14 ± 290.74 in group 1, 917.62 ± 380.30 in group 2, and 750.00 ± 331.84 in group 3; the difference between groups 1 and 2 was significant ( P = 0.047). The mean score for the quality of surgical field assessment was 1.32 ± 0.44 in group 1, 2.04 ± 0.49 in group 2, and 1.45 ± 0.53 in group 3 ( P = 0.003). The postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) rate was 28.6% in group 1, 9.5% in group 2, and 14.3% in group 3 ( P = 0.343). The quality of the surgical field was significantly better in groups 1 and 3 than in group 2. The average blood loss in group 1 was also significantly less than in group 2. The PONV rates were lower than those reported in other studies.
The first effective organopolymerization of the biorenewable “non‐polymerizable” γ‐butyrolactone (γ‐BL) to a high‐molecular‐weight metal‐free recyclable polyester is reported. The superbase ...tert‐Bu‐P4 is found to directly initiate this polymerization through deprotonation of γ‐BL to generate reactive enolate species. When combined with a suitable alcohol, the tert‐Bu‐P4‐based system rapidly converts γ‐BL into polyesters with high monomer conversions (up to 90 %), high molecular weights (Mn up to 26.7 kg mol−1), and complete recyclability (quantitative γ‐BL recovery).
Recyclable and renewable: The fast organopolymerization of the biorenewable non‐strained γ‐butyrolactone has led to a high‐molecular‐weight metal‐free polyester with complete recyclability. The monomer has been long believed to be a non‐polymerizable monomer because of its stable five‐membered ring structure.
Abstract
Plant and soil C:N:P ratios are of critical importance to productivity, food-web dynamics, and nutrient cycling in terrestrial ecosystems worldwide. Plant diversity continues to decline ...globally; however, its influence on terrestrial C:N:P ratios remains uncertain. By conducting a global meta-analysis of 2049 paired observations in plant species mixtures and monocultures from 169 sites, we show that, on average across all observations, the C:N:P ratios of plants, soils, soil microbial biomass and enzymes did not respond to species mixture nor to the species richness in mixtures. However, the mixture effect on soil microbial biomass C:N changed from positive to negative, and those on soil enzyme C:N and C:P shifted from negative to positive with increasing functional diversity in mixtures. Importantly, species mixture increased the C:N, C:P, N:P ratios of plants and soils when background soil C:N, C:P, and N:P were low, but decreased them when the respective background ratios were high. Our results demonstrate that plant mixtures can balance terrestrial plant and soil C:N:P ratios dependent on background soil C:N:P. Our findings highlight that plant diversity conservation does not only increase plant productivity, but also optimizes ecosystem stoichiometry for the diversity and productivity of today’s and future vegetation.
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