Cancer is the leading cause of death in China and depicting the cancer pattern of China would provide basic knowhows on how to tackle it more effectively. In this study we have reviewed several ...reports of cancer burden, including the Global cancer statistics 2018 and Cancer statistics in China, 2015, along with the GLOBCAN 2018 online database, to investigate the differences of cancer patterns between China, the United States (USA) and the United Kingdom (UK). An estimated 4.3 million new cancer cases and 2.9 million new cancer deaths occurred in China in 2018. Compared to the USA and UK, China has lower cancer incidence but a 30% and 40% higher cancer mortality than the UK and USA, among which 36.4% of the cancer‐related deaths were from the digestive tract cancers (stomach, liver, and esophagus cancer) and have relatively poorer prognoses. In comparison, the digestive cancer deaths only took up ≤ 5% of the total cancer deaths in either USA or UK. Other reasons for the higher mortality in China may be the low rate of early‐stage cancers at diagnosis and non‐uniformed clinical cancer treatment strategies performed by different regions. China is undergoing the cancer transition stage where the cancer spectrum is changing from developing country to developed country, with a rapidly increase cancer burden of colorectal, prostate, female breast cancers in addition to a high occurrence of infection‐related and digestive cancers. The incidence of westernized lifestyle‐related cancers in China (i.e. colorectal cancer, prostate, bladder cancer) has risen but the incidence of the digestive cancers has decreased from 2000 to 2011. An estimated 40% of the risk factors can be attributed to environmental and lifestyle factors either in China or other developed countries. Tobacco smoking is the single most important carcinogenic risk factor in China, contributing to ~ 24.5% of cancers in males. Chronic infection is another important preventable cancer contributor which is responsible for ~ 17% of cancers. Comprehensive prevention and control strategies in China should include effective tobacco‐control policy, recommendations for healthier lifestyles, along with enlarging the coverage of effective screening, educating, and vaccination programs to better sensitize greater awareness control to the general public.
Shivering associated with spinal anesthesia during Cesarean delivery is an uncomfortable experience for the parturient, which may also cause adverse effects. In this prospective, randomized, ...double-blind, placebo-controlled study, we sought to evaluate the effect of intrathecal dexmedetomidine, administered as an adjunct to hyperbaric bupivacaine for Cesarean delivery, on the incidence and severity of shivering associated with spinal anesthesia. Patients undergoing Cesarean delivery were randomly allocated to three groups of 30 patients each. Experimental treatments were added to hyperbaric bupivacaine as follows: Patients in group I (control) were administered isotonic saline. Patients in groups II and III received dexmedetomidine (2.5, 5 µg, respectively), mixed with isotonic saline. Shivering was observed in 11, 10 and 2 patients in groups I, II and III, respectively. The incidence of shivering in group III was significantly lower than that in groups I (p=0.005) and II (p=0.01). The severity of shivering was significantly different between the three groups (p=0.01). There were no significant inter-group differences with respect to mean arterial pressure and heart rate at any time point after administration of intrathecal local anesthesia (p>0.05). Intrathecal dexmedetomidine (5 µg) administered as an adjunct to hyperbaric bupivacaine during Cesarean delivery significantly reduced the incidence and intensity of shivering associated with spinal anesthesia.
Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is the most frequent complication of diabetes and causes millions of deaths each year. Finding novel therapy to DN is urgent, which requires a good understanding of the ...pathogenesis. Aims are to investigate the molecular mechanisms of DN by focusing on ANRIL/miR-497/TXNIP axis.
Kidney tissues were collected from diagnosed DN patients. High glucose (HG) treatment of human renal tubular epithelial cell cells (HK-2) was used as the cell model of DN. qRT-PCR and Western blotting were performed to measure levels of ANRIL, miR-497, TXNIP, IL-1β, IL-18, caspase-1, and NLRP3. LDH leakage and cell viability were determined with commercial LDH activity kit and MTT assay. ELISA was employed to examine secreted IL-1β and IL-18 levels. Flow cytometry was used to examine caspase-1 activity. Dual luciferase assay was performed to validate interactions of ANRIL/miR-497 and miR-497/TXNIP.
ANRIL and TXNIP were elevated in DN kidney tissues and HG-treated HK-2 cells while miR-497 was reduced. ANRIL bound miR-497 while miR-497 directly targeted TXNIP. Knockdown of ANRIL suppressed HG-induced LDH leakage, TXNIP/NLRP3/caspase-1 activation, and increases of IL-1β and IL-18 secreted levels. miR-497 knockdown or TXNIP overexpression reversed the effects of ANRIL knockdown on LDH leakage and pyroptosis-related signaling. miR-497 mimics inhibited caspase-1-dependent pyroptosis while co-overexpression of TXNIP blocked its effects in HG-treated HK-2 cells.
ANRIL promotes pyroptosis and kidney injury in DN via acting as miR-497 sponge to disinhibit TXNIP expression. These results shed light on the mechanisms of DN and provide targets for therapy development.
Exosomes are nano-sized endosome-derived small intraluminal vesicles, which are important facilitators of intercellular communication by transporting contents, such as protein, mRNA, and microRNAs, ...between neighboring cells, such as in the tumor microenvironment. The purpose of this study was to understand the mechanisms of exosomes-mediated cellular communication between human pancreatic cancer (Panc-1) cells and macrophages (J771.A1) using a Transwell co-culture system. Following characterization of exosome-mediated cellular communication and pro-tumoral baseline M2 macrophage polarization, the Panc-1 cells were transfected with microRNA-155 (miR-155) and microRNA-125b-2 (miR-125b2) expressing plasmid DNA using hyaluronic acid-poly(ethylene imine)/hyaluronic acid-poly(ethylene glycol) (HA-PEI/HA-PEG) self-assembling nanoparticle-based non-viral vectors. Our results show that upon successful transfection of Panc-1 cells, the exosome content was altered leading to differential communication and reprogramming of the J774.A1 cells to an M1 phenotype. Based on these results, genetic therapies targeted towards selective manipulation of tumor cell-derived exosome content may be very promising for cancer therapy.
•More than 900 results on aluminium alloy structural members are collected.•The CSM uses a base curve to derive the deformation capacity.•The CSM adopts an elastic, linear hardening material ...model.•Reliability analyses have been carried out for different design methods.•The CSM provides more accurate and consistent predictions.
Aluminium alloys are nonlinear metallic materials with rounded stress–strain curves that are not well represented by the simplified elastic-perfectly plastic material model used in most existing design specifications. Departing from current practice, the continuous strength method (CSM) is a recently developed design approach for aluminium alloy structures, which gives consideration to strain hardening for non-slender sections. The CSM is a deformation-based method and employs a base curve to define the continuous relationship between cross-section slenderness and deformation capacity. This paper explains the background and the two key components of the CSM: (1) the base curve, which is extended herein such that the method covers both non-slender and slender sections and (2) the strain hardening material model. Three international design specifications from America, Australia/New Zealand and Europe, as well as the CSM are compared with approximately 900 aluminium alloy experimental and numerical results. Reliability analyses have been carried out to assess the reliability level of different design methods according to both the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) and European Standard (EN 1990) approaches. Finally, worked examples of the CSM for aluminium alloy stub columns and continuous beams are illustrated in this paper.
Excessive nutrient discharges and changes in nutrient ratios caused by global change and anthropogenic activities have been reported in global rivers; however, the actual alterations occurring in the ...Yellow River environment is too fast to catch up with. From 2001 to 2018, dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN), dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP) and dissolved silicon (DSi) concentrations showed decreasing trends in the lower Yellow River throughout the study period. Dissolved organic phosphorus (DOP) concentrations increased since 2009, reaching up to 95% of the total dissolved phosphorus. Annual minimum dissolved organic nitrogen concentrations increased with time. We observed extremely low nutrient concentration events since 2014 in response to the retention effect of large reservoirs; this significantly reduced the downstream water discharge and sediment load and increased phytoplankton uptake. To further analyze the variability of nutrient fluxes, we quantified the fluxes to the Yellow River from natural (runoff, precipitation deposition, and sediment load from the Loess Plateau), anthropogenic (recharged water, fertilizer application, and vegetation coverage), social and industrial (population urbanization, GDP, and sewage effluents) sources. The highest contributions of total nutrient fluxes emptied into the Yellow River was fertilizer losing (44–48%) for DIN, sewage effluents (85–88%) for DIP, and runoff (35–65%) for DSi, respectively. Strictly controlling the amount of fertilizer and improving the application methods, improving sewage treatment technology, and vigorously promoting “green travel” might reduce nutrients emptied into the Yellow River based on the main sources of nutrients. Our study may help policy makers formulate strategies and it is possible to own a better water quality in the Yellow River.
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•Dissolved inorganic nutrients decreased during 2001-2018 in the lower Yellow River.•Dam construction and phytoplankton uptake significantly lowered nutrient concentrations.•The nutrient loading to the Yellow River derived from environmental and societal impacts were quantified.•Total nutrient influxes for DIN, DIP and DSi were mainly from fertilizer loss, sewage effluents and runoff, respectively.
Active power decoupling methods are developed to deal with the inherent ripple power at twice the grid frequency in single-phase systems generally by adding active switches and energy storage units. ...They have obtained a wide range of applications, such as photovoltaic (PV) systems, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) drivers, fuel cell (FC) power systems, and electric vehicle (EV) battery chargers, etc. This paper provides a comprehensive review of active power decoupling circuit topologies. They are categorized into two groups in terms of the structure characteristics: independent and dependent decoupling circuit topologies. The former operates independently with the original converter, and the latter, however, shares the power semiconductor devices with the original converter partially and even completely. The development laws for the active power decoupling topologies are revealed from the view of "duality principle," "switches sharing," and "differential connection." In addition, the exceptions and special cases are also briefly introduced. This paper is targeted to help researchers, engineers, and designers to construct some new decoupling circuit topologies and properly select existing ones according to the specific application.
This study analysed the associations of sex steroids with fat-free mass (FFM) and handgrip strength in 641 Chinese boys. Serum total testosterone (TT) and oestradiol were measured by ...chemiluminescence immunoassay. Free testosterone (FT) and oestradiol were calculated. FFM and handgrip strength were measured by bioelectrical impedance analysis and a hand dynamometer, respectively. Generalised additive models and multiple linear regression were used to explore the relationships. A subgroup analysis was conducted in early-mid pubertal and late-post pubertal groups. Age, height, weight, physical activity, intake of dietary protein and/or stage of puberty were adjusted. TT and FT were positively related to FFM and handgrip strength, with a curvilinear relationship being detected for handgrip strength (p<0.050). This curvilinear relationship was only observed in the late-post pubertal group, suggesting a potential threshold effect (FT>11.99ng/dL, β = 1.275, p = 0.039). In the early-mid pubertal group, TT and/or FT were linearly or near-linearly related to FFM or handgrip strength (β = 0.003-0.271, p<0.050). The association between FT and FFM was stronger than that in the late-post pubertal group. This study found that serum T had different associations with muscle parameters in Chinese early-mid pubertal and late-post pubertal boys. In the late-post pubertal boys, serum T was curvilinearly related to muscle strength with a threshold effect and its link with muscle mass was weaker.
When constructing classification and prediction models, most researchers used genetic algorithm, particle swarm optimization algorithm, or ant colony optimization algorithm to optimize parameters of ...artificial neural network models in their previous studies. In this paper, a brand new approach using Fruit fly optimization algorithm (FOA) is adopted to optimize artificial neural network model. First, we carried out principal component regression on the results data of a questionnaire survey on logistics quality and service satisfaction of online auction sellers to construct our logistics quality and service satisfaction detection model. Relevant principal components in the principal component regression analysis results were selected for independent variables, and overall satisfaction level toward auction sellers’ logistics service as indicated in the questionnaire survey was selected as a dependent variable for sample data of this study. In the end, FOA-optimized general regression neural network (FOAGRNN), PSO-optimized general regression neural network (PSOGRNN), and other data mining techniques for ordinary general regression neural network were used to construct a logistics quality and service satisfaction detection model. In the study, 4–6 principal components in principal component regression analysis were selected as independent variables of the model. Analysis results of the study show that of the four data mining techniques, FOA-optimized GRNN model has the best detection capacity.
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