Bryostatin inhibits proliferation of ependymoma cells by suppressing expressions of cyclooxygenase-2 and interleukin-8

Purpose: To investigate the effect of bryostatin on the proliferation of ependymoma cells, and the underlying mechanism(s).Methods: Ependymoma cell lines (SC-EPN1 and SC-EPN2) were cultured in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM) supplemented with 10 % fetal bovine serum (FBS) and streptomycin (10 mg/ml) in a humidified incubator at 37 °C and 5 % CO2 atmosphere. Rhe cells were randomly assigned to six groups: control group and five bryostatin groups treated with increasing concentrations of bryostatin (10 - 50 μM). Cell proliferation was determined by MTT assay, while real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to determine the levels of expressions of apoptosisrelated genes. Expressions of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), interleukin-8 (IL-8), Bcl-2, Bax and Pglycoprotein were determined using Western blotting.Results: Treatment with bryostatin significantly and concentration-dependently down-regulated COX-2 and IL-8 mRNAs expressions (p < 0.05). On the other hand, proliferation of SC-EPN1 and SC-EPN2 cells were significantly and concentration-dependently inhibited by bryostatin, relative to control group (p < 0.05). After 72 h of treatment with bryostatin (50 μM), the extent of apoptosis was significantly higher in SC-EPN1 (57.43 %) and SC-EPN2 cells (52.29 %) than in control group (2.37 %, p < 0.05). The results of Western blotting showed that treatment with bryostatin significantly reduced the expressions of Bcl-2 in ependymoma cells, relative to the control group (p < 0.05). However, there were no significant differences in the expression of Bax among the groups (p > 0.05). P-glycoprotein expression was significantly higher in bryostatin groups than in control group (p < 0.05). The results of flow cytometric analysis of rhodamine-123 (rh123) fluorescence showed that after 72 h of treatment with bryostatin (50 μM), rhl23 fluorescence significantly decreased in SC-EPN1 (8.10 %) and SC-EPN2 cells (10.11 %), relative to control group (20.83 %, p < 0.05).Conclusion: Bryostatin exerts anti-proliferative and apoptotic effects on ependymoma cells by suppressing COX-2 and IL-8 expressions. Thus, the inhibition of COX-2 expression may constitute an effective chemotherapeutic strategy for ependymoma treatment.Keywords: Bryostatin, Ependymoma cells, Proliferation, Apoptosis, Expressio

Simulating landslide-induced tsunamis in the Yangtze River at the Three Gorges in China

Landslide-induced tsunamis may cause fatalities, damages and financial losses. In the Three Gorges Reservoir Area of China, several large landslides are still unstable and persistently creeping toward the Yangtze River. In this paper, we investigate the impacts of landslide-induced tsunamis in the Three Gorges Reservoir by using a hybrid numerical approach. One of the largest unstable mass in this area, the Huangtupo landslide, is chosen as the study object. First, the landslide deformation and initiating velocities are obtained by using the finite-discrete element method. The landslide-induced tsunamis and their impacts on shipping on the Yangtze River are then investigated through smooth particle hydrodynamics modelling. Our results reveal that an approximately 80% reduction in shear strength of the tip in the landslide will lead to catastrophic failure of the landslide, with sliding velocities of up to 8 m/s. Subsequently, such a collapse may initiate a river tsunami, propagating up to 9 m on the nearby reservoir banks within 3 km. The impacts on surrounding floating objects, such as surges and sways, heaves and rolls, are up to 110 m, 8 m and 6°, respectively. The simulations indicate that although the likelihood of a catastrophic failure of the whole landslide is low, the partial sliding still poses severe threat to the nearby reservoir banks and shipping on the Yangtze River. Thus, we recommend continuous monitoring as well as landslide early warning systems at this and also other hazardous sites in this area

Mapping Urban Bare Land Automatically from Landsat Imagery with a Simple Index

In recent years, hundreds of Earth observation satellites have been launched to collect massive amounts of remote sensing images. However, the considerable cost and time to process the significant amount of data have become the greatest obstacle between data and knowledge. In order to accelerate the transformation from remote sensing images to urban thematic maps, a strategy to map the bare land automatically from Landsat imagery was developed and assessed in this study. First, a normalized difference bare land index (NBLI) was presented to maximally differentiate bare land from other land types in Wuhan City, China. Then, an unsupervised classifier was employed to extract the bare land from the NBLI image without training samples or self-assigned thresholds. Experimental results showed good performance on overall accuracy (92%), kappa coefficient (0.84), area ratio (1.1321), and match rate (83.96%), respectively. Results in multiple years disclosed that bare lands in the study site gradually moved from inner loops to the outer loops since 2007, in two main directions. This study demonstrated that the proposed method was an accurate and reliable option to extract the bare land, which led to a promising approach to mapping urban land use/land cover (LULC) automatically with simple indices

Mapping Urban Bare Land Automatically from Landsat Imagery with a Simple Index

In recent years, hundreds of Earth observation satellites have been launched to collect massive amounts of remote sensing images. However, the considerable cost and time to process the significant amount of data have become the greatest obstacle between data and knowledge. In order to accelerate the transformation from remote sensing images to urban thematic maps, a strategy to map the bare land automatically from Landsat imagery was developed and assessed in this study. First, a normalized difference bare land index (NBLI) was presented to maximally differentiate bare land from other land types in Wuhan City, China. Then, an unsupervised classifier was employed to extract the bare land from the NBLI image without training samples or self-assigned thresholds. Experimental results showed good performance on overall accuracy (92%), kappa coefficient (0.84), area ratio (1.1321), and match rate (83.96%), respectively. Results in multiple years disclosed that bare lands in the study site gradually moved from inner loops to the outer loops since 2007, in two main directions. This study demonstrated that the proposed method was an accurate and reliable option to extract the bare land, which led to a promising approach to mapping urban land use/land cover (LULC) automatically with simple indices

Shuangshen Ningxin Capsule, a Traditional Chinese Medicinal Preparation, Alleviates Myocardial Ischemia through Autophagy Regulation

Shuangshen Ningxin capsule (SSNX), a modern Chinese formula, has been used to treat cardiovascular diseases in Eastern Asia. Our study focuses on the autophagy regulation of SSNX against coronary artery injuries. Myocardial infarction model was established in Chinese miniswines (CMS) by coronary artery balloon injury. SSNX was administered to the CMS for 8 weeks with 4 mg/kg or 16 mg/kg. Myocardial cells were incubated with 20% SSNX medicated serum for 2 hours. Assays were performed to detect the effects of SSNX on (i) coronary artery diameter by angiography, (ii) hemodynamics by noninvasive hemodynamic monitoring system, (iii) plaque burden and plaque volume by intravenous ultrasound (iv) coronary artery histology by H&E staining, (v) autophagosome by transmission electron microscopy, (vi) lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) leakage, and (vii) Beclin-1 and LC3-I/II expressions by Western blot. The results showed that CMS treated with SSNX exhibited the correction for the disturbed cardiac hemodynamics, increase of coronary artery diameter, reduction of high plaque burden and plaque volume, and decrease of LDH. The inhibitory effect of SSNX on CMS autophagy was demonstrated by the reduction of autophagosome and the downregulation of beclin-1 and LC3-I/II. SSNX may protect coronary artery and increase the stability of plaque through the suppression of myocardial cellular autophagy, which suggests the potentially therapeutic effect of SSNX on ischemic cardiovascular disease

Circulating MicroRNA Profiles Differ between Qi-Stagnation and Qi-Deficiency in Coronary Heart Disease Patients with Blood Stasis Syndrome

We compared the circulating microRNA profiles of Qi-stagnation (QSB) and Qi-deficiency (QDB) in coronary heart disease (CHD) patients with blood stasis syndrome. Twenty-nine CHD patients were divided into QSB group and QDB group. The analysis was carried out through comparing their circulating microRNA profiles and the following bioinformatics analysis. The number of differential miRNAs in QDB group was much more than that in QSB group. Functional annotations of the differentially expressed miRNAs target genes in the QSB group and QDB group were, respectively, related to regulation of cellular component organization, regulation of glucose metabolic process, and so forth and protein kinase cascade, phosphate metabolic process, and so forth. KEGG pathway analysis showed that the process Qi-deficiency was associated with phagocytosis including endocytosis and mTOR signaling pathway. Specifically, pathway of cell adhesion molecules played the crucial role in the pathological process of Qi-stagnation, with a unique upregulation except for pathways associated with cancer signal. MicroRNA-gene-net analysis indicated that let-7c, miR-4487, miR-619, miR-8075, miR-6735, and miR-32-5p and miR-17-5p, miR-130a, and miR 320 family had the most important and extensive regulatory function for Qi-stagnation syndromes and Qi-deficiency syndromes, respectively. Differentially expressed miRNAs and concerned pathways suggest different molecular mechanisms that may mediate the pathological process of QSB and QDB syndromes

Application to Temperature Sensor Based on Green Up-conversion of Er3+ Doped Silicate Glass

The green up-conversion emissions centered at the wavelengths of about 534nmand 549nm of the Er3+ doped silicate glass were recorded, using a 978 nm semiconductorlaser diode (LD) as an excitation source. The fluorescence intensity ratio (FIR) of the greenup-conversion emissions at about 534nm and 549nm in the Er3+ doped silicate glass wasstudied as a function of temperature over the temperature range of 296K-673K. Themaximum sensitivity and the temperature resolution derived from the FIR of the green up-conversion emissions are approximately 0.0023K-1 and 0.8K, respectively. It isdemonstrated that the prototype optical temperature sensor based on the FIR technique fromthe green up-conversion emissions in the Er3+ doped silicate glass could play a major role intemperature measurement

Research on I-M Model of Supply Chain Risk Path Identification

Through literature analysis and expert interviews, 15 factors affecting the development of the supply chain finance industry were identified, and the ISM method was used to construct a hierarchical structure chart of the factors, so as to analyze the relationship between the upper and lower levels of the factors and the factors affecting the development of the supply chain finance, and then MICMAC was used to further analyze the driving force and dependence of the 15 factors. The results show that market price instability, market demand instability, improper behavior and cash flow fracture are the outermost influencing factors, which are highly dependent and vulnerable to other factors; However, the failure to adopt new production technologies, the unhealthy operation of enterprises, and the low business ability of enterprises are the deepest and most fundamental factors that affect the stability of supply chain finance. They are the innermost factors that drive the development of supply chain finance. This study takes the influencing factors of the development of the entire supply chain finance industry in China as the research object, and the research results have certain universality and dependence. When China’s supply chain finance is faced with development problems related to this study, it can provide the basis for reflection and solutions

An Evaluation of Online Database Selection by a Gateway System With Artificial Intelligence Techniques

277 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1987.The tremendous growth of computer-readable databases makes automated database selection very desirable in online services. Gateway systems as components in online networks convert information among online systems and aid the users in various ways including database selection. An evaluation of online database selection by an existing gateway system (InfoMaster, a version of EasyNet) was performed, comparing database selections made by experienced reference librarians with those made by inexperienced searchers aided by InfoMaster for the same set of queries. The results show that automated database selection by InfoMaster still heavily depends on a human decision concerning the broad subject area into which a query falls. When the gateway user properly selects the subject area for a particular query, InfoMaster can do automated database selection as well as the human intermediaries. Artificial intelligence techniques (AI) for automated database selection by gateway systems were studied and a framework of AI techniques for this particular function was outlined based on the analysis of the evaluation results.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD

Starlink and its operational analysis

The operational application of Starlink system is becoming more and more mature. Considering that Starlink system is still under rapid construction, it is necessary to conduct a systematic analysis of its future operational application. In order to explore the future operation mode of the Starlink system of the US military, this paper, based on the analysis of the fundamental state of Starlink, focuses on high-end wars of great powers, explores the impact of Starlink on the operations of the US military from four levels of operational theory, and shows the system supporting role of Starlink. Finally, an operational simulation experiment of Starlink is given to analyze the long-term capability. By analyzing the operational mode and capability of the mid-stage Starlink operation, it lays a foundation for the follow-up countermeasures