Inhibitory Effects of Resveratrol on PDGF-BB-Induced Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cell Migration via PDGFRβ, PI3K/Akt and MAPK Pathways

Purpose: In diseases such as proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR), proliferative diabetic retinopathy, and age-related macular degeneration, retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells proliferate and migrate. Moreover, platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) has been shown to enhance proliferation and migration of RPE cells in PVR. Even resveratrol can suppress the migration and adhesion of many cell types, its effects on RPE cell migration and adhesion remain unknown. In this study, we investigated the inhibitory effects of resveratrol on RPE cell migration induced by PDGF-BB, an isoform of PDGF, and adhesion to fibronectin, a major ECM component of PVR tissue. Methods: The migration of RPE cells was assessed by an electric cell-substrate impedance sensing migration assay and a Transwell migration assay. A cell viability assay was used to determine the viability of resveratrol treated-cells. The cell adhesion to fibronectin was examined by an adhesion assay. The interactions of resveratrol with PDGF-BB were analyzed by a dot binding assay. The PDGF-BB-induced signaling pathways were determined by western blotting and scratch wound healing assay. Results: Resveratrol inhibited PDGF-BB-induced RPE cell migration in a dose-dependent manner, but showed no effects on ARPE19 cell adhesion to fibronectin. The cell viability assay showed no cytotoxicity of resveratrol on RPE cells and the dot binding assay revealed no direct interactions of resveratrol with PDGF-BB. Inhibitory effects of resveratrol on PDGF-BB-induced platelet-derived growth factor receptor β (PDGFRβ) and tyrosine phosphorylation and the underlying pathways of PI3K/Akt, ERK and p38 activation were found; however, resveratrol and PDGF-BB showed no effects on PDGFRα and JNK activation. Scratch wound healing assay demonstrated resveratrol and the specific inhibitors of PDGFR, PI3K, MEK or p38 suppressed PDGF-BB-induced cell migration. Conclusions: These results indicate that resveratrol is an effective inhibitor of PDGF-BB-induced RPE cell migration via PDGFRβ, PI3K/Akt and MAPK pathways, but has no effects on the RPE cell adhesion to fibronectin

Modeling Typhoon Event-Induced Landslides Using GIS-Based Logistic Regression: A Case Study of Alishan Forestry Railway, Taiwan

This study develops a model for evaluating the hazard level of landslides at Alishan Forestry Railway, Taiwan, by using logistic regression with the assistance of a geographical information system (GIS). A typhoon event-induced landslide inventory, independent variables, and a triggering factor were used to build the model. The environmental factors such as bedrock lithology from the geology database; topographic aspect, terrain roughness, profile curvature, and distance to river, from the topographic database; and the vegetation index value from SPOT 4 satellite images were used as variables that influence landslide occurrence. The area under curve (AUC) of a receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve was used to validate the model. Effects of parameters on landslide occurrence were assessed from the corresponding coefficient that appears in the logistic regression function. Thereafter, the model was applied to predict the probability of landslides for rainfall data of different return periods. Using a predicted map of probability, the study area was classified into four ranks of landslide susceptibility: low, medium, high, and very high. As a result, most high susceptibility areas are located on the western portion of the study area. Several train stations and railways are located on sites with a high susceptibility ranking

Application of Hydrodynamic Model for Sedimentary Management in Alishan River

Source: ICHE Conference Archive - https://mdi-de.baw.de/icheArchive

降雨對南橫公路 50至110K 沿線山崩潛勢之影響

本研究蒐集中央地質調查所製作之2004 年敏督利颱風、2009 年莫拉克颱風及2011 年7 月19 日豪雨三場事件的事件型山崩目錄作為分析山崩組樣本，運用統計方法中的羅吉斯迴歸法建立潛在因子之山崩潛勢分析模式，首先初選高程類因子、坡度類因子、坡向、全坡高、岩性、地形粗糙度、坡度粗糙度、平面曲率、剖面曲率、總曲率、道路距、水系距等潛在因子，投入因子複選流程，篩選出不同事件下對於山崩鑑別能力較好的潛在因子。再加入各事件不同延時下的平均降雨強度作為誘發因子，將道路沿線之山崩潛勢值分為穩定、低、中及高崩塌潛勢區四個等級，探討降雨對於山崩潛勢分析的影響。整體結果顯示，於本研究山崩潛勢分析流程下，誘發因子的加入可增進模式對長延時高強度降雨型態 (如：莫拉克颱風事件) 的預測能力，針對中延時高強度與短延時中強度降雨型態模式，模式以潛在因子便足以維持一定的預測水準，誘發因子的加入對預測能力的提生並無顯著影響。This study uses the inventories of landslides during typhoon Mindulle, Morakot, and the 07/19 rainfall event established by Central Geological Survey as landslide data. The elevation, slope, slope aspect, slope high, lithology, terrain roughness, slope roughness, plan curvature, profile curvature, total curvature, distance from the road, and distance from the river are first chosen as the landslide causative factors, based on previous studies. Secondly, calibration and selection procedures are performed to efficiently select the factors. Logistic regression method is used to establish the landslide susceptibility model. Furthermore, the rainfall intensities of different rainfall durations are used as a landslide triggering factor in different rainfall events. The maps of potential landslides are delineated to discuss the influence of rainfall on landslide susceptibility analysis. The landslide susceptibilities are separated into four levels, including high, medium, low, and steady. According to the results, the model adopting the proposed rainfall factor increased the landslide predictive capability for long-duration and high-intensity rainfall events, such as the Morakot event. For the other two events, similar landslide predictive capabilities are obtained with and without applying the landslide causative factor in the model

Association Between Net Vertebral Artery Flow Volume and Non-AF Stroke: A Retrospective 2-Year Analysis

Objectives: Association between net vertebral artery flow volume (NVAFV) and stroke types remains unclear. We hypothesize NVAFV is low in patients with posterior circulation infarction (PCI) and an ideal cut-off value for discriminating PCI from anterior circulation infarction (ACI) and controls may be present.Materials and Methods: As study candidates, we retrospectively enrolled hospitalized patients with first-time non-AF stroke within 2-years period. Consecutive non-AF, non-stroke subjects were enrolled as the control group. We compared NVAFV values among the PCI, ACI, and control groups.Results: Overall, 866 candidates—213, 418, and 235 candidates in the PCI, ACI, and control groups, respectively—were enrolled. NVAFV (mean ± SD) values were 134.8 ± 52.7, 152.3 ± 59.2, and 172.0 ± 54.7 mL/min in the PCI, ACI, and control groups, respectively. Statistics revealed significant difference (p < 0.001) among three groups. To use NVAFV as a diagnostic parameter, the AUC of any two groups should be between 0.58 and 0.69. Most (93.6%) of the controls had NVAFV above 100 mL/min. The odds ratio of any non-AF stroke is 3.48 if the NVAFV is below 100 mL/min.Conclusions: NVAFV is lowest in non-AF PCI group. Low NVAFV is associated with both non-AF ACI and PCI. No ideal cut-off value is available to discriminate PCI from other two conditions. We agree that an NVAFV of 100 mL/min is the lower limit of a normal value. Any value below 100 mL/min indicates high stroke risk and implies diffuse cerebral atherosclerosis and impaired cerebral perfusion

Time for Singapore to Relook Abortion Law

Figure S1. Effect of anti-ITGA2 antibody on cell morphology. The AGS cells were treated with a 3 Οg of the anti-ITGA2 antibodies or isotype control antibodies (negative control) for 48 h, and cell morphology was observed at 200X magnification. Data are representative of three independent experiments. (PPTX 1463 kb