Soliton with a Pion Field in the Global Color Symmetry Model

We calculate the property of the global color symmetry model soliton with the pion field being included explicitly. The calculated results indicate that the pion field provides a strong attraction so that the eigen-energy of a quark and the mass of a soliton reduce drastically, in contrast to those with only the sigma field.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figure

Multiple Lineages of Human Breast Cancer Stem/Progenitor Cells Identified by Profiling with Stem Cell Markers

Heterogeneity of cancer stem/progenitor cells that give rise to different forms of cancer has been well demonstrated for leukemia. However, this fundamental concept has yet to be established for solid tumors including breast cancer. In this communication, we analyzed solid tumor cancer stem cell markers in human breast cancer cell lines and primary specimens using flow cytometry. The stem/progenitor cell properties of different marker expressing-cell populations were further assessed by in vitro soft agar colony formation assay and the ability to form tumors in NOD/SCID mice. We found that the expression of stem cell markers varied greatly among breast cancer cell lines. In MDA-MB-231 cells, PROCR and ESA, instead of the widely used breast cancer stem cell markers CD44+/CD24-/low and ALDH, could be used to highly enrich cancer stem/progenitor cell populations which exhibited the ability to self renew and divide asymmetrically. Furthermore, the PROCR+/ESA+ cells expressed epithelial-mesenchymal transition markers. PROCR could also be used to enrich cells with colony forming ability from MB-361 cells. Moreover, consistent with the marker profiling using cell lines, the expression of stem cell markers differed greatly among primary tumors. There was an association between metastasis status and a high prevalence of certain markers including CD44+/CD24−/low, ESA+, CD133+, CXCR4+ and PROCR+ in primary tumor cells. Taken together, these results suggest that similar to leukemia, several stem/progenitor cell-like subpopulations can exist in breast cancer

The abundance of relativistic axions in a flaton model of Peccei-Quinn symmetry

Flaton models of Peccei-Quinn symmetry have good particle physics motivation, and are likely to cause thermal inflation leading to a well-defined cosmology. They can solve the $\mu$ problem, and generate viable neutrino masses. Canonical flaton models predict an axion decay constant F_a of order 10^{10} GeV and generic flaton models give F_a of order 10^9 GeV as required by observation. The axion is a good candidate for cold dark matter in all cases, because its density is diluted by flaton decay if F_a is bigger than 10^{12} GeV. In addition to the dark matter axions, a population of relativistic axions is produced by flaton decay, which at nucleosynthesis is equivalent to some number \delta N_\nu of extra neutrino species. Focussing on the canonical model, containing three flaton particles and two flatinos, we evaluate all of the flaton-flatino-axion interactions and the corresponding axionic decay rates. They are compared with the dominant hadronic decay rates, for both DFSZ and KSVZ models. These formulas provide the basis for a precise calculation of the equivalent \delta N_\nu in terms of the parameters (masses and couplings). The KSVZ case is probably already ruled out by the existing bound \delta N_\nu\lsim 1. The DFSZ case is allowed in a significant region of parameter space, and will provide a possible explanation for any future detection of nonzero $\delta N_\nu$

Pair production of neutralinos via gluon-gluon collisions

The production of a neutralino pair via gluon-gluon fusion is studied in the minimal supersymmetric model(MSSM) at proton-proton colliders. The numerical analysis of their production rates are carried out in the mSUGRA scenario. The results show that this cross section may reach about 80 femto barn for $\tilde{\chi}^{0}_{1}\tilde{\chi}^{0}_{2}$ pair production and 23 femto barn for $\tilde{\chi}^{0}_{2}\tilde{\chi}^{0}_{2}$ pair production with suitable input parameters at the future LHC collider. It shows that this loop mediated process can be competitive with the quark-antiquark annihilation process at the LHC.Comment: LaTex file, l4 pages, 5 EPS figure

Complement C1q Activates Tumor Suppressor WWOX to Induce Apoptosis in Prostate Cancer Cells

BACKGROUND:Tissue exudates contain low levels of serum complement proteins, and their regulatory effects on prostate cancer progression are largely unknown. We examined specific serum complement components in coordinating the activation of tumor suppressors p53 and WWOX (also named FOR or WOX1) and kinases ERK, JNK1 and STAT3 in human prostate DU145 cells. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:DU145 cells were cultured overnight in 1% normal human serum, or in human serum depleted of an indicated complement protein. Under complement C1q- or C6-free conditions, WOX1 and ERK were mainly present in the cytoplasm without phosphorylation, whereas phosphorylated JNK1 was greatly accumulated in the nuclei. Exogenous C1q rapidly restored the WOX1 activation (with Tyr33 phosphorylation) in less than 2 hr. Without serum complement C9, p53 became activated, and hyaluronan (HA) reversed the effect. Under C6-free conditions, HA induced activation of STAT3, an enhancer of metastasis. Notably, exogenous C1q significantly induced apoptosis of WOX1-overexpressing DU145 cells, but not vehicle-expressing cells. A dominant negative and Y33R mutant of WOX1 blocked the apoptotic effect. C1q did not enhance p53-mediated apoptosis. By total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy, it was determined that C1q destabilized adherence of WOX1-expressing DU145 cells by partial detaching and inducing formation of clustered microvilli for focal adhesion particularly in between cells. These cells then underwent shrinkage, membrane blebbing and death. Remarkably, as determined by immunostaining, benign prostatic hyperplasia and prostate cancer were shown to have a significantly reduced expression of tissue C1q, compared to age-matched normal prostate tissues. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE:We conclude that complement C1q may induce apoptosis of prostate cancer cells by activating WOX1 and destabilizing cell adhesion. Downregulation of C1q enhances prostate hyperplasia and cancerous formation due to failure of WOX1 activation

Complex in vitro 3D models of digestive system tumors to advance precision medicine and drug testing: Progress, challenges, and trends

Digestive system cancers account for nearly half of all cancers around the world and have a high mortality rate. Cell culture and animal models represent cornerstones of digestive cancer research. However, their ability to en- able cancer precision medicine is limited. Cell culture models cannot retain the genetic and phenotypic heteroge- neity of tumors and lack tumor microenvironment (TME). Patient-derived xenograft mouse models are not suitable for immune-oncology research. While humanized mouse models are time- and cost-consuming. Suitable preclinical models, which can facilitate the understanding of mechanisms of tumor progression and develop new therapeutic strategies, are in high demand. This review article summarizes the recent progress on the establish- ment of TME by using tumor organoid models and microfluidic systems. The main challenges regarding the translation of organoid models from bench to bedside are discussed. The integration of organoids and a microflu- idic platform is the emerging trend in drug screening and precision medicine. A future prospective on this field is also provided.This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.82073148), the Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Digestive Cancer Research (No. 2021B1212040006), the Sanming Project of Medicine in Shenzhen (SZSM201911010), the Shenzhen Key Medical Discipline Construction Fund (SZXK016), the Shenzhen Sustainable Project (KCXFZ202002011010593), and the Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Macau Technology Research Programme (Type C) (Grant No. SGDX2020110309260100)

Spray-combustion synthesis: Efficient solution route to high-performance oxide transistors

Metal-oxide (MO) semiconductors have emerged as enabling materials for next generation thin-film electronics owing to their high carrier mobilities, even in the amorphous state, large-area uniformity, low cost, and optical transparency, which are applicable to flat-panel displays, flexible circuitry, and photovoltaic cells. Impressive progress in solution-processed MO electronics has been achieved using methodologies such as sol gel, deep-UV irradiation, preformed nanostructures, and combustion synthesis. Nevertheless, because of incomplete lattice condensation and film densification, high-quality solution-processed MO films having technologically relevant thicknesses achievable in a single step have yet to be shown. Here, we report a low-temperature, thickness-controlled coating process to create high-performance, solution-processed MO electronics: spray-combustion synthesis (SCS). We also report for the first time, to our knowledge, indium-gallium-zinc-oxide (IGZO) transistors having densification, nanoporosity, electron mobility, trap densities, bias stability, and film transport approaching those of sputtered films and compatible with conventional fabrication (FAB) operations

Smoking, Green Tea Consumption, Genetic Polymorphisms in the Insulin-Like Growth Factors and Lung Cancer Risk

Insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) are mediators of growth hormones; they have an influence on cell proliferation and differentiation. In addition, IGF-binding protein (IGFBP)-3 could suppress the mitogenic action of IGFs. Interestingly, tea polyphenols could substantially reduce IGF1 and increase IGFBP3. In this study, we evaluated the effects of smoking, green tea consumption, as well as IGF1, IGF2, and IGFBP3 polymorphisms, on lung cancer risk. Questionnaires were administered to obtain the subjects' characteristics, including smoking habits and green tea consumption from 170 primary lung cancer cases and 340 healthy controls. Genotypes for IGF1, IGF2, and IGFBP3 were identified by polymerase chain reaction. Lung cancer cases had a higher proportion of smoking, green tea consumption of less than one cup per day, exposure to cooking fumes, and family history of lung cancer than controls. After adjusting the confounding effect, an elevated risk was observed in smokers who never drank green tea, as compared to smokers who drank green tea more than one cup per day (odds ratio (OR) = 13.16, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 2.96–58.51). Interaction between smoking and green tea consumption on lung cancer risk was also observed. Among green tea drinkers who drank more than one cup per day, IGF1 (CA)19/(CA)19 and (CA)19/X genotypes carriers had a significantly reduced risk of lung cancer (OR = 0.06, 95% CI = 0.01–0.44) compared with IGF1 X/X carriers. Smoking-induced pulmonary carcinogenesis could be modulated by green tea consumption and their growth factor environment

Investment Case for a Comprehensive Package of Interventions Against Hepatitis B in China: Applied Modeling to Help National Strategy Planning.

BACKGROUND content: In 2016, the first global viral hepatitis elimination targets were endorsed. An estimated one-third of the world's population of individuals with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection live in China and liver cancer is the sixth leading cause of mortality, but coverage of first-line antiviral treatment was low. In 2015, China was one of the first countries to initiate a consultative process for a renewed approach to viral hepatitis. We present the investment case for the scale-up of a comprehensive package of HBV interventions. METHODS content: A dynamic simulation model of HBV was developed and used to simulate the Chinese HBV epidemic. We evaluated the impact, costs, and return on investment of a comprehensive package of prevention and treatment interventions from a societal perspective, incorporating costs of management of end-stage liver disease and lost productivity costs. RESULTS content: Despite the successes of historical vaccination scale-up since 1992, there will be a projected 60 million people still living with HBV in 2030 and 10 million HBV-related deaths, including 5.7 million HBV-related cancer deaths between 2015 and 2030. This could be reduced by 2.1 million by highly active case-finding and optimal antiviral treatment regimens. The package of interventions is likely to have a positive return on investment to society of US$1.57 per US dollar invested. CONCLUSIONS content: Increases in HBV-related deaths for the next few decades pose a major public health threat in China. Active case-finding and access to optimal antiviral treatment are required to mitigate this risk. This investment case approach provides a real-world example of how applied modeling can support national dialog and inform policy planning

Air pollution perception in ten countries during the COVID-19 pandemic

As largely documented in the literature, the stark restrictions enforced worldwide in 2020 to curb the COVID-19 pandemic also curtailed the production of air pollutants to some extent. This study investigates the perception of the air pollution as assessed by individuals located in ten countries: Australia, Brazil, China, Ghana, India, Iran, Italy, Norway, South Africa and the USA. The perceptions towards air quality were evaluated by employing an online survey administered in May 2020. Participants (N = 9394) in the ten countries expressed their opinions according to a Likert-scale response. A reduction in pollutant concentration was clearly perceived, albeit to a different extent, by all populations. The survey participants located in India and Italy perceived the largest drop in the air pollution concentration; conversely, the smallest variation was perceived among Chinese and Norwegian respondents. Among all the demographic indicators considered, only gender proved to be statistically significant