A Promising Future of Ferroptosis in Tumor Therapy

Currently, mechanisms and therapeutic approaches have been thoroughly studied in various prevalent malignant tumors, such as breast and lung cancer. However, there is inevitable tumor progression and drug resistance. Uncovering novel treatment strategies to inhibit tumor development is important. Ferroptosis, a form of cell death associated with iron and lipid peroxidation, has drawn extensive attention. In this paper, we reviewed the underlying mechanisms of ferroptosis (i.e., iron, glutathione, and lipid metabolism) and its role in various tumors (i.e., lung cancer, liver carcinoma, breast cancer, and pancreatic cancer). Moreover, we summarized ferroptosis-related anti-tumor drugs and emphasized the potential of combined treatment of anti-tumor drugs and radiotherapy in an effort to provide novel anti-tumor treatments

Simulation of soil water movement and water utilization of shrub community in a gravel desert of arid northwestern China during twelve years

Study region: A gravel desert in the middle reaches of the Heihe River Basin, northwestern China. Study focus: Lack of long-term monitoring of soil water and groundwater level (GL) limited accurately quantifying the interactions between soil water, groundwater, and the shrubs in the desert ecosystems. This study focused on clarifying the water movement in the groundwater-soil-plant-atmosphere continuum in the desert ecosystems. Hydrological processes of a shrub community were simulated by developing the HYDRUS-1D model based on the twelve-years monitoring in a gravel desert. New hydrological insights for the region: Evapotranspiration of the shrub community was properly partitioned by the Penman-Monteith equation with the dual crop coefficient approach. Reaumuria songarica and Nitraria sphaerocarpa community relied on shallow soil water. Actual transpiration and evapotranspiration ranged from 33 mm and 80 mm in a dry year to 65 mm and 171 mm in a wet year, respectively. Only 39 % of evapotranspiration was used for shrub growth, and growing-season rainfall was more efficiently used in a dry year. Water rising from lower layers was dominant in the 0–10 m layer. The capillary fringe varied from 102 cm to 267 cm, averaging 205 cm above GL during the growing seasons. The rising groundwater is unavailable but promising for the shrubs’ utilization. The results of this study are valuable for developing sustainable management strategies for the similar gravel desert ecosystems

Effects of Caffeine on Event-Related Potentials and Neuropsychological Indices After Sleep Deprivation

Objective: Caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant that can effectively alleviate brain fatigue and low cognitive efficiency induced by total sleep deprivation (TSD). Recent studies have demonstrated that caffeine can improve subjective attention and objective behavioral metrics, such as arousal level, reaction time, and memory efficiency. However, only a few studies have examined the electrophysiological changes caused by the caffeine in humans following sleep disturbance. In this study, an event-related potential (ERP) technique was employed to measure the behavioral, cognitive, and electrophysiological changes produced by caffeine administration after TSD. Methods: Sixteen healthy subjects within-subject design performed a visual Go/No-Go task with simultaneous electroencephalogram recording. Behavioral and ERP data were evaluated after 36 h of TSD, and the effects of ingestion of either 400 mg of caffeine or placebo were compared in a double-blind randomized design. Results: Compared with placebo administration, the Go hit rates were significantly enhanced in the caffeine condition. A simple effect analysis revealed that, compared with baseline, the Go-P2 amplitude was significantly enhanced after TSD in the caffeine consumption condition. A significant main effect of the drug was found on No-Go-P2, No-Go-N2 amplitude, and Go-P2 latency before and after TSD. Conclusion: Our findings indicate that caffeine administration has acute effects on improving the efficiency of individual automatic reactions and early cognitive processes. Caffeine was related to the preservation of an individual's arousal level and accelerated response-related decisions, while subjects' higher-level recognition had limited improvement with prolonged awareness