A NEW SPECIES OF THE GENUS ALLOCHTHONIUS (PSEUDOSCORPIONES, PSEUDOTYRANNOCHTHONIIDAE) FROM LIUPAN MOUNTAINS, CHINA, WITH THE DESCRIPTION OF THE MALE OF ALLOCHTHONIUS BREVITUS

A new pseudoscorpion species, Allochthonius (Allochthonius) jingyuanus sp. n., is described and illustrated from Liupan Mountains, China. The hitherto unknown male of Allochthonius (Urochthonius) brevitus Hu et Zhang, 2012 is described and illustrated

FIRST REPORT OF THE FAMILY LECHYTIIDAE (ARACHNIDA: PSEUDOSCORPIONES) FROM CHINA, WITH THE DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES

The family Lechytiidae is here reported from China for the first time. A new species of the genus Lechytia from Yunnan Province is described and illustrated under the name Lechytia yulongensis sp. n

Two new species of the pseudoscorpion genus Lagynochthonius from China (Pseudoscorpiones: Chthoniidae)

Two new pseudoscrorpion species belonging to the genus Lagynochthonius of the family Chthoniidae are described from China: Lagynochthonius brachydigitatus sp. n., from Zhejiang Province, and L. medog sp. n., from Xizang Autonomous Region. Lagynochthonius microdentatus Hu & Zhang, 2012 is found to be a junior primary homonym of L. microdentatus Mahnert, 2011 and is replaced with Lagynochthonius harveyi Hu & Zhang, nom. n

T cell senescence: a new perspective on immunotherapy in lung cancer

T cell senescence is an indication of T cell dysfunction. The ability of senescent T cells to respond to cognate antigens is reduced and they are in the late stage of differentiation and proliferation; therefore, they cannot recognize and eliminate tumor cells in a timely and effective manner, leading to the formation of the suppressive tumor microenvironment. Establishing methods to reverse T cell senescence is particularly important for immunotherapy. Aging exacerbates profound changes in the immune system, leading to increased susceptibility to chronic, infectious, and autoimmune diseases. Patients with malignant lung tumors have impaired immune function with a high risk of recurrence, metastasis, and mortality. Immunotherapy based on PD-1, PD-L1, CTLA-4, and other immune checkpoints is promising for treating lung malignancies. However, T cell senescence can lead to low efficacy or unsuccessful treatment results in some immunotherapies. Efficiently blocking and reversing T cell senescence is a key goal of the enhancement of tumor immunotherapy. This study discusses the characteristics, mechanism, and expression of T cell senescence in malignant lung tumors and the treatment strategies

Identifying the Antiproliferative Effect of Astragalus Polysaccharides on Breast Cancer: Coupling Network Pharmacology With Targetable Screening From the Cancer Genome Atlas

Background:Astragalus polysaccharides (APS), natural plant compounds, have recently emerged as a promising strategy for cancer treatment, but little is known concerning their effects on breast cancer (BC) tumorigenesis.Methods: We obtained breast cancer genetic data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database, network pharmacology to further clarify its biological properties. Survival analysis and molecular docking techniques were implemented for the final screening to obtain key target information. Our experiments focused on the detection of intervention effects of APS on BC cells (MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231), and quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to assess the expression of key targets.Results: A total of 1,439 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified by TCGA and used to build disease networks. Module analysis, gene ontology and pathway analysis revealed characteristic of the DEGs network. Topological properties were used to identify key targets, survival analysis and molecular docking finally found that the targets of APS regulation of BC cells may be CCNB1, CDC6, and p53. Through cell viability, migration and invasion assays, we found that APS interferes with the development of breast cancer in MCF7 and MDA-MB-231 cells in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, qRT-PCR verification suggested that the expression of CCNB1 and CDC6 in breast cancer cells was significantly downregulated in response to APS, while expression of the tumor suppressor gene P53 was significantly increased.Conclusion: Results of this study suggest therapeutic potential for APS in BC treatment, possibly through interventions with CCNB1, CDC6, and P53. Furthermore, these findings illustrate the feasibility of using network pharmacology to connect large-scale target data as a way to discover the mechanism of natural products interfering with disease

The Modulatory Properties of Astragalus membranaceus Treatment on Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: An Integrated Pharmacological Method.

Background: Studies have shown that the natural products of Astragalus membranaceus (AM) can effectively interfere with a variety of cancers, but their mechanism of action on breast cancer remains unclear. Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is associated with a severely poor prognosis due to its invasive phenotype and lack of biomarker-driven-targeted therapies. In this study, the potential mechanism of the target composition acting on TNBC was explored by integrated pharmacological models and in vitro experiments. Materials and Methods: Based on the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database and the relational database of Traditional Chinese Medicines (TCMs), the drug and target components were initially screened to construct a common network module, and multiattribute analysis was then used to characterize the network and obtain key drug-target information. Furthermore, network topology analysis was used to characterize the betweenness and closeness of key hubs in the network. Molecular docking was used to evaluate the affinity between compounds and targets and obtain accurate combination models. Finally, in vitro experiments verified the key component targets. The cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay, invasion assay, and flow cytometric analysis were used to assess cell viability, invasiveness, and apoptosis, respectively, after Astragalus polysaccharides (APS) intervention. We also performed western blot analysis of key proteins to probe the mechanisms of correlated signaling pathways. Results: We constructed "compound-target" (339 nodes and 695 edges) and "compound-disease" (414 nodes and 6458 edges) networks using interaction data. Topology analysis and molecular docking were used as secondary screens to identify key hubs of the network. Finally, the key component APS and biomarkers PIK3CG, AKT, and BCL2 were identified. The in vitro experimental results confirmed that APS can effectively inhibit TNBC cell activity, reduce invasion, promote apoptosis, and then counteract TNBC symptoms in a dose-dependent manner, most likely by inhibiting the PIK3CG/AKT/BCL2 pathway. Conclusion: This study provides a rational approach to discovering compounds with a polypharmacology-based therapeutic value. Our data established that APS intervenes with TNBC cell invasion, proliferation, and apoptosis via the PIK3CG/AKT/BCL2 pathway and could thus offer a promising therapeutic strategy for TNBC

Two new species of the pseudoscorpion genus <i>Lagynochthonius</i> from China (Pseudoscorpiones: Chthoniidae)

Two new pseudoscrorpion species belonging to the genus Lagynochthonius of the family Chthoniidae are described from China: Lagynochthonius brachydigitatus sp. n., from Zhejiang Province, and L. medog sp. n., from Xizang Autonomous Region. Lagynochthonius microdentatus Hu &amp; Zhang, 2012 is found to be a junior primary homonym of L. microdentatus Mahnert, 2011 and is replaced with Lagynochthonius harveyi Hu &amp; Zhang, nom. n.</jats:p

Accurate formulae for <i>P</i>-wave reflectivity and transmissivity for a non-welded contact interface with the effect of <i>in situ</i> vertical stress

SUMMARY A detailed knowledge of wave reflectivity parametrization for non-welded interface plays an important role in fracture characterization and reservoir prediction. However, the effect of in situ stress on reflectivity formulae for non-welded contact interface remains unclear. Here based on the linear-slip theory and acoustoelasticity theory, we propose the accurate P-wave reflectivity and transmissivity formulae for planar P wave incident upon the non-welded interface between two elastic half-spaces under the in situ vertical stress. The discontinuous boundary conditions coupled with vertical stress is used to represent the non-welded contact interface for the elastic and viscous cases. Then accurate formulae are derived by solving the boundary conditions. Numerical results show that the proposed formulae are frequency-dependent and the non-welded interface performs as high- and low-pass filters for reflected and transmittedP wave at low stress, respectively. Moreover, initial vertical stress can change the maximum amplitudes of reflection and transmission coefficients and the corresponding critical angles. Particularly, vertical stress weakens the fracture-induced anomalous seismic reflections in zones lack of significant impedance contrasts at low incidence angles. The sensitivity analysis suggests a non-welded interface transforms into a welded interface at normal compliance ${\Delta _N} \le 5 \times {10^{ - 11}}$ m Pa−1. The phases and amplitudes of the four coefficients reach the maximum values at the specific viscosity $\eta \approx {10^6}$ Pa·s m−1 for the case of P wave obliquely incident upon the viscous interface at incidence angle 30°. Finally, we describe a method for simulating seismic reflection at the interface of two elastic media with experimental measurement.</jats:p