Circumscription and taxonomic arrangement of Nigroboletus roseonigrescens Gen. Et Sp. Nov., a new member of boletaceae from tropical South-Eastern China

Nigroboletus is proposed as a novel genus in family Boletaceae, subfamily Boletoideae, to include N. roseonigrescens, a new boletoid species from tropical environment in south-eastern China. Detailed morphological description, color pictures of both fresh basidiomes in habitat and dried material along with photomicrographs and line drawings of the main anatomical features are provided, supported by a comprehensive phylogeny based on multigene molecular analysis (nrITS, nrLSU, rpb1, rpb2 and tef1-α datasets). Taxonomic placement and evolutionary relationships of Nigroboletus are investigated

STI571 reduces TRAIL-induced apoptosis in colon cancer cells: c-Abl activation by the death receptor leads to stress kinase-dependent cell death

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In an effort to achieve better cancer therapies, we elucidated the combination cancer therapy of STI571 (an inhibitor of Bcr-Abl and clinically used for chronic myelogenous leukemia) and TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL, a developing antitumor agent) in leukemia, colon, and prostate cancer cells.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Colon cancer (HCT116, SW480), prostate cancer (PC3, LNCaP) and leukemia (K562) cells were treated with STI571 and TRAIL. Cell viability was determined by MTT assay and sub-G1 appearance. Protein expression and kinase phosphorylation were determined by Western blotting. c-Abl and p73 activities were inhibited by target-specific small interfering (si)RNA. In vitro kinase assay of c-Abl was conducted using CRK as a substrate.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found that STI571 exerts opposite effects on the antitumor activity of TRAIL. It enhanced cytotoxicity in TRAIL-treated K562 leukemia cells and reduced TRAIL-induced apoptosis in HCT116 and SW480 colon cancer cells, while having no effect on PC3 and LNCaP cells. In colon and prostate cancer cells, TRAIL caused c-Abl cleavage to the active form via a caspase pathway. Interestingly, JNK and p38 MAPK inhibitors effectively blocked TRAIL-induced toxicity in the colon, but not in prostate cancer cells. Next, we found that STI571 could attenuate TRAIL-induced c-Abl, JNK and p38 activation in HCT116 cells. In addition, siRNA targeting knockdown of c-Abl and p73 also reduced TRAIL-induced cytotoxicity, rendering HCT116 cells less responsive to stress kinase activation, and masking the cytoprotective effect of STI571.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>All together we demonstrate a novel mediator role of p73 in activating the stress kinases p38 and JNK in the classical apoptotic pathway of TRAIL. TRAIL via caspase-dependent action can sequentially activate c-Abl, p73, and stress kinases, which contribute to apoptosis in colon cancer cells. Through the inhibition of c-Abl-mediated apoptotic p73 signaling, STI571 reduces the antitumor activity of TRAIL in colon cancer cells. Our results raise additional concerns when developing combination cancer therapy with TRAIL and STI571 in the future.</p

Analyzing Coronary Artery Disease in Patients with Low CAC Scores by 64-Slice MDCT

Purpose. Coronary artery calcification (CAC) scores are widely used to determine risk for Coronary Artery Disease (CAD). A CAC score does not have the diagnostic accuracy needed for CAD. This work uses a novel efficient approach to predict CAD in patients with low CAC scores. Materials and Methods. The study group comprised 86 subjects who underwent a screening health examination, including laboratory testing, CAC scanning, and cardiac angiography by 64-slice multidetector computed tomographic angiography. Eleven physiological variables and three personal parameters were investigated in proposed model. Logistic regression was applied to assess the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of when using individual variables and CAC score. Meta-analysis combined physiological and personal parameters by logistic regression. Results. The diagnostic sensitivity of the CAC score was 14.3% when the CAC score was ≤30. Sensitivity increased to 57.13% using the proposed model. The statistically significant variables, based on beta values and P values, were family history, LDL-c, blood pressure, HDL-c, age, triglyceride, and cholesterol. Conclusions. The CAC score has low negative predictive value for CAD. This work applied a novel prediction method that uses patient information, including physiological and society parameters. The proposed method increases the accuracy of CAC score for predicting CAD

Clinical analysis of 1 case of solitary brain metastases misdiagnosed as cerebral infarction

目的  通过报告1例误诊为脑梗死的单发性脑转移瘤患者的诊断过程，总结单发性脑转移瘤的临床、影像学特征及诊断治疗方法。方法  回顾性分析1例单发性脑转移瘤患者的诊断过程，并复习有关文献。结果  脑转移瘤常多发，单发者仅占25%，发病年龄以40～60岁多见，原发病灶以肺最常见。脑转移瘤常位于脑叶灰白质交界处，不同部位的肿瘤可出现不同的临床表现，影像学上常表现为“小病灶、大水肿”，与颅内原发肿瘤不易区分，头颅CT或 MRI增强检查并查到其他部位的原发肿瘤病灶后可确定诊断。目前主张单发性脑转移瘤应进行手术切除，术后辅以立体定向放射治疗和全脑放射治疗。结论  15%的脑转移瘤患者既往无肿瘤病史，因此诊断脑瘤后须在身体其他部位查找有无原发病灶，避免误诊、漏诊。对于中老年肺癌或其他恶性肿瘤患者，无论有无中枢神经系统症状，均应积极进行头颅CT甚至MRI检查，以发现较小的早期脑转移瘤病灶。对于易患肺癌人群，应该每年体检，进行胸部X线检查或低剂量CT筛查，以便早期发现肺癌病灶，早期治疗，防止肿瘤转移。Objective: To report 1 case was misdiagnosed as cerebral infarction solitary brain metastases (SBM) in patients with diagnosis process, and to summarize the clinical and imaging features of the SBM and its treatment. Methods: To retrospectively analyze the diagnostic process of 1 case of SBM patients, and to have literature review. Results: Patients with solitary and multiple brain metastases accounted for only 25%, the onset age was 40 ~ 60 years old, and the most common primary lesion is in lung. Brain metastases are often on the border, in between lobes grey matter. Different parts of the tumors can present different clinical manifestations. The diagnostic imaging is often shown as "small lesions, large edema", and intracranial primary tumor is not easy to distinguish, Head CT or MRI examination of tumors in other parts could confirm the diagnosis. Now that SBM should undergo surgery resection, postoperative supplemented by stereotactic radiotherapy and whole brain radiotherapy. Conclusions: 15% of the patients with brain metastases haven’t got previous medical history, the doctor is therefore must look for presence of primary lesions in other parts of the body for accurate diagnosis, to avoid the misdiagnosis and missed diagnosis. Middle-aged and elderly patients with lung cancer or other malignant tumor, regardless of the presence of the central nervous system symptoms, should carry on the head CT or MRI examination, and find smaller early brain metastatic lesions. People who are susceptible to lung cancer should have annual physical examination, chest X-ray or low dose CT screening for early detection of lung cancer lesions, early treatment and prevention of tumor metastasi

THE USE OF MANDAMUS TO COMPEL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS TO CONFER DEGREES

Hispolon is an active phenolic compound of <i>Phellinus igniarius</i>, a mushroom that was recently shown to have antioxidant and anticancer activities in various solid tumors. Here, the molecular mechanisms by which hispolon exerts anticancer effects in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells was investigated. The results showed that hispolon suppressed cell proliferation in the various AML cell lines. Furthermore, hispolon effectively induced apoptosis of HL-60 AML cells through caspases-8, -9, and -3 activations and PARP cleavage. Moreover, treatment of HL-60 cells with hispolon induced sustained activation of JNK1/2, and inhibition of JNK by JNK1/2 inhibitor or JNK1/2-specific siRNA significantly abolished the hispolon-induced activation of the caspase-8/-9/-3. In vivo, hispolon significantly reduced tumor growth in mice with HL-60 tumor xenografts. In hispolon-treated tumors, activation of caspase-3 and a decrease in Ki67-positive cells were observed. Our results indicated that hispolon may have the potential to serve as a therapeutic tool to treat AML

Proximity-induced quasi-one-dimensional superconducting quantum anomalous Hall state: a promising scalable top-down approach towards localized Majorana modes

In this work, ~100 nm wide quantum anomalous Hall insulator (QAHI) nanoribbons are etched from a two-dimensional QAHI film. One part of the nanoribbon is covered with superconducting Nb, while the other part is connected to an Au lead via two-dimensional QAHI regions. Andreev reflection spectroscopy measurements were performed, and multiple in-gap conductance peaks were observed in three different devices. In the presence of an increasing magnetic field perpendicular to the QAHI film, the multiple in-gap peak structure evolves into a single zero-bias conductance peak (ZBCP). Theoretical simulations suggest that the measurements are consistent with the scenario that the increasing magnetic field drives the nanoribbons from a multi-channel occupied regime to a single channel occupied regime, and that the ZBCP may be induced by zero energy Majorana modes as previously predicted [24]. Although further experiments are needed to clarify the nature of the ZBCP, we provide initial evidence that quasi-1D QAHI nanoribbon/superconductor heterostructures are new and promising platforms for realizing zero-energy Majorana modes