Zerumbone, a Southeast Asian Ginger Sesquiterpene, Induced Apoptosis of Pancreatic Carcinoma Cells through p53 Signaling Pathway

Pancreatic carcinoma is one common cancer with gradually increasing incidence during the past several decades. However, currently the candidate drugs to suppress pancreatic cancer remain lacking. This research was carried out to investigate if zerumbone, a natural cyclic sesquiterpene isolated from Zingiber zerumbet Smith, will produce the anticancer effects on pancreatic carcinoma cell lines. The results showed that zerumbone concentration, and time, dependently produced inhibitory actions on cell viability of PANC-1 cells. In addition, Hoechst 33342, AO/EB, TUNEL staining, and caspase-3 activity assay further showed that zerumbone induced apoptosis of PANC-1 cells. The expression of p53 protein was markedly upregulated, and the p21 level was also obviously elevated in zerumbone-treated PANC-1 cells. Moreover, ROS production was increased by about 149% in PANC-1 cells treated by zerumbone 30 μM. Zerumbone also produced the same antitumor activity in pancreatic carcinoma cell lines SW1990 and AsPC-1. In summary, we found that zerumbone was able to induce apoptosis of pancreatic carcinoma cell lines, indicating to be a promising treatment for pancreatic cancer

Composition of soluble organic matter and its causes of No. 11 coal from Sangshuping Mine, Shaanxi Province

Eight samples of No.11 coal in Sangshuping Mine were used for organic geochemical study, Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF) were combined with the test results of proximate analysis, sulfur forms and random vitrinite reflectance, the organic matter sources and coal-forming environment of No.11 coal from the Sangshuping mine, Shaanxi Province were comprehensively analyzed. The results indicate that the total sulfur content of the coal sample is 3.29%, and the mean vitrinite oil-leaching reflectance is 2.01%, which is high-sulfur lean coal. The phase parameters of major elements indicate that the coal samples are mainly formed in reductive sedimentary environment. There are two types of carbon number distribution of n-alkanes in saturated hydrocarbon: the front peak type main carbon peak is C16, and the back peak type is main carbon C26; Combined with the distribution characteristics of ∑C22−/∑C23+、(C21+C22)/(C28+C29)、Pr/nC17、Ph/nC18 indicated that the parent material of organic matter come from aquatic organisms and higher plants. The OEP value was between 0.49 to 1.05,with an average value of 0.84, indicating that No.11 coal of Sangshuping has undergone different degrees of biodegradation. In the analysis of saturated hydrocarbon steroidal terpanes, the ratio of w(Ts)/w(Tm) is between 0.83-1.21 and w(Ts)/[w(Ts)+w(Tm)] is between 0.45-0.55, indicating that the thermal evolution degree of coal sample is high. In the analysis of aromatic compounds, the methyl rearrangement of trimethylnaphthalene and the distribution characteristics of methyl phenanthrene index are correlated with the high thermal evolution degree of coal samples. The aromatic hydrocarbons were dominated by naphthalene, phenanthrene and biphenyl series, and the sulfur-containing compounds in the trifluorene series (oxygen-fluorene, sulfur-fluorene, fluorene) are obviously higher than the oxygen-containing compounds, which also indicates the coal-forming environment under higher salinity partial reduction conditions

Muscle fiber type plasticity during development and regeneration

The skeletal muscle is a complex tissue mainly composed of a mixture of fast and slow myofibers. The ratio of fast and slow myofibers is built to achieve specific physiological functions and is developed under the control of intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Understanding how myofibers are specified during development and regeneration has several important implications. This project aims to dissect the genetic basis of fast and slow myofiber specification using transgenic mouse models. These mouse models serve as efficient tools for labeling myofibers concurrently expressing fast or slow myosin heavy chain (Myh), or marking myofiber lineages derived from myogenic precursor cells that have once activated fast or slow myosin. Using the lineage labeling mouse model, it was shown that all nascent myofibers unanimously express the slow myosin Myh7 during muscle regeneration. Upon completion of regeneration, however, fast myofibers downregulate Myh7 expression to restore the stereotyped distribution pattern of fast and slow myofibers in the regenerated muscle. In contrast to the ubiquitous expression of Myh7 during regeneration, only a subset of mature fast myofibers had activated the slow Myh7 gene expression during normal development. Moreover, a single mature fast or slow myofiber can be fused from a mixture of precursor cells with different pattern of myosin gene activation. Combining cell lineage tracing and cell culture techniques, the fate of myoblasts that activated the slow muscle specific Myh7 gene was examined. In striking contrast to the dogma that myosin genes are only expressed in terminally differentiated cells, it was shown in this study that myogenic progenitors (myoblasts) activated Myh7 can still proliferate and express Pax7, known to be expressed only in myogenic progenitor but not differentiated cells. Furthermore, the Myh7 activated myoblasts were not limited to become slow muscles, though they had a higher tendency to do so. Together, this study provides compelling evidence that Myh7 can be activated in myogenic progenitors, and that the activation pattern of Myh7 is different during development and regeneration. These results provide novel insight into the regulation of muscle fiber type specification

ATTRACTIVENESS OF MEGA-SHOPPING MALLS

Bachelor'sBACHELOR OF SCIENCE (REAL ESTATE

Study on Health of Rural Poor Population and Health Poverty Alleviation Countermeasures in Chongqing

[Objectives] The paper was to understand the health of rural poor population in Chongqing, and to put forward countermeasures for health poverty alleviation. [Methods] The 439 people living in poverty in Qianjiang District and Pengshui County, Chongqing, were investigated on the spot to deeply understand and analyze the health status, current medical insurance status and accuracy of medical system of rural poor population in Chongqing. [Results] The vast majority of poor households had been lifted out of poverty after targeted poverty alleviation. Poverty due to illness was the main cause of family poverty. The prevalence of chronic diseases in poor households was high, and the overall health level showed a downward trend. The countermeasures and suggestions for strengthening the construction of medical insurance system, exploring and perfecting rural medical assistance system, enhancing the service capacity of primary medical and health institutions, and strengthening health education and health management were put forward. [Conclusions] The study provides an empirical evidence for improving the health level of poor rural residents and promoting targeted health poverty alleviation policies

Is Childhood General Anesthesia Exposure An Etiological Contributor to Cognitive Impairment?

General anesthesia is necessary for patients to undergo surgery and invasive procedures. However, numerous preclinical studies have demonstrated widespread developmental neurotoxicity of the commonly used anesthetics and sedatives for the immature brain. Clinical studies also suggest a strong correlation between childhood anesthesia exposure and subsequent behavioral or cognitive impairment in adulthood. These findings have attracted increasing attention of anesthesiologists, pediatricians, and caregivers about the safety of anesthesia exposure in children, especially during early childhood. Herein, the aim of this review was to present the molecular mechanism of general anesthesia and its effects on the developing brain and introduce the recent clinical evidence of changes in cognition function post-childhood general anesthesia exposure. More importantly, some of the spots will be importantly discussed to scrutinize the phenomena; only in this way, it may help minimize or eliminate relevant risk factors

NMR-Based Shale Core Imbibition Performance Study

Shale gas reservoirs are unconventional resources with great potential to help meet energy demands. Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing have been extensively used for the exploitation of these unconventional resources. According to engineering practice, some shale gas wells with low flowback rate of fracturing fluids may obtain high yield which is different from the case of conventional sandstone reservoirs, and fracturing fluid absorbed into formation by spontaneous imbibition is an important mechanism of gas production. This paper integrates NMR into imbibition experiment to examine the effects of fractures, fluid salinity, and surfactant concentration on imbibition recovery and performance of shale core samples with different pore-throat sizes acquired from the Longmaxi Formation in Luzhou area, the Sichuan Basin. The research shows that the right peak of T2 spectrum increases rapidly during the process of shale imbibition, the left peak increases rapidly at the initial stage and changes gently at the later stage, with the peak of the left peak shifting to the right. The result indicates that water first enters the fracture system quickly, then enters the small pores near the fracture wall due to the effect of the capillary force, and later gradually sucks into the deep and large pores. Both imbibition rate and capacity increase with increased fracture density, decreased solution salinity, and decreased surfactant concentration. After imbibition flowback, shale permeability generally increases by 8.70–17.88 times with the average of 13.83 times. There are also many microcracks occurring on the end face and surface of the core sample after water absorption, which may function as new flowing channels to further improve reservoir properties. This research demonstrates the imbibition characteristics of shale and several relevant affecting factors, providing crucial theory foundations for the development of shale gas reservoirs