TNFα induces Ca2+ influx to accelerate extrinsic apoptosis in hepatocellular carcinoma cells

BACKGROUND: Tumor necrosis factor-α has been proven an effective anticancer agent in preclinical studies. However, the translation of TNFα from research to clinic has been blocked by significant systemic toxicity and limited efficacy at maximal tolerated dose, which need urgently to be solved. METHODS: The level of cytosolic Ca RESULTS: Here, we demonstrated that TNFα induced extracellular Ca CONCLUSIONS: Our study provides the evidence supporting a novel mechanism by which TNFα induces extracellular C

Assessment of Night-Time Lighting for Global Terrestrial Protected and Wilderness Areas

Protected areas (PAs) play an important role in biodiversity conservation and ecosystem integrity. However, human development has threatened and affected the function and effectiveness of PAs. The Defense Meteorological Satellite Program/Operational Linescan System (DMSP/OLS) night-time stable light (NTL) data have proven to be an effective indicator of the intensity and change of human-induced urban development over a long time span and at a larger spatial scale. We used the NTL data from 1992 to 2013 to characterize the human-induced urban development and studied the spatial and temporal variation of the NTL of global terrestrial PAs. We selected seven types of PAs defined by the International Union for Conversation of Nature (IUCN), including strict nature reserve (Ia), wilderness area (Ib), national park (II), natural monument or feature (III), habitat/species management area (IV), protected landscape/seascape (V), and protected area with sustainable use of natural resources (VI). We evaluated the NTL digital number (DN) in PAs and their surrounding buffer zones, i.e., 0–1 km, 1–5 km, 5–10 km, 10–25 km, 25–50 km, and 50–100 km. The results revealed the level, growth rate, trend, and distribution pattern of NTL in PAs. Within PAs, areas of types V and Ib had the highest and lowest NTL levels, respectively. In the surrounding 1–100 km buffer zones, type V PAs also had the highest NTL level, but type VI PAs had the lowest NTL level. The NTL level in the areas surrounding PAs was higher than that within PAs. Types Ia and III PAs showed the highest and lowest NTL growth rate from 1992 to 2013, respectively, both inside and outside of PAs. The NTL distributions surrounding the Ib and VI PAs were different from other types. The areas close to Ib and VI boundaries, i.e., in the 0–25 km buffer zones, showed lower NTL levels, for which the highest NTL level was observed within the 25–100 km buffer zone. However, other types of PAs showed the opposite NTL patterns. The NTL level was lower in the distant buffer zones, and the lowest night light was within the 1–25 km buffer zones. Globally, 6.9% of PAs are being affected by NTL. Conditions of wilderness areas, e.g., high latitude regions, Tibetan Plateau, Amazon, and Caribbean, are the least affected by NTL. The PAs in Europe, Asia, and North America are more affected by NTL than South America, Africa, and Oceania

Clinical and Epidemiological Investigation of TCM Syndromes of Patients with Coronary Heart Disease in China

To compare the regional differences in TCM syndromes of patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) between North and South China. A total of 624 patients with a diagnosis of CHD, confirmed by coronary angiography, were included in the comparative analysis to determine the occurrence pattern, characteristics of TCM syndrome distribution, and differences in syndrome combinations and major syndrome types (deficiency or excess) between North and South China. The incidence of CHD tended to be higher in North China (54.6%) compared with that in South China (45.4%). The proportions of patients with a qi-deficiency syndrome (83.7%), turbid phlegm syndrome (68.9%), or blood stasis syndrome (91.5%) were generally higher in the South group, while the proportion of patients with a cold congelation syndrome (7.9%) was identified to be obviously higher in the North group (P < 0.01). Moreover, compared with that in the South group, the overall frequency of syndrome combinations tended to be lower in the North group (P < 0.01); and the most common types of TCM syndrome were excess syndrome (193, 56.6%) and primary deficiency and secondary excess syndrome (244, 86.2%) in the North and South groups, respectively (P < 0.01). A regional difference does exist in the TCM syndromes of patients with CHD between North and South China, indicating that the prevention and treatment of CHD in South China should not only focus on promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis, but also include supplementing qi and eliminating phleg

The relationship between post-procedural platelet count and left ventricular aneurysm in patients with acute anterior ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction following primary percutaneous coronary intervention

Background: Left ventricular aneurysm (LVA) relates to worse prognosis in patients with myocardial infarction despite successful reperfusion treatment. There is no evidence that early detectable biomarkers can predict the risk for the future development of LVA. Aim: The aim of our study was to investigate the possible predictive value of periprocedural haematological parameters for LVA. Methods: A total of 281 patients with acute anterior ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) who underwent primary percutaneous coronary intervention (pPCI) were enrolled. Haematological parameters were measured on admission before pPCI and between 8 and 12 h after pPCI, separately. The development of LVA was evaluated at one-year follow-up. The patients were then divided into two groups: an LVA group and a non-LVA group. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to find the predictors of LVA. Results: A total of 34 (12.1%) patients developed LVA at one-year follow-up after pPCI. Multivariate analyses revealed that a 10 × 109/L increase in platelet count 12 h after pPCI (odds ratio [OR] 1.092, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.015–1.188, p = 0.039), peak cardiac troponin I (OR 1.107, 95% CI 1.003–1.215, p = 0.000), and left ventricular ejection fraction (OR 0.853, 95% CI 0.772–0.943, p = 0.002) were independent risk factors for LVA. For the prediction of LVA, platelet count 12 h after pPCI at a cut-off value &gt; 197 × 109/L yielded a receiver operating characteristic-area under the curve (ROC-AUC) of 0.635 (82.3% sensitivity, 44.1% specificity). Conclusions: Platelet count after pPCI was significantly associated with the development of LVA in anterior STEMI patients and may be available for early risk stratification of future LVA formation

Lane Detection in Video-Based Intelligent Transportation Monitoring via Fast Extracting and Clustering of Vehicle Motion Trajectories

Lane detection is a crucial process in video-based transportation monitoring system. This paper proposes a novel method to detect the lane center via rapid extraction and high accuracy clustering of vehicle motion trajectories. First, we use the activity map to realize automatically the extraction of road region, the calibration of dynamic camera, and the setting of three virtual detecting lines. Secondly, the three virtual detecting lines and a local background model with traffic flow feedback are used to extract and group vehicle feature points in unit of vehicle. Then, the feature point groups are described accurately by edge weighted dynamic graph and modified by a motion-similarity Kalman filter during the sparse feature point tracking. After obtaining the vehicle trajectories, a rough k-means incremental clustering with Hausdorff distance is designed to realize the rapid online extraction of lane center with high accuracy. The use of rough set reduces effectively the accuracy decrease, which results from the trajectories that run irregularly. Experimental results prove that the proposed method can detect lane center position efficiently, the affected time of subsequent tasks can be reduced obviously, and the safety of traffic surveillance systems can be enhanced significantly

The Effects of Excess Co on the Phase Composition and Thermoelectric Properties of Half-Heusler NbCoSb

NbCoSb with nominal 19 valence electrons, and is supposed to be metallic, has recently been reported to also exhibit the thermoelectric properties of a heavily doped n-type semiconductor. In this study, we prepared Co-rich NbCo1+xSb samples (x = 0, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5), and their phase compositions, microstructures and thermoelectric properties were investigated. The Seebeck coefficient increased a great deal with increasing x, due to decreasing carrier concentration, and the total thermal conductivity reduced mainly because of declining κe. Finally, a peak thermoelectric figure of merit, ZT, was about 0.46 for NbCo1.3Sb at 973 K. This enhancement was mainly attributed to the reduction of electric thermal conductivity and the increase of Seebeck coefficient. The excess Co had effects on the carrier concentration, deformation potential Edef and DOS effective mass m*. Adding an excessive amount of Co leads to a very high Edef, which was detrimental for transport characteristics

Dietary phytochemicals: As a potential natural source for treatment of Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a common neurodegenerative disease, which seriously impairs human health and life. At present, scientists have proposed more than a dozen hypotheses about the pathogenesis of AD, including the tau propagation hypothesis. However, the exact ultimate pathogenic factor of AD remains unknown. Based on the current hypotheses, some anti-AD drugs (e.g., donepezil and Ketamine) have been developed and used in clinical treatment, which fall into two main categories, acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEIs) and N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonists, the former representative drug is donepezil, and the latter representative drug is memantine. Since these drugs have undesirable side effects, it is necessary to find safer alternatives for AD treatment. Interestingly, dietary phytochemicals have the advantages of wide source, safety, and high biological activity, which is the natural route for screening anti-AD drugs. In this study, several representatives’ dietary phytochemicals with anti-AD effect, including resveratrol, lycopene, gallic acid, berberine, ginsenoside Rg1, pseudoginsenoside-F11, ginsenoside Rh2, artemisinin, and torularhodin were selected from the published data over the last 10 years and their potential molecular mechanisms and clinical applications reviewed in the treatment of AD