Bis­(chloro­acetato-κO)bis(trimethyl­silylmethyl)tin(IV)

In the title complex, [Sn(C2H2ClO2)2(C4H11Si)2], the SnIV ion is coordinated in a distorted tetra­hedral environment formed by two O atoms from two monodenate chloro­acetato ligands and two C atoms from two trimethyl silyl ligands. Two further weak intra­molecular Sn⋯O contacts [2.744 (2) and 2.655 (2) Å] are formed by the chloro­acetato ligands

Hybridized surface plasmon polaritons at an interface between a metal and a uniaxial crystal

The surface plasmonpolariton (SPP) at an interface between a metal and a uniaxial crystal is studied. A new class of hybridized SPP found in this work is quite different from the traditional SPP at the interface between a metal and an isotropic dielectric. In contrast to the two evanescent fields for the traditional SPP, the hybridized SPP involves four evanescent fields: transverse-electric-like and transverse-magnetic-like waves in the metal, and ordinary-light-like and extraordinary-light-like waves in the uniaxial crystal. The necessary conditions and the regimes for the existence of the hybridized SPP are presented. Some potential applications are also discussed.This work is supported in part by NSFC under Grant No. 10325417, by the State Key Program for Basic Research of China under Grant No. 2006CB921805, and by the 111 Project under Grant No. B07026

Dual Adversarial Alignment for Realistic Support-Query Shift Few-shot Learning

Support-query shift few-shot learning aims to classify unseen examples (query set) to labeled data (support set) based on the learned embedding in a low-dimensional space under a distribution shift between the support set and the query set. However, in real-world scenarios the shifts are usually unknown and varied, making it difficult to estimate in advance. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a novel but more difficult challenge, RSQS, focusing on Realistic Support-Query Shift few-shot learning. The key feature of RSQS is that the individual samples in a meta-task are subjected to multiple distribution shifts in each meta-task. In addition, we propose a unified adversarial feature alignment method called DUal adversarial ALignment framework (DuaL) to relieve RSQS from two aspects, i.e., inter-domain bias and intra-domain variance. On the one hand, for the inter-domain bias, we corrupt the original data in advance and use the synthesized perturbed inputs to train the repairer network by minimizing distance in the feature level. On the other hand, for intra-domain variance, we proposed a generator network to synthesize hard, i.e., less similar, examples from the support set in a self-supervised manner and introduce regularized optimal transportation to derive a smooth optimal transportation plan. Lastly, a benchmark of RSQS is built with several state-of-the-art baselines among three datasets (CIFAR100, mini-ImageNet, and Tiered-Imagenet). Experiment results show that DuaL significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art methods in our benchmark.Comment: Best student paper in PAKDD 202

6,6′-Di-tert-butyl-4,4′-dimethyl-2,2′-[1,2-phenyl­enebis(nitrilo­methanylyl­idene)]diphenol

In the title mol­ecule, C30H36N2O2, the dihedral angles between the central benzene ring and the two benzene rings of the butyl­salicylaldimine groups are 14.3 (2) and 40.6 (2)°. There are two strong intra­molecular O—H⋯N hydrogen bonds which form S(6) rings. The crystal studied was a non-merohedral twin with refined components of 0.270 (4) and 0.730 (4)

Integrated traditional Chinese and western medicine for Menopausal syndrome: Meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Background: To critically assess the evidence of integrated Chinese and western medicine for treating  Menopausal syndrome (MPS).Methods and Materials: A search across the Chinese Biomedical Medicine (CBM), Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), VIP database (VIP), Wangfang database (Wanfang), PubMed and the Cochrane Library databases was conducted (up to October 31st, 2013) in commonly used integrated Chinese and western medicine therapies for menopausal syndrome. A number of Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) evaluating the therapeutic efficacy of integrated Chinese and western medicine in patients with PPS were included. The quality of the included studies was evaluated and a meta-analysis was performed using the RevMan5.0 software.Results: Twelve RCTs with 1155 patients were evaluated in this review. The results of meta-analysis showed that the therapy of using integrated Chinese and western medicine was significantly superior to that of western medicine alone towards improving the efficacy, relieving the clinical symptoms and decreasing follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH）levels (P<0.05), even though the effects of two treatments were the same in regulating the levels of luteinizing hormone (LH) and estradiol (E2).Conclusion: Compared to a regular treatment with western medicine alone, the therapeutic approach that utilizes integration of Chinese with western medicine can effectively improve the clinical efficacy and serum hormone levels in patients with menopausal syndrome. However, the evidence was not very strong due to the poor quality of the included studies.Key words: Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Menopausal Syndrome, Meta-analysi

Magnesium Lithospermate B Protects Cardiomyocytes from Ischemic Injury Via Inhibition of TAB1–p38 Apoptosis Signaling

Danshen has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for hundreds of years to treat cardiovascular diseases. However, its precise cardioprotective components and the underlying mechanism are still unclear. In the present study, we demonstrated that in a rat model of acute myocardial infarction, the treatment with magnesium lithospermate B (MLB), the representative component of phenolic acids in Danshen, significantly reduced the infarct size and the blood lactate dehydrogenase level. In contrast, tanshinone IIA, the representative component of lipophilic tanshinones in Danshen, had no such protective effects. Moreover, in the simulated ischemia cell model, MLB treatment considerably increased the cell viability and reduced the sub-G1 population and the apoptotic nuclei, indicating its anti-apoptotic effect. Further mechanism study revealed that the ischemia-induced p38 phosphorylation was abolished by MLB treatment. Interestingly, MLB specifically inhibited the TGFβ-activated protein kinase 1-binding protein 1 (TAB1) mediated p38 phosphorylation through disrupting the interaction between TAB1 and p38, but it did not affect the mitogen-activated protein kinase 3/6 mediated p38 phosphorylation. In conclusion, the present study identifies MLB as an active component of Danshen in protecting cardiomyocytes from ischemic injury through specific inhibition of TAB1–p38 apoptosis signaling. These results indicate TAB1–p38 interaction as a putative drug target in treating ischemic heart diseases

The paradoxical patterns of expression of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase in colon cancer

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>One of the putative mechanisms of tumor immune escape is based on the hypothesis that carcinomas actively create an immunosuppressed state via the expression of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO), both in the cancer cells and in the immune cells among the tumor-draining lymph nodes (TDLN). In an attempt to verify this hypothesis, the patterns of expression of IDO in the cancer cells and the immune cells among colon cancers were examined.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Seventy-one cases of pathologically-confirmed colon cancer tissues matched with adjacent non-cancerous tissues, lymph node metastases, and TDLN without metastases were collected at the Sun Yat-sen Cancer Center between January 2000 and December 2000. The expression of IDO and Bin1, an IDO regulator, was determined with an immunohistochemical assay. The association between IDO or Bin1 expression and TNM stages and the 5-year survival rate in colon cancer patients was analyzed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>IDO and Bin1 were detected in the cytoplasm of cancer cells and normal epithelium. In primary colon cancer, the strong expression of IDO existed in 9/71 cases (12.7%), while the strong expression of Bin1 existed in 33/71 cases (46.5%). However, similar staining of IDO and Bin1 existed in the adjacent non-cancerous tissues. Among the 41 cases with primary colon tumor and lymph node metastases, decreased expression of IDO was documented in the lymph node metastases. Furthermore, among the TDLN without metastases, a higher density of IDO⁺cells was documented in 21/60 cases (35%). Both univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that the density of IDO⁺cells in TDLN was an independent prognostic factor. The patients with a higher density of IDO⁺cells in TDLN had a lower 5-year survival rate (37.5%) than the cells with a lower density (73.1%).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study demonstrated paradoxical patterns of expression of IDO in colon cancer. The high density IDO⁺cells existed in TDLN and IDO was down-regulated in lymph nodes with metastases, implying that IDO in tumor and immune cells functions differently.</p

Identification of an important site for function of the type 2C protein phosphatase ABI2 in abscisic acid signalling in Arabidopsis

It is known that the clade A protein phosphatase 2Cs (PP2Cs), including ABI1 and ABI2 and other PP2C members, are key players that function directly downstream of the PYR/PYL/RCAR abscisic acid (ABA) receptors. Here, identification of a crucial site for function of ABI2 protein phosphatase in ABA signalling is reported. It was observed that a calcium-dependent protein kinase (CDPK) phosphorylation site-like motif (CPL) in the ABI2 molecule is required for the interactions of ABI2 with the two members of the ABA receptors PYL5 and PYL9 and with a downstream protein kinase SnRK2.6, and for the catalytic activity of ABI2 in vitro, as well as for the response of ABI2 to the ABA receptors PYL5/PYL9 in relation to the ABA receptor-induced inhibition of the ABI2 phosphatase activity. Further, genetic evidence was provided to demonstrate that this CPL is required for the function of ABI2 to mediate ABA signalling. These data reveal that this CPL is an important site necessary for both the phosphatase activity of ABI2 and the functional interaction between ABI2 and PYL5/9 ABA receptors, providing new information to understand primary events of ABA signal transduction

Risk Assessment of Etanercept in Mice Chronically Infected With Toxoplasma gondii

Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is a zoonotic parasite that severely harms the health of the host. The cysts of T. gondii can reactivate from bradyzoites to tachyzoites, if the individual develops low or defective immunity, causing lethal toxoplasmosis. The host resists T. gondii infection by mediating Th1-type cellular immunity to generate pro-inflammatory cytokines. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) is an important pro-inflammatory cytokine, which can induce lysosomal fusion of parasitophorous vacuole (PV) to kill parasites. Etanercept is a soluble TNF receptor fusion protein, which is widely used clinically to cure autoimmune diseases. The effects and specific molecular mechanisms of etanercept treatment on patients co-infected with autoimmune diseases and chronic toxoplasmosis are rarely reported. In our study, a mouse model of chronic infection with T. gondii and murine macrophages RAW264.7 cells infected with T. gondii were employed to investigate the impact of etanercept on the status of chronic infection. The cytokines levels and a series of phenotypic experiments in vivo and in vitro were measured. In the present study, the expression levels of TNF, IL-1β, and IL-6 were decreased and the brain cysts number was increased in mice chronically infected with T. gondii after being treated with etanercept. In vivo experiments confirmed that etanercept caused a decrease in the immune levels of the mice and activated the brain cysts, which would lead to conversion from chronic infection to acute infection, causing severe clinical and pathological symptoms. Murine macrophages RAW264.7 cells were pretreated with etanercept, and then infected with T. gondii. In vitro experiments, the expression levels of cytokines were decreased, indicating that etanercept could also reduce the cells’ immunity and promote the transformation of bradyzoites to tachyzoites, but did not affect the intracellular replication of tachyzoites. In summary, etanercept treatment could activate the conversion of bradyzoites to tachyzoites through reducing host immunity in vivo and in vitro. The results obtained from this study suggest that the use of etanercept in patients co-infected with autoimmune diseases and chronic toxoplasmosis may lead to the risk of activation of chronic infection, resulting in severe acute toxoplasmosis